College of Design, Creative & Digital Industries, University of Westminster: Summer Party | Harrow Campus

Registration for your college’s Summer Party is now open!

As a final year or postgraduate student at the College of Design, Creative and Digital Industries, your Summer Party will take place at Harrow Campus on Wednesday 15 June, 12–4pm.

If you’d like to attend this free event, please sign up here.

Please bear in mind that attendance is limited, and places will be offered on a first come, first served basis. Also, please bring your University of Westminster ID pass or proof of ID to the event.

The party will provide a fantastic opportunity for you to get together with your college community, enjoy delicious food and drink, and have fun with a range of outdoor activities.

A variety of food options will be available, including a Lebanese salad bar, kebab stall and pie and mash stand – with vegetarian, vegan and halal options. Party goers will also be treated to a free alcoholic or non-alcoholic drink, with a paid bar on hand too.

A host of optional fun activities are planned for the afternoon. If you’ve got energy to burn, why not play some volleyball or take part in our egg and spoon race?

There’ll also be a variety of funfair-style games for you to enjoy. Good accuracy? Test your mettle with the coconut shy, tin can alley or giant football darts.

And if all of this sounds exhausting, the option to simply chill and chat is open to all.

Please take this opportunity to celebrate the end of the year with fellow students, lecturers and other colleagues who have supported your journey at Westminster.

Call for Abstracts: Prague – Heritages: Past and Present – Built and Social | A Conference on Culture, History, Art and Design | Deadline: July 10, 2022

Conference dates: 28th to 30th of June 2023

Deadline for submission of abstracts: 10th of July 2022

Organisers: Czech Technical University, with Amps, Intellect Books, and UCL Press

2023 marks the twentieth anniversary of the UNESCO Convention on Cultural Heritage. It established culture as a concept to be safeguarded. That event came three decades after the World Heritage Convention. Through that, UNESCO had set up its World Heritage List of protect sites and buildings. The intervening years have seen multiple shifts in how we define heritage – as both material objects and social traditions. Today more than ever before, the distinction is blurred. The streets on which we live, the edifices we design and the monuments we protect are all connected to the lifestyles, traditions and social groupings we celebrate and safeguard.

What we mean by heritage today then, is an open and diverse question. Our buildings and environments, our cities and neighborhoods, our memorials and our artworks, our cultures and communities are all component parts of what we understand as ‘preservable’ history. The dynamics at play are however complex. Conserving architectural heritage can conflict with development models. Community traditions are threatened by globalization. Monuments are often focal points for cultural contestation. Archeological sites are valued in themselves and simultaneously erased conflict and ‘progress’.

However, the past and the present also overlap and mutually support. Placemaking sees built and cultural heritage as key to urban practice. Contextualization is central to planning laws. Museums are site for communities and display. Heritage organsiations preserve buildings and educate the public. Galleries present historical art while debating meanings in contemporary terms.

Reflecting this scenario, this conference seeks papers on heritage from various standpoints: art and architecture historians concerned with preservation; architects and urban planners engaged with placemaking; cultural theorists and social historians documenting objects, places, people and events. It welcomes case studies that are specific and place-based. It embraces theoretical frameworks that function globally. It is interested in variegated methods of research and analysis.

For more details please go here.

OPEN2022 | Thursday, June 16, 17:30-20:30 (BST) at Marylebone Campus

The University of Westminster’s School of Architecture and Cities invites you to OPEN2022

When: Thursday, 16th of June 2022 from 5.30pm to 8.30pm

Where: Marylebone Studios, Marylebone Campus, 35 Marylebone Road, London NW1 5LS

Head of School Harry Charrington cordially invites you to attend the opening of the graduating students’ degree show, OPEN 2022, featuring work from

  • Architecture BA
  • Architecture and Environmental Design BSc
  • Architectural Technology BSc
  • Designing Cities BA
  • Interior Architecture BA
  • MArch

Preview

Thursday 16 June, 5.30pm

Show opened by Kate Macintosh MBE, 6pm

Exhibition continues

Friday 17 June – Monday 11 July

PLEASE SEE ATTACHED INVITATION FOR DETAILS AND TO [open2022.eventbrite.co.uk]REGISTER VIA EVENTBRITE.

You can also RSVP to DCDI-Events@westminster.ac.uk

“Monsoon as Method” Book Launch | Wednesday, June 8, 2022, 13:00-14:30 (BST) | Online event

Monsoon Assemblages will launch Monsoon as Method: Assembling Monsoonal Multiplicities (Actar 2022) online on 8 June, 13.00 – 14.30 (BST). Do join us to celebrate the publication of the book.

At the launch, Lindsay Bremner, Christina Geros, Harshavardhan Bhat, Anthony Powis and John Cook will be joined by Edd Wall, Alfredo Ramirez, Karen Coelho, Pamila Gupta and Jonathan Cane to discuss the book and its methods.

To attend, register using the Eventbrite.

“Inclusive Tectonics” with Paolo Cascone at New York Institute of Technology | Wednesday, April 27, 2022 from 18:00 to 20:00 (EST) Online

When: Wednesday, 27th of April 2022, 6:00pm – 8:00pm (EST)

Where: Online | New York Institute of Technology

To register, please go here.

Based on almost 10 years of applied research by Paolo Cascone between Europe and Africa, his work investigates 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? How architects reconsider their practices in supporting community-oriented projects?

These questions are discussed through a number of paradigmatic projects in order to shape an interdisciplinary approach that bridges different knowledge.

Paolo Cascone is a Senior Lecturer, School of Architecture + Cities, University of Westminster and Founding Director of Codesignlab.org .

Emerging Territories Symposium: London Lab / Global Hub | Friday, May 13, 2022 from 10:00 to 18:00 (BST) in M416, Marylebone Campus, University of Westminster

When: Friday, 13th of May 2022 from 10am to 6pm (BST)

Where: M416, University of Westminster, Marylebone campus, 35 Marylebone Road, London NW1 5LS

Register via Eventbrite.

Background

The ‘Emerging Territories’ research group hosts a one-day symposium on current research initiatives of the School of Architecture and Cities, which contributes to the global agenda of sustainability of the University of Westminster. We work at the interface between London-based explorative practices, and globally-relevant projects, with the aim to promote and design more resilient and inclusive communities, places, and territories, around the following priority emerging areas: Climate Urbanism; Health & Wellbeing; Urban-Rural Interfaces; Anthropocene Territories; Public Space and Diversity.

Concept

Urban and Architectural research, in recent years, is confronted with new challenges affecting cities and the built environment: the unexpected outbreak of the COVID19 pandemic, the increasing evidence of the tangible impact of climate change, and the rising tensions among nation states in a changing global scenario. This has resulted in unprecedented social and environmental vulnerabilities, and new rapidly evolving phenomena, such as the digital transition of the way of living, residing and working.

Taken together, these challenges pose serious questions that scholars in the field of architecture and planning should face, in primis the redefinition of the notion of local vs global, and the very idea of scholarly engagement across different places in the new normal.  On the other hand, this can be taken as an opportunity to define new ‘emerging territories’ of research where problems can be captured, solutions can be tested, and ideas can be shared more effectively across multiple scales and contexts.

The aim of the symposium is therefore to bring together interdisciplinary research between architecture and planning, based at the School of Architecture and Cities and to share new ideas and approaches to tackle city problems and their vulnerabilities in the new global context.

Contributors

Krystallia Kamvasinou, Giulio Verdini (Co-Chairs), with Roudaina Alkhani, Lindsay Bremner, Sabina Cioboata, Corinna Dean, Shengkang Fu, Ripin Kalra, Kon Kim, Tony Lloyd Jones, David W. Mathewson, Michael Neuman, Mai Sairafi, Ben Stringer, and others to be confirmed.

For queries on the symposium, please contact:

Giulio Verdini G.Verdini@westminster.ac.uk or Krystallia Kamvasinou K.Kamvasinou01@westminster.ac.uk

AHRA Research Student Symposium 2022 | University of Westminster, Marylebone Campus + Online, April 20 and 21, 2022

When: Wednesday, 21st of April (from 10am BST) – Thursday, 21st of April (to 7pm BST)

Where: University of Westminster, Marylebone campus, Room MG14, 35 Marylebone Road, London NW1 5LS

Register via Eventbrite.

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, explorations of vernacular traditions, informal settlements, transient and temporary architectures.

All activities are offered in blended (hybrid) form. Links to live streams (via Zoom) will be communicated before the symposium. Please indicate whether you will attend as a physical or remote guest.

Westminster Transport Group – 1971, 2021, 2071 | Online and at Marylebone Campus, University of Westminster on Friday, April 29, 2022

When: Friday, 29th of April 2022, 15:00 – 21:00 BST

Where: Online and at University of Westminster, Marylebone Campus, 35 Marylebone Road, London NW1 5LS

To register via Eventbrite please go here.

Join us for a celebratory event, marking 50 (+) years of the Transport Studies Group (TSG) at Marylebone, reflecting on teaching and research, past, present and future.

The event will comprise two distinct segments, the first being an afternoon session with speakers on past development, and current roles, of teaching and research in the Group, together with contributions from alumni who have attained important positions in the transport sector.

This will be followed in the evening by an informal reception for past staff colleagues, alumni and others connected with TSG’s work over the years (such as research collaborators in other institutions, external examiners) and presentations ceremony.

The event will take place in person at the Marylebone Campus, and delivered in tandem online, with a joining link to be shared with registered attendees ahead of the event. Tickets are available for in person attendance at the first session and/or reception, and for online attendees, for the first session and/or the Presentations segment of the Reception.

The Fabrication Lab invites you to our unique Ceramic Patisserie: MAKE FOR UKRAINE! An Evening of Robotics + Ceramics to Raise Funds for Ukraine | Thursdays: March 31 and April 7, 2022

We’d like to invite you to an evening workshop in the Fabrication Lab to raise funds for Ukraine.

The workshop is a one-off opportunity to try out the Lab, and to work with our robots and digitally fabricated tools to help you design and make your very own ceramic patisserie. We’ll provide all the materials, tools, and help you need to create your cake, and once it’s fired, it will be yours to keep forever.

MAKE FOR UKRAINE! is open to everyone, with reduced donations for students and Westminster colleagues. All proceeds, including profits from the Lab Bar, will be donated to humanitarian aid for the people of Ukraine.

Dates

Thursdays – 31st of March and 7th of April: 17:30, 18:00, 18:30 until 22:00

Minimum Donations
  • UoW Students – £20
  • UoW Staff + Alumni – £30
  • Visitors – £50
  • ViP – £100

To book tickets please go here.

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

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).