Pete Silver & Will McLean are two British architectural practitioners, educators, writers, and technical theorists who work together as a duo. They have taught at the Architectural Association, The Bartlett (University College London), and The University of Westminster's School of Architecture and the Built environment, thus gaining a privileged position in the contemporary London architectural scene.
Will McLean is a Doctor of Philosophy and artist Bruce McLean [1] 's son. He trained at the Architectural Association under Will Alsop OBE RA and Professor John Frazer. McLean has worked on a series of projects with Bruce McLean, most notably Dalry Primary School in North Ayrshire completed in 2007 (www.primaryspace.net), and with US architect and artist Adam Kalkin, [2] working on such projects as 'Quik Build' container housing. He has had a regular feature, covering technical innovations, in Architectural Design magazine - McLean's Nuggets, and was an Editor of Construction History - the International Journal of the Construction History Society. Pete Silver worked for Solon Housing Association in South London with architects such as Patrick Keiller, Edward Cullinan and Walter Segal. He trained at the Architectural Association under Professors John Frazer and Gordon Pask, and became a researcher in the Land Use Research Unit at King's College London, gaining a unique insight into Professor Alice Coleman's ground-breaking, if controversial work on post-war housing regeneration. Silver was for many years a director of the Chartered Practice Architects (CPA) Ltd. and holds a UK patent - GB2594037 - for a novel type of lightweight, structural diagrid.
In 2001, Silver and McLean joined the School of Architecture and the Built environment at the University of Westminster where they jointly head the Technical Studies Department, and co-curate a highly successful public lecture series.
They have co-authored five architecture books:
The Technical Studies Lectures, hosted by the University of Westminster, offers a platform for the dissemination of ideas from such speakers as those in the following, non-exhaustive list (archived at https://www.youtube.com/@WillMcLeanTechnicalStudies/videos and at https://technicalstudies.tumblr.com/):
Former students include:
Book launch for Environmental Design Sourcebook, recorded at the University of Westminster: see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZhJdlH0KTI
The Festival of Britain was a national exhibition and fair that reached millions of visitors throughout the United Kingdom in the summer of 1951.
William Kent was an English architect, landscape architect, painter and furniture designer of the early 18th century. He began his career as a painter, and became Principal Painter in Ordinary or court painter, but his real talent was for design in various media.
William Allen Alsop was a British architect and Professor of Architecture at University for the Creative Arts's Canterbury School of Architecture.
James Adam was a Scottish architect and furniture designer, but was often overshadowed by his older brother and business partner, Robert Adam. They were sons of architect William Adam.
Arup is a British multinational professional services firm headquartered in London that provides design, engineering, architecture, planning, and advisory services across every aspect of the built environment. It employs about 17,000 people in over 90 offices across 35 countries, and has participated in projects in over 160 countries.
Roderick George Robbie was a British-born Canadian architect and planner. He was known for his design of the Canadian Pavilion at Expo 67 and Toronto's Rogers Centre (SkyDome).
Textile design, also known as textile geometry, is the creative and technical process by which thread or yarn fibers are interlaced to form a piece of cloth or fabric, which is subsequently printed upon, or otherwise adorned. Textile design is further broken down into three major disciplines: printed textile design, woven textile design, and mixed media textile design. Each uses different methods to produce a fabric for variable uses and markets. Textile design as an industry is involved in other disciplines such as fashion, interior design, and fine arts.
Amanda Jane Levete, CBE, RA is a Stirling Prize-winning Welsh architect and the principal of AL_A.
The University of Westminster is a public university based in London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1838 as the Royal Polytechnic Institution, it was the first polytechnic to open in London. The Polytechnic formally received a Royal charter in August 1839, and became the University of Westminster in 1992.
George S. Sexton, III is an American designer, specializing in the areas of lighting design, museum design and museum planning services.
Rick Poynor is an English writer on design, graphic design, typography, and visual culture.
The Anglo-Japanese style developed in the United Kingdom through the Victorian period and early Edwardian period from approximately 1851 to the 1910s, when a new appreciation for Japanese design and culture influenced how designers and craftspeople made British art, especially the decorative arts and architecture of England, covering a vast array of art objects including ceramics, furniture and interior design. Important centres for design included London and Glasgow.
Cinimod Studio is a London-based experiential agency involved in various architecture and lighting design projects. Projects undertaken typically involve a wide mix of media and technologies, and often involve interactive design.
The Kalkin House was an exhibition building at Shelburne Museum, Shelburne, Vermont. Designed by New Jersey-based architect and artist Adam Kalkin, it opened on June 1, 2001. The prefabricated building was made of three trans-oceanic shipping containers housed within a commercially produced metal shell, supplied by Cameron Construction Company, Ferrisburgh, Vermont. The two-story structure also included two glass garage doors and a pair of metal grid balconies. The balcony on the north side of the house projects from the wall, and is thus described by Kalkin as the "male" side of the house.
The RIBA President's Medals are international awards presented annually by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) to architecture students or recent graduates. Participation is by direct invitation only to over 500 schools of architecture located in 100 countries. Schools are invited to nominate up to 2 entries for the Bronze Medal, up to 2 entries for the Silver Medal, and 1 entry for the Dissertation Medal. In 2023, a record 238 entries were received from 103 schools located in 35 countries.
Michael Young is a British industrial designer and creative director based in Hong Kong. He works in the areas of product, furniture and interior design with studios in Hong Kong and Brussels. He is known for unconventional use of materials and manufacturing processes, and collaborations with brands such as Brionvega, Cappellini, KEF, La Manufacture, and MOKE International. He is interested in "how disruption in society always has a design response, because it usually creates a need for things that perform."
Parametric design is a design method in which features, such as building elements and engineering components, are shaped based on algorithmic processes rather than direct manipulation. In this approach, parameters and rules establish the relationship between design intent and design response. The term parametric refers to the input parameters that are fed into the algorithms.
Fortress House was a building with its main entrance at 23 Savile Row in London W1, also including 5–9 New Burlington Street. It was built in 1949–50 to a design by Anthony Lloyd, and demolished in 2009.
Setsu and Shinobu Ito are Japanese designers. Their work is stored as permanent collections in the Modern Art Museums in Munich, Germany and Milan, Italy.