MBA continue to support Wimbledon BookFest, now in its 11th year. It runs from 5-15th October this year, with a marquee on Wimbledon Common. This year the Robert Graves Poetry prize is launched, sponsored by MBA and Roehampton University. As well as author talks, the festival includes comedy, music, and a large programme of education and outreach into Merton’s schools.  Further information here.

Shanice Michaels and Jemma Kightley joined Marcus Beale Architects on a two week work experience programme. The students are currently working on physical models for a residential project in Croydon. They have engaged in internal design meetings and will be attending site visits of current projects.

MBA is proud to support the local community by offering students an insight into architectural practice.

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We are looking for new talent to join our team, particularly Part 2 qualified assistants, but we are also interested in hearing from Part 1s and newly qualified architects. For more information see our careers page.

DRAW and architect Marcus Beale at Chelsea College of Arts –  Drawing Space, an event reflecting on architectural drawing and its role in defining space.  Despite the fact that we ‘design’ = think at the tip of a pencil, architecture is not a visual art. It is not about what buildings look like.  What we see in architecture is the surface, the boundary between air and solid.  We can see the edges of the space, a superficial understanding. Neither can architecture be described sufficiently by its three dimensional form and materials.  It is not only about where buildings are and what they are made of.  This describes the enclosure itself, but does not begin to address what is enclosed.  Architectural drawings have a purpose, to record, to analyse, to set-out, to instruct, to give an impression.  In the Drawing Space seminar Marcus will talk about the role of drawing in past and current architectural practice, from masons’ marks, through Beaux-Arts, upward axonometrics, choreography, cubism and computer modelling, with particular reference to the creation of new spaces and his work at Marcus Beale Architects (MBA).  MBA specialise in doing ‘new things in old places’ and have instigated radical alterations to protected buildings and historic sites, as well as realising striking new developments in sensitive settings.  Marcus’s presentation – Drawing Space – was followed by a discussion chaired by Tania Kovats, Course Director, MA Drawing. 

The Drawing Space seminar was at Chelsea College of Arts, John Islip Street, SW1P 4JU opposite Tate Britain.

This event organised by DRAW (Drawing Research at Wimbledon), a postgraduate reading group focusing on interdisciplinary approaches to drawing. DRAW is led by Tania Kovats, (Course Director, MA Drawing) and supported by the UAL Postgraduate Community.  A review of the event here.

Planning and listed building applications have been submitted for the Morris building, Morris yard and adjacent buildings 18-21 Longwall Street at New College Oxford.

The scheme includes a new garden building providing fully accessible rooms, the conservation of four adjacent listed buildings, re-landscaping the Morris Yard, adjusting the collegiate offer to provide improved student accommodation and cluster flats including three fully accessible suites.

The new Garden building sits within the area of the outer ditch of Oxford’s medieval City Wall which dominates the New College campus.

21 Longwall Street was built in 1910 to house the showrooms of Morris Motors making it a key part of Oxford’s industrial heritage. A fine Edwardian-Baroque façade remains intact and will be conserved as part of the scheme.

New-build Garden Rooms and the surrounding landscape alterations will provide access to high-quality self-catering study rooms accessible for everyone.

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