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, 11th of April 2024, 13:00-14:00
Where: M322, Marylebone Campus, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, NW1 5LS
The final Architecture + Cities Research Seminar for the semester will be presented by a visiting scholar from Copenhagen Business School, Kristian Nielsen. His seminar titled “Behavioral Research on Climate Change Mitigation” will be given in person in M322.
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 .
When: Saturday, 22nd of January at 9.15am
Where: Online Event (to book tickets please go to Eventbrite)
In recent years, there is an increasing awareness of climate change and environmental sustainability. To act on climate change and explore environmental concerns, 8 universities from the UK and Singapore have come together to organise an environmental conference to raise awareness and discuss potential solutions to related issues.
The conference is a one-day event and will have 6 sessions to cover an array of environmental subjects. This event connects students with industry leaders, through a day of presentations, Q&As and networking sessions in collaboration with our speakers.
The Architecture and Cities Climate Action Taskforce (ArCCAT) was formed in May 2021. It comprises staff and students from the School of Architecture + Cities, the Westminster Business School and members of the University Estates team committed to meeting climate, biodiversity and planetary
system challenges. Over the next three years it aims to:
ArCCAT comprises four working groups – Strategic Planning, Curriculum Change, Climate Conscious Practice and Events, Campaigns and Communications and works collaboratively with student societies – Westminster Environment Society, Westminster Architecture Society and WestCAN.
In the autumn semester of 2021 ArCCAT activities and events will include:
To join ArCCAT contact Lindsay Bremner at L.Bremner@westminster.ac.uk , or through Westminster Environment Society, Westminster Architecture Society or WestCAN.
When: Tuesday, 18th of May 2021, 17:00 – 18:30 BST
Eventbrite booking: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/architecture-wont-be-relevant-on-a-dead-planet-tickets-154547462621
Since the beginning of civilization, the human race has used architecture as a form of protection from the changing climate, sometimes referred to as the Third Skin. However, significant global climate change has brought to light the impact humanity has had on the planet due to the mass extraction of fossil fuels and other unsustainable practices. The challenge we face is not only important for humanity, but the Earth as a whole. How can architecture play a role in the survival of the planet?
The format is a panel discussion guided by a chair between two students, two tutors, and two professionals, each invited by the two universities. Each speaker will present for 3-4 minutes, after which a general discussion will follow facilitated by the chair. At this point, members of the audience are invited to ask questions in the live chat aimed at certain speakers or both panels as a whole. The questions will be selected by the chair, so that the conversation opens up into new areas, thus expanding everyone’s learning on this pertinent yet broad topic.
TECHNOLOGICAL – Technology in Architecture has fundamentally shaped society, the economy and the environment. Throughout time, the rapid and continuous urbanization of the modern world has put pressure on cities to provide satisfactory living conditions for humans at the cost of the environment. Even though technology itself has caused many environmental and social problems, it could be key to addressing some of the pressing global challenges we face as a society, through helping to reduce the negative impact of the built environment on the Earth. However, the new employed technologies are facing differing opinions in regards to which solutions have greater benefits on the environment:
ECOLOGICAL – For generations humans have presented themselves as dominant over nature, exploiting and viewing it as subordinate without considering the severe repercussions on the environment. Directly relating to architecture, construction sites for instance have gradually destroyed the habitats of species which are crucial to our survival on the planet leaving them shelter-less.
SOCIAL – Through the work of social scientists and other like-minded people, the impact of the Anthropocene is being acknowledged as more than just climate science. Awareness of environmental injustice has led to the development of terms such as “the unequal exchange”, the material extraction and labour exploitation of communities for the benefit of others. In addition, these areas in the Global South will be impacted by the effects of climate change sooner. This injustice is not just between nations, but within societies, as the global top 10% are responsible for half of all global emissions (Oxfam, 2020).
When: Thursday, 27th of February, 18:30
Where: Robin Evans Room (M416), Marylebone Campus
The Thursday evening guest lecture series continues this week with a lecture by Bartlett professor of Architecture and Urbanism, CJ Lim. The lecture will outline his new book, Smartcities, Resilient Landscapes and Eco-warriors.
The book represents a crucial voice in the discourse of climate change and the potential opportunities to improve the ecological function of existing habitats or create new landscapes which are considered beneficial to local ecology and resilience. The notion of the Smartcity is developed through a series of international case studies, some commissioned by government organisations, others speculative and polemic. Following on from the success of the first edition ‘Smartcities + Eco-Warriors’ (2010), this second edition has nine new case studies, and additional ecological sustainability studies covering the romance of trees.
CJ Lim is the Professor of Architecture and Urbanism at the Bartlett, UCL. His teaching and design research focus are on multi-disciplinary innovative interpretations of social, political, and environmental sustainability programmes in urban planning, architecture and landscape. He is the recipient of the Royal Academy of Arts London ‘Grand Architecture Prize’. His authored books include ‘Smartcities + Eco-warriors’ (2010), ‘Short Stories: London in two-and-a-half Dimensions’ (2011), ‘Food City’ (2014) and ‘Inhabitable Infrastructures: Science fiction or urban future?’ (2017).
When: Thursday, 14th of November, 18:30
Where: M416, Robin Evans Room, 35 Marylebone Road, London NW1 5LS
Ripin Kalra has been working in Disaster Risk Reduction, Low Carbon Development and Climate Resilience since 1992. He has first-hand experience in over 30 countries across Caribbean and Latin America, South and South-East Asia, Middle-East and North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa.
He has been a technical manager, project director and adviser on several climate resilience and resource efficiency projects and co-authored the EU-ACP/GFDRR-supported “National Climate Resilience Investment Plan – CRIP” for Belize with the World Bank. Between 2012 and 2013 he carried out an independent review of the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF). He was Low Carbon Infrastructure/ Risk reduction adviser on the “Physical Development Plan” for Montserrat, with DfID between 2011 and 2012. In 2010 he provided pro-bono housing and planning support in Port-au-Prince, Haiti following the earthquake. He led the World Bank/ IFC supported ‘Affordable Green Housing’ work in Kenya and India. In 2014 he worked with DfID on the “Nigeria Urban Infrastructure Facility”, and in 2012 was Team Leader for the World Bank’s “Assessment of Insurance Instruments for Climate Risk in sub-Saharan Africa”. He has also worked on safe, green and efficient education and health infrastructure in Bangladesh, India and Nepal. He was Project Director for the Remediation Co-ordination Cell work supported by ILO in 2017-18 on garment factory safety in Bangladesh and UK FCO supported ‘Climate proofing Indian smart Cities’ in 2017-18.
Ripin has been working at University of Westminster since 2000 and currently leads post-graduate modules entitled “Urban Risk and Resilience” and ‘Environmental assessment, policy and climate change’.
Ripin is a pro-bono Trustee of Commonwealth Human Ecology Council, the Commonwealth Housing Trust (CHT).
For lecture details contact Will McLean
Led by doctoral researcher in architecture at the School of Architecture + Cities, Mehrdad Borna, this walk will focus on air quality in our cities. If you care about creating a better future for our cities, then this tour is for you!
Join us for a hands-on experience and an insightful walking tour of Canary Wharf. On this walking tour, you will be working with Environmental Monitoring Instruments to monitor and capture data related to Air Quality, Temperature, Air flow velocity, and Relative Humidity. We will then interpret these data to understand if there is an association between urban form and urban air quality. By the end of this tour, you will have a better understanding of the urban form and its significant influence on the formation of undesirable microclimate which increases the concentration of air pollution in outdoor spaces and respectively triggers adverse impact on human health.
This walking tour will highlight some of the above issues and is a very enjoyable way to learn about Sustainable Development, Climate Change, Urban Microclimate, Urban Heat Island, air pollution and its impact on human health. We will also explore potential mitigation strategies to reduce our impact on the environment and discuss our present state of effort and achievement in order to secure production of a satisfactory quality of life for our future generations.
We will meet you at Canary Wharf which is the newly developed area of retailing and restaurants of London’s latest financial centre operating as Europe’s hub. From here we will have few stops before arriving at the Crossrail Place Roof Garden designed by Foster + Partners.
The event is free!
To book tickets and for more information please visit here.
The Expanded Territories Research Group in the Department of Architecture has started a reading group, which will meet at 17.30 on the first Tuesday of every month in the Monsoon Assemblages Project Office, Room M330, 35 Marylebone Road, London NW1 5LS.
We will read one agreed book or essay per month related to the anthropocene, more-than-human ontologies, climate change or any other topics the group puts forward, and discuss it in relation to architecture, landscape, art and design.
All are welcome – staff, students, friends, even if you are not a member of Expanded Territories or have done no prior reading in these areas. All we ask is that you read the book agreed each month!
The inaugural reading will be:
Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet
Anna Tsing, Heather Swanson, Elaine Gan and Nils Bubandt (eds.)
Introduced by Corinna Dean and Victoria Watson
When: Tuesday 2nd May 2018, 17.30
Where: Room M330, 35 Marylebone Road, NW1 5LS
Accompanied by wine and nibbles
About Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet
Living on a damaged planet challenges who we are and where we live. As human-induced environmental change threatens multispecies live-ability, Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet puts forward a bold proposal: entangled histories, situated narratives, and thick descriptions offer urgent “arts of living.” Included are essays by scholars in anthropology, ecology, science studies, art, literature, and bioinformatics who posit critical and creative tools for collaborative survival in a more-than-human Anthropocene.
The book is available on Amazon or in other bookstores or downloadable chapter by chapter here: https://muse.jhu.edu/book/52400
How can buildings be designed today to ensure they are resilient to the challenges they will face tomorrow?
Students and professionals are invited to offer innovative, unusual and radical ideas in response to this question.
This is a great opportunity to:
Find out more: https://www.designingbuildings.co.uk/wiki/Tomorrow%27s_challenges_in_today%27s_buildings
