“Inclusive Tectonics” with Paolo Cascone at New York Institute of Technology | Wednesday, April 27, 2022 from 18:00 to 20:00 (EST) Online

When: Wednesday, 27th of April 2022, 6:00pm – 8:00pm (EST)

Where: Online | New York Institute of Technology

To register, please go here.

Based on almost 10 years of applied research by Paolo Cascone between Europe and Africa, his work investigates the potential role of indigenous and spontaneous architecture in the contemporary debate on sustainability in architectural design: How to respond to climatic changes reconciling nature with tekné? What is the social role of technology? How architects reconsider their practices in supporting community-oriented projects?

These questions are discussed through a number of paradigmatic projects in order to shape an interdisciplinary approach that bridges different knowledge.

Paolo Cascone is a Senior Lecturer, School of Architecture + Cities, University of Westminster and Founding Director of Codesignlab.org .

Emerging Territories Symposium: London Lab / Global Hub | Friday, May 13, 2022 from 10:00 to 18:00 (BST) in M416, Marylebone Campus, University of Westminster

When: Friday, 13th of May 2022 from 10am to 6pm (BST)

Where: M416, University of Westminster, Marylebone campus, 35 Marylebone Road, London NW1 5LS

Register via Eventbrite.

Background

The ‘Emerging Territories’ research group hosts a one-day symposium on current research initiatives of the School of Architecture and Cities, which contributes to the global agenda of sustainability of the University of Westminster. We work at the interface between London-based explorative practices, and globally-relevant projects, with the aim to promote and design more resilient and inclusive communities, places, and territories, around the following priority emerging areas: Climate Urbanism; Health & Wellbeing; Urban-Rural Interfaces; Anthropocene Territories; Public Space and Diversity.

Concept

Urban and Architectural research, in recent years, is confronted with new challenges affecting cities and the built environment: the unexpected outbreak of the COVID19 pandemic, the increasing evidence of the tangible impact of climate change, and the rising tensions among nation states in a changing global scenario. This has resulted in unprecedented social and environmental vulnerabilities, and new rapidly evolving phenomena, such as the digital transition of the way of living, residing and working.

Taken together, these challenges pose serious questions that scholars in the field of architecture and planning should face, in primis the redefinition of the notion of local vs global, and the very idea of scholarly engagement across different places in the new normal.  On the other hand, this can be taken as an opportunity to define new ‘emerging territories’ of research where problems can be captured, solutions can be tested, and ideas can be shared more effectively across multiple scales and contexts.

The aim of the symposium is therefore to bring together interdisciplinary research between architecture and planning, based at the School of Architecture and Cities and to share new ideas and approaches to tackle city problems and their vulnerabilities in the new global context.

Contributors

Krystallia Kamvasinou, Giulio Verdini (Co-Chairs), with Roudaina Alkhani, Lindsay Bremner, Sabina Cioboata, Corinna Dean, Shengkang Fu, Ripin Kalra, Kon Kim, Tony Lloyd Jones, David W. Mathewson, Michael Neuman, Mai Sairafi, Ben Stringer, and others to be confirmed.

For queries on the symposium, please contact:

Giulio Verdini G.Verdini@westminster.ac.uk or Krystallia Kamvasinou K.Kamvasinou01@westminster.ac.uk

AHRA Research Student Symposium 2022 | University of Westminster, Marylebone Campus + Online, April 20 and 21, 2022

When: Wednesday, 21st of April (from 10am BST) – Thursday, 21st of April (to 7pm BST)

Where: University of Westminster, Marylebone campus, Room MG14, 35 Marylebone Road, London NW1 5LS

Register via Eventbrite.

The AHRA Research Student Symposium 2022, “Voices in Architecture”, considers voices in architectural research, posing the critical questions: who speaks and for whom? How do we give voice without assuming authority? How do we listen without judgment? How do we adjust the volume of our own voices?

A key objective of the symposium will be to connect architectural research with wider political concerns around democracy, protest and populism and we are particularly attentive to processes of public engagement and empowerment, social stratification and elitism. The symposium also seeks to investigate diverse modes of production and their social worlds, explorations of vernacular traditions, informal settlements, transient and temporary architectures.

All activities are offered in blended (hybrid) form. Links to live streams (via Zoom) will be communicated before the symposium. Please indicate whether you will attend as a physical or remote guest.

Westminster Transport Group – 1971, 2021, 2071 | Online and at Marylebone Campus, University of Westminster on Friday, April 29, 2022

When: Friday, 29th of April 2022, 15:00 – 21:00 BST

Where: Online and at University of Westminster, Marylebone Campus, 35 Marylebone Road, London NW1 5LS

To register via Eventbrite please go here.

Join us for a celebratory event, marking 50 (+) years of the Transport Studies Group (TSG) at Marylebone, reflecting on teaching and research, past, present and future.

The event will comprise two distinct segments, the first being an afternoon session with speakers on past development, and current roles, of teaching and research in the Group, together with contributions from alumni who have attained important positions in the transport sector.

This will be followed in the evening by an informal reception for past staff colleagues, alumni and others connected with TSG’s work over the years (such as research collaborators in other institutions, external examiners) and presentations ceremony.

The event will take place in person at the Marylebone Campus, and delivered in tandem online, with a joining link to be shared with registered attendees ahead of the event. Tickets are available for in person attendance at the first session and/or reception, and for online attendees, for the first session and/or the Presentations segment of the Reception.

The Fabrication Lab invites you to our unique Ceramic Patisserie: MAKE FOR UKRAINE! An Evening of Robotics + Ceramics to Raise Funds for Ukraine | Thursdays: March 31 and April 7, 2022

We’d like to invite you to an evening workshop in the Fabrication Lab to raise funds for Ukraine.

The workshop is a one-off opportunity to try out the Lab, and to work with our robots and digitally fabricated tools to help you design and make your very own ceramic patisserie. We’ll provide all the materials, tools, and help you need to create your cake, and once it’s fired, it will be yours to keep forever.

MAKE FOR UKRAINE! is open to everyone, with reduced donations for students and Westminster colleagues. All proceeds, including profits from the Lab Bar, will be donated to humanitarian aid for the people of Ukraine.

Dates

Thursdays – 31st of March and 7th of April: 17:30, 18:00, 18:30 until 22:00

Minimum Donations
  • UoW Students – £20
  • UoW Staff + Alumni – £30
  • Visitors – £50
  • ViP – £100

To book tickets please go here.

Book Launch: Revolution? Architecture and the Anthropocene by Susannah Hagan | Wednesday, March 30 at 18:30 (BST) [Online discussion / Launch]

Where: Online

When: Wednesday, 30th of March 2022 from 6.30pm to 8pm

Eventbrite booking here.

The University of Westminster and Lund Humphries are delighted to celebrate the launch of Revolution? Architecture and the Anthropocene, a new book that asks why architecture has lagged behind the environmental curve for the last fifty years.

Susannah Hagan in conversation with Harry Charrington, University of Westminster; Brian Ford, University of Nottingham; Ricardo de Ostos, NaJa & deOstos and the AA School of Architecture and Lindsay Bremner, University of Westminster.

The online event will take place online on Microsoft Teams, and attendees will automatically receive a joining link upon completion of Eventbrite Registration.

About the Speakers

Susannah Hagan is Emeritus Professor of Architecture at the University of Westminster. Prior to Westminster, she was Head of Research and the Doctoral Programme at the School of Architecture, Royal College of Art. She has published extensively, and has drawn together architectural design, history and theory to examine environmental practice in four books: Taking Shape: A New Contract between Architecture and Nature (2001), Digitalia: architecture and the environmental, the digital and the avant-garde (2008), Ecological Urbanism: the nature of the city (2015), and now Revolution? Architecture and the Anthropocene (2022).

Lindsay Bremner (Chair) is Director of Research at the School of Architecture and Cities, University of Westminster, and was Principal Investigator of Monsoon Assemblages, a European Research Council-funded project to investigate the impact of changing monsoon climates on four Asian cities. Previously, she was Professor and Chair of Architecture, Tyler School of Art at Temple University, Philadelphia (2006-11), and Chair of Architecture, University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg (1998-2004). Her most recent publication is Monsoon Solidarity: A Global Approach to Climate Justice (2022).

Harry Charrington is an architect and Head of the School of Architecture and Cities at the University of Westminster. He worked for Alvar Aalto & Co. in Helsinki, and later practiced in Newcastle and Bristol. He has taught at the Universities of Newcastle, UWE Bristol and Bath in the UK, and Helsinki and Aalto Universities and Vaasa Institute of Technology in Finland. His research focuses on the histories of modernism and on design practice. These include the exhibition Alvar Aalto: Process & Culture (RIBA Heinz), and his book Alvar Aalto: the Mark of the Hand, co-authored with Vezio Nava, which won the 2012 RIBA President’s Medal for Research.

Brian Ford (RIBA FRSA) is an architect, an environmental design consultant and Emeritus Professor at the University of Nottingham. He was in private practice for over 25 years, including Peake Short & Partners and Short Ford Associates, where he worked on innovative low carbon projects in Europe, USA, India, Australia and China. He initiated a series of multi-partner EU-funded research projects on natural ventilation and passive cooling and was until recently Vice President of the Passive and Low Energy Architecture organisation (PLEA). His most recent book is The Architecture of Natural Cooling (2020, 2nd edition).

Ricardo De Ostos is a director of NaJa & deOstos, a London-based studio developed as a platform for experimental architectural design, before that working for Peter Cook, Future Systems and Foster + Partners. He is a Unit Master at the Architectural Association School of Architecture, director of the AA Madrid Summer School and guest professor at Ecole Spéciale d’Architecture in Paris. Most recently, he is co-author of the book Scavengers and Other Creatures in Promised Lands (2017).

BA Architecture Year 2 students presenting at the London Student Sustainability Conference | Thursday, February 24 from 12:30 to 17:30 (GMT) | Online

Congratulations to Nedal Harris Ghoshesh, Jessica Abdul Matin and Jack Morris, BA 2nd year students, who will be participating in the London Student Sustainability Conference on Thursday the 24th of February, presenting their design studio semester 1 projects.  

The conference is entirely student-led; with students exhibiting their research and projects through presentations, posters and demonstrations. This is the first time that University of Westminster Architecture students have been invited to participate in this event. 

This is an online event and registration is free:

https://www.city.ac.uk/news-and-events/events/2022/february/london-student-sustainability-conference-2022

Image caption: Left: Jessica Abdul Matin, Right: Nedal Harris Ghoshesh

MAIA Technical Study Lecture: “Reflections on light” by Professor Dean Hawkes | Tuesday, March 1 from 14:30 to 16:00 (GMT) at M416 and online

When: Tuesday, 1st of March, 2.30pm – 4pm

Where: M416, Marylebone Campus, 35 Marylebone Road, NW1 5LS and online

Link to join: https://eu.bbcollab.com/guest/5c1973fe40fa4b74acfc946a1f26c354

Dean Hawkes is emeritus professor of architectural design at the Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University, and an emeritus fellow of Darwin College, University of Cambridge.  He taught and researched at Cambridge from 1965 to 1995, when he was appointed to the chair of architectural design at Cardiff.  He was a founder member of the Martin Centre for Architectural and Urban Studies at Cambridge and was its Director from 1979 to 1987.  His research is in the field of environmental design in architecture.  His books include The Environmental Tradition (1996), The Selective Environment (2002), The Environmental Imagination (2008, 2nd edition 2019) and Architecture and Climate (2012).  His buildings, in partnership with Stephen Greenberg, received four RIBA Architecture Awards.  In 2010 he was awarded the RIBA Annie Spink Award in recognition of his significant contribution to architectural education.

University of Westminster Sustainability Week Workshops | Wednesday 23rd and Thursday 24th of February, Cavendish and Marylebone Campuses

Wednesday, 23rd of February – Growing Space Workshop 

Get hands on with our growing spaces and learn how to grow fresh vegetables from food waste! No booking required. 

10am-11am

Marylebone Campus, Growing Space located on Luxborough Street

12pm- 1pm 

Cavendish Campus, Growing Space, behind the Pavilion (1st floor)

Thursday, 24th of February – Dr Bike Workshop 

Bring your bike anytime during the session to speak to our experienced mechanics and get a free bike health check! Also, come and speak to the team about a great deal on second hand bike, helmet and lock for £150. Available for students and staff.  

9am-11am

Marylebone Campus, Front Entrance 

11.30am- 2pm 

Cavendish Campus, Front Entrance

Recording of Barnabas Calder’s Lecture from February 8, 2022

On Tuesday, 8th of February, The School of Architecture + Cities hosted Barnabas Calder, who introduced his important new book Architecture: From prehistory to climate emergency. The book provides the first history of architecture with the climate emergency as the central focus, and was reviewed in The Guardian.

The lecture is now available for viewing: