You might decide against nuclear power because you believe that all our future energy requirements can be met by renewables; that all the required assets can be delivered in time to decarbonise; and that the overall context and incentives are right for this to happen.

Even though I am there to help the students, I don't think it is only about them benefiting from the experience.I believe it is hugely important for architects to stay involved in architectural education, not only in order to help tutor the next generation of architects, but also to take inspiration, ideas and thought processes from student work back into real world practice.

At University we are encouraged to create provoking, abstract, sensitive, conceptual and sometimes impossible design briefs and projects, testing the limits of the designer and the possibilities of architecture; skills that should never be forgotten.. BW: What and who does a crit typically involve?.M: A crit involves the students individually presenting their design work project to a panel of critics.The panel is typically made up of their tutors, visiting tutors from either the same university or another one, external academics, recent graduates and other external people working in or somehow involved in design, architecture or the built environment.

The student pins up all their printed sheets on the wall and is then given a set amount of time to explain their work, the design process, the inspiration and their proposal, which is then followed by feedback by the panel and a critical discussion on how to push the project forward and improve it.. BW: What areas are assessed?.M: The students are primarily assessed on their ability to critically develop a design brief, analyse and propose a solution, which responds to the needs of the users and society.

On top of this, it is also important to develop a successful and clear way of explaining and presenting their ideas through a range of media, such as drawings, sketches, models and collages as well as through verbal presentation.. BW: When you participated in crits as a student, what were the benefits of them and how did they help your development as an architect/designer?.

Thinking back, I actually think one incredibly important benefit was learning that sometimes you need to step back from your work in order to take it forwards, not only physically by pinning up your work on the wall and watching it from a distance, but also through bouncing ideas off other people and understanding great design comes out of discussions and talking to others, whether they are your tutors, strangers, friends or family.Digital tools and spatial analysis are strongly linked; it is through the spatial analysis work that we have derived the rules that underpin our configurators.

for housing and schools respectively, or computational design workflows such as.Rapid Engineering Model.

(REM) for Highways England, or.Rail: Automated Infrastructure Design.