>> My name is Don Gray, I'm Head of Kent School of Architecture.
>> I'd spotted an opportunity over a drama yard in the piazza behind the School of Architecture.
>> I approached the University for the air rights to that yard.
>> They bought into that and ran a competition for a new digital 'crit' space for the School of Architecture.
>> We actually had a lack of space and the environment we worked in last year was a bit cluttered.
>> Now, this is actually a really pleasant environment to work in.
>> Airy, spacious, all the things you need to take a step back, relax and open up your project.
>> Personally, I think it does work. The light is right. The way you can close the wooden shutter blinds and when you're actually presenting make the room dark. It's the really simple things that make this room work but I think it's been pulled off really well. Really, really elegant.
>> I can't fault it so far, I'll let you know if I can.
>> Primarily, we've used it for tutorials. A tutor will come in and will either go over a lecture we've had earlier that day or they're just keeping an eye on our own personal progress.
>> So it's a very intimate space, you know, very 'one-on-one'. I remember when it first went up and I looked at it and it was rippling and sort of moving with me. So I actually stopped and looked at it and it carried on moving, so I thought maybe it was one of those optical illusions that moved with you. Then I realised they were plates moving in the wind and I thought it was great. I think it's a really great facade.
>> I always thought if you were an architect you're not just designing buildings, you're affecting people with buildings that people live and work in. I think it's really nice when you're helping people, so to speak. You design a nice building, you've improved their lifestyle.
>> And if you surround yourself with good architecture then hopefully it does rub off.
>> I think it's important if you're a school of architecture, if you have the opportunity to build new, that it's a marker for your ambition and I think the digital 'crit' space does that.
>> So I'm delighted, of course, that it won Facade of the Year in World Architecture News and delighted that it was on the cover of The Architects' Journal.
>> That means it's not just a digital 'crit' space that's of use to our students, but it's also a piece of architecture that's been recognised by our peers.