Jane Anderson

National Teaching Fellow 2014 'I love beginnings' is a wonderful quotation from a lecture given by the architect Louise Kahn at the 1972 International Design Conference, Aspen, Colorado. For Jane Anderson, beginnings are synonymous with learning. Each moment of realisation is a beginning. Unusually she started her teaching career with an extended period of observation in the architectural design studio. Her teaching practice is still informed by her study of the dynamic between student and tutor. Jane practiced as an architect in Germany and the UK, particularly enjoying working with pupils and teachers to design school buildings. She balanced this with teaching in the progressive year-one design studio led by Professor Ruth Morrow at the University of Sheffield. This imparted a belief that year-one students are capable of tackling complex problems. At Oxford Brookes University she runs OB1 LIVE, a radical programme of real live projects designed and implemented by students for the local community. Past projects include a moveable ticket booth for an outdoor theatre company and an exhibition of archaeological artefacts. These projects often have implications beyond the initial premise. One student commented: "My involvement in Live Projects has always been so different from other educational experiences. Fundamentally because they're real and physical. Something that affects people, their lives, often having political and social impact." Jane is co-founder of the Live Projects Network, an international online resource to connect students, academics, practitioners and clients involved in live projects. The site features a diverse range of case study projects from across the world and is a repository for live project resources. She has written extensively on the subject of live project pedagogies and co-authored a widely accepted definition of the contested term, live project. Currently investigating the extension of live pedagogies into other disciplines such as healthcare, Jane is also collaborating with an archaeologist and furniture designer to co-edit a book on the relationship between people, objects and buildings. She is author of Architectural Design, a guidebook to the design studio for students and new tutors that connects the worlds of architectural practice and education.