Open Studio is an interactive project run by the School of Architecture + Cities at the University of Westminster to make its design, research and practice-based work available online while it is happening. The site acts as a real time teaching and learning environment in which the work of both students and staff is curated and documented – the work of its design studios, or its other teaching and research groups and workshops. Read more in Blog, follow us on Twitter and like us on Instagram.
When: Wednesday, 16th of November, 13:00-14:00 (GMT)
Where: Online
The next Architecture + Cities Research Seminar will be by Mengqui Cao, titled “The Sharing Economy: Car sharing in Greater London.” It will be an online event, and you can access the link here.
All staff and students are welcome to attend.
When: Thursday, 10th of November, 6pm (GMT)
Where: ONLINE (Due to the London Underground strike action)
Dr. Pooja Basnett is a lecturer in Biological Sciences. She received a Cavendish scholarship from the University of Westminster to complete a PhD in Applied Biotechnology titled ‘Biosynthesis of Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) and their application in medical device development’. Following her PhD, she worked as a lead postdoc in the European Union-funded project – ReBioStent aimed at developing drug-eluting biodegradable stents. She also worked as a postdoc on other EU projects – NEURIMP which focused on the development of nerve conduits for peripheral nerve repair; POLYBIOSKIN – aimed at developing biocompatible and biodegradable skin contact products. She was also involved in an EPSRC funded project titled CYCLOPS which focused on the development of a wound healing patch with Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Pooja’s research focuses on the production of bioplastics using bacteria and their application in medicine – she is also exploring other potential uses. Basnett has worked on producing novel biopolymers such as polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) via bacterial fermentation process using a range of waste streams. PHAs are naturally occurring biodegradable polymers and are a potential replacement for some petrochemical-based plastics.
https://technicalstudies.tumblr.com/
For details contact: Will McLean
When: Thursday, 3rd of November, 6pm (GMT)
Where: M416, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, NW1 5LS + Livestream (see Tumblr Site below)
Steve Webb founded Webb Yates Engineers with Andy Yates in 2005. Steve started his career as a site engineer for the Jubilee Line Extension, gaining first-hand experience of site issues and subterranean construction in London. He went on to work at Whitby Bird and Sinclair Knight Merz and Santiago Calatrava, where he worked on prestigious projects including Wembley Arena and the Turning Torso tower in Sweden, a 58-storey residential tower with a dramatic twisting form achieved with a hybrid steel and concrete frame.
Steve is interested in combining imagination with technical rigour to create thoughtful and inventive structural designs. Since founding the company, he has led a number of prestigious and multi award-winning projects including 15 Clerkenwell Close with Amin Taha and the repurposing of the landmark Hoover Building into residential accommodation.
Steve has pioneered the practice’s approach to innovation and sustainability. Encouraging the use of non-conventional materials, from cast iron to cork and from inflatables to stone, to design low carbon and environmentally conscious structures.
In 2020 Steve was awarded the Milne Medal, for continuously challenge and redefine what is considered possible in structural design.
Steve also regularly lectures at universities and events and he has taught at the AA, RCA, and the Bartlett. He has also written for industry magazines including BD and the RIBAJ, and has judged various awards for the RIBA and iStructE.
https://technicalstudies.tumblr.com/
For details contact: Will McLean
When: Thursday, 27th of October, 6pm (BST)
Where: M416, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, NW1 5LS + Online
Emma Hilton Grange is an Associate Architect at Bryden Wood who has worked at the practice since 2019. Emma has been involved in several projects at the practice including developing a modular housing scheme for L&G Modular Homes, expanding her knowledge in DfMA and offsite construction working on projects such as kit of parts system for a bespoke housing company Kiss House, as well as number of healthcare projects.
Emma is an alumna of the University of Westminster – During her Master’s degree, Emma developed a keen interest in research-based, and data led design, with her design projects being led by environmental data collected on site, and through desktop research, leading her to working at Bryden Wood. Bryden Wood is a global company of creative technologists, designers, architects, engineers and analysts. They are shaping the future of construction by bringing integrated expertise, innovation, deep experience, open minds and creativity to unravel the most complex problems and create exceptional, sustainable design solutions – all for a better built environment. Bryden Wood are leaders in the theory and practice of Modern Methods of Construction (MMC), the Platform approach to Design for Manufacture and Assembly (P-DfMA), generative design, creative technologies, integrated design and automation in construction.
Emma will be joined by her colleagues Helen Hough, Head of Sustainability, and Nicola Moriarty, Structural Director both who have lead their disciplines in many of the practices most prominent schemes, such as The Forge, the UKs first net zero carbon commercial development using PDfMA.
https://technicalstudies.tumblr.com/
For details contact: Will McLean
When: Monday, 31st of October, 13:00-14:00 (GMT)
Where: M416, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, NW1 5LS + Online
The next Architecture + Cities Research Seminar will be by Enrica Papa, Emilia Smeds and Tom Cohen, on their work within the EXTRA project, Experimenting with City Streets to Transform Urban Mobility. It will be a hybrid event in M416, with the virtual link here.
All staff and students are welcome to attend.
When: Tuesday, 8th of November, 16.00 – 18.00
Where: M309, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Rd, NW1 5LS
ArCCAT will be screening the recording of How to Save the Planet: Degrowth v Green Growth, a debate between Jason Hickle and Samuel Fankhauser moderated by Kate Raworth.
The screening will be followed by a short discussion.
All are welcome to attend.
Ann-Melody Akanji from Year 2, BA Architecture took part in RA Young People’s Programme: We Built This City as part of ‘John Hejduk: London Masque’. The works produced as a part of this programme are currently on display at the Royal Academy of Arts, London.
In Ann-Melody’s own words the display is:
“a selection of drawings and an experimental model exploring the themes surrounding John Hejduk’s London Masque and architecture of the imagination as part of a group exhibition. Mark Hampson (Head of Material Processes at RA/Senior Fellow at the RCA) led the week of making and challenged our understanding of architecture as an extension of personal creativity and agency.”
Deadline for expression of interest: Monday, October 31, 2022
We invite interdisciplinary participants from, but not limited to, the field of arts, architecture, landscape, environmental studies/ecology and anthropology to take part in a 6 Day Workshop which will explore more-than-human entanglements and environmental relationships drawing on the waterways in Kochi, Kerala.
With a thorough interdisciplinary orientation to the case study of Kochi, the workshop will engage a range of questions concerning the human and other-than-human dimensions of environmental change and the effect of such change on the environment and society.
The workshop will ask participants to engage with the creation of an assemblage of knowledge and engagement through a ‘more than human’ approach. To do this we will activate a number of activities in which we explore the waterways using techniques which borrow from vernacular practices, the animal world, and an ecological framing around New Materialism. The workshop will instigate a process of how to engage creatively with life on an endangered planet.
Activities will engage with space-related topics, peers, and invited guests in a common workshop setting complemented by lectures, excursions and gatherings. Good proficiency in English is preferred.
For pre-enrolment, please fill in the online form on the link below by October 31, 2022.
Workshop shout_Wet Urbanisms, Liquid Futures.
The workshop is free of charge. Participants are expected to organize and pay for their own travel, visas, food, and accommodation.
The workshop is part of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale. Framed by the theme “In our Veins Flow Ink and Fire” we will address the question formulated by the curators of this year’s edition: “What do we find when we listen, read, record, think and make?”
+ info on the Biennale at kochimuzirisbiennale.org
The workshop is curated and facilitated by Dr. Corinna Dean and Duarte Santo
Additional information by email to c.dean@westminster.ac.uk and duarte.santo@cornell.edu
When: Thursday, 20th of October at 7pm
Where: Fabrication Lab, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Rd, NW1 5LS
Join us for the launch of Experiments with Body Agent Architecture, with a reading by the author, Dr Alessandro Ayuso. This event is a part of ‘The Knowledge Exchange’ initiated by Fabrication Lab.
Please RSVP through the link provided here.
When: Thursday, 20th of October, 6pm (BST)
Where: M416, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, NW1 5LS + Online
Dr László Tálas is a Lecturer in Animal Sensing and Biometrics at the Bristol Veterinary School, whose research interests concern computational approaches to applied vision and questions lying at the intersection of sensory biology, psychology, history and art. László is particularly passionate about how visual scenes can be “understood” using computer vision and what comparisons can be drawn with biological visual systems. His current research focuses on early automatic disease detection in animals using thermal imaging and deep learning, while also running projects on investigating optimal colouration for concealment and visibility in animals and humans.
László’s PhD work focused on how camouflage uniform patterns have evolved since the early 20th century, using methods from computer vision to establish similarity metrics between patterns and phylogenetics to model how patterns of allied / hostile countries have influenced each other’s designs.
https://technicalstudies.tumblr.com/
For details contact: Will McLean
