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- Professor of Architecture and Design through Production
- The Bartlett School of Architecture
- Faculty of the Built Environment
Bob Sheil is Professor in Architecture and Design through Production at The Bartlett School of Architecture UCL, and Director of School since 2014.
He is an educator, critic, researcher, collaborator and practitioner, as well as an experimental designer who is fascinated by transgression between making, craft, and technology, in architectural design practice. He started out as a researcher practitioner as a founding partner of sixteen*(makers) in 1994, whose work in collaboration with Stahlbogen GmbH ‘55/02’ won a RIBA award for design in 2010. Recent projects involve collaboration with the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, SHUNT, ScanLAB projects, and Thomas Pearce.
He is the author of multiple book chapters, refereed papers, and articles on design, making and technology. He has co-designed and built 6 significant artefacts/built works, and been internationally exhibited on 11 occasions. He has edited six books, including three issues of Architectural Design; ‘Design through Making’ (2005), ‘Protoarchitecture’ (2008), ‘High Definition’ (2014), an AD Reader ‘Manufacturing the Bespoke’ published in 2012, ‘55/02: A sixteen*(makers) Monograph’ (also 2012) and
He is a Co-Founder of the highly acclaimed international triennial conference 'FABRICATE', for which he was Co-Chair and Co-Editor in 2011 (London) 2017 (Zurich), and 2020 (online) alongside Conference Chairs Jenny Sabin and Jane Burry. FABRICATE was also one of the open access pioneers of UCL Press and together the 2011, 2014, 2017 and 2020 publications have been downloaded more than 200,000 times across more than 120 countries.




In the post digital age, as new tools have dissolved boundaries between the drawn and the made, how we design has become of equal importance to what we design. Both the role and skillset of the designer has been presented with an unprecedented opportunity to expand and diversify. My research is focused on experiments in the production of architecture where questions are developed through integrated acts of design, making and writing. My work explores the complex relationship between design and making, and in particular how this relationship affects and determines the architectural outcome. I look upon this field as ‘Protoarchitecture’, a speculative approach to architectural production that seeks to create and hypothesize alternative and simultaneous approaches to making architecture, involving varied methodologies of design, and varied methodologies of making.
Selected Publications
Burry, J., Sabin, J., Sheil, R., Skavara, M. (2020) FABRICATE - Making Resilient Architecture (1st ed.). UCL Press
Menges, A., Sheil, R., Glynn, R., Skavara, M. (2017) FABRICATE - Rethinking Design and Construction (1st ed.). UCL Press
Sheil, R. (2014). High Definition: Zero Tolerance in Design and Production. Architectural Design: London: John Wiley & Sons.
Sheil, R., Callicott, N., Ayres, P., & Sharpe, P. (2012). 55/02 A sixteen*(makers) Project Monograph. Toronto: Riverside Architectural Press.
Sheil, R. (2012). Manufacturing the Bespoke. London and New York: : John Wiley & Sons.
Sheil, R., & Glynn, R. (2011) FABRICATE - Making Digital Architecture (1st ed.). Toronto: Riverside Architectural Press.
Sheil, R. (2008). Protoarchitecture: Analogue and Digital Hybrids. Architectural Design: London: John Wiley & Sons.
Sheil, R. (2005). Design through Making. Architectural Design: London: John Wiley & Sons.
My approach to teaching stems from workshop experimentation, physical and tactile engagement with the production of design, exposure to a broad field of evolving technologies and tooling, and a motive to challenge the expected norms of architectural practice and its disciplinary habits. This practice has been distinguished by its dedication to learning by doing, and its critical approach to drawing as an iterative and cyclical process associated with instructions to make.
01-JAN-2014 | Director of School | Bartlett School of Architecture | UCL, United Kingdom |
2013 | Chair of Frozen Relic & Other Absent Landscapes Symposium | Architectural Association, United Kingdom | |
2013 | EngD Internal Examiner | UCL, United Kingdom | |
2012 | Professor in Architecture and Design through Production | University College London, United Kingdom | |
2012 | Speaker at Bartlett Means Business Event | UCL, United Kingdom | |
2012 | Author ‘cMADE’ Report on Bartlett Workshop Future | UCL, United Kingdom | |
2012 | Member Steering Committee | UCL Institute of Making/MakeSpace, United Kingdom | |
2012 | Wates House Refurb / Chair Workshop Consultation Group | UCL, United Kingdom | |
2011 | PhD Supervisor | Bartlett School of Architecture | University College London, United Kingdom |
2011 | Chair | Bartlett School of Architecture Technology Forum | UCL, United Kingdom |
2011 – 2011 | Module Coordinator on Design Realisation | UCL, United Kingdom | |
2011 | Acting Module Coordinator on Design Realisation | UCL, United Kingdom | |
2011 | Member of Bartlett/UCL academission to Chongqing, Changsha a | UCL, United Kingdom | |
2010 | Administrator | Bartlett Leverhulme Student Mentorships | UCL, United Kingdom |
01-SEP-2009 | Director of Technology & Computing | The Bartlett School of Architecture | UCL, United Kingdom |
2009 – 2012 | Enterprise Coordinator (Architecture School) | Bartlett School of Architecture | University College London, United Kingdom |
2009 | Director of Technology and Computing | Bartlett School of Architecture | University College London, United Kingdom |
2009 | Advisor and Research Coordinator | FARO-UCL 3D scanning equipment loan (Valued at £100k) | UCL, United Kingdom |
01-SEP-2005 – 31-AUG-2009 | Director of Graduate Diploma/MArch in Architecture | The Bartlett School of Architecture | UCL, United Kingdom |
01-SEP-2005 | Senior Lecturer in Architecture | The Bartlett School of Architecture | UCL, United Kingdom |
2005 – 2009 | Director of Graduate Diploma/MArch in Architecture | Bartlett School of Architecture | University College London, United Kingdom |
2005 – 2012 | Senior Lecturer | University College London, United Kingdom | |
2005 – 2009 | Co-Coordinator | Bartlett International Lecture Series | UCL, United Kingdom |
2005 – 2009 | Postgraduate Admissions Tutor | UCL, United Kingdom | |
2005 – 2009 | Academic advisor to Digital Manufacturing Centre | Digital Manufacturing Centre | UCL, United Kingdom |
2004 – 2005 | Project Manager | Bartlett Web Information Systems | UCL, United Kingdom |
2004 – 2009 | Administrator | Administrator Bartlett Leverhulme Trust and RSH+P Bursaries | UCL, United Kingdom |
2003 | Tutor Diploma 23 | Bartlett School of Architecture | University College London, United Kingdom |
2003 – 2005 | Instigator and Coordinator | “Making Buildings”’ lecture series | UCL, United Kingdom |
2002 – 2005 | Lecturer in Architecture (Grade B) | University College London, United Kingdom | |
2000 – 2004 | Lecturer in 'Materials and Forming Techniques' | Bartlett School of Architecture | University College London, United Kingdom |
2000 – 2004 | Architecture Technology Coordinator | Bartlett School of Architecture | University College London, United Kingdom |
2000 – 2005 | Faculty Webmaster / IS Developer | Bartlett School of Architecture | University College London, United Kingdom |
2000 – 2009 | BSc Admissions interviewer | UCL, United Kingdom | |
2000 – 2004 | Developer | Bartlett Web Information Systems | UCL, United Kingdom |
01-SEP-1999 – 31-AUG-2005 | Lecturer in Architecture | The Bartlett School of Architecture | UCL, United Kingdom |
1999 – 2002 | Lecturer in Architecture (Grade A) | University College London, United Kingdom | |
01-SEP-1997 – 31-AUG-1999 | Teaching Fellow | The Bartlett | UCL, United Kingdom |
1997 – 2003 | Tutor BSc Unit 6 | Bartlett School of Architecture | University College London, United Kingdom |
1997 – 1999 | College Teacher | University College London, United Kingdom | |
1996 – 1996 | Architectural Assistant (Part 3 experience) | David Quigley Architects, United Kingdom | |
01-SEP-1995 – 31-AUG-1997 | Artist in Residence | The Bartlett | UCL, United Kingdom |
1995 – 2000 | Workshop Supervisor and Tutor | Bartlett School of Architecture | University College London, United Kingdom |
1995 – 1997 | Artist-in-Residence | University College London, United Kingdom | |
1994 | Founding Partner | Sixteen Makers, United Kingdom | |
1993 | Architectural Assistant | Morgan Gregorczyk Architects, United Kingdom | |
1991 – 1991 | Job Runner | 15th Century Tower (private), United Kingdom | |
1990 – 1992 | Architectural Assistant | Jestico and Whiles Architects NW1, United Kingdom | |
1988 – 1996 | Architectural Assistant / Job Runner | Northington Street Group Practice, United Kingdom | |
1988 | Architectural Assistant Sheppard | Epstein and Hunter Architects, United Kingdom | |
1987 | Job Runner | John Brunton Partnership, United Kingdom | |
1985 | Architectural Assistant | F.G. Frizzell and Partners EC1, United Kingdom | |
1985 – 1987 | Job Runner | Douglas Paskin Associates, United Kingdom |
1994 | Diploma of Architecture | University College London | |
1991 | Bachelor of Science | University College London |