Pete Silver & Will McLean
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.
Background
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 is 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 groundbreaking, if controversial work, on post-war housing regeneration. Silver is a director of the Chartered Practice Architects (CPA) Ltd. His current work involves prototyping new structural (diagrid) frameworks from torsional elastic helixes.
Collaborative career
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. They have co-authored four architecture books: Fabrication: the designer's guide (Architectural Press), Introduction to Architectural Technology (Laurence King Publishing - available in 7 languages), Structural Engineering for Architects: A Handbook (Laurence King Publishing, co-authored with engineer Peter Evans - available in 4 languages) and Air Structures (Laurence King Publishing). They co-curate a highly successful public lecture series,
Bibliography
Books
- Frazer J.H (1995), An Evolutionary Architecture, Themes VII, Architectural Association, London, UK. (Contributions by Silver) (out of print but free download at http://www.aaschool.ac.uk/publications/ea/intro.html)
- Silver, Pete and McLean, William and Veglio, Simon (2006) Fabrication: the designers guide: the illustrated works of twelve specialist UK fabricators, Architectural Press, Oxford, UK. ISBN 0-7506-6558-0
- Silver, Pete and McLean, William (2008) An Introduction to Architectural Technology, Laurence King, London, UK ISBN 978-1-85669-566-4 (Second Edition published 2013)
- Silver, Pete and McLean, William and Evans, Peter (2014) Structural Engineering for Architects: A Handbook, Laurence King, London, UK ISBN 978 -1-78067-055-3
- McLean, William and Silver, Pete (2015) Air Structures, Laurence King (in the series Form + Technique), London, UKISBN 978-1-78067-482-7
- McLean, William (2008) Quik Build: Adam Kalkin’s ABC of Container Architecture, Bibliothèque McLean, London, UK ISBN 978-0-9558868-0-5
- (Also in the series Form + Technique, see: Rivas Adrover, Esther (2015) Deployable Structures, Laurence King, London, UK ISBN 978-1-78067-483-4)
Periodicals
- Pete Silver and Peter Fluck (2001) Non-Linear dynamical Systems, In: A.D. Magazine, Architectural Design Profile No 123.
- Silver et al., (2001) Prototypical Applications of Cybernetic Systems in Architectural Contexts, In: Kybernetes, Volume 30 Number 7/8.
- McLean, William (2005–2009) McLean's nuggets. In: Architectural Design (various). Wiley, hichester, UK.
Hosted Lectures
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:
- Simon Allford
- Will Alsop
- Michael F. Ashby
- Philip Ball
- Botsford, Gianni
- Carr-Smith, Dave
- Cripps, Andrew
- De Rijke, Alex
- John Frazer
- Thomas Heatherwick
- Richard Horden
- Eva Jiricna
- Hanif Kara
- Patrick Keiller
- David George Kendall
- Alastair Lansley
- Tim Macfarlane of Dewhurst Macfarlane and Partners
- Sugata Mitra
- Morris, Ben Vector Foiltec
- Pawley, Martin
- Pellegrino, Sergio James Watt International Medal
- Cedric Price
- Ridsdill-Smith, Roger Ove Arup
- Esther Rivas Adrover
- Rupert Sheldrake
- Adam Somlai Fischer
- Vincent, Julien
- Zerning, John
Former students
References
- Bruce McLean has been engaging with architecture for over twenty years through an ongoing collaboration with Will Alsop on such buildings as the proposed 151 City Road, London: http://www.skyscrapernews.com/news.php?ref=866
- http://www.architectureandhygiene.com (free download)
- Bavister is an architect and founding member of Audialsense. Please refer to http://www.audialsense.com/tate.html, and Bavister, ‘Mapping the Invisible Landscape: An Exercise in Spatially Choreographed Sound’, in AD: Protoarchitecture: Analogue and Digital Hybrids, (London: Wiley, July 2008)
- Interactive Designer. Please refer to Interactive architecture, Onedotzero, and http://www.jasonbruges.com/
- Founder of London architectural practice (HûT). Please refer to http://hutarchitecture.com
- Interactive designer. Please refer to http://www.haque.co.uk/, Interactive architecture, and Singapore Biennale
- Interactive Designer and researcher. Please refer to http://www.chrisleung.org/
- Architect, head of Goldsmiths'postgraduate architecture department and member of the Center for Place, Culture and Politics