Blog

Architecture History + Theory Guest Lecture: Prof David Porter “Learning from Neave Brown: The Poetics of Habitation,” Thursday, March 12, 18:30, Robin Evans Room (M416), Marylebone Campus

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Thursday, 12th of March, 18:30

Where: Robin Evans Room (M416), Marylebone Campus, University of Westminster, NW1 5LS

Neave Brown received the RIBA’s Gold Medal in 2018 in recognition of his contribution to the architecture of housing. David Porter worked with him for many years and will use an unpublished Dutch project, the super-dense Projekt Zwollsestraat, to reflect on Brown’s more famous housing projects in Camden: Alexandra Road and Fleet Road. He will explore his approach to the making of architecture and urban space.

Biography

David Porter is an architect, urbanist and educator. He was Professor of Architecture at the Central Academy of Fine Art, Beijing (2012-8); President of the Architectural Association (2015-8); and Head of the Mackintosh School of Architecture, the Glasgow School of Art (2000-11). From 2011-14 he was also Adjunct Professor in the School of Architecture & Design at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.

Formerly a partner in Neave Brown David Porter Architects working on high-density urban projects in the Netherlands, David was also a founding partner of Clements & Porter Architects, is a Fellow of the Royal Incorporation of Architects of Scotland and of the Royal Society of Arts, and a Trustee of Jacksons Lane, North London’s creative performance space. He now teaches in the BA Architecture course here at the University of Westminster.

Architecture History + Theory Guest Lecture: Prof Julian Henriques “Sonic Architecture: flesh and space at auditory frequencies,” Thursday, March 5, 18:30, Robin Evans Room (M416), Marylebone Campus

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Thursday, 5th of March, 18:30

Where: Robin Evans Room (M416), Marylebone Campus, University of Westminster, NW1 5LS

In this talk I explore what “thinking through sounding” and “sonic space” might reveal about the kind space and place we inhabit in our ordinary lives. Sonic space is where sound defines space, rather than the way space is often assumed to define sound. Examples of sonic spaces in Jamaican culture include reggae dub music (King Tubby and other tracks played on vinyl in the talk), the speaker box architecture of the dancehall sound system session, my own sonic sculptures and the paintings of the artist Denzil Forrester. I then deploy the idea of sonic space as a critique of default ocularcentric assumptions of perception, the emptiness of the geometrical abstractions of line and plane, the rationalisation of vision that provides such a convenient metaphor for hierarchies of power. From this I pursue a conception of vibrational frequencies – whether auditory or visual – as constituting the medium through which we move, are enfleshed and share our dwelling.

Biography

Professor Julian Henriques is convenor of the MA Scriptwriting and the MA Cultural Studies programmes, director of the Topology Research Unit and a co-founder of the Sound System Outernational practice research group in the Department of Media, Communications and Cultural Studies, Goldsmiths, University of London. Prior to this, Julian ran the film and television department at CARIMAC at the University of the West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica. His credits as a writer and director include the reggae musical feature film Babymother and We the Ragamuffin short. Julian researches street cultures, music and technologies and is interested in the uses of sound as a critical and creative tool. His sound sculptures include Knots & Donuts (2011) at Tate Modern and his books include Changing the Subject (1998), Sonic Bodies (2011) and Sonic Media (forthcoming 2021). 

Derivas: “The reactivation of the travel diary and the fight for the right to walk”, Tuesday, March 3, 18:30, M416, Marylebone Campus

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Tuesday, 3rd of March, 18:30-20:00

Where: M416 (Robin Evans Room), Marylebone Campus, University of Westminster, NW1 5LS

Derivas recovers the importance of walking as a research and learning tool. However, it is in the exploration of different methodologies and ways of walking where another possibility underlies, that of reconquering the world by moving our bodies through space, by practicing such an ancient performance that will allow us to recover rights that have been taken away by modern cities or that we did not even know we had: the right to the city, the right to nature, the right to beauty, the right to travel, the right to loiter…

What other rights can we regain as we walk? What new/other opportunities will London offer us if we physically walk around it and in and out of it?

Ximena and Francisco will then be leading ten days of walks/explorations across London: you are welcome to be involved.

Nibbles & drinks from 18:00

Biography

Dérive LAB is a multidisciplinary laboratory founded by Ximena Ocampo and Francisco Paillie based in Latin America, that seeks to explore, understand and inspire other (new) ways of living and thinking about life in the City. Through research, design and action, they develop projects with impact on three specific scales: public life, the built environment and everyday objects.

Ximena Ocampo is an architect graduated from Tec de Monterrey, she holds an MSc in City Design and Social Science from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). She worked as an urban designer at WRI Mexico, and later founded dérive LAB, where she currently leads different projects with a focus on public space, active mobility and, in general, the relationship between people and space.

Francisco Paillie is a psychologist graduated from Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, he later studied an MSc in Social and Cultural Psychology at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). He was Leader of Social Participation of the Territorialization Strategy of the City Prosperity Index (CPI), implemented by UN Habitat in Querétaro (MEX). In 2013 he founded dérive LAB, where he works to date as project manager focusing on public space, active mobility and, in general, the relationship between space and psychology.

To register for this event please go here.

Architecture History + Theory Guest Lecture: CJ Lim “Smartcities, Resilient Landscapes,” Thursday, February 27, Robin Evans Room (M416), Marylebone Campus, 18:30

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Thursday, 27th of February, 18:30

Where: Robin Evans Room (M416), Marylebone Campus

The Thursday evening guest lecture series continues this week with a lecture by Bartlett professor of Architecture and Urbanism, CJ Lim. The lecture will outline his new book, Smartcities, Resilient Landscapes and Eco-warriors.

The book represents a crucial voice in the discourse of climate change and the potential opportunities to improve the ecological function of existing habitats or create new landscapes which are considered beneficial to local ecology and resilience. The notion of the Smartcity is developed through a series of international case studies, some commissioned by government organisations, others speculative and polemic. Following on from the success of the first edition ‘Smartcities + Eco-Warriors’ (2010), this second edition has nine new case studies, and additional ecological sustainability studies covering the romance of trees.  

CJ Lim is the Professor of Architecture and Urbanism at the Bartlett, UCL. His teaching and design research focus are on multi-disciplinary innovative interpretations of social, political, and environmental sustainability programmes in urban planning, architecture and landscape. He is the recipient of the Royal Academy of Arts London ‘Grand Architecture Prize’. His authored books include ‘Smartcities + Eco-warriors’ (2010), ‘Short Stories: London in two-and-a-half Dimensions’ (2011), ‘Food City’ (2014) and ‘Inhabitable Infrastructures: Science fiction or urban future?’ (2017).

UNOVIS Centenary Panel Discussion, Thursday, February 20, 6.30pm, Robin Evans Room, Marylebone Campus

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Thursday, February 20, 18:30

Where: Robin Evans Room, M146 , Marylebone Campus

Founded by artist Kasimir Malevich in Vitebsk, ‘Champions of the New Art’ (UNOVIS) was an influential group of pioneering artists and architects central to the early twentieth century Russian avant-garde. Brief presentations by four different speakers, each with a different take on the significance of UNOVIS, will be followed by a panel discussion chaired by Tszwai So:

Panelists:

  • Richard Difford
  • Prof. Christina Lodder
  • Dr. Katie McElvanney
  • Dr. Victoria Watson

MArch DS22 tutors, Dr Yara Sharif and Dr Nasser Golzari, to screen their film alongside an interactive installation “Secrets of a Digital Garden” at the Berlinale Film Festival on Wednesday, February 19, 7pm at Betonhalle, Silent Green Kulturquartier, Berlin

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

MArch DS22 tutors, Dr Yara Sharif and Dr Nasser Golzari, have been invited to show their recent work Secrets of a Digital Garden at this year’s Berlinale Forum Expanded.

The work consists of a film and an interactive installation, previously exhibited at the Chicago Architecture Biennial 2019.

Secrets of a Digital Garden follows on the duo’s ongoing research by design, which aims to explore the hidden potentials of the Palestinians landscape, and the right to the rural. 
 
The work was produced in collaboration with Riwaq: Centre for Architectural Conservation, and is realised with the fantastic support of UNESCO, University of Westminster, Fabrication Lab, NG Architects, DOEN, Sweden/Sverige and PART.

The exhibition runs from February 19 to March 22.

Expanded Territories Reading Group: “Unthought: The Power of Cognitive Nonconscious” by N. Katherine Hayles, Tuesday, February 11, 18:00, M330

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Tuesday, 11th of February, 18:00

Where: M330, Marylebone Campus, NW1 5LS

The Expanded Territories Reading Group in the School of Architecture + Cities invites all college staff and students who might be interested, to join us in reading “Unthought: The Power of Cognitive Nonconscious” by N. Katherine Hayles.

The School of Architecture + Cities celebrates great success at the RIBA President’s Awards 2019

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

Both MArch students and the SA+C staff excelled in RIBA President’s Medal Awards 2019 / RIBA President’s Awards for Research 2019 earlier this week.

Ruth Pearn won a Dissertation Medal  for her MArch dissertation ‘Age Through the Terrace: The Evolving Impact of Age on Social and Spatial Relations in the Home’ (Tutored by Prof. Harry Charrington).

DS18 celebrated a double-win by their former MArch students:

Rachel Wakelin was the winner of the Serjeant Award for Excellence in Architectural Drawing at Part 2, for her MArch design project project ‘Avian Air – A Tropospheric Bird Sanctuary’

and

Fiona Grieve was given a Commendation in the Dissertation Medal category, for her MArch dissertation ‘The Reception of Refugees in the UK.’ (Tutored by Dr. Davide Deriu).

DS22 celebrated their former MArch student Sun Yen Yee, who won the SOM Foundation Fellowship (UK Award) at Part 2, for his MArch design project ‘SEED of Havana: Dissolving Condensers.’

Prof Kester Rattenbury (DS15 tutor) was shortlisted for the RIBA President’s Award for Research, in History and Theory category for her project ‘The Wessex Project: Thomas Hardy Architect.’  

Tumpa Fellows (PhD researcher within the Experimental Practices research team and BSc Architectural Technology tutor) received a commendation for the Annual Theme: Building in Quality category in RIBA President’s Award for Research, for her project ‘Improvised architectural responses to the changing climate; making, sharing and communicating design processes.’

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE WINNERS!

Open Lecture Series: “Tech Trends on a Budget” by Adam Perry, Event Tech Live, UK, Monday, December 9, M416 Robin Evans Room, Marylebone Campus, 17:00

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Monday, 9th of December 2019, 17:00

Where: M416, Robin Evans Room, 35 Marylebone Rd, London NW1 5LS

To book your free tickets please click here.

Adam Parry is the co-founder of Event Tech Live.

About this Event

Co-founder of Event Tech Live and the editor of Event Industry News will explore the event technologies that will trend in 2020. The session keeps budget in mind suggesting technologies that are affordable for most events.

Learning outcomes:

  • Understand the advantages of using various technologies to enhance the event experience
  • Understand the budget interface with specific engagement technologies
  • Understand emerging technology trends for 2020

Open Lecture Series: “Designing Destination Attractors” by Tracy Halliwell MBE, London&Partners, and “Designing Eventscapes” by Prof Graham Brown, University of South Australia, Monday, December 2, M416 Robin Evans Room, Marylebone Campus, 17:00

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Monday, 2nd of December 2019, 17:00

Where: M416, Robin Evans Room, 35 Marylebone Rd, London NW1 5LS

To book your free tickets please click here.

Tracy Halliwell MBE, London and Partners, and Professor Graham Brown, University of South Australia.

About this Event

Designing Destination Attractors with Tracy Halliwell MBE.

London is one of the worlds most exciting cities for events. But how does Visit London, the destination authority design world class events to attract local and international attendees? This session explores how the ideation and creation process works in the worlds greatest city.

Learning outcomes:

  • Understand how destinations can design events to create place attractors for event tourism
  • Understand the process and the management of stakeholders in the design of placemaking events
  • Understand the design and delivery process of placemaking events

Eventscapes with Professor Graham Brown.

The presentation will explore how to design eventscapes. From a planning perspective, it will show how to select the best locations where the settings add value to event experiences and where event facilities can create long-term benefits for host communities. From a design perspective, examples will show the way graphic design has been used to create visual settings. 

Learning outcomes:

  • Understand how specific locations have an impact on eventscapes
  • Understand how host communities benefit from large public events
  • Understand how the design of eventscapes can benefit from graphics as semiotic indicators