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Call for Applications: “Architecture for Peace” Summer School in Prijedor, Bosnia and Herzegovina [18th – 29th of July 2022] | Deadline for Submission of Applications: Tuesday, March 15, 2022

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

Amidst political instability in Europe, this is a call for architecture students to come together in solidarity and across borders to show the world that sustainable architecture can be a framework for reconciliation! 

This summer school will centre around a 2-week on-site residency (July 18th-29th) in the war-torn Prijedor region in B&H, led by peacebuilding Charity Most Mira and Projekt V Arhitektura in collaboration with the Global Free Unit (GFU) and Umeå School of Architecture (UMA). This will run alongside the international award-winning Most Mira Peace Centre development and build on ten Most Mira architecture workshops, as well as past and current UMA and GFU courses in Russia, Lesvos, Colombia and Izmir. EU and International students will work closely with students from B&H to design and prototype innovative building components, materials and furniture for the Peace Centre. We will also work on a wider reconciliation strategy of small-scale architectural interventions throughout the disjointed rural landscape. 

Please see the attached pdf. or web link for full details about the summer school, eligibility and how to apply: http://projectv-arch.com/news-1#/architecture-for-peace-summer-school-2022-applications-now-open/

There are 10 places for students applying through Umea University, which must be filled. EU citizens tuition for this course is fully funded by the EU, while non-EU citizens pay tuition fees. These applicants must apply directly through Umea University as described in their application link: https://www.arch.umu.se/en/education/summer-course-architecture,-exploration-and-reflection/application-and-eligibility/ 

In addition to this, there are a limited number of subsidised places for independent non-EU citizens sponsored by our collaborators, who apply directly to Vernes Čaušević and Lucy Dinnen via this e-mail address: info@projectv-arch.com 

This includes: 

  • 2 x independent subsidised spaces for non-EU citizens – they will be partly subsidised and pay a lower tuition fee. 
  • 5 x independent subsidised spaces for B&H citizens – they will not pay tuition fees. 

The deadline and submission requirements are the same for all applicants – 15th March! – non-EU applicants please contact us directly. Please note – the independent subsidised spaces will be extremely competitive as we have had lots of enquiries. 

Architecture for Peace Summer SchoolDownload

Featured image: Architecture students from B&H, EU and the UK building rammed earth prototypes on the Most Mira Peace Centre site in Prijedor at a summer residency led by Project V Architecture and international rammed earth experts Lehm Ton Erde from Austria. Photo credit: Adriana Keast / Most Mira.

Book Launch: Revolution? Architecture and the Anthropocene by Susannah Hagan | Wednesday, March 30 at 18:30 (BST) [Online discussion / Launch]

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

Where: Online

When: Wednesday, 30th of March 2022 from 6.30pm to 8pm

Eventbrite booking here.

The University of Westminster and Lund Humphries are delighted to celebrate the launch of Revolution? Architecture and the Anthropocene, a new book that asks why architecture has lagged behind the environmental curve for the last fifty years.

Susannah Hagan in conversation with Harry Charrington, University of Westminster; Brian Ford, University of Nottingham; Ricardo de Ostos, NaJa & deOstos and the AA School of Architecture and Lindsay Bremner, University of Westminster.

The online event will take place online on Microsoft Teams, and attendees will automatically receive a joining link upon completion of Eventbrite Registration.

About the Speakers

Susannah Hagan is Emeritus Professor of Architecture at the University of Westminster. Prior to Westminster, she was Head of Research and the Doctoral Programme at the School of Architecture, Royal College of Art. She has published extensively, and has drawn together architectural design, history and theory to examine environmental practice in four books: Taking Shape: A New Contract between Architecture and Nature (2001), Digitalia: architecture and the environmental, the digital and the avant-garde (2008), Ecological Urbanism: the nature of the city (2015), and now Revolution? Architecture and the Anthropocene (2022).

Lindsay Bremner (Chair) is Director of Research at the School of Architecture and Cities, University of Westminster, and was Principal Investigator of Monsoon Assemblages, a European Research Council-funded project to investigate the impact of changing monsoon climates on four Asian cities. Previously, she was Professor and Chair of Architecture, Tyler School of Art at Temple University, Philadelphia (2006-11), and Chair of Architecture, University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg (1998-2004). Her most recent publication is Monsoon Solidarity: A Global Approach to Climate Justice (2022).

Harry Charrington is an architect and Head of the School of Architecture and Cities at the University of Westminster. He worked for Alvar Aalto & Co. in Helsinki, and later practiced in Newcastle and Bristol. He has taught at the Universities of Newcastle, UWE Bristol and Bath in the UK, and Helsinki and Aalto Universities and Vaasa Institute of Technology in Finland. His research focuses on the histories of modernism and on design practice. These include the exhibition Alvar Aalto: Process & Culture (RIBA Heinz), and his book Alvar Aalto: the Mark of the Hand, co-authored with Vezio Nava, which won the 2012 RIBA President’s Medal for Research.

Brian Ford (RIBA FRSA) is an architect, an environmental design consultant and Emeritus Professor at the University of Nottingham. He was in private practice for over 25 years, including Peake Short & Partners and Short Ford Associates, where he worked on innovative low carbon projects in Europe, USA, India, Australia and China. He initiated a series of multi-partner EU-funded research projects on natural ventilation and passive cooling and was until recently Vice President of the Passive and Low Energy Architecture organisation (PLEA). His most recent book is The Architecture of Natural Cooling (2020, 2nd edition).

Ricardo De Ostos is a director of NaJa & deOstos, a London-based studio developed as a platform for experimental architectural design, before that working for Peter Cook, Future Systems and Foster + Partners. He is a Unit Master at the Architectural Association School of Architecture, director of the AA Madrid Summer School and guest professor at Ecole Spéciale d’Architecture in Paris. Most recently, he is co-author of the book Scavengers and Other Creatures in Promised Lands (2017).

BA Architecture Year 2 students presenting at the London Student Sustainability Conference | Thursday, February 24 from 12:30 to 17:30 (GMT) | Online

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

Congratulations to Nedal Harris Ghoshesh, Jessica Abdul Matin and Jack Morris, BA 2nd year students, who will be participating in the London Student Sustainability Conference on Thursday the 24th of February, presenting their design studio semester 1 projects.  

The conference is entirely student-led; with students exhibiting their research and projects through presentations, posters and demonstrations. This is the first time that University of Westminster Architecture students have been invited to participate in this event. 

This is an online event and registration is free:

https://www.city.ac.uk/news-and-events/events/2022/february/london-student-sustainability-conference-2022

Image caption: Left: Jessica Abdul Matin, Right: Nedal Harris Ghoshesh

MAIA Technical Study Lecture: “Reflections on light” by Professor Dean Hawkes | Tuesday, March 1 from 14:30 to 16:00 (GMT) at M416 and online

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Tuesday, 1st of March, 2.30pm – 4pm

Where: M416, Marylebone Campus, 35 Marylebone Road, NW1 5LS and online

Link to join: https://eu.bbcollab.com/guest/5c1973fe40fa4b74acfc946a1f26c354

Dean Hawkes is emeritus professor of architectural design at the Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University, and an emeritus fellow of Darwin College, University of Cambridge.  He taught and researched at Cambridge from 1965 to 1995, when he was appointed to the chair of architectural design at Cardiff.  He was a founder member of the Martin Centre for Architectural and Urban Studies at Cambridge and was its Director from 1979 to 1987.  His research is in the field of environmental design in architecture.  His books include The Environmental Tradition (1996), The Selective Environment (2002), The Environmental Imagination (2008, 2nd edition 2019) and Architecture and Climate (2012).  His buildings, in partnership with Stephen Greenberg, received four RIBA Architecture Awards.  In 2010 he was awarded the RIBA Annie Spink Award in recognition of his significant contribution to architectural education.

University of Westminster Sustainability Week Workshops | Wednesday 23rd and Thursday 24th of February, Cavendish and Marylebone Campuses

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

Wednesday, 23rd of February – Growing Space Workshop 

Get hands on with our growing spaces and learn how to grow fresh vegetables from food waste! No booking required. 

10am-11am

Marylebone Campus, Growing Space located on Luxborough Street

12pm- 1pm 

Cavendish Campus, Growing Space, behind the Pavilion (1st floor)

Thursday, 24th of February – Dr Bike Workshop 

Bring your bike anytime during the session to speak to our experienced mechanics and get a free bike health check! Also, come and speak to the team about a great deal on second hand bike, helmet and lock for £150. Available for students and staff.  

9am-11am

Marylebone Campus, Front Entrance 

11.30am- 2pm 

Cavendish Campus, Front Entrance

Recording of Barnabas Calder’s Lecture from February 8, 2022

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

On Tuesday, 8th of February, The School of Architecture + Cities hosted Barnabas Calder, who introduced his important new book Architecture: From prehistory to climate emergency. The book provides the first history of architecture with the climate emergency as the central focus, and was reviewed in The Guardian.

The lecture is now available for viewing:

Announcing the new ArCCAT reading group

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

The Architecture + Cities Climate Action Taskforce is starting a monthly online reading group. We will begin with Flourish: Design Paradigms for Our Planetary Emergency, by Sarah Ichioka and Michael Pawlyn. This will take place on 2nd March, 16.00 – 17.30. If you wish to join the reading group, please contact Ro Spankie at r.spankie@westminster.ac.uk and she will send you the Teams meeting link.  

The reading group is open to all staff, students and other university employees who are interested in engaging with debates around architecture’s response to the climate crisis.   

Readings will be short. For the first reading group meeting, all we ask you to read is the Introduction to Flourish (pp.1-19). The library holds an e-copy which you can access, or if you wish to purchase a copy, go here: https://www.triarchypress.net/flourish.html. In addition, Sarah and Michael have a wonderful podcast series in which they engage with a number of interesting people about the issues the book raises: https://www.flourish-book.com/flourishsystemschange-podcast 

We are aware that 02 March is a potential day of strike action, but we feel a reading group is not ‘work’ and are also hopeful the University and Union might reach an agreement. 

SA+C: Climate Conversations, February 7 to 11, 2022

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

A Talks Series about Climate Change, Environmental Sustainability and Design Projects by tutors and friends of the School of Architecture + Cities 

— 

Paolo Zaide 

Floodscapes 

The issue is the fluid edge between city and water and is captured in the term ‘floodscape’, to give definition to a cityscape affected by fluctuating water levels. Manila, as an extreme case of a flood-prone city, presents the challenge of having to balance vital flood management with creating places suitable for urban life that many cities in the global south are facing or will face. 

Ben Pollock  

4D Island -Planning for Climate Uncertainty 

The archipelago of the Maldives averages 1.5 m above sea level making it the lowest country in the world. Such a unique context calls for a different and more fluid approach to design and planning in the face of rising climate uncertainty. Working with local communities, 4D Island, is looking to develop a toolkit of suggestive design moves to aid local decision making. 

On Monday, 07 Feb 2022 

1PM / M416 + Online 

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89688306802

— 

Barnabas Calder 

Architecture: from Pre-history to Climate Emergency 

Calder’s brilliant book […] develops a new frame for architectural writing which frankly makes some of the previous architectural histories look at best parochial, or at worst irrelevant in the face of the global climate crisis. 

– Jeremy Till, Buildings and Cities 

On Tuesday, 08 Feb 2022 

6PM / Online 

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81069895744?pwd=OFFWaFRvajcySTNFdGIrT2xmUXFwUT09

— 

Era Savvides & Athanasios Varnavas – Urban Radicals 

From Waste to Resource 

Urban Radicals started out in 2019 as a duo between architects Nasios Varnavas and Era Savvides with the ambition to form an expansive network between friends, colleagues and expert collaborators, to solve problems across contexts and scales. Since then, the studio has grown organically through projects, competitions, parties, dinners, fishing trips, gardening, stories, painting, cooking, workshops, walks, gatherings and conversations. 

On Wednesday, 09 Feb 2022 

5PM 

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89688306802

— 

Paolo Cascone 

African off-grid housing synthetic-vernacular design for climate sensitive architectures 

‘Today, 600 million people in Africa do not have access to electricity and 900 million lack access to clean cooking facilities.’ Paolo will present the African Off-grid Housing research project on how to design and build off-grid and affordable housing solutions for the African Sub-Saharan context. The AOH project is developed at the School of Architecture and Cities of the UoW with the support of the Global Challenge Research Fund. 

On Thursday, 10 Feb 2022 

1PM 

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89688306802

— 

Jim Pockson & Kit Stiby-Harris 

Better Than How We Found It? 

An exploratory conversation between two collaborators about the meaning and limitations of sustainable practice. We will discuss the agency of the young architect, value systems and ways of seeing within the production of built matter. 

On Friday, 11 Feb 2022 

1PM 

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89688306802

Barnabas Calder “Architecture: from prehistory to climate emergency” Introduction | Tuesday, February 8 at 18:00 GMT | Online

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Tuesday, 8th of February at 6pm GMT

Where: Online

Eventbrite booking here.

Join us online at the School of Architecture and Cities, University of Westminster and Barnabas Calder who will introduce his important new book Architecture: From prehistory to climate emergency, which provides the first history of architecture with the climate emergency as the central focus.

The book is reviewed in The Guardian here.

Call for papers for ‘Voices in Architecture’, AHRA Research Student Symposium, April 20th and 21st, 2022 | CfP Deadline: Monday, February 14, 2022

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

Co-convenors: Maja Jovic and Kate Jordan

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 and is interested in submissions that explore vernacular traditions, informal settlements, transient and temporary architectures. The organisers invite contributions that consider human-centred research methodologies both within and beyond the discrete boundaries of architecture, welcoming submissions from disciplines including literary theory, cultural studies, art history, anthropology, geography and planning. In line with this, we welcome paper presentations, as well as non-standard proposals (film, performance, photography, etc.). The research methods explored will include (but not be limited to) oral histories and interviews; ethnography; participative and interactive practices; social media and digital technologies, use of archives and material culture. We will explore the practical and ethical boundaries of such research, giving consideration to questions of privacy and to the politics of identity. We are interested in modes of dialogue: can we find ways of speaking ‘with’ as suggested by Ariella Azoulay in her recent work? Research that offers a platform to voices of otherness is particularly encouraged – the symposium is committed to the objectives of decolonisation in architectural history, theory and praxis, foregrounding narratives of gender, sexuality, race and non-conformity.

The keynote lectures will be delivered by Professor Christine Wall (University of Westminster) and Alexandre Apsan Frediani (International Institute for Environment and Development). To further provide the early career researchers with an insight into ways of ‘using’ their research, besides paper presentations and discussions, the symposium will offer three sets of activities that participants can choose from. These activities will each include a visit to a site, followed by a workshop:

  • A visit to a rapidly gentrifying area with a workshop on design charettes, interrogating the need to invite different voices to decision making processes, questioning whose voice is being heard and how is this practice changing;
  • A visit to a heritage site with a workshop on public engagement, supporting creative thinking of the ways research can reach the public sphere and benefit from augmenting the voices – both those of the researchers as well as those the research is focusing on;
  • A visit to an archive focusing on minority voices, with a workshop on archival research.  

All activities will be offered in a blended form and include physical visits with digital counterparts. 

Please send your abstracts, if the contribution is in standard paper presentation form, or proposals for other forms of contribution and participation by Monday, February 14th 2022 to VoicesInArchitecture@westminster.ac.uk. Other forms of participation (film, performance, photography, graphic work, etc.) should be discussed in advance with the Organising Chairs.

Abstracts and proposals may be in Word, Notepad or PDF format with the following information:

  • author(s)
  • affiliation
  • e-mail address
  • title of proposal
  • type of proposal (ie. paper presentation, film, performance, etc.)
  • body of proposal (300 words)
  • up to 10 keywords
  • biography (200 words)