Continuity in Architecture actively pursue a Future for the Already Built. This search for an alternative to the expected redevelopment of towns, cities, places, landscapes, buildings and interiors is grounded in the theories of Contextualism (Schumacher, 1971). As such, the atelier is committed to the synthesis of urban settings, the teaching of building design, the analysis of craft, and the search for detail and ornament.

This year the MArch students worked closely with BA3 students in partnership with the Shrewsbury Big Town Plan. This collaboration directly linked to ongoing Continuity in Architecture research into the sympathetic development of Small Settlements - producing work that is bold, progressive and future-proof, yet entirely appropriate to place.

Students have produced work with appropriate responses to water and flooding, redundant structures, infill sites and additions to the distinctive skyline. A seminar series titled ‘Remember, Reveal, Construct’ explored texts and contextual precedents. Field trips to Edinburgh and Amsterdam stimulated responses to brick and waterside architecture. Factory visits led to ornamental revival.

MArch 2 students tackled the challenges of intractable sites across the historic core of Shrewsbury, including the historic Town Prison, the Library, the two large empty shopping centres, and the site of an infamous gas explosion. These creative, innovative and progressive projects look towards an uncertain global future by extending what is valued from the collective past.

Let this small monument record the name of Cadman, and to future time proclaim now by'n attempt to fly from this high spire across the Sabrine stream he did acquire his fatal end... The Memorial to Robert Cadman, C18th daredevil

Pushing the boundaries of technology has its dangers, as the spectacular demise of Shrewsbury’s trumpeting hero of the zipwire testifies. Nevertheless, combining theories of Contextualism with apposite case studies, theoretical texts and craft factory visits, we work to expand knowledge through addressing the challenge of difficult sites and awkward buildings in a rapidly changing world.

In the last twelve months, students from the atelier have won the highly prestigious Architect’s Journal ‘Post-Graduate Project of the Year’ prize, were one of just ten architecture student projects in the international magazine: Wallpaper, and have been featured in the graduate issue of Blueprint.

Year 6

Professional Studies

Professional Studies 1

Following guidance from Shrewsbury Council, two housing sites either side of Wyle Cop in the west of Shrewsbury centre were studied by the PS1 teams, looking first at the neighbourhood planning scale, and then at the scale of the block and the home, all in the context of a flood-prone position. With a concern for the people of the town, affordable homes, elderly homes, family homes, co- living, multigenerational living and more were explored, combined with strategies for raising living spaces above the flood level, and creative solutions for managing flood capacity within the site.

Professional Studies 2

The former Shrewsbury School, now a public library, is a group of listed structures in the old heart of the town. Due to be relocated, the current library would soon render the complex vacant. For PS2, students studied the building in fine detail, assessing significance and shortcomings, as well as potential for new uses. The result were proposals for museums, galleries, breweries, hotels, gyms and new specialist study rooms, animated by dramatic tensions between new and old, continuity and disjunction, harmony and dissonance.

For details see our blog.

Students

Year 5

Jamie Boardman, Jack Carter, Lok Yiu Ashley Cheung, Niall Coleman, Heston Harris, Alexander Hughes, Wojciech Jankowski, Ifan Jones, Hamza Khan, Emma Lewis, Valentine Lezius De Seynes, Ajay Mahay, Adil Mulk, Benedetta Nigro, Andrius Ovsiukas, Yuet Wah Poon, Louise Roussie, Yeside Anuoluwatobi Sobowale, Mona Tamaru, Jo Lynn Tan, Jumana Tarazi, Aysha Utsho, Daniel Warren, Hayden Webster and Lucy Hannah Woodward

Year 6

Constantina Alambriti, Tara Aveyard, Abdullahi Banye, Lewis Barker, Nicholas Cheng, Shadath Chowdhury, Chin Kiu Justin Chung, David Cross, Erin Edmondson, Demi Evmorfopoulou, Christopher Foulkes, Laura Gonzalez Vega, Ben Harmer, Natasha (Keqin) He, Joshua Hunt, Jason Lloyd, Sophia Major, Olivia Marshall, Carmen Maxim, Daria Pavlova, Mark Pearce, Jim Rapanut, Jun Shi, Smriti Solanki, Vasilka Stefanova, Joseph Stooke, Daniel Vella, Paul Wright, Lingling Xie