Category: Events

MORE 2020 Online Exhibition Launch and Webinar | Friday, January 22 at 17:00 GMT

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Friday 22 January 17:00 GMT

Where: More2020.net

The School of Architecture and Cities cordially invites you to attend the opening of our graduating students’ online degree show, MORE 2020, an online exhibition of the University of Westminster’s Master’s students thesis projects featuring work from Architecture MA, Interior Architecture MA, Architecture and Environmental Design MSc, Urban Design MA, International Planning and Sustainable Development MA and RIBA Part III.

The exhibition will launch with a webinar at 17:00 on Friday 22nd January with contributions from participating courses staff and students, presentation of awards for work in the show and a live performance.  A link to the webinar will be available on the MORE2020.net website from 17:00 on the day, and can also be accessed directly here

The degree show is part of the School of Architecture and Cities and the first online edition of its annual Exhibition of work, following on from the hugely successful OPEN 2020.

PLEASE SEE ATTACHED INVITATION FOR DETAILS AND TO REGISTER VIA EVENTBRITE.

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

Technical Studies Lecture Series: “Mycelium and other Bio-based Construction Materials ” Ehab Sayed , Biohm, Thursday, December 3 at 18:00 [online via BB]

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Thursday, 3rd of December at 6pm

Event Link (no need to register):  https://eu.bbcollab.com/guest/3ea897faf8b14916a16d1b200581b1e9 

Ehab Sayed has over six years of experience as a sustainable designer, engineer, circular economy strategist and built environment innovator with a passion for creating a biomimetic (nature- inspired) circular future. Through extensive research on the global construction industry, he founded Biohm to champion a transformation towards the integration of biological processes in manufacturing.

Biohm have produced a mycelium thermal insulation panel that will be the world’s first accredited mycelium insulation product. We are also developing new products and alternative applications for mycelium, which is the vegetative part of a fungus. Biohm is a multi-award-winning research and development led, bio-manufacturing company. We allow nature to lead innovation, to revolutionise construction and create a healthier, more sustainable, built-environment. Biohm work in symbiosis with industry, local and national government, communities and academia to lead a step-change towards a circular future that is inspired by nature and driven by human, environmental and economic needs. 

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

Technical Studies website – https://technicalstudies.tumblr.com/

Technical Studies Lecture Series: “U-Build” Nick Newman, Studio Bark, Thursday, November 26 at 18:00 [online via BB]

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Thursday, 26th of November at 6pm

Event Link (no need to register): https://eu.bbcollab.com/guest/df0e3de2a217453cb18c4d6f76fa0d9a 

Nick Newman is a Director of Studio Bark and the U-Build construction system. 

His experience spans environmental architecture, climate activism, circular economy construction and deep energy retrofits. Nick is a Passivhaus Designer and has contributed to a number of journals and publications, including the Environmental Design Pocketbook, the Passivhaus Designer’s Manual and an upcoming journal for the RIBA focusing on the Climate Emergency.  He speaks regularly at events on behalf of the studio and was named a ‘Rising Sustainability Star’ by Building magazine in 2014. Nick is an advocate for radical responses to the Climate Emergency, and, was arrested for his involvement with ‘protest architecture’ at the Extinction Rebellion protests in 2019 and 2020, which brought Central London to a standstill. 

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

Technical Studies website – https://technicalstudies.tumblr.com/ 

FAME: Exposing the Barriers in Architecture | Friday, December 4, 18:00-19:30 GMT [Online event hosted by Architecture Foundation via Zoom]

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Friday, 4th of December, 6pm-7.30pm

Eventbrite link

FAME will be hosting their first event to expose the barriers female architects of minority ethnic face in the architecture industry today

About this Event

FAME: Female Architects of Minority Ethnic: founded by Tumpa Husna Yasmin Fellows and Tahin Khan.

FAME Collective is a research-based network founded to support women of diverse backgrounds and ethnicities in architecture and the built environment. Their aim is to raise awareness of the barriers, inequality and lack of diversity in architecture and to demand change that responds to our collective challenges. This event is part of a series of events which will be documented and shared with those in power to change and address the inequality that exists in architecture.

Join us for the launch of FAME’s first symposium ‘EXPOSING THE BARRIERS IN ARCHITECTURE’ hosted by Architecture Foundation via Zoom, and presented by Tumpa Husna Yasmin Fellows. Our distinguished keynote speaker Sumita Singha (recent RIBA Presidential candidate). Our panel of speakers include Annette Fisher (from Let’s BUild), Hilary Satchwell (from Tibbalds and Part W), Femi Oresanya (from HOK and the Chair of the RIBA Architects for Change Expert Advisory Group) and Anna Liu (Director of Tonkin Liu, won the 2018 Stephen Lawrence Prize for Old Shed New House).

This is a participatory event to explore the impact of racism, injustice and inequality contributing to the barriers in architecture. We want to hear about the lived experiences of practitioners, academics and students from BAME backgrounds, to unpack the grievances.

FAME is responding to an urgent need for understanding how race and gender affects established practitioners, young scholars and students, from diverse backgrounds, knowledge and practices by engaging in conversations about the barriers in architecture and the built environment. Our aim is to collectively respond and to demand change and the much-needed support to overcome barriers of racial and gender inequality both in academia and in practices. Our Q + A and participatory sessions will provide an opportunity for participants to share experiences of racial and gender inequality in architecture and the built environment.

This event is being hosted by the Architecture Foundation via Zoom.

The details for all participants will be announced soon.

Technical Studies Lecture Series: “Post Pandemic Housing,” Kristofer Adelaide, Kristofer Adelaide Architecture (KA–A), Thursday, November 19 at 18:00 [online via BB]

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Thursday, 19th of November at 6pm

Event Link (no need to register): https://eu.bbcollab.com/guest/ef03d69ea2934064a205c2159e77e760 

It is always a pleasure to welcome back former students and we are delighted to host a talk by Kristofer Adelaide (School of Architecture alumnus, 2009). Kristofer Adelaide Architecture (KA–A) was established in 2016 and is formed of a diverse range of architects, an artist, and accounts and management team. They are a young BAME led practice based in South London. KA–A employs a diverse team of ARB registered Architects, Designers, Architectural Assistants and a BIM Coordinator. They share resources with other architects when required as part of the London Architects Group and Paradigm networks, promoting BAME representation in the built environment. 

KA—A have developed an excellent reputation, obtaining difficult planning consents and successfully delivering projects across London and the South East. These consents have varied from small extensions and alterations in conservation areas, through to new build and multi-unit schemes. Our clients have been a mixture of private residential and medium scale developer led schemes. The practice has recently developed – the Architecture for (the) Reasonably Ordinary (A.F.R.O) House – A concept dwelling, that uses modular construction to satisfy high housing demand, with quality manufacturing, working toward a zero-carbon and passive design standard. Inspired by the Garden Cities movement, this initiative seeks to provide affordable housing in a flexible, scalable way to meet local demand. 

In October KA–A were awarded RIBA London practice of the month, and the practice were recently one of Seven practices shortlisted to pitch ideas for post-pandemic housing that addresses the needs of young people to a panel led by residential developer HUB. In August 2020 they were one of six practices selected for the Brick by Brick – housing infill project in Croydon, working in partnership with the Stephen Lawrence Trust.  

Technical Studies Lecture Series: “Creating Civilised Cities,” Chris Williamson, Weston Williamson and Partners, Thursday, November 12 at 18:00 [online via BB]

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Thursday, 12th of November at 6pm

Event Link (there is no need to register): https://eu.bbcollab.com/guest/8cfdaba2b81a485d803c0a3181bc6da7 

Weston Williamson and Partners have gained a reputation for the elegant design and craft of complex design challenges. Their work includes significant infrastructure projects such as the new station at Barking Riverside, the centrepiece of a massive regeneration scheme. Other recent rail projects include two new stations on the Elizabeth Line (Crossrail) at Woolwich and Paddington Station. The Paddington project has been described by the client as “…the jewel in the Crossrail crown.” 

When Chris was asked to work with Andrew Weston for group projects at Leicester School of Architecture (for no other reason than they were next to each other alphabetically) he discovered that their skills didn’t overlap but dovetailed perfectly. Their shared ambition made for a perfect business partnership. Forty years later Chris manages and directs the studio and has recently published WW+P’s vision for the next 20 years, which talks about a diverse, collaborative design studio with strong delivery skills. In addition to being a chartered architect, Chris has an MSc in Project Management and believes strongly that the art of architecture requires excellent business skills in order to be realised. Chris has recently been the International Vice President of the RIBA responsible for setting a strategy to grow into a global membership institution and to encourage more UK architects to seek work globally.  

Chris and Weston Williamson also generously provide academic partnership and support to March studio DS22 run by Nasser Golzari and Yara Sharif. 

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

Technical Studies website – https://technicalstudies.tumblr.com/ 

Technical Studies Lecture Series: “Recent Projects,” Sophie Hicks, Wednesday, November 4 at 17:00 [online via BB]

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Wednesday, 4th of November at 5pm

Event Link: https://eu.bbcollab.com/guest/f9e3ae5001874d12b6a507f5d1160bd6

Sophie Hicks established Sophie Hicks Architects in 1990 whilst still a student at the Architectural Association and she became a chartered architect in 1994. Prior to her career as an architect she worked in fashion: as a stylist for Vogue Magazine; and for the designer, Azzedine Alaia. She leads a practice with a focus on both fashion retail and private residential design. Her retail projects include Westbourne House with Paul Smith, his “shop in a house”; and the development of a store concept for Chloé, with signature plywood walls, which has been used in over one hundred stores worldwide. Sophie has also worked closely with Yohji Yamamoto to design his flagship store in Paris; and she created a new-build flagship store for Acne Studios in Seoul.

In parallel with her retail designs, Sophie Hicks acquired three sites in London, all in conservation areas, with the intention of building a contemporary house on each. The first, a small house in Regent Square, was completed in 2014. The second, a street-facing house in Earl’s Court Square, was completed in 2018. The third, a larger house in Holland Park, has obtained planning permission. New-build, contemporary houses are relatively rare in central London, because of the strong culture in the UK of preservation of the historic environment. Sophie has designed these new houses to “…respect the past, and respond to it, while at the same time expressing the spirit of our own times.” Sophie Hicks is a member of the Panel for Creative and Design at the Institute for Apprenticeships (IFA). The aim of the IFA is to improve the work opportunities and job satisfaction of young people, avoid student debt, and address the skills shortage in the UK.

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

Technical Studies website – https://technicalstudies.tumblr.com/

Technical Studies Lecture Series: “Sartfell Retreat,” Greg Lomas, Thursday, October 22 at 18:00 [online via BB]

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Thursday, 22nd of October at 6pm

Event Link:  https://eu.bbcollab.com/guest/6a1c461ca47949b5b6fbe718f5b076a5

‘Sartfell Retreat is one of those rare projects which appears to emerge out of the earth, providing a sense of permanence and protection for the clients to live with, and amongst the elements of the weather, wildlife and local ecology’  

Will Foster (Foster Lomas)

Foster Lomas is a UK-based architecture practice established by William Foster and Greg Lomas in 2005.  The practice has developed a diverse portfolio of work, ranging from highly tailored homes for private clients to a canal-side mixed-use development in Dhaka, Bangladesh, the multi award winning Sartfell Retreat on the Isle of Man and a 10-year masterplan for a 134-hectare site set within the Grand Sasso National Park of Abruzzo, Italy. 

Sartfell Retreat is part of a growing body of commissions through which the practice explores the relationship between landscape and self-sustaining architecture. Foster Lomas’ response to the site relates to their research and experience of drystone construction whilst working in the Abruzzo region of Italy. Building on this vernacular technology, they have reinterpreted the local Manx stone structures to create an original building in its unique setting. The rural environment inspires their architectural aesthetic and the practice’s diverse backgrounds in craft and product design, including blacksmithing and lighting, allow for continual experimentations and innovations. 

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

Technical Studies website – https://technicalstudies.tumblr.com/

Technical Studies Lecture Series: “Building with Cross Laminated Timber (CLT),” Andrew Waugh from Waugh Thistleton Architects, Thursday, October 8 at 18:00 [online via BB]

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Thursday, 8th of October at 6pm

Event link:  https://eu.bbcollab.com/guest/8d7c6b34eb16433cb169a07f519d9712

A mass timber building will weigh about 30% of a regular building, and so much reduced foundations … these buildings can be re-purposed, they are easy to adapt.

Andrew Waugh

Andrew Waugh of Waugh Thistleton Architects is a great advocate for the use of Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) in construction and he first used it in a small project in 2003. His practice, subsequently built a nine-storey residential CLT tower in Murray Grove, Hackney, London and has demonstrated its success for the construction of dense urban housing and office projects. Waugh has also used other engineered timber products such as Laminated Veneer Lumber (LVL), which is a large section of bonded timber veneers providing the equivalent cross-sectional strength of steel.

Andrew Waugh and Anthony Thistleton, met as students at Kingston University and established Waugh Thistleton in 1997. Waugh Thistleton Architects is a Shoreditch based architectural practice producing thoughtful and sustainable projects in its own neighbourhood and beyond. The practice is a world leader in engineered timber and pioneer in the field of tall timber buildings. In addition to being immersed in both design and construction, they run research projects, teach and experiment in timber, with their full-time timber engineer and the many PhD and Masters students that come to work with them.

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

Technical Studies website – https://technicalstudies.tumblr.com/

Technical Studies Lecture Series: “The Shape of Green” Mick Pearce, Thursday, October 1, 18:00 [online via BB]

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

Thursday, 1st of October at 6.00pm

Event link: https://eu.bbcollab.com/collab/ui/session/guest/2415664a77cb470bb266d845cf4bcb76 

Michael Pearce is a graduate of the AA and was a student of the socio-technology gurus Reyner Banham and Cedric Price. Pearce was responsible for the design and supervision of the award-winning Eastgate Centre in Harare and the CH2 (Council House 2) Municipal offices in Melbourne Australia. The metaphor for Eastgate was the termitary, the metaphor for CH2 is the tree. Pearce believes that the architecture and its visual expression should respond to the natural, socio-cultural and economic environment of its location in the same way that an ecosystem in nature is embedded in its site. 

Pearce has been working in Zimbabwe and Zambia for 33 years. His experience covers a wide range from building in remote parts of Central Africa to converting buildings in north east England and large-scale city developments in Harare, Zimbabwe. Committed to appropriate and responsive architecture, Michael Pearce has specialised in the development of buildings which have low maintenance, low capital and running costs and renewable energy systems of environmental control. His most recent work involves developing passive control systems in small-scale single storey buildings as well as large-scale commercial multi-storey buildings using building methods which rely even less on imported materials, technologies or human resources. He has been closely involved in the development of rammed earth construction for low cost housing in remote locations in Zimbabwe where transport and energy are the largest costs in producing buildings.