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.
The next guest in the Alumni Event Series will be Ian Ritchie with his talk “What it Takes to Design with the Mind in Mind”.
When: Tuesday, 20th February, 18:30
Where: Robin Evans Room (M416), Marylebone Campus
Free drinks and refreshments provided.
ALL WELCOME!
Lecture organised by Alessandra Cianchetta and Juan Pinyol, MArch DS24 studio leaders and tutors
When: Wednesday, 14th February, 18:00
Where: Robin Evans Room, M416, Marylebone Campus
Ute Schneider studied architecture and urban planning at the technical universities of Constance, Stuttgart, Karlsruhe and Delft. During her studies she worked in various German and Dutch internationally operating architectural offices, among others with Neutelings Riedijk Architekten in Rotterdam where she continued her professional career after graduation. In 1998 she founded the multidisciplinary office zipherspaceworks in Stuttgart working within the disciplines architecture urbanism & design.
In 2003, Ute Schneider began working with KCAP. Since 2006 she established KCAP’s Swiss office in Zurich and got appointed director in 2009. Since 2016 she became partner of KCAP. In this position she is responsible for the management of the office and in charge of the coordination of KCAP Zurich’s projects spanning from architecture and urban planning to the design and development of masterplans and transformation strategies in various scales and context’s. She has a focus on transport oriented developments like the masterplans for Europaallee, the Airport Region Zürich, the Airport City of Dublin, Gare TGV Montpellier, divers station precincts in Switzerland, MUC Airsites, CAG and Jurong Lake District Singapore.
In addition to her work as an architect and urban planner, she was involved in various exhibitions and publications about KCAP. She is regularly invited for lectures, as guest critic and teacher at various international universities and regularly participates in juries. Since 2012, she is responsible for the integration of urban design at the University of Liechtenstein.
KCAP Architects&Planners is a Dutch office for architecture, urban design and urban planning, founded by Kees Christiaanse in 1989. During the last 25 years KCAP has established itself as one of the leading international practices in the fields of architecture and urbanism. With a multi-disciplinary approach to complex design issues, KCAP has gained extensive experience in large-scale urban design and master planning, waterfront redevelopments, campus design and public transportation hubs. Architectural designs range from housing, education and care to public and utility buildings and mixed-use programs. KCAP develops concepts and visions that address sustainability, urbanization and infrastructure. KCAP is connected to various urban research programs. KCAP is based in Rotterdam and has two branch offices in Zurich (CH) and Shanghai (CN). KCAP Zurich was established in 2006 a er winning two international design competitions in Zurich. KCAP Shanghai, established in early 2011, and supports KCAP’s growing portfolio in China.
It should be noted that children at play are not playing about: their games should be seen as their most serious-minded activity. ( Montaigne 1580 )
PLAYweek is organised by the Department of Architecture and the Westminster Architecture Society, WAS.
It is a creative and disruptive 2-day event that cuts across the ‘dip-drip’ of the Department’s week-by-week teaching to suggest new and playful ways of working.
This year, things are a little different:
All students and staff can make a proposal for a workshop or event – and teams may include people drawn from outside the Department
Workshops can include traditional workshop activities, as well as performances and lectures, walks, seminars and film-showings – or any other form of activity. They can take place on or off-campus, and include people from outside the Department.
For more details on how to submit a proposal please go here.
Featured image from last year’s Tensegrity workshop, lead by Geoff Morrow, Gavin Weber, Will McLean, Pete Silver and Scott Batty.
The place of oral history within the historiography of modern architecture is not yet fully accepted, understood or theorised. Faced with a wealth of tangible evidence found in photographs, plans, documents and models, architectural history rarely includes the voices of those involved in the construction of a building, and remains wary of diverse, unauthorised and unofficial histories. In this talk I explore instances where the use of oral history is integral to widening the perspective of traditional architectural history. Here, oral testimony reveals a wide cast of co-producers involved in the making of modern architecture giving voice to marginalised groups with the potential to undermine overarching architectural narratives.
Christine Wall is Reader in Architectural and Construction History, Co-editor of The Construction History Journal, and an editor of The Oral History Journal.
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 (M523), Marylebone Campus
When: Thursday, 1 February 2018, 13.00–14.00
ALL WELCOME!
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