Blog

Fire Experience Day for Architecture Students

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

On June 9, 2022 a group of staff and students from the School of Architecture + Cities, University of Westminster attended a pilot day hosted by the Fire Service Training College. The experience and information gathered was particularly useful with regard to the new Building Safety Bill and also the incoming RIBA/ARB criteria on Fire and Life Safety Design.

Staff attending:

  • Scott Batty
  • William Mclean

Students from Year 2, BA Architecture:

  • Luke Harvey
  • Ruhsan (Roxan) Sadrettin 
  • Kyrah-Chae Copeland-Thompson

The School hopes to be able to expand to a whole year group next year.

  • KODAK Digital Still Camera
  • KODAK Digital Still Camera

All images by Scott Batty

Dezeen: “University of Westminster spotlights 10 architecture, environmental design and technology projects”

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

Dezeen magazine has featured a selection of 10 students’ projects from the School of Architecture + Cities, University of Westminster.

The featured students are: Asena Koksal (MArch DS25), Edoardo Ripamonti (BSc Architecture and Environmental Design), Jan Macbean (BA Architecture, DS3.3), Joshua Dalsan (BA Architecture, DS3.6), Lilla Porkolab (MArch DS10), Malgorzata Socha (MArch DS15), Nikol Kaso (BA Interior Architecture), Suha Faisal Valiyaveettil (BSc Architecture and Environmental Design), Zhengyao Hu (BA Interior Architecture), Zuzanna Jodlowska (BSc Architectural Technology)

The Dezeen feature can be accessed here.

Featured image: The water healing mosque of Royal Docklands by Suha Faisal Valiyaveettil

OPEN2022 continues until Monday, July 11 in our Marylebone studios

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: June 17 – July 11, daily from 9am-5pm

Where: School of Architecture + Cities, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Rd, NW1 5LS London

OPEN 2022 is a hybrid exhibition of projects that reflect the varied design approaches of the University of Westminster’s School of Architecture + Cities, its diverse students, and their place at the heart of London. The show celebrates the openness and diversity of the University of Westminster’s Architecture and Design students and includes an extensive range of creative student work from first year to graduation, drawing on the vast body of developmental and finished work imagined and realised over the course of the last academic year.

The exhibition features work from:

  • Architecture BA
  • Architecture and Environmental Design BSc
  • Architectural Technology BSc
  • Designing Cities BA
  • Interior Architecture BA
  • MArch (RIBA Part II)

The exhibition continues in our Marylebone studios until Monday, July 11. It is available for viewing from 9am to 5pm, daily. For those unable to visit us in person, the online version of the exhibition can be accessed here.

https://vimeo.com/724434953
OPEN2022 BA Architecture | Film by Bodhi Horton from DS3.4

Photography by Rory Lindsay

LFA 2022 | Make Design Matter Talk: Article 25 & Hayes Davidson “Kao La Amani Children’s Village” | Thursday, June 30, 2022 at 18:30 (BST) at Hayes Davidson Studio

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Thursday, 30th of June 2022 at 6.30pm (BST)

Where: Hayes Davidson Studio, Studio A, 21 Conduit Place, London W2 1HS

In Tanzania, roughly 8% of children under the age of 18 are orphaned with an estimated 90,000 orphans in the northern region of Kilimanjaro alone.

Over fifteen years of humanitarian architectural experience have shown them how architecture can create a positive lasting impact. The Kao La Amani Children’s Village in Tanzania (https://www.article-25.org/project-kao-la-amani) is the focus of this month’s talk addressing how they build communities in places like Boma Ng’ombe which upon completion will replace an existing orphanage. From intimate living and study spaces to expansive areas for sport and play, the village is designed as a safe place where children of different ages can grow and develop together. Operable off-grid, the sustainability features allow the school to run at minimal costs while protecting its natural resources and ensuring the Children’s Village can continue to provide to children in this area for decades to come. 

Hayes Davidson is co-presenting and hosting this Make Design Matter Talk. Hayes Davidson supported on-the-ground charity Tír na nÓg Childrens Foundation CLG, by providing a visual narrative which would both engage the community of Boma in the design process, and also help secure funding for the construction of the project. They designed an immersive VR experience, using a playful ‘picture book’ aesthetic to appeal particularly to children. Their visuals reference the materials and colours of the local environment, and even the children’s existing school uniform, to create a process of engagement which is accessible, familiar and encourages participation. 

Hayes Davidson is a studio bringing architecture to life through powerful, emotive, and immersive artworks in various media and delighted to have partnered with humanitarian architecture charity Article 25 for the Kao La Amani project.

MAKE DESIGN MATTER is a series of monthly inspirational talks for humanitarians. Article 25 brings together outstanding design professionals who work with and support local communities through international development. These inspiring monthly panel discussions consider the pursuit of progressive, sustainable architecture, which focuses on the communities they serve. 

Register for this live talk here.

London Festival of Architecture

Article 25 is a small charity that relies on the support of built environment professionals and others to help fund our work. Please make a donation in support of their work.

LFA 2022 + SA+C: The Finnish Sauna | June 24-30, 2022 | Victoria Embankment Gardens

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

In 2017 and 2019 the School of Architecture + Cities built two pavilions in Finland in collaboration with the Finnish Institute, the architect Sami Rintala.

This year, our students are building a pavilion here in London: a working Finnish sauna in Victoria Embankment Gardens – just next to Embankment tube station. Student helpers from the Fabrication Laboratory, are currently prefabricating the sauna in the Fabrication Lab, and from 24–30 June, as part of the London Festival Architecture, you are all welcome to watch the students construct it on site. 

It is bookable to be used until 8 July.

For more details and to book, please go here.

Later in the summer the sauna will move to Lake Windermere.

Exhibition: Reimagining the Royal Docks | BSc Architecture and Environmental Design | Friday, June 24 from 17:00 (BST) at Silver Building in the Royal Docks

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: From Friday, 24th of June (5pm) to 14th of July 2022 (available for viewing Monday – Saturday, 9am-6pm)

Where: Silver Building in the Royal Docks, 60 Dock Road, E16 1YZ

BSc Architecture and Environmental Design will be hosting a public exhibition at the Silver Building in the Royal Docks, where local people can explore the students re-imagining of the neighbourhood. 

There is a public opening on Friday 24 June to which everyone is welcome.

To attend the opening, please register here.

LFA 2022 + UoW: The African Off-Grid Housing Project | Monday, June 20, 2022 from 17:00 to 19:00 (BST) | Online Event

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Monday, 20th of June 2022, 5pm-7pm

Where: Online Event

The talk will disseminate the results of the African Off-grid Housing [AOH] research project developed at the School of Architecture & Cities of the University of Westminster thanks to the support of the Global Challenge Research Fund / UKRI.

The talk is curated by the [AOH] Principal Investigator Dr Paolo Cascone in collaboration with the Research Associate Maddalena Laddaga, with the aim  to animate an open discussion on innovative design to build methodologies towards affordable and self-sufficient housing solutions for sub-Saharan Africa. Therefore the [AOH] research team will be in conversation with a panel of international experts from different backgrounds, to discuss possible synergies and developments, among the others:

  • Conor Black / Arup
  • Dr Claudia Loggia and Dr Viloshin Govender / University of KwaZulu-Natal
  • Vincent Kitio / Chief Urban Energy Unit / UN-Habitat
  • Prof Mark Raymond / Director of the GSA / University of Johannesburg

To attend, please register here.

Joint Talk: “How to Boost Energy Transition in Housing” by Prof Jacopo Gaspari and Dr Lia Marchi from the University of Bologna | Tuesday, June 21, 2022 at 14:00 in M321 + Online

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

Where: M321, Marylebone Campus, 35 Marylebone Rd, NW1 5LS

When: Tuesday, 21st June 2022 at 2pm

To join online please go here: https://eu.bbcollab.com/guest/a8b04a2558aa464a8d91ad23c4e4189d

LFA 2022 + ArCCAT | Architecture Acts: A Climate Performance in Three Parts | University of Westminster, Marylebone Campus, June 24, 2022, 14:00-17:00

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Friday, 24th of June 2022 from 2pm to 5pm

Where: University of Westminster, Marylebone Campus, 35 Marylebone Road, NW1 5LS

Architecture Acts asks participants to think beyond carbon calculations as architecture’s response to climate change. It is predicated on the understanding that architecture acts on and with the environment and that acts of protest can be affirmative and inclusive.

Act 1: The Conversation, initiated by Sarah Ichioka, co-author of Flourish: Design Paradigms for our Planetary Emergency (2021) and Elisa Iturbe, guest editor of Log 47, ‘Overcoming Carbon Form’ (2019), with Peg Rawes and Jeremy Till as respondents, discusses architecture’s implication in climate change and its potential for alternative action.

Act 2: Postcards to our Planet. In 1909 architecture student and suffragette Elspeth McClelland was posted to the Prime Minister, an action designed to allow women’s voices to be heard. We will make postcards as acts of solidarity, conversations with our planet.

Act 3: A Tea Party to honour McClelland’s action. Participants will be asked to perform readings of their postcards.

This event is free, but to attend please register here.

Featured Image [segment of the original]: Daisy Solomon and Elspeth McClelland with a post boy, police and an official outside 10 Downing Street, attempting to get themselves delivered as letters LSE Library – https://www.flickr.com/photos/lselibrary/22934656091/ On reverse of photo is printed ‘Copyright: World’s Graphic Press Limited, 36-38 Whitefriars Street, Fleet Street, London’.

MAKE FOR UKRAINE! An evening of robotics and ceramics to raise funds for Ukraine | Fabrication Lab | Thursday, June 9, 2022, 18:00 – 22:00 (BST)

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Thursday, 9th of June from 6pm to 10pm (BST)

Where: Fabrication Lab, University of Westminster, Marylebone Campus, 35 Marylebone Road, London NW1 5SL

Make your own ceramic patisseries in the UoW’s Fabrication Lab. Assemble your cake with clay 3D printed by robots, decorate using digitally fabricated cutters & stamps, & paint it with a glaze. Yours to keep forever! All proceeds will be donated to humanitarian aid for Ukraine.

For more information please go here.