Architecture alumn featured in V&A exhibition
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Published
02 October 2024
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Structures made by University of East London alumnus and Director of Studio Bark, Nick Newman are being featured in the Victoria and Albert Museum’s (V&A) latest exhibition ‘Barricade and Beacon’. Known as U-Build, his designs are modular, plywood boxes, which have been used in Extinction Rebellion protests, and were first tested in a workshop at UEL, where Mr Newman frequently collaborates.
Mr Newman studied for his MA in Architecture part 2 at UEL’s Docklands campus where he was taught by Michele Roelofsma, Sofie Pelsmakers, and Mark Heyduk, who offered a hands-on approach, from model making with Michele to printmaking with Mark. He said, Ms Pelsmakers was particularly influential in his career, pushing his environmental design understanding and connecting him with his first employer. It was at UEL that he also met Wilf Meynell, co-founder of Studio Bark.
During his time as a student, Mr Newman enjoyed Construction Week as it helped him develop his love of timber and carpentry. During the course, he built an outdoor shelter with Craig Bamford, also a UEL alumnus. Mr Newman now runs the workshops as part of Studio Bark and is glad to see students develop. He said,
It has been wonderful to pick up the baton and keep running new Construction Week workshops. They really inspired me to think leftfield about what architecture could be, and I hope we push the new cohort of students to do the same."
Mr Newman collaborated with a team of UEL students to develop the first U-Build prototype building as part of a workshop by Studio Bark. While he had already designed the structure itself, the students designed a modular cladding system and window during the workshop. They also got to assemble the whole building from scratch.
U-Build is a self-build system that empowers anyone to design and build their own customizable houses, cabins, interior fit-outs, and community projects. The system is customizable without limitation, and completely portable so can easily move locations. The boxes were self-built by climate change protesters Extinction Rebellion (XR) to create lock-on sites, towers, and stages for London protests.
As a supporter of the group’s cause, the collaboration with XR was close to Mr Newman’s heart. He said, “The BYOB (bring your own box) UEL Construction Week project designs were successful in helping XR occupy Trafalgar Square for two weeks, which was an amazing achievement. I joined XR as I think it's really important to think outside the realms of the profession and to also engage as a citizen on matters of societal importance. When these two worlds overlap, you get something really meaningful, like the structures for XR.”
The Barricade and Beacon exhibition explores the intersection between architecture and activism and focuses attention on the role architects, designers, and citizens can play in lobbying for change. The display features two structures: Barricade, made from U-Build units; and Beacon, fabricated from bamboo and based on designs by Extinction Rebellion. The exhibition is free and open to the public until Friday, 28 February 2025.
The exhibition also coincides with Newman’s new book ‘Protest Architecture’ with RIBA Publishing. His book explores the unique intersection between architecture and activism in historical moments of societal change, including the U-builds from XR.
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