Category: News

Call for Papers: Representing Pasts – Visioning Futures: An intersection of History, Art, Design, Architecture and Film | Queen’s University Belfast, National University of Singapore, Cape Peninsula University of Technology | Deadline for abstracts, October 20, 2022

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

Key dates

Dates: 01-03 December 2022

Abstracts: 20 October 2022 (Round 2)

Place: Virtual (UK, Singapore, South Africa)

For more details please go here.

Call:

One century ago the City Symphony was at the cutting edge of visual representation. It was the site of some of the most challenging concepts and ideas the art world had ever seen. Its ruptures in spatiotemporal representation were seen as natural extensions of the avant-garde: cubist painting in the mode of Braque, the architectural visions of Vladimir Tatlin, the spatio-sculptural works of Aleksandr Rodchenko, the photography of Moholy-Nagy and later Florence Henri, to name but a few.

The intervening 100 years have seen periodic reengagements with spatial reframing in these media. They have also witnessed the emergence of new modes of representation in the worlds of art, design, heritage, cultural studies and the social sciences more broadly. Today, artists, architects, painters, sculptors and designers can work seamlessly across a plethora of fields: video, digital photography, 3D printing, parametric architecture, algorithmic animation, projection mapping, photogrammetry, virtual reality, and more.

If we look specifically at spatial design, virtual reality is increasingly seen as ‘everyday’ for architects and urban designers. For artists, ‘the digital’ is now a typical mode of operation. If we consider film, algorithmic video editing, motion capture and image digitalization are now all ‘run of the mill’ technologies. In museology, the experiential interactive installation accompanies static exhibitions. Indeed, the moving image, both analogue and digital, is now a standard area of historical study in itself– the city symphony included.

Taking the City Symphony, and its historic moment in time as a starting point, this conference seeks to explore of the past, present and future of how we visualise people, places, cities and life. It welcomes insights into the history of painting from a spatiotemporal standpoint; the influence and evolution of photographic representation of place; the role of sculpture in exploring and integrating space.

The conference invites filmmakers exploring city representation, architects, urban planners and designers engaged in the visualisation of buildings and cities, historians investigating design and digital media and more.

AJ Student Prize 2022 nominees: Reece Murray (BA Arch DS3.4) and Rebecca Kelly (MArch DS11)

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

Congratulations to Reece Murray from DS3.4 BA (Hons) Architecture and Rebecca Kelly from DS11 MArch on being nominated for this year’s AJ Student Prize.

To read more about their projects visit here.

Giorgios Malliaropoulos from MArch DS18 to participate in 2022 Sustainability Workshop organised by the Norman Foster Foundation

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

Congratulations to Giorgios Malliaropoulos, MArch DS18 student, on being selected from hundreds of applicants to be one of ten to participate in the 2022 Sustainability Workshop and represent the University of Westminster.

His interest in sustainability has been proved through his University project last year – ‘’Institute of Ground Tectonics’’ developed while at DS18, under the tutelage of Laura Nica, John Cook, and Ben Pollock. The project is a laboratory for investigating soil structures , sampling analysis and morphological changes in land. Constructed out of a series of innovative aggregate mixtures, the proposal was aiming to minimise the use of material and carbon-intensive materials, materials that would adapt to extreme weather conditions such as drought and storms. This project included complex climatic data gathering, diligent research, Computational fluid dynamics simulations, high standard drawings, and carefully crafted prototypes. 

Giorgios is currently finalising his research topic and agenda for the workshop, but he is interested in exploring soil morphologies & the possibility of controlling through design, nutrient concentration for more fertile soils and enhanced agriculture yields. 

Fire Experience Day for Architecture Students

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

On June 9, 2022 a group of staff and students from the School of Architecture + Cities, University of Westminster attended a pilot day hosted by the Fire Service Training College. The experience and information gathered was particularly useful with regard to the new Building Safety Bill and also the incoming RIBA/ARB criteria on Fire and Life Safety Design.

Staff attending:

  • Scott Batty
  • William Mclean

Students from Year 2, BA Architecture:

  • Luke Harvey
  • Ruhsan (Roxan) Sadrettin 
  • Kyrah-Chae Copeland-Thompson

The School hopes to be able to expand to a whole year group next year.

  • KODAK Digital Still Camera
  • KODAK Digital Still Camera

All images by Scott Batty

Dezeen: “University of Westminster spotlights 10 architecture, environmental design and technology projects”

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

Dezeen magazine has featured a selection of 10 students’ projects from the School of Architecture + Cities, University of Westminster.

The featured students are: Asena Koksal (MArch DS25), Edoardo Ripamonti (BSc Architecture and Environmental Design), Jan Macbean (BA Architecture, DS3.3), Joshua Dalsan (BA Architecture, DS3.6), Lilla Porkolab (MArch DS10), Malgorzata Socha (MArch DS15), Nikol Kaso (BA Interior Architecture), Suha Faisal Valiyaveettil (BSc Architecture and Environmental Design), Zhengyao Hu (BA Interior Architecture), Zuzanna Jodlowska (BSc Architectural Technology)

The Dezeen feature can be accessed here.

Featured image: The water healing mosque of Royal Docklands by Suha Faisal Valiyaveettil

The Westminster Hydro Green Wall Installed in Marylebone Campus

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

This academic year, several of the BSc Architecture and Environmental Design students [who are part of the Westminster Environmental Society] and academics have been collaborating with Square Mile Farms in the creation of a hydroponic green wall for the production of food.

This project is the result of the successful application to the Westminster Green Fund.

The wall was installed in the entrance of Marylebone campus on Thursday, May 26th and will be ready for the first harvest after 4 weeks. The installation process was lead by students and Square Mile Farms team. The Vice Chancellor Peter Bonfield also visited the site and chatted to the team.

The official launch and the first harvest are scheduled for June 24th. To attend, please register here.

From September, the BSc Architecture and Environmental Design students will take charge of the maintenance and harvesting of the wall.

Congratulations to all involved!

RIBA Scott Brownrigg Award for Sustainable Development | Deadline: Friday, June 24 at 5pm

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

The RIBA Scott Brownrigg Award for Sustainable Development provides £5000 funding for research to address environmental and ethical issues and enhance the quality of life of communities across the globe.

The award is open to individuals or teams of architecture graduates and practitioners for projects lasting between three and 12 months. At least one candidate in the team should:

  • – have successfully completed a RIBA-validated Part 1 course or with candidate course status in the UK or abroad, and
  • – be enrolled, or have been granted a place of study, in a RIBA-validated Part 2 or 3 course or with candidate course status in the UK or abroad by the beginning of the period covered by the award, or
  • – have graduated from a RIBA-validated Part 2 or 3 course or with candidate course status in the UK or abroad

For more information please go here.

Featured image via RIBA.

Urban Inclusion in Middle Eastern Cities | Contribution by Nasser Golzari (UoW) to “HABITAT: Embracing Change in the Post-2030 Future”

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

Congratulations to Dr Nasser Golzari on his contribution to “HABITAT: Embracing Change in the Post-2030 Future”

SDG 16: “URBAN INCLUSION IN MIDDLE EASTERN CITIES”

https://www.gstic.org/expert-story/urban-inclusion-in-middle-eastern-cities/

Credits to all authors, The Global Sustainable Technology & Innovation Community G-STIC, Thames & Hudson and HABITAT Coalition.

The exhibition in the press: urbanNext the Photographic Atlas of Cities Series: https://urbannext.net/habitat/. urbanNext is digital multi-format platform by @actar.publishers expanding architecture to rethink cities New York & Barcelona.

Featured image: Multi-storey buildings made from mud in Shibam, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In 2012 Yemen became a site of civil conflicts which still continue. © dinosmichail, Shutterstock

New Charrette call: Issue 9(1) | Beginning Architecture: Contextualising thresholds in architectural education

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

The latest call for contributions to issue 9(1) of Charrette, under the theme Beginning Architecture: Contextualising thresholds in architectural education, is now live, with Raymond Quek (Norwich University of the Arts), Angeliki Sioli (TU Delft), Jodi La Coe (Marywood University) as guest editors.

The deadline for Call for expressions of interest (500 words) is 8th July 2022, and the deadline for Submission of full contributions 31st October 2022, for publication in Spring 2023. 

For more information please check the attached document.

C.9.1.Call_FinalDownload