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Join us for the preview of OPEN 2018 on Thursday 14th June, 18:00-21:00

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

Calendar of Events

PREVIEW :

THURSDAY 14 JUNE, 6 – 9PM

To be opened by Dr Peter Bonfield OBE
Register at open18.eventbrite.co.uk

STUDENT AWARDS EVENING AND ALUMNI RECEPTION:

FRIDAY 15 JUNE, 6.30 – 8.30PM (Registration from 5.30PM)

RSVP to alumni@westminster.ac.uk

EXHIBITION CONTINUES DAILY:

FRIDAY 15 JUNE – TUESDAY 10 JULY 10AM – 5PM (WEEKENDS 10AM – 2PM)

OCULUS PAVILION: 

THURSDAY 14 JUNE – FRIDAY 13 JULY 9AM – 9PM (SUNDAY 10AM – 2PM)

5m2 pavilion at the rear podium of the University, developed by degree students with the aim to bring people together within a comfortable outdoor microclimate. Precision CNC cut within the University’s Fabrication Laboratory.

Partners: DS3.2, Quintin Hogg Trust Fund, Weber Industries, StructureMode, Fabrication Laboratory, LFA

SYRIA VISIONS OF HOPE: BLOSSOMING IDENTITIES:

THURSDAY 14 JUNE – FRIDAY 13 JULY 9AM – 9PM (SUNDAY 10AM – 2PM)

An experimental exhibition exploring the theme of identity, its manifestations and importance in creating the conditions for a hopeful future with thriving communities and spaces.

FAB FEST ’18: INTERNATIONAL FABRICATION COMPETITION AND PUBLIC FESTIVAL:

FRIDAY 6 JULY: Awards Night, 6.30 – 10PM

SATURDAY 7 JULY: Let’s Make: Family Friendly Making Festival, 12 – 4PM MUSIC@FABFEST, 6 – 10PM

SUNDAY 8 JULY – TUESDAY 10 JULY : Public Exhibition, 10AM – 5PM

All exhibitions are taking place at: University of Westminster
35 Marylebone Road
London NW1 5LS
T: 020 3506 7003

https://www.westminster.ac.uk/news-and-events/events/open-2018

HistBEKE (Historic Built Environment Knowledge Exchange) Seminar Day Invitation, Friday 29th June, London

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

The HistBEKE project will very soon have a set of recommendations to send to Historic England for their agreement, following which they will be put into action.

We are keen to ensure that the heritage sector, including those in academia, is fully on board with these and that everyone has been able to have an input.

We would like to invite you, therefore, to a seminar day on Friday 29th June in London, either just to attend or to present a short paper. This seminar day is an opportunity to hear more about the HistBEKE project and how the framework will work, including recommendations for the knowledge exchange and research agenda. The future of the project will also be discussed, as well as how it can be used and further developed by everyone in the sector.

Topics for presentations may include, for example:

  • How you might make use of HistBEKE
  • Whether or not your own research agenda/priorities aligns with HistBEKE
  • Knowledge gaps and research themes that we might have missed
  • Knowledge gaps and themes that you might be able to fill (perhaps they could be used as a topic list for MA dissertations?)
  • Thoughts on the recommendations and any further suggestions
  • Guidance / publications / projects that might be added to the knowledge exchange
  • Areas for future collaboration

The key outcome from the workshops was that that HistBEKE should have two key elements:

  1. A Knowledge Exchange – a ‘one-stop-shop’ website that anyone can access for information on building types, conservation techniques, craft skills, materials etc. This will effectively be a Google-style search engine which will provide links/signposts to resources, many of which may well be on your website. This should be a wiki-style page that will be open access so that anyone can update it.
  2. A research agenda and strategy to fill any knowledge gaps and thus add to the knowledge exchange above. This should be ‘managed’ by a network/forum/stakeholder group rather than an open access wiki.

The other recommendations can all be found in the online survey that we are currently running to see how strongly everyone agrees them: https://survey.liv.ac.uk/Histbeke2018Survey.

The recommendations will not be finalised until after the seminar day, however, and all comments will be taken into account.

Please send your expression of interest to Stella Jackson by 31st May and let us know if you’d be able to attend on the 29th June, and if you would like to present a short (max 20 minutes) paper.

Featured image by SPAB (via University of Liverpool)

Symposium “Postmodernism Now: Politics, Culture, Context” at Design Museum London _ Saturday 30th June, 11:00-18:00

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Douglas Spencer, lecturer at the University of Westminster and the leader of the MArch Dissertation module, will be speaking at:

Postmodernism Now: Politics, Culture, Context

This symposium investigates the revival of postmodernism, and what it might mean for our current moment.

When: Saturday 30 June, 11:00-18:00

Where: Design Museum London

In this symposium, leading architects, designers, artists and critics reflect on the influence and legacy of postmodernism, and ask what the renewed interest in its ideals and values has to do with our own period of political and economic uncertainty.

Postmodernism emerged in the 1970s as the cultural response to the era’s shifting economic and political sands: the break with the mixed economy of the post-war years and the emergence of neoliberalism. This moment of flux was manifested in a culture that was colourful, ironic and self-aware. In contrast to the certainties of the post-war era, all became relative in an invigorating culture of permissiveness and free-floating signifiers.

The backlash began in the early 1990s when postmodernism began to be seen as an aesthetic aberration forever associated with reactionary politics, Thatcherism and the hyper-consumption it unleashed. Today, we are told that Postmodernism is back, with a slew of books, reappraisals, and a new generation of architects and designers advocating its principles of aesthetic pluralism, licentiousness and stylistic promiscuity. But what should we make of it?

This event has been organised alongside the exhibition ‘The Return of the Past: Postmodernism in British Architecture’, which is on at Sir John Soane’s Museum, 16 May – 26 August 2018.

For more info and booking: https://designmuseum.org/whats-on/talks-courses-and-workshops/postmodernism-now-politics-culture-context

Featured image credit: Al Yaqoub Tower, Dubai, 2013, by Adnan Saffarini, via Design Museum

Philip Webb Award 2018 _ Deadline 14th September 2018

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Philip Webb Award 2018 is an annual award from the SPAB for recent graduates and Part II students at UK Schools of Architecture.

Judged by an expert architectural panel, the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) Philip Webb Award is a design-orientated competition encouraging sympathetic reuse of existing buildings and sensitive new design in an historic context.

The competition is a unique opportunity for students and architects in the early stages of their career who are interested in sustainability, reuse of old buildings and conservation practice to engage with the SPAB’s principles and showcase their skills.

Key dates:

Competition opens on 20 July 2018

Competition closes on 14 September 2018 at 5pm

Conference “Superstructures: The New Architecture 1960-1990” at The Julian Study Centre and Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts on the 8th and 9th June 2018

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

Douglas Spencer, lecturer at the University of Westminster and the leader of the MArch Dissertation module, will present his work at:

SUPERSTRUCTURES: THE NEW ARCHITECTURE 1960–1990 CONFERENCE

See below for dates / £50/£37.50 concessions, Free for students. Pre-booked tickets only / The Julian Study Centre and Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts

To book please call Visitor Services 01603 593199

Explore the influences and legacies of the iconic ‘High-Tech’ building style. International architecture and design historians will unpick and magnify themes from the Sainsbury Centre’s 40th anniversary exhibition, SUPERSTRUCTURES: The New Architecture 1960–1990.

Conference Programme

Friday 8 June | 4:30 – 7:30pm

A special exhibition tour with SUPERSTRUCTURES co-curator Professor Jane Pavitt will be followed by the conference Key Note speech by Professor Todd Gannon. ‘Reyner Banham and the Paradoxes of High Tech’ will reassess the work of one of the most influential voices in twentieth-century architectural history.

Saturday 9 June | 10am – 4pm

Encounter a day of stimulating talks covering subjects from the mid-century designs of Charles and Ray Eames, to the spectacular growth of British leisure centres throughout the 1970s.

Speakers will convene for questions with plenty of opportunities to hold further discussions over lunch and refreshments.

Speakers include:

Professor Jane Pavitt, Head of the School of Critical Studies and Creative Industries at Kingston University.

Professor Todd Gannon, Head of Architecture Section at The Ohio State University’s Knowlton School and author of Reyner Banham and the Paradoxes of High Tech.

Professor Pat Kirkham, Professor of Design History at Kingston University.

Dr Otto Saumarez Smith, Shuffrey Junior Research Fellow in Architectural History Lincoln College, University of Oxford.

Douglas Spencer, Lecturer in Historical and Critical Thinking at Architectural Association and author of The Architecture of Neoliberalism.

Programmed in partnership with the Modern Interiors Research Centre at Kingston School of Art (Kingston University)

This event is inspired by SUPERSTRUCTURES: The New Architecture 1960–1990, an exhibition that marks the 40th anniversary of the opening of the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, the first public building designed by the world-renowned architect Norman Foster.

Exhibition runs until 2 September 2018.

London Festival of Architecture: “London Bridge Public Realm Competition”_Deadline 5th June 2018

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London Festival of Architecture and Team London Bridge announce London Bridge public realm competition

The London Festival of Architecture and Team London Bridge have announced a design competition to improve a pedestrian triangle outside London Bridge station.

As London Bridge becomes one of the focus areas for this year’s London Festival of Architecture, the competition will create a lasting legacy for the area: improving the appearance of the streetscape and assisting wayfinding in front of the station, which has recently undergone a £1bn redevelopment.

The design competition is aimed at architects, designers and artists, who are invited to submit a design concept that will use visual clues and public realm infrastructure to transform the busy but unremarkable space on Tooley Street. The site is on routes to several major London landmarks: the riverside, City Hall, Southwark Cathedral and Borough Market. However, none of these key locations are immediately visible, and many people need to re-orientate themselves. In the context of funding from the Mayor of London, the project will promote clean air routes that people can easily choose to use over major routes that are more polluted.

The competition will be judged by a panel including Jonas Lencer (director, dRMM), Jack Skillen (placeshaping director, Team London Bridge), Tamsie Thomson (director, London Festival of Architecture) and Matthew Hill (head of highways, Southwark Council).

Following a public exhibition of shortlisted entries in June, the winning team will be revealed in July 2018 to develop a fully costed, feasible design that can be installed subject to planning consent. The total project budget is £23,000 + VAT.

The deadline for submissions is 3.00pm on 5 June 2018.

Further information for entrants is available at www.londonfestivalofarchitecture.org

Hundreds of people pass through London Bridge station every day, and this competition is an opportunity to demonstrate how good design can make a difference even in everyday spaces. We are grateful to Team London Bridge for creating a brilliant opportunity to champion design talent in London, and to foster positive and lasting change to London’s public realm.

Nadia Broccardo, executive director of Team London Bridge, says:

As people navigate their way around the new London Bridge station, we have a chance to alter their preferred routes and behaviours through clever public realm design. This competition offers someone the chance to have their design seen by millions of people every year, and encourage people to use routes with cleaner air while providing more pleasant ways to explore London Bridge.

Featured image by LFA.

International Competition: “Affordable Housing Design Challenge 2018″_May – August 2018

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Introduction

My friends and I have very little time to chat because we work overtime every day. What’s important is that my friends and I don’t want to live like this. We want a place with certain standards; i.e. with enough equipment and a bathroom inside, with enough space to live in. (Hem Sela, 26)

Cambodia (Khmer: Kampuchea, officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia) is currently experiencing something of an industrial revolution in the 21st century. Cambodia is developing to become an economic centre for manufacturing and production, graduating from the status of a Low income country to a Low- middle income Country in 2016. As more international companies move their production within Cambodia’s borders, the capital city located on the banks of the Tonlé Sap and Mekong River, Phnom Penh, is experiencing rapid urbanization.

As low-income workers flood the city to live nearer to employment opportunities, and to pursue better living conditions, the city struggles to build infrastructure and affordable housing to support its new residents. Despite the national economic optimism, many urban residents live in dismal, slum-like conditions. Small multi- family units with poor ventilation, light, and water access are offered without proper rent protection, leaving the city’s most desperate residents vulnerable to their landlords. Often, the housing available to these low-income workers is little more than a poorly constructed room.

The Phnom Penh Special Economic Zone, in association with United Nations Development Programme SDG Finance initiative and Building Trust International, aims to support the transition from Special Economic Zones to SUSTAINABLE Economic Zones in line with the UN SDG Goals. This first challenge focuses on building new affordable social housing for low- income workers.

These new units should be well-designed, sustainable, and most importantly, improve the quality of life of the intended residents and the surrounding community. More than just housing, this new project should build a future for workers and their families in Cambodia.

Eligibility:

Design professionals, Engineers, Architects, architecture/design/engineer graduates or architecture/design/engineer students are eligible to participate.

Key Dates:

Competition Officially Announced: 1st May 2018

Registration deadline: 15th July 2018

Closing Date for Submissions: 1st August 2018

Announcement of Winners: 1st September 2018

The winners will be posted on www.buildingtrustinternational.org

To download catalogue with more info: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/j1j33y4grxhgec9/AAByxb8Ej7mo5FL96vKb2c_5a?dl=0

“Cleveland – Alternatives to the Present” Conference on Architecture, Urbanism, Sociology, Development & Planning_Deadline for Abstracts: 5th June 2018

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Where: Kent State University, Cleveland

When: 01-02 November 2018

Deadline for abstracts: 05 June 2018.

To download form and more info: http://architecturemps.com/cleveland/ 

Context:

Alternatives to the Present…… The New Urban Agenda of the United Nations presents itself as a blueprint for governments globally. Through it, UN-Habitat seeks to combine the material, social and environmental agendas molding the urban world. The American Planning Association reflects this, advocating for planning that promotes social equity, inclusive communities, and expanded opportunities for all. The International Union of Architects speaks of revolutionizing design to ensure sustainable human settlement, while the AIA champions liveable communities. In the UK, the RIBA links housing design and social inclusion and the National Housing Federation connects the provision of homes to public health. All this reflects the field of sociology and geography with the ISA identifying cites as the principle site of social conflict and political contestation and the American Association of Geographers linking the notions of resilience and urban justice.

This apparently holistic view suggests that 20th Century top-down and disciplinary reductive understandings of the urban condition, such as those attributed to the Athens Charter, are a thing of the past. It also suggests a scenario in which social equity is fully integrated into notions of development. However, even a cursory glance at the reality of early 21st Century urbanism shows this is clearly not the case. On the one hand, individual disciplines still tend to work in isolation and even in competition, while on the other, Neoliberal agendas still represent the raison d’être of most development projects. The Alternatives to the Present conference seeks to critique the dichotomies involved in this increasingly confused scenario by bringing together various disciplines to interrogate the diversity of factors either limiting or activating the possibilities of an equitable urban future.

Key Dates:

Abstracts: 05 June 2018 | Abstract Feedback: 25 June 2017 | Registration opens: 01 July 2018

Conference: 01-02 Nov 2018

Full Paper Submission (where applicable): 10 Jan 2019 | Feedback for publication: 10 March 2019 | Full Publication: 10 July 2019

Nb. There will be a second round of late abstract submissions on 01 September 2018.

Featured image from Amps web-site.

Architecture Research Forum: “What About Design?” Kester Rattenbury, Thursday 17th May, Erskine Room, 5th Floor, 13:00-14:00

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KESTER RATTENBURY: “WHAT ABOUT DESIGN?” The Research Assessment and You

Westminster has an amazing body of active, diverse, internationally recognised staff teaching our students design. Their outputs – your outputs – include buildings, competition designs, exhibitions, books, collaborations, products, blogs, new ways of working. This work is recognised locally, nationally and internationally. But is it research?

Arguably in all case, and demonstrably in some, yes, it is. And when the next national University research appraisal, the REF, takes place, all staff will be considered to see what their ‘research outputs’ have been, and will have to make submissions demonstrating this.

In the last REF, Architecture was able to submit Design Portfolios of selected staff projects for the first time. This Research Forum opens the discussion on how this will work – and whether we can in any way shape the process so as make the work of our remarkable staff a more more visible part of our School.

This is a short, three part event to open the discussion:

*Professor Lindsay Bremner and Professor Susannah Hagan will give short accounts of how the process worked last time;

*Toby Burgess and Arthur Mamou-Mani will give short presentations of the range of work they do, as an example of the range of our staff work

*Open discussion chaired by Kester Rattenbury on how we might approach Design Folios in the next REF and whether we could turn any part of the exercise to our advantage.

When: 17 May 2018, 13.00–14.00

Where: Erskine Room, 5th Floor

The Architecture Research Forum is a seminar series hosted by the Architecture + Cities Research Group where staff present work-in-progress for discussion.

ALL WELCOME

Piercy&Company lead by MArch DS16 tutor Stuart Piercy wins BD’s “Office Architect of the Year 2018” Award

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Congratulations to MArch DS16 tutor and studio leader Stuart Percy of Piercy&Company on winning this highly competitive and prestigious international award!

The “Office Architect of the Year 2018” recognises Piercy&Company‘s work across the sector; from new builds, to refurbishments, co-working, and occupier fit-outs.

The judging considered a cross section of our completed and in-progress office projects: The Copyright Building and 25 Savile Row, both for Derwent London; and Spring Place and Princelet Street, both for Brockton Capital/Fora. Common across these diverse projects is an engagement with the current shift in the types of spaces people want to work in; embracing a blurring of the once separate realms of home and work – of the informal and the formal. (Piercy&Company)

For more info please go to Piercy&Company’s web-site.

Featured image by Piercy&Company.