'Best practice in knowledge transfer between academia and industry’

An innovative design project between chapmanbdsp and university students has been hailed a success for showing ‘best practice in knowledge transfer between academia and industry’.

The Collaborative Thesis Project paired students at the University of Westminster with industry experts with the aim of creating innovative environmental solutions that bridge the gap between academia and industry.

Students Samy Firad and Salome Berechikidze have now graduated with distinctions at the course of MSc Architecture and Environmental Design and won three awards for their collaborative project work with chapmanbdsp, an engineering and design consultancy.

The pair were teamed with Kartikeya Rajput, senior environmental engineer at chapmanbdsp, who mentored both students and attended workshops and meetings during the nine-month course.

Kartikeya, who helped organise the collaboration for chapmandbsp, said: ‘It has been our first collaboration with students and we're delighted that our effort of sharing industry knowledge and experience has been greatly paid off. The hard work of our students has been recognised and awarded by the different institutions as well.'

Dr Rosa Schiano-Phan, leader of the MSc Architecture and Environmental Design course added: 'Samy’s and Salome’s final thesis projects benefited immensely from the collaboration with chapmanbdsp and the invaluable input that Kartikeya Rajput made to the development of their work.

'The partnership between chapmnbdsp and University of Westminster has been extremely successful both for the breadth of the topics chosen by our students and the relevance of their research projects, representing best practice in knowledge transfer between academia and industry.'

Salome’s ‘Spatial Mapping of Thermal Comfort I.E. Comfort Maps as Design Tool’ thesis, which which looked at better connections between scientific understanding, design interpretation and actual human behavioural responses, won first prize in the research category at the Latitudes Global Studio Summit 2018. The project was also commended in the Jila Golzari Award 2018. Salome said: ‘Since I've only worked in academic setting, my project would never be the same if not the teamwork with Kartikeya, kindly provided by Chapmanbdsp,’

Samy’s ‘Study and Adaptive Retrofit of a Protected Courtyard Building in the Kasbah of Algiers’ thesis, which reflected on the western world's timeless interest in the traditional architecture of historical cities of North Africa and was based on how to bring the old, passive techniques back in modern household design, was awarded a commendation for best paper at the Masters Conference 2018, People and Buildings.

‘I feel immensely grateful to get the opportunity of undertaking a collaborative thesis project with a practice as influential as chapmanbdsp,’ Samy said. ‘Kartikeya pushed me to focus on a realistic and programmatic vision of the final result and instigated me to understand the holistic approach in every design decision instead of restraining the scope on academic simple quantification. I will never forget this unique experience.’

With more than 230 staff across five offices, chapmanbdsp has delivered award-winning projects in more than 30 countries. The company recently won the CIBSE Building Simulation Group Prize and creates environmental design solutions, on large mixed-use developments through to one-off private residences, that make buildings more sustainable.

PHOTOS:

Main photo. Students, teachers and industry mentors celebrate the success of the project. From left Mehrdad Borna (VL), Dr Juan Vallejo (VL), Dr Rosa Schino-Phan (Course leader), Prof Peter Bonfield (Vice Chancellor and President) and Kartikeya Rajput (Chapmanbdsp).

Middle photos. Salome being awarded a prize at the Latitudes Global Studio Summit 2018 and in the next picture the Jila Golzari Award

Bottom photo. Samy being awarded a commendation at the Masters Conference 2018.