The AA Foundation course is a one-year introduction to an art- and design-based education. It allows students to develop their conceptual ideas through experimenting with a wide range of media and creative disciplines. Students are taught in an intimate studio-based environment and work on both individual and group projects. Drawing on a number of pedagogical practices, experienced tutors and visiting practitioners, the Foundation offers a unique cross-disciplinary education within the context of an archi- tectural school.

Cooking Up A Storm

'The Flavour Thesaurus... is a patchwork of facts, connections, impressions and recollections, designed less to tell you exactly what to do than to provide the spark for your own recipe or adaptation.' – Niki Segnit, The Flavour Thesaurus 2010

In Season

Using the culinary arts as a reference we will choose specific scales, sites, materials, scenarios and identities as ingredients for the creative process. By identifying the simmering points in such precedents as Gregory Crewdson's photography, the curious garments of Hussein Chalayan and the mnemonic leftovers in Tacita Dean's films, the Foundation cohort will develop work with personal, cultural and contextual resonances.

Chop, Mix, Add

Projects will range in scale from the hand-held to the reported and mapped, with bespoke workshops providing students with the skills to develop their individual projects. Students will work with photography, drawing, painting, model-making, casting, mapping, material studies, form, structure, pattern cutting, millinery, sewing, weaving, textiles, carpentry, performance, lighting and filmmaking. After developing their skills in observation and visual and verbal representation, they will use their initial work as research to develop a final project, which will complete the portfolio and provide a personal reflection on their creative journey over the year.

Consume & Digest

A series of field trips will allow students to broaden their understanding of culture and context. These experiences will include tours of London, a trip to a European city, gallery visits and residential stays at Hooke Park. Lectures in history and theory and discussions with visiting artists will stimulate dialogue within the studio and help define students' work. Throughout the year students will concoct their own intellectual ambitions and feast at the boundaries of their experience and personal development.

Bios

Foundation Director

Saskia Lewis has taught at the AA since 2001. She practised in New York, Paris and London and has taught at many London schools of art and architecture. She is co-author and photographer of Architectural Voices: Listening to Old Buildings (Wiley, 2007).

Studio Staff

Takako Hasegawa was born in Tokyo and educated at the AA. Working on the periphery of architecture, art and performance. She also teaches at Chelsea College of Art and Design.