Category: Events

Westminster Climate Action Network and Manchester Climate Action Group: ARCHITECTURE WON’T BE RELEVANT ON A DEAD PLANET! | Online, May 18, 2021 at 17:00 BST

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Tuesday, 18th of May 2021, 17:00 – 18:30 BST

Eventbrite booking: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/architecture-wont-be-relevant-on-a-dead-planet-tickets-154547462621

Since the beginning of civilization, the human race has used architecture as a form of protection from the changing climate, sometimes referred to as the Third Skin. However, significant global climate change has brought to light the impact humanity has had on the planet due to the mass extraction of fossil fuels and other unsustainable practices. The challenge we face is not only important for humanity, but the Earth as a whole. How can architecture play a role in the survival of the planet?

Format…

The format is a panel discussion guided by a chair between two students, two tutors, and two professionals, each invited by the two universities. Each speaker will present for 3-4 minutes, after which a general discussion will follow facilitated by the chair. At this point, members of the audience are invited to ask questions in the live chat aimed at certain speakers or both panels as a whole. The questions will be selected by the chair, so that the conversation opens up into new areas, thus expanding everyone’s learning on this pertinent yet broad topic.

DEBATE THEMES…

TECHNOLOGICAL – Technology in Architecture has fundamentally shaped society, the economy and the environment. Throughout time, the rapid and continuous urbanization of the modern world has put pressure on cities to provide satisfactory living conditions for humans at the cost of the environment. Even though technology itself has caused many environmental and social problems, it could be key to addressing some of the pressing global challenges we face as a society, through helping to reduce the negative impact of the built environment on the Earth. However, the new employed technologies are facing differing opinions in regards to which solutions have greater benefits on the environment:

ECOLOGICAL – For generations humans have presented themselves as dominant over nature, exploiting and viewing it as subordinate without considering the severe repercussions on the environment. Directly relating to architecture, construction sites for instance have gradually destroyed the habitats of species which are crucial to our survival on the planet leaving them shelter-less.

SOCIAL – Through the work of social scientists and other like-minded people, the impact of the Anthropocene is being acknowledged as more than just climate science. Awareness of environmental injustice has led to the development of terms such as “the unequal exchange”, the material extraction and labour exploitation of communities for the benefit of others. In addition, these areas in the Global South will be impacted by the effects of climate change sooner. This injustice is not just between nations, but within societies, as the global top 10% are responsible for half of all global emissions (Oxfam, 2020).

WestCAN [Westminster Climate Action Network]: “Climate Studio Sessions”, Friday, April 9, 14:00-16:30 GMT

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Friday, 9th of April from 2pm to 4.30pm GMT

Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/climate-studio-sessions-tickets-147987575823

Calling all students and educators at the University of Westminster!

Join us for an afternoon of discussions with industry professionals to engage in proactive learning, and develop the skills to design within the context of the climate emergency. We are exploring a new lecture structure, where students and educators are given the opportunity to discuss the topic amongst their peers, and form questions to ask the speaker directly in an open conversation. The session is curated to explore themes surrounding the climate emergency, equipping you with a deeper knowledge of climate literacy which can be applied to your design work, within the studio and beyond.

With…

Scott McAulay

A recent RIBAJ Rising Star, Scott founded the Anthropocene Architecture School in 2019, a now internationally recognised Climate Emergency educational platform

Nana Biamah-Ofosu

Nana’s writing has been published and exhibited internationally, and she recently hosted NAW’s Architecture Foundation takeover

Ross O’Ceallaigh

Ross is a planner and urban designer based in London and is host of the ‘green urbanist’ a podcast for urbanists fighting climate change

BSc Year 3 Studio Architecture and Environmental Design online crits | Tuesday, April 6 (2pm-5pm) and Thursday, April 8 (10am-1pm and 2pm-5pm)

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Tuesday, 6th of April, 2pm-5pm and Thursday, 8th of April, from 10am-1pm and 2pm-5pm

BB link of the online sessions: https://eu.bbcollab.com/guest/0c1eb0958d304a78a4b51396245b91fd

Tutors: Paolo Cascone and Yota Adilenidou

Synthetic Vernacular Architecture / Learning from African Fabbers

Premise:

We do not lack communication, on the contrary we have too much of it. We lack creation. We lack resistance to the present.

Gilles Deleuze

The studio is conceived as a research by design laboratory investigating on performance- oriented architecture; trough the negotiation between multiple social and environmental parameters, the discourse of the studio explores an information-based design process towards an ecological approach to the built environment. This year the Studio will focus of an innovative way of learning from vernacular architecture to generate new architectural ecological typologies. These typologies will respond to the need of housing, health and educational affordable architectures for the African context.

Studio Blog: www.ds3astudio.com

Visiting Critics

Tuesday, April 6 [2pm-5pm]

Elif Erdine / EmTech AA

Nasser Golzari / UoW

Marco Poletto / Ecologic Studio

Thursday, April 8 [10am-1pm]

Conor Black / Arup

Harry Charington / UoW

Annarita Papeschi / The Bartlett

Thursday, April 8 [2pm-5pm]

Christina Duompioti / EPFL

Farzana Ghandi / NYIT

Juan Vallejo / UoW

Half-day Symposium: “Blueprint for Decolonisation” – Asian Architects Association in collaboration with Architecture Foundation | Tuesday, March 30, from 14:00 to 17:00 (GMT)

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

The racialisation of space has its roots in colonial practices that sought to wield control over people perceived as ‘Other’. If the future of practice begins with education, how has the practice of ‘othering’ become absorbed into the structure of education?

Join us for a half-day symposium in collaboration with the recently established Asian Architects Association (AAA) exploring the steps towards a decolonised architectural education. Chaired by AAA co-founder Karl Mok, the discussion will seek to propose a blueprint for the future of architectural education, with panelists and students alike sharing their thoughts and experiences. Karl is joined by Dr Kamna Patel, Associate Professor at the Bartlett Development Planning Unit, Ming Cheng, tutor at the London School of Architecture, Sanaa Shaikh, tutor at Oxford Brookes and director of Native Studio, Khensani de Klerk, founder of Matri-Archi(tecture) and researcher at Cambridge, and Shumi Bose, Senior Lecturer at Central Saint Martins.

The symposium invites an open dialogue with those who have felt oppressed now or in the past by traditional architectural curriculm.

Asian Architects Association (AAA) is an emerging forum that promotes, examines and debates the work of asian architects. The AAA was founded by Sumita Singha, Tumpa Husna Yasmin Fellows, Ming Cheng, Vinesh Pomal and Karl Mok.

Architecture Foundation

For more information, please visit here.

Architecture History + Theory Lecture Series: “Papered Spaces: Writing Cultures, Clerks and Provincial Office Architecture in Colonial India” by Tania Sengupta, Thursday, March 25 at 18:30 GMT

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Thursday, 25th of March at 6.30pm GMT

Link: Click Here to Join

ALL WELCOME!

This talk is about a spatial and experiential world of paper records, files, textual cultures, bureaucracies, officers and clerks. I look at ordinary buildings of British colonial everyday governance in interior areas of India in the nineteenth century. Colonial governance in India was based on global technologies of writing produced by European mercantile capitalism, as well as on the transformation – into paper-forms – of the embodied administrative knowledge held by extant Indian (Mughal) officials. I reflect here on how the material logic of paper and paperwork profoundly shaped and permeated the spaces of the colonial office (cutcherry). I also think about their connection with wider geographies of (colonial) Indian paper and ink economy, as well as how various immaterial processes and information networks in fact subverted colonial paper rule and worked through alternative spatialities.

Dr Tania Sengupta

Decolonising Performative Architecture Seminar Series: “Italian Pavillion 2021: Exaptation and Serendipity” Alessandro Melis , University of Portsmouth, Curator of the Italian Pavilion – Venice Biennale 2020/21, Monday, March 15, 2.00pm GMT | Online

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Monday, 15th of March at 2.00pm GMT

Blackboard link: https://eu.bbcollab.com/guest/0c1eb0958d304a78a4b51396245b91fd 

The seminar is organised by Paolo Cascone, Yota Adilenidou and Maddalena Laddaga in the frame of Architecture and Environmental Design DS3A “Decolonising Performative Architecture” seminar series.

Dr. Alessandro Melis RIBA ARB AOU, is a full professor of architecture innovation at the University of Portsmouth and the Director of the Cluster for Sustainable Cities in the UK. In 2019, he was appointed by the Italian Minister of Cultural Heritage (MIBAC) as the curator of the Italian Pavilion at the 17th International Biennale of Architecture in Venice 2021, and in 2020 Ambassador of Italian Design on behalf of the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs. Previously, at the University of Auckland, he was the head of the technology area and director of postgraduate engagement at the School of Architecture and Planning. In the period 2010-2013 he has been the Director of Urban City Lab at the Institute of Architecture of the university of Applied Arts Vienna (Die Angewandte, Vienna) and visiting professor at the Foster Foundation, and in Germany (Anhalt University, Dessau). He holds a PhD in architecture design from the University of Florence. He has been an honorary fellow at the Edinburgh School of Architecture. He has also been invited as a to speak at the China Academy of Art, the University of Cambridge, the MoMA New York, TED, the Italian Institute of Culture in London, and the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris. He is a visiting critic at UCL Bartlett, Architectural Association London, SCI-Arc Los Angeles, RMIT Melbourne, TU Berlin, Florida International University, and New York Institute of Technology. In 1996, he founded Heliopolis 21, a multi-awarded architecture practice based in Italy, Germany, and the UK. The SR1939 Institute of the University of Pisa, the Stella Maris Hospital, and the Auditorium of Sant’Anna, inaugurated by the president of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella, are acknowledged both in scholar publications and in popular magazines as examples of excellence in sustainable design. The recognition of Alessandro’s research is corroborated by a record of over 150 scientific publications and by as many citations, including in popular periodicals such as Wired, the New York Times, the Independent, Reuters, and the Conversation. His work was the object of several exhibitions and of a recent monograph (Rome, 2020) edited by Giuseppe Fallacara Chirico, titled “Alessandro Melis, Utopic Real World.” 

Decolonising Performative Architecture Seminar Series: “Earthen Towers” Stephanie Chaltiel , MuDD Architects, Tuesday, March 9, 2.30pm GMT | Online

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Tuesday, 9th of March at 2.30pm GMT

Blackboard link: https://eu.bbcollab.com/guest/a1f67e76494344a3ba9b0a002be29c38

The seminar is organised by Paolo Cascone, Yota Adilenidou and Maddalena Laddaga in the frame of Architecture and Environmental Design DS3A “Decolonising Performative Architecture” seminar series.

Stephanie Chaltiel is a French architect and interior designer working with innovative techniques and natural materials offering unique designs for each project. She began her career in Mexico and French Guyana building by hand with local dwellers houses. After working for Bernard Tschumi in New York, OMA and Zaha Hadid she started her own practice. Her award winning projects marrying cutting edge technology and raw materials (ACADIA, MIT 2017, part of the ICON Design 100 talents 2019 and Dezeen Awards Winners Highly commended mention) has been presented and exhibited worldwide. She taught at SUTD Singapore, Westminster London, AA London, Ravensbourne London, and at the architectural school of Brighton and more recently at Elisava Barcelona. She was also during 4 years an EU Marie Curie scholarship recipient when she developed the drone spray technology for sustainable architecture and refurbishments. She’s a partner at www.muddarchitects.com .

Decolonising Performative Architecture Seminar Series: “Think Global, Act Local” Farzana Gandhi, New York Institute of Technology – School of Architecture and Design, Monday, March 8, 2pm GMT | Online

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Monday, 8th of March at 2pm GMT

Blackboard link: https://eu.bbcollab.com/guest/0c1eb0958d304a78a4b51396245b91fd

The seminar is organised by Paolo Cascone, Yota Adilenidou and Maddalena Laddaga in the frame of Architecture and Environmental Design DS3A “Decolonising Performative Architecture” seminar series.

Farzana Gandhi is Registered Architect in New York and a LEED Accredited Professional. Her architecture and planning practice, Farzana Gandhi Design Studio, focuses on sustainable and socially conscious solutions, both locally and abroad. Recent work includes a primary school in Senegal, Africa; community visioning and streetscape design in East Harlem, NY; resiliency strategies and NYCHA campus connectivity in Inwood, NY; and replicable, modular infrastructure for Puerto Rico. Farzana is most interested in how widespread social impact can be achieved at the intersection of architecture and its environmental, cultural, and socioeconomic framework. Her deep commitment to community outreach is driven by deep inquiry, investigation, and integration. Early this year, Farzana also cofounded Collective Infrastructures, a multidisciplinary design lab confronting complex societal challenges with unique comprehensive response. To build a community based on social and environmental resiliency, the team creatively coordinates a rethinking of social, economic, cultural, environmental, educational, medical, and technological infrastructures in disaster hit and/ or disadvantaged neighbourhoods. Farzana frequently lectures about her work, which has been recognised globally through publications, exhibitions, awards and honours. Farzana is also tenured Associate Professor of Architecture at the New York Institute of Technology, where she teaches across the design studio and visualisation sequence and pursues multidisciplinary design research focused on social impact design. Farazana earned a Master in Architecture with Distinction from the Harvard Graduate School of Design. At the University of Pennsylvania, she graduated Phi Beta Kappa with Bachelor of Arts in Architecture, as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish with Distinction. 

Principal, Farzana Gandhi Design Studio |  www.farzanagandhi.com Associate Professor of Architecture, New York Institute of Technology 

T R A J E C T O R I E S Talk Series: “Craft: From Sketch to Building” with Alice Hardy and Yannick Guillén, Thursday, March 4, 18:00 GMT | Online

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Thursday, 4th of March at 6pm GMT

Join via Teams: https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_ZmI1MzhkYTAtYTA3Zi00MDdkLTg0M2ItNDRmYzdiMWE4ODdi%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%22bb3c97ff-11b5-4b37-92cf-1897b2d8766b%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%220ca04870-4816-4cbc-81f3-221d818f2d11%22%7d 

T R A J E C T O R I E S  TALK SERIES | THURSDAYS from 6PM GMT

A new series of talks inviting architecture graduates to reflect on their time as students and their exciting next steps. Each week two speakers will explore personal creative aspirations, ideas and agendas, and present the somewhat unexpected trajectories of their early careers. Looking forward to seeing you all there! 

This Thursday Alice Hardy and Yannick Guillén will speak about projects on site. They will share stories of getting bespoke buildings off the ground to ideas of shaping the public realm. Hopefully inspiring for your current design projects and the ideas materiality and types of spaces that you are exploring! Please come and bring friends along. 

Alice worked at Jan Kattein Architects for two years and will continue to do so through her practice placement. Through JKA she developed her interests in making and self-build projects. She has just completed a self-build project where she worked as a full time Site Manager. Alice has been involved in a number of independent self-built projects such as festival installations and pavilions and a competition with Raumlabor in Munich. 

Yannick has worked for Crossboundaries Architects in Beijing, Sauerbruch Hutton in Berlin and Herzog de Meuron in Basel. In 2015 he started working for Witherford Watson Mann Architects in London, where he was architect on the Stirling Prize nominated Nevill Holt Opera, a complex adaptation of a 16th century stable block into a state-of-the-art opera theatre. In 2019 he set up Guillén Esteras Architects and has since worked on a number of architecture projects of various types and scales, including a feasibility for a hospital campus in Lagos, Nigeria, a competition for a public library in Madrid and a single-family home in Wales. 

Decolonising Performative Architecture Seminar Series: “Six strategies for a more participatory architecture” Giancarlo Mazzanti, El Equipo Mazzanti, UCL, Thursday, February 25, 3pm GMT | Online

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Thursday, 25th of February at 3pm GMT

Blackboard link: https://eu.bbcollab.com/guest/0c1eb0958d304a78a4b51396245b91fd

The seminar is organised by Paolo Cascone, Yota Adilenidou and Maddalena Laddaga in the frame of Architecture and Environmental Design DS3A “Decolonising Performative Architecture” seminar series.

Giancarlo Mazzanti is the founder of El Equipo Mazzanti, social values are at the center of Mazzanti’s architecture. He seeks to realize projects that give value to social transformations and build communities, and has dedicated his professional life to improve quality of life through the design of the environment and the idea of social equality. His work has become a reflection of the current social changes occurring in Latin America and Colombia, showing that good architecture manages to build new identities for cities, towns, and inhabitants, and transcend reputations of crime and poverty.  

Amongst some of his most relevant projects are the International Convention Center, Biblioteca España, and the South American Games Coliseums, all in Medellín, Colombia. Works in other areas of Colombia include the Tercer Milenio Park, El Porvenir Kindergarten in Bogota, Timayu Kindergarten in Santa Marta, Pies Descalzos School in Cartagena, and Marinilla Educational Park. Mazzanti graduated from Javeriana University in Colombia, with postgraduate studies in industrial design and architecture in Florence, Italy. He has experience as a visiting professor in Colombian universities, as well as in world-renowned universities such as Harvard University, Columbia University, and Princeton University. He is also the first Colombian architect to have his works in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York and in the Centre Pompidou in Paris.