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.
When: Thursday, 29th of February 2024 at 6pm
Where: M416, Marylebone Campus, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, NW1 5LS
“Since colonialism’s outset as a modern political project, images have been central to extractivism, a racial practice that reduces parts of the Earth and its inhabitants to exploitable and marketable resources. How does this centrality operate in a context where visual culture itself has become an extractive industry with images as its raw material, many of them documenting extractivist violence? The question is nowhere more salient today than in Turkey’s Kurdistan where both conventional resource extraction and the extractive industrialization of visual culture have continued apace and loomed large during the rapid shift in 2015-16 from peace talks to all-out war. In this talk (and his forthcoming book of the same title), Eray Çaylı discusses visual culture’s role in waging, making sense of, and contesting environmental violence. Informed by collaboration-driven research, he analyses images produced and circulated across contemporary art, photojournalism, and social media, charting the visual ecologies involved in this production and circulation.”
Prof Dr Eray Çaylı is a Professor of Human Geography with a focus on violence and security in the Anthropocene at the University of Hamburg, Germany.
When: Monday, 19th of February 2024 at 4pm
Where: M416, Marylebone Campus, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, NW1 5LS
As part of the BA Architecture undergraduate international studio DS3.7, Prof Che Fei will give a lecture on Monday, February 19 in M416.
Prof Fei is a founder of Beijing based architecture practice CU_Office and he teaches architecture as the Dean of the School of Design at Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology (BIFT). He will be discussing his practice, research, and teaching in Beijing.
All are welcome.
“Archisource presents the Drawing of the Year Awards 2024 – the fifth annual, creative imagery Awards – open to all and free to enter! The Awards are the ultimate accolade in visual representations across architecture and design, celebrating the very best imagery created by students and professionals around the world, receiving thousands of entries every year. There is over £100,000 GBP ($127,000 USD) worth of prizes to be won, with the top 250 entries receiving a free Affinity V2 Universal Licence!
2024 marks the fifth year of the aspirational Awards which recognise excellence in image creation, celebrating the diverse visual creations across all styles, typologies and functions. The Awards are open to all disciplines and can be created in any medium or style. Submissions must convey architecture, design or the built environment.
The Drawing of the Year 2024 is brought to you in partnership with Affinity, the award-winning graphic design, image editing and page layout software used by architects and designers around the world. The top 250 entries will receive a free Affinity V2 Universal Licence including Affinity Designer 2, Affinity Photo 2 and Affinity Publisher 2 for Mac, iPad and Windows PC worth £159.99 GBP ($200 USD).
The widely recognised aspirational Awards series celebrates those that have truly excelled in creating standout drawings and imagery. There are six major award categories, focusing on the array of creative processes: the Drawing of the Year Award, Digital Drafting Award supported by Bentley’s MicroStation, Digital Media Award, Hand Drawn Award supported by LEUCHTTURM1917, Mixed Media Award and Visualisation Award supported by Chaos. The Awards are also supported by Vectorworks, Tala Lighting and reMarkable.
With over £100,000 GBP ($127,000 USD) worth of prizes to be won this is one of the biggest prize collections out there! The six Award category winners will win the ultimate studio set up worth up to £12,500 each – including a huge array of software licences, creative tools and studio essentials that every creative needs. In addition the shortlisted entrants will all receive the opportunity to be internationally published by Archisource on their global channels and publications.
In June 2024 we’re also launching our inaugural physical exhibition in Central London, showcasing the very best works. The exhibition will be an exciting opportunity to be displayed amongst some of the best creative talents from around the world.
Celebrating the diverse talents of creatives around the world, Archisource welcomes creatives from all backgrounds and drawings of all types. Whether it be hand-drawn or painted, rendered or collaged, detailed linework or diagrammatic – the judging panel wants to see your creations.
Archisource truly believes in the power of drawings and the Drawing of the Year aims to recognise, celebrate and give a platform to the very best talents across the world.
We look forward to judging your submissions. Good luck to all!
Enter by 17th March 2024 at archisource.org “
When: Thursday, 22nd of February 2024 at 13:00 (GMT)
Where: Online
Luz Navarro will present the next Architecture + Cities Research Seminar titled Agonistic Spaces: Investigating Narratives and Practices of Dissensus in El Cabanyal, 2015-2018. It will take place at 13.00 on Thursday 22 February online.
The link to the seminar is here.
When: Monday, 12th of February 2024 at 13:00 (GMT)
Where: Online
Yara Sharif, Nasser Golzari and François Girardin will present the next Architecture + Cities Research Seminar, titled A Foot on the Earth, a Hand in the Sky: Gaza Experimental Lab. It will take place at 13.00 on Monday 12 February online.
The link to the meeting is here
When: Monday, 29th of January 2024 at 13:00 (GMT)
Where: Online
The first Architecture + Cities Research Seminar of the new semester will take place on Monday, January 29 from 13:00 to 14:00 (GMT), online. It will be given by Scott Batty on the construction as an essential component of architectural education.
The link to the seminar is here.
According to Dr Rosa Schiano-Phan: “the report provides a toolkit for organisations to increase and improve the presence of women in construction, so it is set to have a high impact. However, it also highlights significant shortfalls in data on the presence and impact of Women In Construction in Europe and a slow progress compared to a similar study by Professor Linda Clarke 20 years ago. We are preparing a journal article on the study and will organise an event later in the semester to launch the report in the UK. We are also currently searching for appropriate research calls for possible bids.”
The report investigates women’s experience in the construction, wood and forestry industry based on a survey sent out by the EFBWW, the research partner on this project, to 77 Unions representing the industry across Europe. The survey focuses on the obstacles women in the field face and what solutions are needed to increase recruitment and retention. It is authored by Dr Guedes, a Research Associate at Westminster, and co-authored by ProBE’s co-directors Dr Rosa Schiano-Phan, Dr Maria Christina Georgiadou, Professor Linda Clarke and Dr Fernando Duran Palma.
The project began earlier in 2023 when the ProBE team successfully answered the call put out by the EFBWW and funded by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES), to analyse the survey data and produce a report.
The presentation in Helsinki was split into three sections, first introducing the report, secondly offering practical recommendations based on the survey results and finally highlighting what stood out the most from what they found. […]
University of Westminster, News: “Dr Coralie Guedes presents report on women in construction at conference in Helsinki”
To read the article in full please visit here.
Featured Image by EFBWW
On Thursday, December 14, 2023, the School of Architecture + Cities’ First Year students organised a spectacular ‘food future’ event A Feast, which took place in Ambika P3.
On December 14, at the 2023 RIBA President’s Medal Ceremony, Kacper Sehnke from BA Architecture DS3.2 was announced as the winner of this year’s RIBA President’s Bronze Medal (awarded for the best undergraduate project).
Kacper’s outstanding project The Council for Ecosystem Restoration was chosen from 147 entires from across the world. In addition, Kacper’s project was awarded the prestigious RIBA Award for Sustainable Design at RIBA Part I.
In the words of Harry Charrinton, the Head of School of Architecture + Cities:
“Kacper’s two awards reflect his remarkable creativity and endeavour. They also embody the wit and care of his tutors, and as well as acclaiming Kacper’s work, congratulations are owed to the staff who helped him get there. Among others these include, most immediately, his Design Studio 3.2 tutors, Eric Guibert and Bruce Irwin who set the brief and tutored his project throughout. The outstanding Technical & Environmental Studies team led by Will McLean, Pete Silver and Scott Batty. The BArch Course Leader Paolo Zaide and Year Leaders Jane Tankard, Natalie Newey and Richa Mukhia, who have raised the bar, and, together with his personal tutors Nick Beech and Elantha Evans, nurtured Kacper’s talent and confidence throughout the course.”
