Category: Events

ArCCAT Climate Action Week + Technical Studies Lecture Series: “Environmental Design Sourcebook” Book Launch + Panel Discussion with Pete Silver and Will McLean | Thursday, October 28, 2021 at 18:30, Room M416, Marylebone Campus + Online

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Thursday 28th October 6.30pm, M416 

Where: M416, School of Architecture and Cities, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, London NW1 5LS + Online:

A new social and ecological prerogative demands appropriate material choices, a re-invention of construction and evolving building programmes that looks at lifecycle, embodied energy and energy use. 

To coincide with the university Sustainability Month and the recent publication of Environmental Design Sourcebook: Innovative Ideas for a Sustainable Built Environment (RIBA Publishing, 2021), the Authors, Dr Will McLean and Pete Silver will host a book launch and panel discussion. 

The discussion will feature contributors from the publication including industry collaborators, and University of Westminster staff and student researchers: Kirsten Haggart (Waugh Thistleton architects), Rosa Schiano-Phan (UoW), Guy Sinclair (UoW) and Urna Sodnamjamts (Hût Architecture). 

This panel discussion about design for climate change is the first of a planned series exploring knowledge transfer networks and partnerships with industry. These discussions are hosted by the University of Westminster (on and off-site) and are supported by Dr Stephanie Lasalle from the Research and Knowledge Exchange Office. 

https://technicalstudies.tumblr.com/

For details contact: Will McLean  

w.f.mclean@wmin.ac.uk 

Falling Away: A one-day symposium held together with the exhibition of Catherine Yass’ film works in Ambika P3

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

The symposium will bring together researchers and practitioners from a diverse range of disciplines to discuss the agency of falling in contemporary culture. Metaphors of falling are often evoked to describe the current period of insecurity and instability. At the same time, the built environment reflects and in turns reproduces this state of suspension: while highrise construction reshapes the landscapes of cities around the world, including London, its impact on our perception of gravity is yet to be understood. Typically defined as ‘the force that makes objects fall toward the earth’, gravity is so pervasive that we may overlook the ways in which it conditions our daily lives, and how we abandon ourselves to its force – or resist it.

How do creative practices engage with the perception of gravity, balance and falling? Can they mediate our fears and desires to lose the ground? What links can be drawn between the vertiginous spaces of our cities and the conditions of social instability in which we live? These and other related issues will be addressed from a variety of perspectives drawing on art, architecture, design, geography, psychology, and dance. Structured around a series of conversations, the symposium will conclude with a panel discussion with the artist Catherine Yass.

The event is organised in conjunction with Falling Away, a major exhibition of Catherine Yass’s work in Ambika P3. Curated by Davide Deriu and Michael Mazière, the exhibition comprises seven vertiginous films of modern architectural structures that embody the institutions which built them. Spanning the past two decades, it is the first retrospective of the artist’s extensive body of film work in the UK. The joint events are aligned with the Vertigo in the City project based at the School of Architecture + Cities, University of Westminster.

Confirmed speakers

  • Ruth Anderwald + Leonhard Grond, Artists-Researchers and Professors of Artistic Research, University of Applied Arts Vienna
  • Amy Butt, Practising Architect and Lecturer in Architecture, University of Reading
  • Emilyn Claid, Dance artist, director, performer and educator
  • John Golding, Professor of Applied Psychology, University of Westminster
  • Andrew Harris, Associate Professor in Geography and Urban Studies, University College London
  • Catherine James, Art Historian and Lecturer in Academic Practice, University of the Arts London
  • Michael Mazière, Ambika P3 curator and Reader in Film and Video, University of Westminster
  • Brendan Walker, Thrill Engineer and Professor of Creative Industries, Middlesex University
  • Catherine Yass, London-based artist
  • Convenor: Davide Deriu, School of Architecture + Cities, University of Westminster

View the Programme for the ‘Falling Away’ Symposium

View the Falling Away Exhibition Catalogue

Register for tickets for the Falling Away Symposium on 22nd October

Register for tickets for the private view of Falling Away on 21st October

View the Falling Away Exhibition Catalogue

Tickets

The event will be delivered as a webcast, with a limited number of tickets set aside for in person attendance in the Robin Evans Room – broken down into AM and PM slots.

Half of available tickets for in person attendance have been set aside for students, so we would much obliged if you could share details with them – and those who you think may find the event of interest. Those attending virtually are welcome to join the session at any point, and a link will be shared with registered attendees prior to the event.

A recording of each of the sessions will also be made available on the School of Architecture and Cities YouTube Channel shortly after the event.

ArCCAT Climate Action Week – Monday 25th to Friday 29th of October

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

The Architecture and Cities Climate Action Taskforce (ArCCAT) has developed an exciting, slightly-longer-than-a-week programme of events between October 18th and October 28th to support the University’s Sustainability Month, a lead-in to COP 26 in Glasgow at the beginning of November.

Go here for further details of the University’s programme: here: https://www.westminster.ac.uk/about-us/our-university/vision-mission-and-values/sustainability-month. 

The ArCCAT programme is as follows: 

Monday 18 October 18.30 – 19.30

Cartographies of the Monsoon Exhibition Opening

Venue: Gallery Café, 309 Regents Street, W1B 2HW

Lindsay Bremner in conversation with Tom Corby, Associate Dean of Research, Central St Martins.

This exhibition will show a selection of the maps produced by John Cook for Monsoon Assemblages, a research project in the School of Architecture and Cities at the University of Westminster funded by the European Research Council between 2016-2021. The project drew on the environmental humanities, the natural sciences and the spatial disciplines to develop an understanding of the entanglements of the monsoon in everyday life, politics and planning in Chennai, Delhi, Dhaka and Yangon, four of South Asia’s rapidly growing cities. The maps were mechanisms through which the project team constructed understandings of the materiality of the monsoon and the many mechanisms that drive it.

Monday 25 October 12.30 – 14.30 

What about ‘the other half’ of the ‘UN sustainability goals’?

Venue: Studio

UoW students-as-co-creators project team 2021: Dana Al Khammach, Elantha Evans, Rebecca Kelly, James Mason and Lavinia Peninno.

Join us for a curated, interactive and enjoyable 15-20 min session anytime between 12.30-14.30 on Monday 25th October 2021. This is about what YOU think we can do together, and is part of a wider project about architecture, empathy and the empathic imagination. Come along! And sign up here for more info on the project and future collaborations.

Offered as part of ‘Sustainable Disclosures’ // Expanding architecture education to better nurture people, places and practices for sustainable, inclusive futures (http://eepurl.com/hFy9q1).

Monday 25 October 13.00 

Launch of Design Competition for a material reuse station for the studios

Venue: Studio

Doiny Kypraiou, Stefania Bocoletti, Paolo Zaide and Tabatha Mills.

For both students and architectural designers, the physical model is a manifestation of ideas. The act of physical model-making is central to architectural education and our studios. It presents the opportunity to test, explore, speculate, compose and further the design process. How can you as students begin to challenge wasteful practice? Can we make our studio practice more circular?

Five teams of 4 L5 students each, drawn from each of the undergraduate degrees (Interiors, Architecture, AED, Technology) will participate in this design challenge for a week.

Monday 25 October 16.00 – 17.00 

The King’s Cross journey to carbon neutrality

Venue: Robin Evans Room (M416) and online; book at Eventbrite: https://www. eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-kings-cross-journey-to-carbon-neutrality-tickets-183433162527

Organiser and Moderator: Johannes Novy

Speaker: Stephen Kellett, Sustainability Manager, Ardent Services LLP

Discussant: Roudaina Alkhani

The King’s Cross Estate is one of Europe’s most significant regeneration projects – this talk will highlight the key decisions made from the projects inception through to the design of its buildings and the management in operation that have enabled it to achieve carbon neutrality, on its journey to net zero carbon.

Monday 25 October 17.30 – 18.30 

Opening of the ArCCAT Sustainable Design + Research Exhibition

Launch of the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Campaign

Venue: Marylebone Learning Platform

Speaker: Peter Bonfield

Curators: Lindsay Bremner, Grace Lancto, François Girardin and David Scott, with the assistance of Chris Meloy and John Whitmore.

An exhibition of staff and student work from the School of Architecture and Cities supporting sustainability goals accompanied by the launch of a Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Campaign by the Fabrication Lab and the University’s Estates team.

Tuesday 26th October, 18.00 – 20.00 

Practicing Sustainability: from Portfolio to Practitioner

Venue: Robin Evans Room (M416) and online | to book tickets please go to Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/practicing-sustainability-from-portfolio-to-practitioner-tickets-191649176847

Organiser and Moderator: Harry Charrington

Speakers: Chris Morgan; John Gilbert Architects, Glasgow; Gordon O’Connor-Read; Rural Urban Synthesis Society and Laing O’Rourke.

How do you take the ideas and commitment of your student portfolio into architectural practice? How can you build a career that reinforces your ideals and aims, rather than compromises them? These two talks, by architects at very different stages of their careers will illustrate ‘how they do sustainable practice’, and the challenges and success they have had in addressing the concerns they had as students through their built projects.

Thursday 28th October, 18.00 – 20.00 

Environmental Design Sourcebook Book Launch and Panel Discussion

Venue: Room M416 and available on https://technicalstudies.tumblr.com/

Organisers: Will McLean and Pete Silver

To coincide with Climate Action Week and the recent publication of Environmental Design Sourcebook: Innovative Ideas for a Sustainable Built Environment (RIBA Publish- ing, 2021), the authors Will McLean and Pete Silver will host a book launch and panel discussion. The discussion will feature contributors from the publication including industry collaborators, and University of Westminster staff and student researchers: Kirsten Haggart (Waugh Thistleton), Rosa Schiano-Phan, Guy Sinclair, Urangua Sodnamjamts, Pete Silver and Will McLean.

This panel discussion about design for climate change is the first of a planned series exploring knowledge transfer networks and partnerships with industry. These discussions are hosted by the University of Westminster (on and off-site) and are supported by Dr Stephanie Lasalle from the Research and Knowledge Exchange Office.

For details contact Will McLean: w.f.mclean@westminster.ac.uk

Technical Studies Lecture Series: “Dakar Earth Bricks” Nzinga B. Mboup – Worofila | Thursday, October 21, 2021 at 18:00, Room M416, Marylebone Campus + Online

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Thursday, 21st of October at 6pm

Where: Room M416 + Livestream, School of Architecture and Cities , University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, London NW1 5LS 

Livestream Link: https://eu.bbcollab.com/guest/fc7cfc71b9534b29830ec5e4ae564d16

Before air conditioning, people paid attention to materials and orientation for the natural regulation of heat.  

Nzinga Mboup 

Senegal’s traditional dwellings were made of earth, but that construction method has slowly been abandoned. Dakar’s sidewalks today are littered with piles of sand and stones that are mixed with cement to make cheap building blocks. 

Worofila and Mboup were inspired to use modern earth bricks made from soil and very small amounts of cement and water to create a mixture that is cut into blocks, compressed with a hand-operated machine and left to dry in the sun for 21 days. Unlike concrete, earth bricks require very little embodied energy to produce. Worofila have worked with Elementerre on the construction of private homes, offices and part of a train station. Elementerre, is an earth brick manufacturer founded by Doudou Deme in 2010.  

This reimagining and reengineering of earth construction remains niche and it currently costs more than concrete with many clients still unaware of this as a building material. Worofila has recently been longlisted for an Ashden Award, a British prize for climate solutions, which it hopes will raise visibility of this ‘age old’ but actually very new age natural material – locally sourced and with excellent thermal performance, which acts to moderate the internal temperature and humidity of the architecture.

https://technicalstudies.tumblr.com/

For details contact: Will McLean  

w.f.mclean@wmin.ac.uk 

Giulio Verdini moderating a session on ‘Climate Justice in Pedagogy and Practice’ at I4C ‘Innovate 4 Cities’ conference IPCC / UN-HABITAT / GCoM | Thursday, October 14, 2021, 14:30 (BST)

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Thursday, 14th of October 2021, 15:30 CEST (14:30 London)

Where: You can find the link to join the session in the attached programme or directly via zoom here: https://zoom.us/j/97320816756 

Giulio Verdini (BA Designing Cities) is moderating a session on ‘Climate Justice in Pedagogy and Practice‘ at I4C ‘Innovate 4 Cities’ conference IPCC / UN-HABITAT / GCoM https://www.innovate4cities.org.

The session will be an opportunity to share and discuss the results of the UoW SCUE funded projects ‘Globally-informed (or decolonising) City Climate Pedagogy and Practice’ http://blog.westminster.ac.uk/ccpp/ (2019-2021) together with a number of global scholars and practioners from all over the world. The conference will feed into COP26 in Glasgow.

Registration free.

I4C_Climate-Justice-PROGRAMME_14Oct2021Download

Technical Studies Lecture Series: “Research as Practice: Material Formations” HANNAH | Thursday, October 14, 2021 at 18:00, Room M416, Marylebone Campus + Online

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Thursday, 14th of October at 6pm

Where: Room M416 + Livestream, School of Architecture and Cities , University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, London NW1 5LS 

Link to join livestream https://eu.bbcollab.com/guest/954cdae480dd42c7b74ca7c02d5e59df 

HANNAH is an experimental design and research studio working across scales from furniture to urbanism. HANNAH’s projects mine the tension between machine means and architectural ends. They reclaim authorship over processes of construction that influence the way we can build – or perhaps ought to build in the future. Leslie and Sasa will discuss the ‘Ashen Cabin’ (upstate New York), which uses 3D printed concrete and locally sourced ‘waste’ ash timber. 

Leslie Lok is a co-principal at HANNAH, an award-winning experimental design practice for built and speculative projects. Lok is also an assistant professor and the B.Arch Coordinator at Cornell University College of Architecture, Art, and Planning. Lok’s research and teaching explore the intersection of housing, urbanization, and mass-customized construction methods at multiple scales. At Cornell, Lok directs the Urban Construction Laboratory (UCL). 

Sasa Zivkovic is a co-principal at HANNAH, an experimental design practice based in Ithaca, New York. Zivkovic is also an assistant professor at Cornell University AAP where he directs the Robotic Construction Laboratory (RCL), an interdisciplinary research group that develops and implements novel robotic construction technology. Interdisciplinary in nature, the work integrates cutting-edge materials, advanced fabrication, mechanical design, architectural computation, structural optimization, and sustainable construction. 

https://technicalstudies.tumblr.com/

For details contact: Will McLean 

w.f.mclean@wmin.ac.uk

Exhibition: Cartographies of the Monsoon | Gallery Café, 309 Regent St | Monday, October 18 at 18.30 (BST)

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

Where: Gallery Café, 309 Regent St, 18 October – 15 November   

When: 18 October, 18.30-19.30   

Speakers: Lindsay Bremner, PI of Monsoon Assemblages in conversation with Tom Corby, Associate Dean of Research, Central St Martins.    

This exhibition shows a selection of maps drawn by John Cook for Monsoon Assemblages, a research project in the School of Architecture and Cities at the University of Westminster funded by the European Research Council between 2016-2021. The project drew on the environmental humanities, the natural sciences and the spatial disciplines to develop an understanding of the entanglements of the monsoon in everyday life, politics and planning in Chennai, Delhi, Dhaka and Yangon, four of South Asia’s rapidly growing cities.  The maps were mechanisms through which the project team constructed understandings of the materiality of the monsoon and the many mechanisms that drive it. At the opening, Lindsay Bremner will discuss the maps with Tom Corby, Associate Dean of Research at Central St Martins.  

Monsoon Assemblages was led by Professor Lindsay Bremner, with Dr. Beth Cullen, Christina Geros, John Cook, Harshavardhan Bhat and Anthony Powis. Monsoon Assemblages was a research project funded by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant Agreement No. 679873, 2016-2021). 

Featured image by John Cook.

Technical Studies Lecture Series: “Experimenting with Architecture” McCloy + Muchemwa | Thursday, October 7 2021 at 18:00, Room M416, Marylebone Campus

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Thursday, 7th of October at 6pm

Where: Room M416, School of Architecture + Cities, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, London NW1 5LS

The design and architecture studio of Steve McCloy and Bongani Muchemwa has its roots in Africa and is based in London. The studio’s work is an inventive exploration into design thinking and designs have included a bamboo bicycle, a reinvention of the Police ‘Tardis’, street furniture, modular housing and wearable architecture. In 2020 McCloy + Muchemwa were named in the Architects’ Journal 40 Under 40, and featured in Wallpaper* magazine’s survey of the next generation of 10 London practices.

Steve is a registered architect with experience across a variety of sectors from public installations and private homes to civic buildings, polar research stations, and sustainable urban developments. He is also published as a researcher / author and has contributed to numerous books and articles including ‘Once Upon A China’ by CJ Lim + Steve McCloy (2021). Steve has exhibited work at the Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition, and was nominated for both the RIBA President’s Bronze and Silver Medals.

Bongani is a registered architect with significant experience at some of the UK’s most high profile architectural practices and he has won numerous awards for design excellence. His work with film and animation has been widely celebrated including at Magma Film Festival in Sicily. Bongani has exhibited work at the Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition, and was nominated for the RIBA President’s Bronze Medal. Bongani is also a lecturer and studio tutor at the University of Westminster, a Practice Mentor at the Royal College of Art, and is a trustee of the Wakefield-based arts charity Beam.

For details contact: Will McLean

w.f.mclean@wmin.ac.uk

https://technicalstudies.tumblr.com/

LET’S TALK: Changing the Culture of Architecture to fit all | Thursday, October 7 from 18:00 to 19:30

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

ONLINE EVENT

On the 7th of October LET’S BUILD is organising their 7th event in the series LET’S TALK: Changing the Culture of Architecture to Fit All. Each event brings together a diverse group of construction professionals to share their experience.

We will be discussing the architecture and construction industry and how we could make the industry more inclusive with Changing the Culture of Architecture to Fit All. We want to re-think the construction industry and provide opportunities for professionals from all backgrounds.

Let’s Build is a platform for those who want to challenge and change the status quo.

Join the debate and help us improve the industry for the benefit of all.

LET’S BUILD

For more information about the event and to book tickets please click here.

OPEN 2021 – School of Architecture + Cities and Hamza Shaikh : ” Does university prepare you for practice?” | Online event | Friday, July 2, 2021 from 17:00 to 19:00 (BST)

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

Please join us on Friday, 2nd of July from 5pm to 7pm (BST), for the last in the series of events around our graduating students’ virtual degree show OPEN2021. We will host our last year’s graduate, Hamza Shaikh, the founder and the host of the Two Worlds Design podcast, and a maker at Make Architects.

Through recounting his architectural education journey, as well as the ways in which he explored and expanded his interests in relation to the architectural profession and beyond, Hamza will help us tackle the difficult, yet important and timely question: Does university prepare you for practice? 

The event will be streamed live on the School of Architecture + Cities’ YouTube channel and Hamza Shaikh’s Two Worlds Design YouTube channel.

5pm Introduction + short film

5.30 – 6.30pm Drawing and the evolving practice

6.30 – 7.00pm Audience Q&A

Hamza Shaikh Bio

Hamza Shaikh is currently a Part 2 Architectural Assistant and Partner at Make Architects, London. He is also the founder & host of the Two Worlds Design podcast series which explores the hidden potential of Architecture by speaking with leading practitioners both within and outside of the field. In 2020 he co-founded the MAD Collective (@the_madcollective),which held multiple symposia to highlight broad issues within the field of architecture and university. He also shares experimental drawing techniques on his popular Instagram page @hamzashaikh.design. More broadly, he shares architectural guidance on his fast-growing YouTube Channel, and he has been described as an ‘Architectural Influencer’ on social media.