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2022 Environmental Conference | Saturday, January 22 at 9.15am (GMT) | Online event

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Saturday, 22nd of January at 9.15am

Where: Online Event (to book tickets please go to Eventbrite)

In recent years, there is an increasing awareness of climate change and environmental sustainability. To act on climate change and explore environmental concerns, 8 universities from the UK and Singapore have come together to organise an environmental conference to raise awareness and discuss potential solutions to related issues. 

The conference is a one-day event and will have 6 sessions to cover an array of environmental subjects. This event connects students with industry leaders, through a day of presentations, Q&As and networking sessions in collaboration with our speakers. 

Archisource Drawing of the Year Competition | Deadline for submissions: January 31, 2022

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

Archisource have just launched their third, annual, free-for-students, Drawing of the Year competition and would like to invite our students to enter!

Archisource instagram.com/archisource is an architecture and design platform for students and professionals with a growing creative community – now 230,000 on Instagram. Having published our students’ great work over the past year they would love to invite you to submit your best works into their annual, free-for-students, international Drawing of the Year competition! The competition celebrates the extensive variety of drawings and showcases the amazing array of talents around the world each year.

With £10,000 ($13,500) worth of prizes, international publication and extensive promotion to be won, there are four Award Categories and a variety of Commendations to win from, including: the Drawing of the Year Award, Architectural Award, Narrative Award and the Environmental Award. Archisource are proud to partner with Enscape this year who will also be awarding an ‘Enscape Commendation’ to the best drawing created with their software – which is also free for students!

Enter here!: archisource.org

The competition is now open and entry closes 31st January 2022!

Archisource truly believe in the power of drawings to communicate and represent more than what you see on the surface and they are excited to judge an array of high quality works. The competition is not just limited to architecture and very much welcome those from other arts and design industries.

This is a great opportunity to win some fantastic prizes but it’s also a great opportunity to be published and receive significant exposure for both the winners and their university to the architecture and design industry. 

Archisource look forward to your submissions and wish you luck!

ArCCAT flag flies outside Regent Street campus

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

Thanks to the support of our VC Peter Bonfield, and the efforts of Dain Son Robinson and Matt and Jessica in the University’s design team, an ArCCAT flag has been produced and is hanging outside the Regent Street building this week. Once it is taken down, it will find a permanent home in the M416, the William Cullen Room. 

Congratulations to all involved and thank you for this endorsement of the work we are doing in the School of Architecture + Cities towards addressing climate change and wider sustainability goals.  

The School of Architecture and Cities Climate Action Taskforce (ArCCAT) Forum | Wednesday, January 26, 14:00-15:00 (GMT) | Online

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Wednesday, 26th of January 2022 from 2pm to 3pm (GMT)

Where: Online event

The School of Architecture and Cities Climate Action Taskforce will convene a Forum in January for all interested in finding out what the taskforce has accomplished since its formation last year, what its current projects are and what it plans for the new year.

The Forum will be held as an online event via Microsoft Teams on 26 January 2022, 14.00-15.00 and is open to all Students and Staff of the University.

Register for the event (via Eventbrite)

Those registering should automatically receive the Teams link on completion of Eventbrite, however this will also be shared with attendees (via email) on the morning of the event.

Sustainable Cities and the Urban Environment Research Community + ArCCAT: Panel Discussion “Good COP / Bad COP” | Wednesday, January 19, 2022 at 16:00 (GMT)

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Wednesday, 19th of January, 4pm-6pm (GMT)

Where: Online event

Book tickets via Eventbrite here.

The Sustainable Cities and the Urban Environment Research Community and the Architecture and Cities Climate Action Taskforce invite you to a panel discussion to reflect on the successes and failures of the COP26 meeting in Glasgow in November and its implications for the future of the planet. Participants will reflect on their experiences in Glasgow, give their assessment of the outcomes of the meeting and discuss potential avenues of urban and environmental research and action they call for.

Discussants

Melanie McGlone (Westminster Law School)

Radha D’Souza (Westminster Law School)

Martin Matthews (Westminster Business School)

Tom Cohen (Active Travel Academy)

Jamie Williams (former MArch student, School of Architecture and Cities)

Moderators

Andrew Smith (SCUE)

Lindsay Bremner (ArCCAT)

Technical Studies Lecture Series: “Carbon Negative Materials” by Allison Dring, Elegant Embellishments | Thursday, December 9, 2021 at 18:00 (GMT), Room M416, Marylebone Campus + Online

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Thursday, 9th of December at 6pm (GMT)

Where: M416, Marylebone Campus, School of Architecture and Cities, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, London NW1 5LS 

Link to join livestream

[…] it turned out that TiO2 (titanium dioxide) is excellent for photocatalytically breaking down organic compounds.

Allison Dring 

Frustrated by a sustainable architectural palette of parsimony and the orthogonal construction grid, Elegant Embellishments (EE) designed a deliberately decorative pollution-cleaning screen, based on an aperiodic grid to ‘elicit an emotional response’. This new product was named prosolve370e in reference to the naming of cars after their engine size and how much pollution they produce. The ‘370e’ refers to how much surface enhancement the designers could achieve in order to counter that volume of pollution. Made from thermo-formed plastic to reduce weight, the modules are coated in photocatalytic titanium dioxide (TiO2). The designer and partner in EE Allison Dring explains that prosolve370e does three things: first it maximises surface area to increase the ‘efficacy of the technology’; second it creates turbulence to slow the air pollution and make it easier to catch on the surface; and third the forms of the modular screen are designed to enhance reception of light, including the reflected light of neighbouring modules. In 2012, the technology was installed at the Hospital Manuel Gea Gonzalez in Mexico City, described as ‘the incredible smog-eating building’ by CNN. 

The screen covers an area of 25,000 m2 and is thought to be the world’s largest engineered urban air-purifier. Based on the size of the screen, and its maximised surface area, EE claims to achieve around 5000 m2 of photocatalytic activity, which equates to mitigating the air pollution produced by 1,000 cars per day. Air pollution is composed of two key ingredients: oxides of nitrogen (known as NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which are both produced by combustion engines. 

https://technicalstudies.tumblr.com/

For details contact: Will McLean  w.f.mclean@wmin.ac.uk

“What difference does difference make?” – School of Architecture + Cities Equity Forum Launch | Monday, November 29, 18:00 (GMT)

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Monday, 29th of November at 6pm (GMT)

Where: In-person in M416 (Robin Evans Room), University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, London NW1 5LS + Online

Tickets can be booked via Eventbrite.

The launch of the School of Architecture + Cities Equity Forum will introduce its members, explain its values, and its place within the School’s wider EDI-related strategic planning.

Although the intention is to stream the session online as well as hold the face-to-face event, we would encourage participants to attend in person to engage more directly in discussion, as well as join us for refreshments and networking after. In addition to celebrating the launch of the Forum and providing updates, the event aims to provide Tutors, Course and Module Leaders with more context to help inform their own EDI-related thinking and planning at course and module level. Our response to the challenge of making our school more equitable will require ongoing discussion, reflection, and – crucially – action. External friends, stakeholders, and supporters will also be in attendance.

Tickets are broken down into in-person attendance (Student, Staff or External), or virtual (via Zoom as a webcast). Please ensure you register prior to attending, so we can ensure we have an accurate record of attendees.

Programme:

18.00 Introduction: EDI in Architecture and Cities (Harry Charrington, Head of School)

18.15 The Equity Forum: Context and Aspiration (Samir Pandya, School EDI Lead)

18.45 Introduction to newly appointed Student EDI Champion (Andy Pitchford, Director of CETI, introduces Lucy Banbury)

18.55 Panel Discussion – What difference does Difference make? (Chaired by Linda Tighlit, Westminster Architecture Society), followed by Q&A.

19.30 Drinks and networking

Panel Members:

• Alison Carrillo Culqui (BA Interior Architecture)

• Amjad Butt (BSc Architectural Technology)

• Derin Fadina (School Alumnus)

• Lucy Banbury (School Student EDI Champion)

• Marie Kaune (BA Designing Cities)

• Shaun Ihejetoh (School EDI Practice Advocate, West Port Architects)

• Sude Yilmaz (BA Architecture)

Technical Studies Lecture Series: “Dynamic Building Skins” by Doris Sung from DOSU Studio / University of Southern California | Thursday, December 2, 2021 at 18:00 (GMT), Room M416, Marylebone Campus + Online

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Thursday, 2nd of December at 6pm (GMT)

Where: M416, Marylebone Campus, School of Architecture and Cities, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, London NW1 5LS 

Link to join livestream 

‘… if we are to develop truly sustainable architecture, we don’t necessarily need more materials. We need smarter ones.’ 

Doris Sung 

In her ‘Bloom’ project, architect and inventor Doris Sung created a large lightweight monocoque structure comprised of 414 hyperbolic paraboloid (hypar) shaped panels made from a bimetal lamination of two alloys of nickel, manganese and iron with different thermal expansion coefficients. Bloom is a wonderful exposition of the properties and potential of bimetals in the creation of new responsive building skins that can passively open and close to ventilate and shade the building. An animated film of the Bloom project shows how the surface is activated by sun and shade.  

Doris Sung has subsequently developed a whole series of innovative architectural applications using thermobimetal. Her initial research on self-shading, self-ventilating and self-assembling alongside contemporary fabrication technologies has expanded the physical potential of the material, for example in the twisting and folding of her Oculus prototype, and she has now patented systems that are being commercialised for wider application. Her InVert™ window-shading system incorporates small bimetal ‘petals’ within a double-glazed glass module, and as the temperature from the sun increases, the bimetal elements deform and block the sunlight and shade the building’s interior. As the sunlight moves and the temperature cools, the bimetal elements revert to their original shape and position. The resultant solar shading reduces heat gain, which in turn can reduce artificial cooling needs by 28–42%,36 depending on the geographical location. 

https://technicalstudies.tumblr.com/

For details contact: Will McLean 

w.f.mclean@wmin.ac.uk 

Asian Architects Association announces photography competition | Deadline: Thursday, January 13, 2022

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

AAA are excited to be launching their first ever photography competition, which is free to enter and open to all.

AAA would love to have participants from all backgrounds (don’t have to be Asians only) participate in this exciting creative opportunity.  

The theme of the competition is ‘’Joy in Architecture’’ (which doesn’t have to be about Asian culture but could be a wider interpretation).

Excerpts from the website:

The pandemic has highlighted the importance of how we live, work and interact with one another; with the use of photography enabling us to relive memories and feel connected but most importantly capturing those special moments.

As we continue to adapt to the new normal, let us celebrate the joy that architecture brings to our daily lives.

AAA are interested to see what joy in Architecture means to you. It could be about buildings, people or capturing moments of the everyday; we are open to all interpretations of the theme.

Key dates

Competition opens: Sunday, 7th of November 2021, 9:00am

Closing date: Thursday, 13th of January 2022, 23:59pm

Announcement: Friday, 4th of February 2022

For more information, please go here.

#spreadthejoy21 #asianarchitects #joyinthecity

Tszwai So takes part in Architecture on Stage : New Architects | Thursday, December 9, 19:00-21:00 (GMT) at the Barbican

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

In the second of two special evenings, Architecture on Stage presents four of Britain’s best emerging practices.

One of these is Spheron, founded by Tszwai So (Lecturer at the School of Architecture and Cities ) and Samuel Bentil-Mensah. Spheron has a particularly rich portfolio of community projects including the Belarusian Memorial Chapel (featured image), which it completed in 2017.  This new build wooden chapel was commissioned by the Holy See of Rome for the Belarusian Diaspora Community in London to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

For more information and to book tickets please go here.

Architecture on Stage series is organised by Architecture Foundation.

Featured image: Belarusian Memorial Chapel by Spheron, via Architecture Foundation