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Prof Bob Sheil
Bartlett School of Architecture
22 Gordon Street
London
WC1H 0QB
Prof Bob Sheil profile picture
Appointment
  • Professor of Architecture and Design through Production
  • The Bartlett School of Architecture
  • Faculty of the Built Environment
Biography

Bob Sheil is Professor in Architecture and Design through Production at The Bartlett School of Architecture UCL.


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 ‘Design Transactions: Rethinking Information Modelling for a New Material Age’ (UCL Press 2020, Ed),

 

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 four volume series has generated more than 250,000 downloads across more than 120 countries.

Research Groups
Research Themes
Research Summary

In the post digital age, as new tools have dissolved boundaries between the drawn and the made, Bob Sheil argues that how we design has become of equal importance to what we design, and that furthermore, the role and skillset of the designer has been presented with an unprecedented opportunity to expand and diversify. His research is focused on experiments in the production of architecture where questions are developed through integrated acts of design, making and writing. His work explores the complex relationship between design and making, and in particular how this relationship affects and determines the architectural outcome. He looks 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.

Teaching Summary

With over 25 years experience, Bob's 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.

Appointments
2014 – 2022 Director of School Bartlett School of Architecture UCL, United Kingdom
2012 Professor in Architecture and Design through Production Bartlett School of Architecture UCL, United Kingdom
2011 Founder and Co-Chair FABRICATE Triennal International Conference  , United Kingdom
2011 PhD Supervisor Bartlett School of Architecture UCL, United Kingdom
2009 – 2016 Director of Technology Bartlett School of Architecture UCL, United Kingdom
2005 – 2009 Programme Coordinator MArch Architecture (ARB/RIBA Part 2) Bartlett School of Architecture UCL, United Kingdom
2005 – 2012 Senior Lecturer Bartlett School of Architecture UCL, United Kingdom
2003 – 2014 Design Tutor MArch Architecture (PG23) Bartlett School of Architecture UCL, United Kingdom
2000 – 2004 Architecture Technology Coordinator Bartlett School of Architecture UCL, United Kingdom
1999 – 2005 Lecturer in Architecture Bartlett School of Architecture UCL, United Kingdom
1997 – 2003 Design Tutor BSc Architecture (UG6) Bartlett School of Architecture UCL, United Kingdom
1997 – 1999 Teaching Fellow Bartlett School of Architecture UCL, United Kingdom
1995 – 2000 Workshop Supervisor and Tutor Bartlett School of Architecture UCL, United Kingdom
1995 – 1997 Artist-in-Residence Bartlett School of Architecture UCL, United Kingdom
1994 Founding Partner sixteen*(makers)  , United Kingdom
Academic Background
1994   Diploma of Architecture University College London
1991   Bachelor of Science University College London
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