Category: News

VirtualOPEN 2020, launch on July 2, 6pm!

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

Due to exceptional circumstances caused by COVID-19 and the impossibility of holding our annual OPEN exhibition in our Marylebone Studios, we will conclude this academic year by launching VirtualOPEN. This will be the first online annual Exhibition celebrating the work of the School of Architecture + Cities. It has been envisaged as a navigable online show in which visitors will be able to view the work of all our design studios and year groups, as well as interact with each other. 

VirtualOPEN will celebrate the amazingly innovative output that has been created this year under the most difficult of circumstances. It will promote the collective endeavour of our students, staff and support staff, and give us a positive and celebratory end to the academic year after all the gloom of recent months. VirtualOPEN will feature the energy and talent of more than 750 students, re-tuned to the possibilities of a virtual environment to produce something experimental, unexpected and exciting. 

We look forward to welcoming you all to the opening at 6pm, Thursday, July 2!

Details of how the show will work and how you can contribute can be found here.

University of Westminster Virtual Skills Academy from 1st to 12th of June [online]

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

From 1st to 12th June, the Careers and Employability Service is organising a series of informative and up-to-date online talks and workshops to help you to maintain your employability during the current time. 

Topics will include: 

  • how to make the most of free online development opportunities
  • how to use LinkedIn effectively
  • job search
  • virtual assessment processes

and many more!

You will need to register for individual sessions in advance, and follow the instructions in able to participate online:

https://engage.westminster.ac.uk/students/events/Detail/653220/virtual-skills-academy-1-12-ju

HomeTown international drawing challenge by Archisource

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

HomeTown is a new stay-home international drawing challenge!

A free, open-to-all, collective drawing challenge that aims to create a giant tessellated isometric drawing from creatives around the world!

Draw your insight into staying at home during lockdown and join this international collaboration!

The challenge aims to show how we can remain connected in these unprecedented times and that whilst we’re all ‘only a room away’, regardless of the country or distance apart, we are united by creativity.
Using the template provided, we want you to get creative and show us something about your experience working from/ staying home. Archisource will then piece the individual drawings together live on their website archisource.org to collectively build HomeTown.

Website: https://archisource.org/

Instagram:@archisource

SOS_20: A New 1 Month Critical Design Residency for London _ Deadline: midnight, Saturday, May 30, 2020

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

London’s newest FREE independent design residency SOS_20 is now open for applications!!!

SOS_20 runs 27th July – 21st August

SOS is a growing network of students, graduates, practitioners and academics that are committed to the pursuit of critical thinking in art, design and architecture. Established in 2018, SOS is a not-for-profit organisation set up to help kick-start careers for those looking for alternative career paths in art and design. Established for truly accessible collaboration in higher education, the residency encourages all backgrounds and disciplines to participate.

Hosted by some of London’s leading public institutions such as the Design Museum and South London Gallery, 20 participants will join a 4 week long programme of lectures, workshops, public exhibition and tutoring geared to help develop projects in original creative thinking. SOS is proud to announce that there is a £0 fee this year thanks to the continued support of its sponsors as well as Arts Council England.

This year we are joined by author of Inventing the Future: Postcapitalism and a World Without Work economist Nick Srnicek, writer and author of Full Surrogacy Now: Feminism Against Family Sophie Lewis as well as artists Anna Bunting-Branch and Aliyah Hussain, with more tba.

Download the application form: https://schoolofspeculation.xyz/Apply-Now 

Applications close Midnight Saturday 30th May!

The course is under continuous revision and adjustment due to the ongoing uncertainty relating to the COVID-19 pandemic. For now, the course retains its original physical format but is subject to remote substitutions as enforced by a continued UK lock-down.  

AMS Stephen Croad Essay Prize 2020_Deadline: Monday, June 29, 2020

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

The Ancient Monuments Society (AMS) is pleased to announce that submissions are now invited for the 2020 Stephen Croad Essay Prize.

The Prize was established last year in honour of Stephen Croad, former Head of the National Buildings Record and a great supporter of the AMS. It is intended to encourage and reward factually verifiable, documented new discoveries on the historic buildings of England and Wales, whether part of the established canon or hitherto less examined.

Full details can be found here.

In 2019 the Prize was awarded to James Sims for his outstanding essay Lost in Time: John Outram’s warehousing at Poyle, which has been published in the AMS’s 2019 Transactions.

RIBA Student Support Fund for Spring/Summer 2020_Deadline: Monday, May 11 at 5pm

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

The RIBA Student Support Fund is now open for applications for Spring/Summer 2020. The Fund welcomes applications from students of architecture enrolled in RIBA Part 1 and 2 courses in the UK who are experiencing financial hardship, and would benefit from financial support.

Students can apply for a maximum of £3,000.

The full details and application form can be found on our website here

The deadline for receipt of applications is 5pm Monday 11 May 2020.

Congratulations to Charlotte Penny, former MArch student in the SA+C, on receiving the “Highly Commended” IHBC Gus Astley Award for her MArch dissertation “Conservation Theory and the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings Manifesto: The Red House and the Contest between the Theoretical and Practical Nature of Conservation”

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

Charlotte was mentored by Dr Kate Jordan, Senior Lecturer in the School of Architecture + Cities.

Dr Kate Jordan, Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Westminster, said: ‘Charlotte mined a variety of sources to produce a thought-provoking analysis of contemporary conservation practice and theory. Her work makes a valuable contribution to the scholarship of architectural heritage.’

Charlotte Penny said: ‘I am delighted to have received the ‘Highly Commended’ Gus Astley Student Award. I would like to sincerely thank the IHBC for the recognition and the opportunity to attend the Brighton School, as well as Dr Kate Jordan from the University of Westminster for her uplifting support and shared enthusiasm for my research.’

‘I very much enjoyed researching and writing my dissertation, in particular delving into archives and finding fascinating resources. The question of ‘the contest between the theoretical and practical nature of conservation’ was the subject of the dissertation, which centred on the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings’ Manifesto and more specifically with the ongoing conservation of the historic fabric at William Morris’ Red House.’

‘I learned that philosophy and practice appear to only touch the surface of conservation and as such, conservation cannot solely be considered as three dimensional; the fourth dimension of time must be taken into account. Many factors are involved in the consideration of conservation work and custodians have to balance a wide range of often conflicting constraints, whilst also acting as faithful guardians of the United Kingdom’s shared heritage.’

IHBC New Blog Archive

PLAYHOUSE Competition_Deadline, April 24, 2020, 6pm

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

Hacking the home to make play part of everyday

Play is an essential part of all our lives, whether child or adult. Be it playing sports, a board game or simply sharing jokes with friends, play is just as important to adults as building a den or playing dress-up is to a child.

The Coronavirus outbreak has left many of us having to spend extended periods of time at home in lockdown, restricting the opportunity to socialise and play in ways that we are used to.

How can we use creativity to encourage play in these unique times?

To download full brief and submit your entry please go to: https://www.playhouse-competition.com/

First wave of submissions by 6pm Friday 24th April 2020 to be featured in May, and second wave by 6pm Friday 22nd May 2020 to be featured in June.

The Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain: Prizes and Awards in Architectural History_Various Deadlines

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

In spite of the difficulties the pandemic presents, the Society is pleased to launch its annual Awards programme; our prizes and awards rank among the most prestigious in architectural history internationally. We now have a programme of four awards, each targeted at different sections of the discipline. You do not need to be a member to participate.

For our Book Prizes, nomination is now open until 1 May 2020. Anyone can nominate any eligible title, and authors and publishers are welcome to self-nominate. Nominated titles will then be invited to formally submit for assessment by our judging panels. 

For our Essay Prizes, submission by individuals is open until 1 September 2020. Prize winners will be announced at our Annual Lecture and Awards Ceremony in London (date, TBC). 

The society welcomes submissions of work relating to the history of the built environment from all cognate disciplines and subdisciplines, including but by no means limited to Architecture, Art History, History and Geography.

We encourage work on as diverse a range of themes as possible, including histories of design; histories of planning; histories of construction; histories of buildings in use; histories of interiors and interior design; and histories of practice and professionalism.

We are looking for work in the history of the built environment that is innovative, ambitious and rigorous. Please consider submitting your own work and encouraging students, colleagues and friends to do so too. For more information see below and the Awards page of our website.

The Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain

To find out more about each award, please click on links below:

James Phillips Travel Prize 2020 _ Deadline: May 4, 2020

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

Background

The James Phillips Foundation is a charity established in 2015 in memory of James Phillips who died, aged 27, on Sunday 27 September 2014.

James was a partner at Make Architects, and studied architecture at the University of Kingston. The day after he died would have been his first day on Westminster’s Part 3 course. His brother Daniel completed his Part 1 BA Architecture here, and is now studying on the MArch.

James cared about architecture, photography and travel, and for his MA ‘Common Ground: An analysis of public space on an International basis’ he travelled to 24 countries to document – and photograph – their most significant public spaces.

The Prize

In 2016 The James Phillips Foundation very generously set up a travel prize of £1000 per annum for a Westminster architecture student in memory of James.

The only conditions are that the prize money must be used to facilitate travel, and that the goal of that travel should be photographed and archived on The James Phillips Foundation web-site within 6 months of the award being made[1].

Applications & Judging

The prize is open to all students enrolled on an Architecture course at the School of Architecture + Cities at the time of application, although the travel can be undertaken after graduating. Students should make a proposal of maximum 300 words + images demonstrating:

  • How the travel will enable investigation of: either a subject beyond the normal academic requirements of their course, or a specific study for their course that would otherwise be unaffordable (e.g. dissertation, extended essay, studio project).  
  • Why they have chosen a particular destination, or destinations, and what aspect of ‘common ground’ they plan to investigate – and how.
  • A draft travel schedule (in addition to the 300 words)
  • How they use photography to enhance their work

Proposals will be judged against the following criteria:

  • To what extent the proposed travel research will document and enhance knowledge of some aspect of common ground or public space.
  • Feasibility of the proposed travel
  • Quality of the proposal

Timetable

  • Notification of Prize: Monday 7 April
  • Proposal deadline: Monday 4 May submit to School Administrator: Saroja Boolkah S.Boolkah@westminster.ac.uk
  • Announcement of Winner: Friday 19 June (OPEN Awards Evening)

[1] In the current exceptional conditions, this time limit has been extended to 12-months