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Lindsay Bremner wins new British Academy Research Grant

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

Lindsay Bremner and an interdisciplinary and intersectoral team of researchers from India, the UK and Canada have been awarded a British Council Knowledge Frontiers: International interdisciplinary Research 2022 grant for a two-year project titled ‘Reimagining the Good City from Ennore Creek, Chennai.’

Ennore Creek is a coastal wetland and backwater of the Kosasthalaiyar River in north Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Rich with mangroves, salt flats, canals and the myriad life-forms that thrive in them, it is home to numerous fishing communities and serves as a buffer against floods and sea level rise. After the 1950s, when Chennai began associating the idea of the ‘Good City’ with industrialisation and modernisation, Ennore was rezoned for heavy polluting industries. Land-use changes and lax environmental controls resulted in pollution, coal ash leakage and dumping of toxic material into the creek, degrading its ecosystem and impacting the health and livelihoods of its communities. This project will bring together diverse communities of knowledge and practice to reimagine and rearticulate the future of the creek in the interests of local communities, in the context of permanent weather extremes, climate challenges and a state-led creek eco-restoration proposal.

Co-investigators on the project, which will run from April 2022 – April 2024 are historians Dr Bhavani Ramesh (University of Toronto), and Dr Aditya Ramesh (University of Manchester); anthropologist Dr Karen Coelho (Madras Institute of Development Studies); environmental chemist Dr Asif Qureshi (Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad); community activist and writer Nityanand Jayaraman and K. Saravan and Pooja Kumar (Coastal Resource Centre, Chennai).

This research is supported/funded by the British Academy’s Knowledge Frontiers: International Interdisciplinary research 2022 Programme.

Featured Image: Ennore Creek with the North Chennai Thermal Power Station in the background by Shafeeq Ahamed S, Age 17, 2022.

ClimateDemonstrator 2022 – Live Build Summer School | From 23rd of May to 24th of June 2022

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

Julian Williams, Principal Lecturer at the School of Architecture + Cities, University of Westminster is pleased to invite you to join ClimateDemonstrator 2022: A free live-build summer school involving students from across the School of Architecture and Cities, other Schools in the University and primary school pupils in Camden and Westminster.

The brief is to design and build interactive instruments or installations to demonstrate the science of buildings and their interaction with climate and biodiversity. The project will run from 23rd May to 24th June. You will be working in teams supported by mentors from design and architectural practices, presenting your ideas to 9-10 year olds, then fabricating the works for installation in the partner primary schools.

All the details including dates and how to sign-up are on the website: climatedemonstrator.org.uk

AHRA Research Student Symposium 2022 | University of Westminster, Marylebone Campus + Online, April 20 and 21, 2022

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Wednesday, 21st of April (from 10am BST) – Thursday, 21st of April (to 7pm BST)

Where: University of Westminster, Marylebone campus, Room MG14, 35 Marylebone Road, London NW1 5LS

Register via Eventbrite.

The AHRA Research Student Symposium 2022, “Voices in Architecture”, considers voices in architectural research, posing the critical questions: who speaks and for whom? How do we give voice without assuming authority? How do we listen without judgment? How do we adjust the volume of our own voices?

A key objective of the symposium will be to connect architectural research with wider political concerns around democracy, protest and populism and we are particularly attentive to processes of public engagement and empowerment, social stratification and elitism. The symposium also seeks to investigate diverse modes of production and their social worlds, explorations of vernacular traditions, informal settlements, transient and temporary architectures.

All activities are offered in blended (hybrid) form. Links to live streams (via Zoom) will be communicated before the symposium. Please indicate whether you will attend as a physical or remote guest.

Westminster Transport Group – 1971, 2021, 2071 | Online and at Marylebone Campus, University of Westminster on Friday, April 29, 2022

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Friday, 29th of April 2022, 15:00 – 21:00 BST

Where: Online and at University of Westminster, Marylebone Campus, 35 Marylebone Road, London NW1 5LS

To register via Eventbrite please go here.

Join us for a celebratory event, marking 50 (+) years of the Transport Studies Group (TSG) at Marylebone, reflecting on teaching and research, past, present and future.

The event will comprise two distinct segments, the first being an afternoon session with speakers on past development, and current roles, of teaching and research in the Group, together with contributions from alumni who have attained important positions in the transport sector.

This will be followed in the evening by an informal reception for past staff colleagues, alumni and others connected with TSG’s work over the years (such as research collaborators in other institutions, external examiners) and presentations ceremony.

The event will take place in person at the Marylebone Campus, and delivered in tandem online, with a joining link to be shared with registered attendees ahead of the event. Tickets are available for in person attendance at the first session and/or reception, and for online attendees, for the first session and/or the Presentations segment of the Reception.

Exhibition: “Planetary Assemblages” at Lethaby Gallery, Central St Martins | April 5-30, 2022

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: From 5th to 30th of April 2022

Where: Lethaby Gallery, Central St Martins, Granary Square, N1C 4AA

The work of Monsoon Assemblages and the Manifest Data Lab visualises geophysical and atmospheric data as ways of making climate change perceptible and public.

Through drawings, maps, animations and models saturated with data from multiple sources, Planetary Assemblages proposes a critical engagement by bringing two groups of work into dialogue. This dialogue demonstrates the power of art and design to explore our connections to the climate crisis and motivate awareness of the material, social and cultural ways we are implicated in it.

For more details please go here.

The Fabrication Lab invites you to our unique Ceramic Patisserie: MAKE FOR UKRAINE! An Evening of Robotics + Ceramics to Raise Funds for Ukraine | Thursdays: March 31 and April 7, 2022

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

We’d like to invite you to an evening workshop in the Fabrication Lab to raise funds for Ukraine.

The workshop is a one-off opportunity to try out the Lab, and to work with our robots and digitally fabricated tools to help you design and make your very own ceramic patisserie. We’ll provide all the materials, tools, and help you need to create your cake, and once it’s fired, it will be yours to keep forever.

MAKE FOR UKRAINE! is open to everyone, with reduced donations for students and Westminster colleagues. All proceeds, including profits from the Lab Bar, will be donated to humanitarian aid for the people of Ukraine.

Dates

Thursdays – 31st of March and 7th of April: 17:30, 18:00, 18:30 until 22:00

Minimum Donations
  • UoW Students – £20
  • UoW Staff + Alumni – £30
  • Visitors – £50
  • ViP – £100

To book tickets please go here.

The Landmark Student Art Prize | Deadline: April 19, 2022

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

Art in Offices are running and organising The Landmark Student Art Prize on behalf of Landmark, one of the country’s biggest providers of flexible office space.

Landmark are about to launch a new space in King’s Cross at The Lighthouse. As a company they have a rich history of investing in and displaying art in their spaces, and this year they have decided to support the creatives of the future by launching this new prize.

As you’ll see from the images of the spaces, which you can see here there is a real mixture of spaces, which is why we want a wide variety of art students to submit their work. We are going to need artworks of all sizes, and we would love to see submissions from artists studying:

  • Painting
  • Illustration
  • Print making
  • Graphic design
  • Print design
  • Textiles
  • Photography
  • Fashion
  • Architecture
  • Ceramics
  • Industrial designers
  • And animation or film students

We are mostly in need of 2D artworks but there are going to be spaces for sculptures, ceramics, lighting design and other 3D practises as well. We encourage the students to submit more than one piece of artwork as well.

There are some great prizes on offer, but not only will there will be prize winners, everyone shortlisted will have their work on display for hundreds of people to see at Landmark Kings cross for 12 months.  PLUS everyone is represented by Art in Offices for 12 months. The prizes for the top 4 winners are:

  • 1. £5,000 Cash Prize
  • 2. £2,000 Cash Prize
  • 3. Art Materials and Tools to the value of £1,000
  • 4. Club Space for 3 months to the value of £400

For more information please go here.

Roudaina Alkhani to moderate webinar “Developing Blue and Sustainable Port Cities” | Wednesday, March 30, 5pm CEST (4pm BST)

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

The event is arranged by the Worldwide Network of Port Cities AIVP with prominent speakers on board:

  • Alistair Gale, CEO London Port Authority – communicating their recent strategies
  • Professor Carola Hein, Professor & Head, History of Architecture & Urban Planning Chair, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands
  • Jamil Ouazzani, SAPT Tangier
  • Maurice Jansen, Senior researcher, Department Urban Port & Transport Economics, Maritime University, Netherlands

Topics

The port cities and their actors (port and city authorities, businesses and communities) have a significant role to play in ensuring a green Blue Growth at all scales to promote sustainability, ensure ecosystems and deliver the climate agenda aiming at: 

  • Sustainable, smart development, adaptation and management of coastal areas and their complex natures.
  • Sustainable maritime transport and coastal renewable energies.
  • Preserving healthy, green and marine ecosystems.
  • Promoting inclusive environments and blue economies.

To register please go here.

2022 Innovation in Wool Awards

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

The Worshipful Company of Woolmen Charitable Trust and The Company of Merchants of the Staple of England in conjunction with the Campaign for Wool are seeking submissions that showcase wool in new, inspirational applications which can be either apparel, interior, novel or other scientific wool applications.

For more information please go here.