Tag: University of Westminster

Panel Discussion: “Dressing / Undressing the Landscape” with DS22 tutors Yara Sharif and Nasser Golzari, Rich Mix, Saturday, March 9, 14:00-16:00

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

How can communities outside the Middle East, including diaspora, engage in influencing the decolonization of public space and architecture?

Alongside the exhibition, a panel discussion on the Arab cities of Mosul, Baghdad, Riyadh, Ramallah, Beirut, Damascus and Gaza will take place to unpack their vanishing landscape and the way it is being ‘Dressed and Undressed’. Notions such as Home, re-production, re-construction and re-imagination of space will be interrogated by different researchers through film, drawings and mapping.

This event is FREE and open to all but registration is essential to attend.

To book please go to: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/dressingundressing-the-landscape-panel-discussion-tickets-57315042836

The event will be organised by PART and the panel discussion will be led by PhD students and researchers from the University of Westminster and University College London.

Curator Yara Sharif invites guests to explore the concept behind the exhibition, and its importance as an alternative lens into a world of responsive architectural design.

The discussion will address the social and environmental issues of colonisation, where foreign architecture and spatial design can demolish not only functional space, but with it, layers of history, culture, memory and identity.

Chair : Dr Nasser Golzari

Panelists: Dr Murray Fraser & Yara Sharif

Exhibitors:

  • Palestine Regeneration Team (PART)
  • Yara Sharif
  • Hemali Rathod
  • Julia Topley
  • Sakiya: Art, Science, Agriculture
  • Sahar Qawasmi
  • Rim Kalsoum
  • Hiba Al-Safi
  • Nuha Hansen
  • Angeliko Sakellariou
  • Dana Nasser
  • May Sayrafi
  • Samar Maqusi

AWAN, which is about to enter its 5th edition, showcases the work of contemporary Arab women artists in the UK, Europe and beyond, providing opportunities for artists and audiences to celebrate, be informed and network whilst exposing new audiences to the work of emerging and established artists.

AWAN is produced by Arts Canteen and supported by Rich Mix London

Royal Academy: “Cities and Colonialism” – Yara Sharif (DS22 tutor) in conversation with Ana Naomi de Sousa, Aya Nassar and Léopold Lambert, Monday, December 3, 18:30-19:30

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Monday, 3rd of December 2018, 6.30 — 7.30pm

Where: The Benjamin West Lecture Theatre, Burlington Gardens, Royal Academy of Arts, Piccadilly

How have the urban spaces of Lisbon, Cairo and Jerusalem been shaped by colonialism? Join our panel as we discuss the impact of colonialism on contemporary urban landscapes.

Architecture has been used politically, to shape identities, form behaviours and as a tool to channel power. However, architecture also has the potential to subvert politics and to reappropriate space.

In the second event in The Space of Colonialism series, we look at the political potential of architecture through the lens of colonialism and the city. With a focus on Lisbon, Cairo and Jerusalem, we will explore how post-colonial politics continue to transform the built environment and shape public space in these different geographical contexts.

Our panel will examine how a colonial state can demolish and construct parts of a city to assert control, organising cities into spaces in which citizens are permitted or excluded. Join us for a discussion on the city as a stage for anti-colonial struggles.

The Space of Colonialism series is guest curated by Léopold Lambert and The Funambulist, a bi-monthly magazine dedicated to the politics of space and bodies.

Speakers:

Ana Naomi de Sousa is a filmmaker and writer, whose work addresses history, spatial politics and identity. She has directed documentaries, including The Architecture of Violence; and Angola – Birth of a Movement, and was co-producer of the Rebel Architecture series for Al Jazeera English. She has collaborated with Forensic Architecture, most recently on the interactive documentary Saydnaya.

Aya Nassar is a PhD student at the University of Warwick, UK. She works on ordering urban space and the politics of space in Cairo. Her research looks particularly at ‘Fire’, ‘Mud’, ‘Cement’ and ‘Dust’ as key material/metaphoric elements of space that have acted on the city, to see how they can enrich our understanding of the politics of post-independence Middle East and the production of urban spaces through postcolonial statecraft.

Yara Sharif is an architect and holds a PhD from the University of Westminster. Her book Architecture of Resistance: Cultivating Moments of Possibility within the Palestinian/Israeli Conflict investigates the relationship between architecture, politics and power, and how these factors interplay in light of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict.

Léopold Lambert (chair) is a Paris-based architect and the editor-in-chief of The Funambulist.

For more information: https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/event/the-space-of-colonialism-cities-and-colonialism

Book Launch: “The Wessex Project: Thomas Hardy, Architect” by DS15 tutor Kester Rattenbury, Architectural Association Bookshop, Tuesday 19th June, 18:30-20:30

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Tuesday 19th June 2018, 18:30-20:30

Where: The Architectural Association Bookshop, 32 Bedford Square, London WC1B 3ES

THE WESSEX PROJECT: THOMAS HARDY, ARCHITECT

by Kester Rattenbury, Published by Lund Humphries, 2018

Who is the most famous member of the Architectural Association, past or present? Rem Koolhaas? Richard Rogers? Peter Cook? Or maybe Thomas Hardy: poet, novelist, architect; and creator of one of the most famous part-real, part-imagined realms the world has seen?

The Wessex Project: Thomas Hardy, Architect by Kester Rattenbury is the first in-depth study of Hardy’s work by an architectural critic, and it opens a startling new perspective on this world-famous author. Through it, we begin to see Hardy as someone who never gave up architecture: not just as a highly architectural writer, but as someone experimenting in all kinds of representation, including drawing, mapping, photography, stage design and writing; not just as a seminal English storyteller, but as England’s most influential conservation campaigner too; not just as a leading voice in literature, but as the creator of one of the greatest ever conceptual architectural projects.

Kester Rattenbury is Professor of Architecture at the University of Westminster. This book offers both a new way of looking at Hardy’s great works and an exploration of the how architects see, imagine, and work.

London Festival of Architecture: “Here Lies Geoffrey Barkington” by Patrick McEvoy is one of the winners of City Benches competition

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Here Lies Geoffrey Barkington by Patrick McEvoy, Jubilee Gardens

Geoffrey Barkington was a Square Mile dog whose final resting place is within Jubilee Gardens, Houndsditch. Houndsditch marks the route of a ditch outside part of the London Wall, first dug in Roman times, and known for the disposal of deceased dogs. Several dog skeletons were discovered here in 1989 during construction works. Geoffrey’s gravestone was made with the help of Solid Geometry, Tarmac, Kilnbridge, University of Westminster and Prewett Bizley Architects.

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

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

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

Architecture Research Forum: “What About Design?” Kester Rattenbury, Thursday 17th May, Erskine Room, 5th Floor, 13:00-14:00

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KESTER RATTENBURY: “WHAT ABOUT DESIGN?” The Research Assessment and You

Westminster has an amazing body of active, diverse, internationally recognised staff teaching our students design. Their outputs – your outputs – include buildings, competition designs, exhibitions, books, collaborations, products, blogs, new ways of working. This work is recognised locally, nationally and internationally. But is it research?

Arguably in all case, and demonstrably in some, yes, it is. And when the next national University research appraisal, the REF, takes place, all staff will be considered to see what their ‘research outputs’ have been, and will have to make submissions demonstrating this.

In the last REF, Architecture was able to submit Design Portfolios of selected staff projects for the first time. This Research Forum opens the discussion on how this will work – and whether we can in any way shape the process so as make the work of our remarkable staff a more more visible part of our School.

This is a short, three part event to open the discussion:

*Professor Lindsay Bremner and Professor Susannah Hagan will give short accounts of how the process worked last time;

*Toby Burgess and Arthur Mamou-Mani will give short presentations of the range of work they do, as an example of the range of our staff work

*Open discussion chaired by Kester Rattenbury on how we might approach Design Folios in the next REF and whether we could turn any part of the exercise to our advantage.

When: 17 May 2018, 13.00–14.00

Where: Erskine Room, 5th Floor

The Architecture Research Forum is a seminar series hosted by the Architecture + Cities Research Group where staff present work-in-progress for discussion.

ALL WELCOME

Detail Design Clinic: Monday 26th March, All Day, M416

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Detail Design Clinic offered to 2nd Year students on their Des2B:Design and Detail Module is taking place today in M416.

The Detailed Design Study (DDS) is an investigation into materials and technology, at both detailed and strategic level, supporting the development of the Des2B developed design project.

The making of architecture – its construction and the experience of it – will be explored as strategic sketches and also a series of ‘Technical Moments’ or ‘Human Scale Details’ which make up part of the building envelope and together develop its design.

The lectures, seminars, tutorials and symposium serve as an introduction to the practice of ‘architectural detailing’; the process and rigour required to design the details of a building and the relevance of material choice to construction and environmental considerations.

Morning Session with:

  • Scott Batty Architect_UOW
  • Jeremy Young_Featherstone Young Architects
  • Wayne Head_Curl la Tourelle Head Architects
  • Theclalin Cheung_ Curl la Tourelle Head Architects

Afternoon Session with:

  • Scott Batty Architect_UOW
  • Jim Potter_Waind Gohil + Potter
  • Elantha Evans Architect_UOW
  • Andrew Whiting_HUT
  • Sangkil Park_MAKE

MEGACRIT & MEGAPARTY, Thursday 29th March, Ambika P3, Marylebone Campus, University of Westminster

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

OPEN TO ALL ARCHITECTURE STUDENTS AND RECENT GRADUATES

The University of Westminster and Westminster Architecture Society, in collaboration with the Architecture Foundation, invites all architecture students and recent graduates to the largest ever MegaCrit and first inter-uni MegaParty!

Sign up for FREE via Eventbrite to confirm your place:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/megacrit-and-megaparty-at-the-westminster-school-of-architecture-tickets-43219088457

Join the Facebook Event:

https://www.facebook.com/events/408377592938990/

MEGACRIT 10am-5pm

Following the theme of Future Housing Systems, students will present throughout the day exchanging ideas and discussion with guest critics and visiting tutors from around the capital. Students from the following universities will be presenting on the day:

  • Westminster (DS10, DS12, DS23)
  • Bartlett (Unit 19)
  • AA (Unit 6)
  • RCA (ADS9)
  • CASS (Unit 14)

After presenting, students will exhibit their work around the space creating an inter-uni architectural exhibition of work for all to view! All students from any university and recent graduates are invited to come and watch the crits throughout the day, please sign up for a FREE ticket through eventbrite to confirm your attendance.

MEGAPARTY 6pm-10:30pm

All students from any university and recent graduates are invited to celebrate at the MegaParty. Come along for a night of great music, student deals on drinks, explore the exhibition of work from the day and meet fellow architecture students from other universities! Please sign up for a FREE ticket via eventbrite to guarantee entry. Please also join the Facebook event.

AFTERPARTY 10:30pm – Late

Location to be confirmed.

TIMETABLE FOR THE DAY

10:00 MegaCrit Morning Session

13:00 Lunch

14:00 MegaCrit Afternoon Session

17:00 Closing speeches and summary of the day

18:00 MegaParty starts

22:30 Afterparty

Additional Information: To access P3 please enter through Westminster University main entrance reception on Marylebone Road. Please register for the MegaCrit and MegaParty through Eventbrite.

History and Theory Open Lecture Series: Peg Rawes “Housing, Biopolitics, and Care” – Tuesday 6th February, 18:00, Robin Evans Room (M416)

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The History and Theory Open Lecture Series for the academic year 2017/2018 begins today, with Peg Rawes‘ lecture “Housing, Biopolitics, and Care”.

When: Tuesday, 6th February, 18:00

Where: Robin Evans Room (M416), Marylebone Campus

Peg Rawes is a Professor in Architecture and Philosophy, Programme Director of the MA Architectural History, and a PhD Supervisor for Architectural Design and Architectural History and Theory PhD Programmes at the Bartlett, UCL. Trained in art history and philosophy, her research and teaching focus on material, political, technological and ecological histories and theories of contemporary architecture and art. She regularly gives talks in the UK, EU and overseas, and has recently been invited to give lectures at the Universidad de Buenos Aires, University of Regensburg, University of Minnesota, Iowa State University, The British School in Rome, KTH Stockholm, London School of Economics, KADK Copenhagen and TU Delft.

Other speakers in the series will include:

  • 20th February, 17:15, M416: Emma Cheatle (Newcastle University) “As/saying Architecture: A Ficto-Spatial Essay of Lying-in”
  • 27th February, 18:00, M416: Tilo Amhoff (University of Brighton) “Architectural History and Theory Between Labour and Capital, 1967-1977”
  • 6th March, 18:00, M416: Lindsay Bremner, Andrew Peckham, Douglas Spencer (University of Westminster) “On Archipelago: Three Perspectives”
  • 13th March, 18:00, M416: Mark Dorrian (University of Edinburgh) “Auto-Affection: On Michael Webb’s Sin Centre and the Drawing of Mobility”