Open Studio is an interactive project run by the School of Architecture + Cities at the University of Westminster to make its design, research and practice-based work available online while it is happening. The site acts as a real time teaching and learning environment in which the work of both students and staff is curated and documented – the work of its design studios, or its other teaching and research groups and workshops. Read more in Blog, follow us on Twitter and like us on Instagram.
When: Monday, 27th of October 2025, 1pm-2pm (GMT)
Where: Online
The next Architecture + Cities Research Seminar, Re-Imagining Climate and Ecological Data – An Immersive Technology Approach, will be presented by John Zhang online on Monday, October 27, 2025 at 13:00.
The link to the meeting is here.
All are welcome.
When: Monday, 2nd of November 2025 at 6pm (GMT)
Where: M416 (Robin Evans Room), Marylebone Campus, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, NW1 5LS
About the Speaker
Professor Sean Griffiths is the principle of Modern Architect and a practicing architect, artist and writer. Alongside teaching he designs architecture, makes gallery-based installations and writes extensively.
Sean was the founding director of the art-architecture collaborative FAT whose design work and art projects have been widely published and discussed. Sean’s work as an individual and as a director of FAT has been exhibited at major national and international institutions including the RIBA, the V&A, the ICA, the Royal Academy, and Tate Modern in London, and the Carnegie Mellon Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Stroom in Den Haag, Arc en Réve in Bourdeaux, the Seccession Haus in Vienna, amongst many others. FAT represented the UK at the 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale.
Besides his prolific architecture and design projects, art work, media work and his regular curation of group exhibitions and installations, Sean Griffiths has taught extensively both in this country and as visiting critic and professor and as invited lecturer in institutions around the world. He has been Visiting Professor of Architectural Design at Yale University on four occasions between 2007-2016.
When: Thursday, 23rd of October 2025 at 6pm (BST)
Where: M416 (Robin Evans Room), Marylebone Campus, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, NW1 5LS + Online
“After all, the Greenest House is the one that’s already there.”
The UK is grappling with multiple housing crises: a lack of adequate, affordable homes, inefficient land use, the climate emergency, and layouts that haven’t changed in over 130 years. Attempts to rectify these problems often lead to senseless demolition, community displacement, carbon emissions, and maximum profit extraction.
Anders Strand Luhr from Office Ten will present how ‘The Greenest House’ aims to break this cycle. With 80% of 2050’s buildings already in place, our model demonstrates that preserving and renewing existing housing stock isn’t just possible; it’s urgent. By working with what we already have, we can generate social, economic, and environmental benefits for everyone.
Office Ten Architecture was invited by European Cultural Center Italy to participate in their exhibition TIME SPACE EXISTENCE at this year’s Venice Biennale. Office Ten is a London-based architecture practice dedicated to the quiet power of preservation and renewal. We give new life to existing spaces by tackling complex challenges across architecture and beyond.
For details please contact Dr Will McLean – w.f.mclean@westminster.ac.uk
When: Thursday, 16th of October 2025 at 6pm (BST)
Where: M416 (Robin Evans Room), Marylebone Campus, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, NW1 5LS + Online
The book presents a compendium of essays, conversations and paradigmatic projects conceived as an adaptive platform on synthetic-vernacular architecture in Africa and its potential role as cultural driver for global scenarios.
Based on almost ten years of applied research of Dr Paolo Cascone and his CODESIGNLAB practice in Africa, the book documents the potential role of indigenous and spontaneous architecture in the contemporary debate on sustainability in architectural design. How to respond to climatic changes reconciling nature with tekné? What is the social role of technology?
Paola Cascone and Maddalena Laddaga will make a short presentation of their key projects, which will be followed by a wider discussion on teaching and researching in architecture for global challenges and new vernacular approaches to ecological design. The panel will include Alice Odeke, Urna Sodnomjamts, Ripin Kalra and Bongani Muchemwa.
For details please contact Dr Will McLean – w.f.mclean@westminster.ac.uk
When: Monday, 13th of October 2025, 1pm-2pm (BST)
Where: M416 (Robin Evans Room), Marylebone Campus, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, NW1 5LS + Online
The next Architecture and Cities Research Seminar will be given by Paolo Zaide and Andrea Wu, on 13 October, 13.00 – 14.00, online or in M416. The title of the seminar is A Piece from / for Everyone.
All are welcome.
When: Thursday, 9th of October 2025 at 6pm (BST)
Where: M416 (Robin Evans Room), Marylebone Campus, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, NW1 5LS + Online
“I was always interested in the Marshall McLuhan idea of looking at the future through a rearview mirror. This premise that we build the future out of the past has definitely instilled in me a value and appreciation for cultural and technological histories, excavation and repurposing, and processes of re-animating and extrapolating from the past into the present.”
Paul Purgas
Originally trained as an architect at the University of Westminster, Paul has presented exhibitions and performances with Tramway, Camden Art Centre, Southbank Centre and Kunstverein Gartenhaus. His written output includes essays for the Unsound:Undead collection published by Urbanomic/MIT Press and the documentaries Electronic India and Krishnamurti in England for BBC Radio 3. He is one half of the electronic music project Emptyset working with electroacoustic and computer music, broadcasting and spatialised sound. Emptyset has presented work at the Architecture Foundation, the Roberts Institute and Tate Britain’s Performing Architecture programme, and performed at Unsound, Sonic Acts and Berghain for Transmediale 2020. In 2024 Paul edited and co-authored the book Subcontinental Synthesis: Electronic Music at the National Institute of Design India 1969-1972. The book followed the BBC 3 Radio programme, Electronic India.
For details contact Will McLean
When: Thursday, 2nd of October 2025 at 6pm (BST)
Where: M416 (Robin Evans Room), Marylebone Campus, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, NW1 5LS + Online
“Bamboo has a real part to play as a low-carbon material, and it needs to be part of the toolkit that we have moving forward”.
Chris Matthews talking to Dezeen
Chris Matthews is a chartered structural engineer and an Associate Director at Atelier One. Since joining Atelier One in 2011, Chris has been involved in a broad array of projects. Specialities include structural engineering for unusual structures; staging and stadium shows; film engineering; timber structures; bamboo structures; art installations; geometrical optimisation of form-active roof structures. Some key projects include the staging for the London 2012 Olympic Ceremonies, Spaceframe (a carbon fibre LED framing system used globally, previous winner of the Structural Awards innovation category), the First Light Pavilion at Jodrell Bank (the first concrete shell structure in the UK for 25 years) and SEE Monster (a repurposed North Sea oil platform brought to Weston Super-mare). Chris has also designed two world record-breaking Walls of Death! Chris will be talking about how we should be using bamboo as a low (no) carbon construction material in the UK.
Before and after the talk Jan Balbaligo (Natural Builder) has kindly arranged for the sale of Jörg Stamm and Munir Vahanvati’s book ‘Bamboo Architecture Unboxed’.
For details please contact Dr Will McLean – w.f.mclean@westminster.ac.uk
When: Monday, 29th of September 2025, 1pm-2pm (BST)
Where: Online
The first Architecture and Cities Research Seminar of the semester will take place on 29 September, 13.00 – 14.00 online here. Serena Mombelli, a PhD scholar in Urban Planning and Mobility at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, currently visiting the Active Travel Academy, will present her work on ‘Decoding the Media Framing and political Discourse around Barcelona’s Urban transformation, 2016-2024.’
All are welcome.
When: Friday, 19th of September 2025 at 6pm (BST)
Where: Marylebone Campus, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Rd, NW1 5LS
Register for the launch on Eventbrite
Join us on Friday 19 September for the launch of MORE 2025 — an exhibition of the University of Westminster’s School of Architecture + Cities Master’s students’ thesis projects.
The exhibition will launch in the 4th Floor Architecture Studios at 6pm on Friday 19 September with an in-person event to be opened by Sarah Wigglesworth.
The celebratory event will be followed by contributions from each of the participating courses (paired with the School’s annual student awards):
The MORE 25 collection will be available online at more2025.net. Please note this site will be activated on the date of the exhibition launch.
When: Monday, 19th of May 2025, 1pm-2pm (BST)
Where: Online
The final A+C research seminar of the year will take place on Monday, 19 May online here.
It will be given by Krystallia Kamvasinou and Lorenzo Iannizzotto on the subject of Reimagining Terrain Vague: A Socio-ecological Approach for Vacant Urban Land.
All are welcome.
![Technical Studies Lecture Series: Anders Strand Luhr [Office Ten]: “The Greenest House” | Thursday, October 23 at 18:00 (BST), M416 Robin Evans Room + Livestream](http://www.openstudiowestminster.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/4-Anders-Strand-Luhr-1.png)
![Technical Studies Lecture Series: Paul Purgas [Emptyset] “The Architecture of Sound” | Thursday, October 9 at 18:00 (BST), M416 Robin Evans Room + Livestream](http://www.openstudiowestminster.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/2-Paul-Purgas-1.png)
![Technical Studies Lecture Series: Chris Matthews [Atelier One] “Building with Bamboo” | Thursday, October 2 at 18:00 (BST), M416 Robin Evans Room + Livestream](http://www.openstudiowestminster.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/1-Chris-Matthews-1.png)
