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.
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:
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The issue is the fluid edge between city and water and is captured in the term ‘floodscape’, to give definition to a cityscape affected by fluctuating water levels. Manila, as an extreme case of a flood-prone city, presents the challenge of having to balance vital flood management with creating places suitable for urban life that many cities in the global south are facing or will face.
The archipelago of the Maldives averages 1.5 m above sea level making it the lowest country in the world. Such a unique context calls for a different and more fluid approach to design and planning in the face of rising climate uncertainty. Working with local communities, 4D Island, is looking to develop a toolkit of suggestive design moves to aid local decision making.
On Monday, 07 Feb 2022
1PM / M416 + Online
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89688306802
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Calder’s brilliant book […] develops a new frame for architectural writing which frankly makes some of the previous architectural histories look at best parochial, or at worst irrelevant in the face of the global climate crisis.
– Jeremy Till, Buildings and Cities
On Tuesday, 08 Feb 2022
6PM / Online
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81069895744?pwd=OFFWaFRvajcySTNFdGIrT2xmUXFwUT09
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Urban Radicals started out in 2019 as a duo between architects Nasios Varnavas and Era Savvides with the ambition to form an expansive network between friends, colleagues and expert collaborators, to solve problems across contexts and scales. Since then, the studio has grown organically through projects, competitions, parties, dinners, fishing trips, gardening, stories, painting, cooking, workshops, walks, gatherings and conversations.
On Wednesday, 09 Feb 2022
5PM
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89688306802
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‘Today, 600 million people in Africa do not have access to electricity and 900 million lack access to clean cooking facilities.’ Paolo will present the African Off-grid Housing research project on how to design and build off-grid and affordable housing solutions for the African Sub-Saharan context. The AOH project is developed at the School of Architecture and Cities of the UoW with the support of the Global Challenge Research Fund.
On Thursday, 10 Feb 2022
1PM
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89688306802
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An exploratory conversation between two collaborators about the meaning and limitations of sustainable practice. We will discuss the agency of the young architect, value systems and ways of seeing within the production of built matter.
On Friday, 11 Feb 2022
1PM
When: Tuesday, 8th of February at 6pm GMT
Where: Online
Eventbrite booking here.
Join us online at the School of Architecture and Cities, University of Westminster and Barnabas Calder who will introduce his important new book Architecture: From prehistory to climate emergency, which provides the first history of architecture with the climate emergency as the central focus.
The book is reviewed in The Guardian here.
