SA+C Tutors’ and Students’ Work Featured in Dezeen Magazine: “Architects for Gaza creates fragments of demountable clinic for Gaza”

As a part of the London Festival of Architecture, on June 25, 2024, Architects for Gaza, led by the Senior Tutors Yara Sharif and Nasser Golzari (MArch DS22 and MA Architecture), displayed sections of an experimental clinic in Marylebone Campus that it plans to build in Gaza as soon as soon as the conditions allow for access. The prototype was designed and built in collaboration with the Senior Tutors Paolo Cascone (BSc Architecture and Environmental Design) and François Girardin (Fabrication Lab and MArch DS23) and a number of students from the above courses.

The prototype was on display until the end of June and the exhibition was covered by the Dezeen Magazine:

“On show at the University of Westminster School of Architecture and Cities, the full-scale segments were designed to demonstrate how structures could be built to provide primary care in Gaza where 70 per cent of all health infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed since the most recent escalation of the Israel-Palestine conflict in October.

Named Experimental Lab/Clinic, the project by Architects for Gaza was designed by curators Yara Sharif, Nasser Golzari, Francois Girardin and Paolo Cascone to be built using the scarce materials available in Gaza. The clinics would also act as a kind of “atlas of possibilities” to demonstrate construction techniques that people can use to rebuild their homes and neighbourhoods.”

Dezeen, 17.07.2024

You can access the full article here.

SA+C at London Festival of Architecture: “Gaza Experimental Lab” | Tuesday, June 25, 2024 at 18:00 (BST) in Robin Evans Room, Marylebone Campus

When: Tuesday, 25th of June 2024, 6pm (BST)

Where: Robin Evans Room (M416), Marylebone Campus, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, NW1 5LS

Please join us on Tuesday, 25th of June at 6pm (BST) for the opening of the Gaza Experimental Lab. 

This 1:1 installation is a fragment of an off the grid experimental lab typology for the context of Gaza. It brings to the surface alternative materials and techniques built out of urgency and scarcity, challenging the consumer-driven construction industry, both in UK and the Global south by re-appropriating its discards. The room in its complete form can be used as a healthcare clinic, class room or Home.

The Lab, being ongoing process of testing and making, suggests alternative use of materials including crushed concrete, R-bars, corrugated sheets, sandbags, fired/unfired clay panels and other components. The outcome may suggest a new and unfamiliar aesthetic inspired by the local context and needs.

The exhibition is hosted by University of Westminster, School of Architecture, 25-30 June. Access need assistance available at the reception.

Key partners: University of Westminster (MA Architecture + BSc Architecture and Environmental Design, Fabrication Lab), Architects For Gaza and Mobile International Surgical Team.

This event is part of the London Festival of Architecture 2024 and it was supported by Quentin Hogg Trust (QHT).

OPEN2023 continues until Sunday, July 2 in our Marylebone studios

When: Friday, June 16 – Sunday, July 2 (Monday-Friday: 10am-6pm; Saturday-Sunday: 10am-4pm)

Where: School of Architecture + Cities, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, NW1 5LS London

On Thursday, June 16 we launched OPEN2023, our graduating students’ degree show, featuring work from: 

  • Architecture BA
  • Architecture and Environmental Design BSc
  • Architectural Technology BSc
  • Designing Cities BA
  • Interior Architecture BA
  • MArch

The School is committed to its Polytechnic inheritance, and its aim remains to offer ‘a transformative higher education for all’. We view the diversity of our students drawn from across London and the world as key to our success, and we see difference, and a mix of experiences and views, as critical to our exploration of architecture and place. The impact of our student-staff initiatives, such as our Equity Forum and climate action taskforce, ArCCAT, can be seen increasingly in how the School’s projects contribute to meeting our societal and planetary challenges. We embed London practitioners in our core teaching teams to keep us alive to the dynamism of contemporary practice, and continue  to develop cross-disciplinary collaborations, such as with Imperial College Medical School and Westminster Council, and our Live Design Practice – currently on show at Cody Dock. That, in turn, our students are so valued by practices is hugely gratifying.

Harry Charrington, Head of School of Architecture + Cities, OPEN2023

The show was opened by Philomena Wales and it’s a part of the London Festival of Architecture. It continues daily in our Marylebone studios until July 2.

For those unable to visit us in person, the online version of the exhibition can be accessed here.

Photography by Rory Lindsay

Fire Experience Day – Fire Service College, Moreton-in-Marsh

On May 22, 2023 a group of staff and students from four courses within the School of Architecture + Cities, University of Westminster attended a Fire Experience Training Day hosted by the Fire Service Training College. The day was sponsored by Axa Insurance, Fire Protection Association (FPA) and School of Architecture + Cities, UoW. The experience and information gathered was particularly useful with regard to the new Building Safety Bill and the developing RIBA/ARB criteria on Design for Fire and Life Safety.

Staff attending:

  • Scott Batty
  • Paolo Zaide
  • Wilfred Achille
  • Adam Thwaites
  • Stefania Boccaletti

Students from, BA Architecture: Umi Sakai-Stoute, Rowan Isles, Oscar Chainey, Eric Turner

Students from, MA Architecture: Galina Dimova, Ramzi Ramzi, Simon McLanaghan

Students from BSc Architecture + Environmental Design: Anastasia Suzdaltseva Kazakova, Elspeth Prowse, Michelle Lai, Sara Stabiglieri

Students from Architectural Technology: Pascal Golda, Amjad Butt, Velina Drakalieva, T’Sean Blake

OPEN 2023 | Thursday, June 15, 2023 at 18:00 (BST), Marylebone Campus, University of Westminster

When: Thursday, 15th of June 2023 at 6pm (BST)

Where: Marylebone Campus, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Rd, NW1 5LS

THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTMINSTER’S SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE AND CITIES INVITES YOU TO OPEN 2023

REGISTER VIA EVENTBRITE

Head of School Harry Charrington cordially invites you to attend the opening of the graduating students’ degree show, OPEN 2023, featuring work from:

  • – Architecture BA
  • – Architecture and Environmental Design BSc
  • – Architectural Technology BSc
  • – Designing Cities BA
  • – Interior Architecture BA
  • – MArch

Preview

Thursday 15 June, 6 – 9pm

Show opened by Philomine Wales

Exhibition continues

Friday 16 June – Sunday 2 July

You can also RSVP to DCDI-Events@westminster.ac.uk

Featured image: Diana Fox, MArch

Exhibition: Reimagining the Royal Docks | BSc Architecture and Environmental Design | Friday, June 24 from 17:00 (BST) at Silver Building in the Royal Docks

When: From Friday, 24th of June (5pm) to 14th of July 2022 (available for viewing Monday – Saturday, 9am-6pm)

Where: Silver Building in the Royal Docks, 60 Dock Road, E16 1YZ

BSc Architecture and Environmental Design will be hosting a public exhibition at the Silver Building in the Royal Docks, where local people can explore the students re-imagining of the neighbourhood. 

There is a public opening on Friday 24 June to which everyone is welcome.

To attend the opening, please register here.

The Westminster Hydro Green Wall Installed in Marylebone Campus

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!