Symposium: “Heritage and Identity”, 29th June 12:00-19:00, M416, Marylebone Campus

When: Friday 29th June 2018, 12:00-19:00

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

A half-day symposium bringing together diverse research currently being undertaken at the University of Westminster School of Architecture and Cities exploring the intersections between heritage, identity, politics and the built environment.

Keynote by Liza Fior, MUF architects, on the Venice Biennale and Robin Hood Gardens as a heritage artefact.

 

Everyone has history, but do some have more heritage than others?

If heritage is the process by which social histories are elevated into the narratives that form collective identities, communal, cultural, national, then heritage is about power, authorised and validated by certain social, institutional and state actors. At its most powerful, it is, as Stuart Hall says, the mirror of the nation, and those who are not reflected in it, can never belong to that nation.

With the revisiting of Britain’s colonial and slave-trading history, for example, there is growing awareness that heritage is contested and that we may just be entering foothills of cultural decolonisation. Heritage, thus, could be central to negotiating difference and diversity; it is a hot topic, the subject of government agendas, cultural projects, and identity politics. It remains, nonetheless, a fluid and contested term; what is heritage, who makes it, how is it made, who is it for?

Free admission. More info and bookings: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/heritage-and-identity-tickets-46386694853

Book Launch: “The Intrinsic and Extrinsic City” DS11 2008-2017, Wednesday 13th June, 18:30, Marylebone Campus

When: 13th June 2018, 18:30

Where: 35 Marylebone Road, NW1 5LS (Sign in at reception and follow directions)

This studio-as-book is not predicated on a fixed research agenda identified with a design studio’s performative practice or a theory of architecture. MArch 2 Studio DS11 has rather been conceived as a self-critical framework, so this book presents the work of the studio from a critical perspective towards ‘design research’. At its core is a development of a series of urban projects over an eight-year period. The emphasis is focused on the ‘after-life’ of the ‘design-studio’, a subject explored by ex-students’ reflections on the relationship between studio-based education and their subsequent experience. Resisting the view of architectural design produced as a model practice, it is the longer-term effect of a studio education and its embodied research that informs this book. (Editors: Andrew Peckham and Dusan Decermic)

Oculus Pavilion – Invitation to Launch Event: Wednesday 13th June, 18:00-21:00

When:  Launch -13th June 2018, 18:00-21:00 | Exhibition Continues – Thursday 14th June to Friday 13th July

Where: Rear of Learning Platform, Architecture and the Built Environment, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, London NW1 5LS

A new Oculus Pavilion, designed and built by third year Architecture students from the University of Westminster, will open Wednesday 13th June, at the rear of Westminster’s Marylebone Campus, as part of the London Festival of Architecture.

The circular structure with a view into the sky was inspired by architect Vladimir Tatlin’s 1919 design Tatlin Tower, a design not realised until a sculpture was built in 1971 as part of the “Art in Revolution” exhibition at the Hayward Gallery. The 1971 sculpture was reconstructed at the rear patio of the Marylebone Campus, the same location where the students’ Oculus pavilion will be exhibited this year.

The project was funded by the Quintin Hogg Trust and led by Westminster Architecture Lecturers Maria Kramer and Eric Guibert.

Fab Fest 2018: “Digital City”, 2nd-10th July 2018

FAB FEST is a week-long celebration of design and making, hosted by the Fabrication Lab at the University of Westminster. For the third year running, it invites creative designers from around the world to envision and build their ideas about architecture and the city. It will feature over 80 pavilions and installations designed internationally, manufactured in the Fabrication Lab, and assembled and installed in Central London.

After five days of making, entertainment and international competition, FAB FEST opens to the local community and the general public, with lightweight, recyclable pavilions forming the transient architecture for a series of making events, live musical performances and a three-day exhibition. All the materials for FAB FEST are then recycled, for next year’s event.

FAB FEST this year asks designers to reflect on and offer creative responses to the contemporary digital condition. Proposals might push the boundaries for the digital production of architecture, or engage with wider aspects of how the digital affects our architecture, cities and daily lives. The challenge is to propose a compelling and engaging proposal for a pavilion or installation to manifest your ideas. What does the Digital City mean to you?

For full details, see FABFEST.London

Key Dates:

International Fabrication Competition: July 2nd – 6th | Prize-Giving, Friday July 6th 19:00

Let’s Make! Family-Friendly Making Festival: Saturday July 7th 12:00-16:00 | Music@FABFEST 18:00-22:00

FAB FEST Exhibition: Sunday – Tuesday July 8th – 10th 10:00 – 17:00

Robotic Carving Workshop, 28th-29th June 2018_Deadline for applications: 20th June

When: 28th – 29th JUNE 2018

Deadline: 20th June 2018

The Robotic Carving A.R.T. 2018 summer workshop will investigate ways to transform abstract, intangible data, such as material distribution or density, into physical form.

Participants will learn how to apply structural analysis and topology optimization on shell structures and how to translate structural data into robotic instructions.

The workshop will culminate in a 1:1 robotically carved wall installation that will be exhibited in FAB FEST ‘18.

Apply now online at fabricationlab.london

Textile Robotics Workshop, 25th-27th June 2018_ Deadline for applications: 20th June

When: 25th-27th June 2018

Deadline: 20th June 2018

The Textile Robotics A.R.T. 2018 summer workshop will investigate the ways in which industrial robotic arms can generate large scale structural textiles and automate a generative design process through robotic fabrication.

Using structural analysis and topology optimization, participants will explore different pattern combinations and learn how to translate them into robotic instructions.

The workshop will culminate in a 1:1 robotically fabricated installation that will be exhibited in FAB FEST ‘18.

Apply now online at fabricationlab.london

Architectural Gateway Workshop with Sami Rintala, 18th-22nd June 2018_Deadline for applications: 15th June

When: 18th – 22nd June 2018

Deadline: 15th June 2018

The Architectural Gateway summer workshop is a collaboration with the critically acclaimed Finnish architect Sami Rintala.

Sami’s work is based on narrative and conceptualism, resulting in a layered interpretation of the physical, mental and poetic re-sources of a site. The workshop will culminate in a large-scale installation made of structural corrugated card. It will feature as an entrance to FAB FEST ‘18, as well as forming a dramatic, transitional gateway to Digital Construction Week, a major industry event taking place in Excel in October.

Sami Rintala ran the “last” design & build project with DS3.6 students in Finland last year, and is a remarkable design-through-making teacher:

http://www.fininst.uk/events/lastu-mobile-home/

We are very grateful to the Finnish Institute in London for their generous support for this workshop.

Apply now online at fabricationlab.london 

Summer School “Integrated Mobility Challenges in Future Metropolitan Areas” in Delft / Amsterdam, August 2018 _ Deadline 21st June

When: 21st – 28th August 2018

Where: Delft University of Technology (NL) with fieldwork in Amsterdam (NL)

The Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions (AMS), the Delft Deltas, Infrastructures & Mobility Initiative (DIMI), the University of Paris-Est and ARENA Architectural Research Network join Delft University of Technology in the organisation of the interdisciplinary 2018 Summer School: Integrated Mobility Challenges in Future Metropolitan Areas.

‘Integrated Mobility Challenges’ will explore interdisciplinary approaches towards sustainable urban integration of rail/metro stations within urban areas and networks. At the main point of intersection between the railway and the city, stations are key elements of the organisation of the intermodal transport but also catalysts of urban developments. By using Amsterdam (specific case study will be Amsterdam Sloterdijk station area) as test-bed and design location, you will exchange and acquire knowledge on different approaches and strategies.

Target Group: 60 researchers, young professionals and/or master students in Architecture, Urban Design and Planning, Environmental Design and Sciences, Landscape Architecture, Transport, Infrastructure and Logistics, and related disciplines (social sciences are welcome too). 3 ECTS credits will be given to every participant.

How to apply

Application deadline: 21st June 2018

Application should include: full name, email address, cell phone number, university, faculty, study program (incl. field of discipline); CV and a motivation letter (maximum of 100 words).

Please send your application or enquiries to Joran Kuijper J.A.Kuijper@tudelft.nl.

Admission will be based on evaluation or CV and motivation letter. Shortly after the 21st of June you will hear if you are granted to participate. No tuition fee for scholars and/or students affiliated at one of the ARENA network institutions.

More information can be found here: https://www.ams-institute.org/events/event/summer-school-2018-integrated-mobility-challenges-in-future-metropolitan-areas/

To download the programme: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/9ml320xygtr8gl3/AACfY2e9nMVc_C78fMEFP2OYa?dl=0 

Featured image: Manifistation Teleport ’86, the new train station Sloterdijk / Foto: Frans Brusselmans / Collectie Amsterdams Stadsblad

“Where Do Houses Live?” Exhibition, Proctor and Matthews Architects, 11th-15th June, 10:00-17:00, 184 – 192 Bermondsey Street

When: 11th to 15th June, 10.00 – 17.00

Where: 184 – 192 Bermondsey Street, London

 

If people live in houses where do the houses live? If they are homeless all we are left with is the typical endless, featureless suburbia. (Gordon Cullen, Maryculter, 1974)

The week-long exhibition of projects by the practice explores the issues of identity and sense of place, offering an approach to the design of new neighbourhoods which is anchored in the social, environmental and cultural contexts specific to each location.

Tickets available now ‘Where do Houses Live?’

London Festival of Architecture: “Does identity matter?” A symposium on architecture and identity, Friday 15th June, 11:00-18:00, Royal Academy of Arts

When: Friday 15th June 2018, 11:00-18:00

Where: Royal Academy of Arts, Burlington House entrance Piccadilly London W1J 0BD / 6 Burlington Gardens entrance, London W1S 3ET

Tickets: free tickets available for Westminster students (worth £15). Email rosa@londonfestivalofarchitecture.org

The London Festival of Architecture is proud to present Does Identity Matter? – the inaugural LFA Symposium on Friday 15 June. The event offers a rich exploration of identity in the context of individual and collective expression, place-making and architectural practice, and takes place at the Royal Academy – newly re-opened following a major expansion project designed by Sir David Chipperfield.

Identity can be seen as the intangible patina that has formed upon places over decades or centuries, or as a more synthetic recent invention by marketers and developers: either way it is fundamental to our understanding of the buildings and spaces around us. Does Identity Matter? will bring together prominent architects, academics and commentators to explore how identity acts as a potent architectural force in shaping London. We will challenge how people connect and identify with their homes, workplaces and neighbourhoods and the city as a whole.

The highlight of the day is a keynote address by Mary Duggan. In a talk entitled The identity of the profession: starting again, Mary will share her experience of setting up two successful practices and the role identity plays in forging a successful presence in a marketplace that is abundant in talent. Having initially founded Duggan Morris Architects, she will reflect upon its commercial success and the lessons she has taken from it in establishing Mary Duggan Architects, and the role identity has played in creating her own distinct profile, focus and skillset.

Panel 01 – Destruction of City’s Identity (chaired by Rob Bevan, architecture critic)

  • Verity Jane Keefe (visual artist working predominantly in the public realm) – ‘Outer London love affairs’
  • Clare Melhuish (director, UCL Urban Laboratory and an anthropologist specialising in architecture and the built environment) – ‘Universities as agents of change in urban identities’
  • Maya Ober (founding editor of the practice-led research platform Depatriarchise Design) – ‘Antagonised identities of South Tel Aviv neighbourhoods of Shapira and Neve Sha-anan’
  • Rhiannon Williams (poet, currently studying MA Narrative Environments at Central St Martins) – ‘Fracture Edit: recoding the Cypriot buffer zone

Panel 2 – Production of City’s Identity (chaired by Shumi Bose, senior lecturer in architecture, Central St Martins, UAL)

  • Adam Greenfield (London-based writer and urbanist) – ‘Inhospitable Soil: destination London and the difficulty of the commons’
  • Mustafa Chehabeddine (design principal, Kohn Pedersen Fox) – ‘Iconic architecture and the city identity’
  • Emily Gee (London planning director, Historic England) – London’s identity on the (sky)line’
  • Morag Myerscough (designer/artist fascinated how colour, pattern and words can change urban environments and perceptions of spaces into places) – ‘Can we together make belonging?’

Full programme for the day and booking info can be found on the following link:
https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/event/does-identity-matter

Featured image copyright: Mary Duggan Architects