Open Studio is an interactive project run by the School of Architecture + Cities at the University of Westminster to make its design, research and practice-based work available online while it is happening. The site acts as a real time teaching and learning environment in which the work of both students and staff is curated and documented – the work of its design studios, or its other teaching and research groups and workshops. Read more in Blog, follow us on Twitter and like us on Instagram.
AWMA Studio‘s Mohammed Rahmany, recent FABE graduate, will give a talk about his practice’s project Hubb, which was built as a part of the Brixton Design Trail and has been widely publicised. In his talk, Mohammed will also us give an insight into the crowdfunding projects, and what does it mean to set up a practice as a recent graduate.
When: Tuesday, 30th January, 18:00
Where: Robin Evans Room
All welcome!
To celebrate the end of another busy and successful year, The Department of Architecture in collaboration with Westminster Architecture Society invites you to join us for the Studio Christmas Party this Thursday, 14th December at 18:30 in the 4th floor master studio.
Drinks provided, we only ask you to bring one ornament for our Christmas tree.
All welcome!
Sir John Sloane’s Museum in Holborn is hosting a series of lectures in collaboration with James Taylor-Foster.
The series is called ‘Architecture on Display’ and aims to tackle head-on the ideas, ideologies and assumptions that underlie how we present and display architecture, whether through exhibitions, installations, pavilions, biennales, triennials, debates, lectures or other projects.
In essence, the speakers are asked to address the following: what does it mean to curate architecture and what is its purpose?
The museum is delighted to be welcoming Marina Otero Verzier, Head of Research & Development at Het Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam, on 6 December, 7–8pm.
The format is salon-style: 30 mins presentation, followed by 30 mins of discussion.
Tickets are £5 for students.
More information about the event and series (which continues in the New Year) can be found here: https://www.soane.org/whats-on/talks/architecture-display-marina-otero-verzier
When: Thursday 7th December, 6pm,
Where: Room M416
Robert Barker is one of the co-founders of Stolon Studio Ltd along with Westminster alumna Jessica Barker. He trained at the Royal College of Art before working for a number of innovative firms such as Birds Portchmouth Russum. In 2003 he jointly set up Baca Architects and went on to win numerous awards and recognition as one of the leading innovators in flood resilient and adaptable architecture. With Baca, he won the RIBA Presidents Award for Research in 2009 and 2014, for the LifE project and the CAN project respectively. Robert is an author of the Metric Handbook – Flood Chapter (2015) and RIBA book – Aquatecture (2016). Whilst a director at Baca he worked on The Amphibious House (the UK’s first); A one-off house with a floating concrete base designed to resist flooding, which featured on Grand Designs and was winner of the London Design Awards, Gold 2015.
In 2016 he set up Stolon Studio with the aim of specialising in Architectural Development – using his design skills to unlock complex sites and push the boundaries of development. Robert is also a Part 3 examiner and he sits on several design review panels.
For lecture details contact Will McLean: w.f.mclean@westminster.ac.uk
www.technicalstudies.tumblr.com
This presentation will disseminate the research outcome of a RIBA Research Trust funded project that explored the interplay of space and light in Le Corbusier’s sacred buildings from both qualitative and quantitative perspectives. Measurable and unmeasurable aspects of these divine luminous environments were investigated through extensive field work, theoretical physical and digital modelling. The findings offer new insights into the unique lighting strategies adopted by Le Corbusier for the creation of sacred luminosity in his religious buildings. A similar research methodology has now been employed for the investigation of light in Louis Kahn’s museums, and preliminary results of this research will also be presented.
Benson Lau is a Reader and Course Leader of the BSc (Hons) Architecture and Environmental Design at the University of Westminster. He has practised as architect and environmental design consultant since 1996, and joined academia in 2005.
The Architecture Research Forum is a seminar series hosted by the Architecture + Cities Research Group where staff present work-in-progress for discussion.
Where: Erskine Room (M/523), Marylebone Campus
When: 7 December 2017, 13.00–14.00
ALL WELCOME
When: Thursday 30th November, 18:00
Where: Room M416, Marylebone Campus
Pete Silver is an architect with experience of the construction industry, public sector housing, teaching, research and private practice. During the 1970s, he worked for five years as development manager for Solon Housing Association where he was responsible both for the rehabilitation of pre-war housing stock and the development of new-build projects in the outer-London boroughs, working with architects such as Patrick Keiller, Edward Cullinan and Walter Segal.
During the 1980s, Pete Silver trained at the Architectural Association under Professor John Frazer and cybernetician Gordon Pask, and subsequently completed four years as a Research Associate in the Land Use Research Unit at King’s College London under Professor Alice Coleman. Pete Silver has worked as a studio design tutor at the Architectural Association teaching with John and Julia Frazer, Greenwich University and the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, where he jointly established Diploma Unit 14 to investigate expert and real-time environmentally-responsive systems. Pete will be discussing the history of computing in architecture, machine logic and interactive design.
Pete is currently joint co-ordinator of Technical Studies at the University of Westminster, and is a director of the Chartered Practice Architects Ltd. Silver has co-authored four books with colleague Will McLean, which include Fabrication: The Designers Guide (2008), An Introduction to Architectural Technology (2013) and Air Structures (2014).
For details email Will McLean – w.f.mclean@westminster.ac.uk
www.technicalstudies.tumblr.com
When: Tuesday 28th November 2017, 19:00
Where: Marylebone Hall, Marylebone Campus, NW1 5LS
Access to this event is free of charge. A cash bar will be open after the talk.
Read more about Clancy Moore Architects here.
Featured image: Shatwell stairs model photograph © Clancy Moore Architects
When: Monday 27th November 2017, 10:00-17:00
Where: Marylebone Campus, M416
On Wednesday 22nd November Ben Stringer (DS12), will participate in the Hyper Rural: The End of Urbanisam, international symposium at the Manchester Metropolitan University, as a part of the Designing the Future Rural; imagining the future rural landscapes, settlements & economies panel, alongside Stefan Petermann (OMA/OSA) and Dr Rosemary Shirley (Art Deptartment, MMU).
The symposium is partly intended as a response to the outcomes of two recent publications and research projects (under). It also aims to document the emergence of a radical new programme of art and agriculture and critical rural arts practices which, in turn, propose a cultural reframing of agriculture and rural development in the post-agricultural era. Including the New Creative Rural Economies initiative (and a conference proposed for 2018) which will further outline a wider strategic role for art, architecture, digital design and the cultural sector in support of rural regeneration and the Government’s (post-Brexit) Industrial Strategy.
Rem Koolhaas’ ‘The Countryside’ – Charles Jencks Award lecture presentation at RIBA in London, 20th December 2012. Above is one of the main slides where Koolhaas contrasts what he describes as the increasing hyper-Cartesian re(de)formation of the countryside, with what he also views as the regressive tendencies of the discourse of urbanism*, and the increasing whimsicality and detachment of some urban public art, architecture and design.
“Our current preoccupation with the city alone is highly irresponsible.. The countryside is now more volatile that the most accelerated city”
” Architects are attracted by contradictions ..we must also look to new ideas and new ways of thinking.. particularly when the old ways of thinking and working beginning to break down.. [at] OMA we look to the countryside and what is happening there is extraordinary..” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y97yXB82nWc
The New Creative Rural Economies report. The symposium is also proposed as a platform and a response to the Littoral Arts Trust’s publication; The New Creative Rural Economies report (2018).
“What the BSE and FMD (Foot and Mouth) disasters have shown us is that agriculture and the rural are now also important cultural responsibilities and arenas and, as such, they also represent urgent new critical spheres for artists, digital media, architects, designers and cultural policy discourse.”
The symposium runs from Tuesday 21st to Wednesday 22nd November.
To book tickets: https://www.landscapeinstitute.org/event/hyper-rural-symposium/
Reinventing traditional pier design, Hastings Pier provides an open space, able to support a variety of events and uses from circuses to music events, fishing to markets.
Professor Sadie Morgan of dRMM will discuss the community-led regeneration project of Hastings Pier, which is this year’ winner of the RIBA Stirling Prize and the RIBA’s People’s vote. The judge’s citation explains; ‘Hastings Pier is a project that has evolved the idea of what architecture is and what architects should do … dRMM show what incredibly talented and dedicated architects can do: inspire, think big, interact and engage with communities and clients to help them to achieve the seemingly impossible; this is a great message for young architects following in their footsteps.’
Sadie is a founding director of dRMM with Alex de Rijke and Philip Marsh. Over her 20-year career Sadie has had an increasingly significant role in the advocacy of design and architecture through her professional practice and her advisory roles. Sadie is currently chairing the Independent Design Panel for High Speed Two (HS2), reporting directly to the Secretary of State. She is one of ten commissioners for the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) led by former Cabinet Minister Lord Adonis, and a commissioner for the Thames Estuary 2050 Growth Commission. In 2017, she was appointed as a Mayor’s design advocate for the Greater London Authority and she is Professor of Interiors in the Department of Architecture at Westminster.
For lecture details please contact Will McLean w.f.mclean@westminster.ac.uk
When: Thursday 23rd November, 6pm, Room M416
Where: Department of Architecture, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, London NW1 5LS
