Tag: London Festival of Architecture

Book Launch + Webinar: “Open Gaza: Architectures of Hope” | Thursday, June 10 , 2021 at 18:00 (BST)

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

Please join MArch DS22 tutors and the founders of Palestine Regeneration Team, Senior Lecturers at the UoW, Yara Sharif and Nasser Golzari, on the 10th of June 2021 at 6pm (BST) for a webinar and a book launch for Open Gaza: Architectures of hope, co-edited by the late Michael Sorkin and Deen Sharp.

In an attempt to cultivate hope, a group of scholars got together to explore imaginative spatial scenarios to heal the fractured city of Gaza. While we share some of the work, we will also be discussing the wider subjects of Architecture of Care and the Right to the City.

The event hosted by the Head of School of Architecture + Cities, Professor Harry Charrington, is a tribute to Michael Sorkin and a testament to his insistent cry for a right to the city and a spatial justice for all.

The event is part of London Festival of Architecture.

For further details and to register for the event please go to Eventbrite.

London Festival of Architecture 2021 Film Screening: Aalto (Virpi Suutari 2020) + Prof Harry Charrington and Virpi Suutari in conversation | June 2, 2021 18:00-19:00

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

AALTO is a documentary film journey into the life and work of one of the greatest modern architects Alvar Aalto. The film shares the love story of Alvar and his architect wives Aino and Elissa Aalto. It takes the viewer on a cinematic tour to their creative processes and iconic buildings all over the world. We visit their buildings in Finland, a library in Russia, a student dormitory at MIT, an art collector’s private house near Paris, a pavilion in Venice – and many other unique places.

The film is available to watch 1-7 June. Register on Eventbrite to receive your free streaming link.

See the film trailer using event link.

Director Virpi Suutari and Professor Harry Charrington will discuss the film on 2 June 18-19.

Professor Harry Charrington, Head of School of Architecture + Cities, is also one of the main narrators and consultants in this newly released documentary film.

Tickets/Booking:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/aalto-virpi-suutari-2020-film-screening-tickets-150740666391

London Festival of Architecture: City of London School Competition | Deadline [first stage]: Midday, Friday, December 18, 2020

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

At the LFA, our competitions are an important part of our mission to democratise the discussion around architecture. Now, we’re pleased that our Collaboration team will be also running competitions as New London Architecture to build upon this, expanding with a joint competitions programme and a wider range of opportunities for our friends and supporters to get involved in.

London Festival of Architecture

New London Architecture (NLA) and the City of London Corporation have launched a new open call competition to find a design team to take forward a major redevelopment programme at City of London School. The competition is a unique opportunity to transform one of London’s most prestigious schools, on one of the most prominent sites in the City of London. 

The open call competition is open to architecture practices all shapes and sizes, including teams of smaller and medium-sized practices who are being actively encouraged to join together to bid for the project, which has an estimated project cost of £19 million.
 
City of London School was founded in the fifteenth century and is one of London’s leading day schools. The school’s current building – on the City of London riverfront beside the Millennium Bridge – dates from 1986 and is one of the City’s most recognisable buildings. Facilities have changed little since then, however, and development is now essential to accommodate increased pupil numbers and to allow City of London School to grow and thrive. 
 
A masterplan completed in 2019 identified a range of new facilities to be delivered over a series of phases, and work is now under way on an initial phase to provide improved sports and dining facilities. The City Corporation and the School are now working with NLA to find the design team that deliver subsequent phases, and in doing to maximising the use of the School’s site and delivering multi-use spaces and classrooms which are flexible, inviting and inspiring. In particular the masterplan has identified the following elements for delivery:

  • A new courtyard building located on the existing playground, providing around 1,200 sq.m of classroom and office space;
  • Improving circulation and access around the playground and the wider school campus;
  • Refurbishing part of the main school building to provide improved Junior School accommodation;
  • Extending the main school building to enhance science teaching facilities;
  • Refurbishing and remodelling existing space to create a new sixth form centre and common room, administrative and pastoral facilities, alongside sports changing facilities;
  • Reconfiguring the design technology and computing building;
  • Opening up and enlarging circulation space within the main school building.

The winning team will be one that can help City of London School become a flagship in renewable energy use and greening, and to promote environmental consciousness across the school and the City of London. The design team will be required to consult with multiple stakeholders, and to execute a well-planned programme of works that meets the School’s timetabling requirements and allows the school to remain on site with minimal disruption. 
 
The deadline for the first stage of the competition – requiring teams to complete prepare and expression of interest and complete a selection questionnaire – is midday on Friday 18 December 2020. Up to six shortlisted teams will then be invited to develop a design concept for the project and awarded an honorarium of £1,000. It is expected that a winning design team will be identified in March 2021. 
 
All information for entrants is available on the capitalEsourcing portal here

Tamsie Thomson, managing director of New London Architecture, said:
 
“This competition is a fantastic opportunity to work with one of London’s leading schools, and to make a real difference on one of the most important sites in the City of London. The competition has been carefully designed to make it accessible for teams of all shapes and sizes to enter, and we want to see as many practices entering as possible. In keeping with New London Architecture’s work to broaden opportunities for architects in London we are actively encouraging collaborations, and want to see a really broad and diverse range of talent coming forward.”
 
Alan Bird, Head of City of London School, said:

“This redevelopment will provide additional teaching space, whilst facilitating the use of modern and emerging technologies to support teaching and learning.It will also provide the scope to work increasingly closely with other schools across the City of London Family of Schools, through increased partnership and enrichment activities.The project will also demonstrate our commitment to developing a school building that embraces its environmental responsibilities. We look forward to working with the chosen architect to develop a proposal that will meet the needs of all our pupils, and excite and inspire for many years.”

Featured Image: City of London School by Wayland Smith via Architects’ Journal

London Festival of Architecture Webinar: “Challenging Deep Pockets” with MAARC’s Iman Keaik, June 25, 2020, 7pm-8pm

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

The University of Westminster represented by MA Architecture student Iman Keaik, is excited to host an online webinar about the four conflicting powers in London.

Who owns London? Are people becoming intangible and invisible in the city of conflicting power? How can we imagine a city of consumption ripped from its money power and transformed into a city of production?

This project ‘Challenging Deep Pockets’ explores London as a conflicted city of powers, where people’s right to the city is a forgotten phenomenon, and the citizens step through controlled life marks as a part of the capital’s powers.

The project disrupts the system. It aims to highlight the much-needed new way of thinking, bringing back people’s right to the city by fighting this powerful explosion that has almost irreversibly affected the city. The new London becomes the land of production, rethinks the power of trade and becomes a place where people PRODUCE, TRADE AND BENEFIT.

This new approach to transform the city into a cashless city revolving around its production is also analysed after the unprecedented circumstances of COVID-19. This pandemic helped us read the High street of Oxford Street as containing non-essential shops where most of them where closed in an emergency state. The imagined scenario is that the pandemic lasts few years while the state of the city deteriorates and the bird’s nests take over the streets. These empty unused shops will, therefore, accommodate new functions that serve the in-house production of London.

The session will include the following:

  • A short story ‘A tale of Four Powers’ about London
  • A short film about the consumption of Oxford Street
  • Presentation of the Re-imagined London

Join us for an open conversation that will lead to sharing of fresh ideas and views about conflicting powers in London.

The webinar will be held via Zoom, after registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

Event Details

Challenging Deep Pockets

Tickets/Booking

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/lfa-digital-challenging-deep-pockets-tickets-106958973168

MA Architecture Website: www.instagram.com/maarcwest/?hl=en

MA Architecture Instagram: @maarcwest

LFA Digital Festival: Falling Away – a prelude, 01 June – 30 June

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

This event is organised by Dr Davide Deriu (School of Architecture + Cities) and Dr Michael Mazière (CREAM), under Ambika P3 as a London Festival of Architecture partner institution.

This online event is the prelude to an exhibition of Catherine Yass’s films at Ambika P3. The exhibition, titled Falling Away, showcases a selection of Yass’s vertiginous films of architectural structures from the past 20 years. Initially scheduled in the LFA 2020 ‘Power’ programme, it has been postponed to the summer of 2021. Seven films will be brought together for the most comprehensive show of Yass’s work to date. The buildings in her films are undergoing demolition or construction, some are falling into disrepair: as they crumble, so too do the powers behind them. The viewer is drawn into dizzying spaces as the camera is turned upside down, plunged into water, lowered from cranes, buried under falling rubble. The exhibition addresses our society’s ambivalent relationship with modernity and the material structures that give it form. By addressing urgent issues around architecture and the institutions it embodies, it will contribute to current debates about how built environments shape our lives. In anticipation of this Ambika P3 show, we present one of Yass’s films, Royal London (2018), together with an essay written for the upcoming exhibition catalogue by Christopher Kul-Want.

To view this event please visit here.

Featured image: Still from Royal London (2018). Copyrights: Catherine Yass.

Call for submissions: LFA and Network Rail announce design competition for train station benches_Deadline, November 11, 12:00pm

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

LFA and Network Rail (NR) have announced ‘Sitting Pretty’ – an open call for new ideas for seating for the capital’s mainline train stations, to be installed next spring ahead of the London Festival of Architecture 2020.

As the Festival strives to promote positive change in our everyday open spaces, this design competition seeks an engaging new solution to transform station seating, and to brighten the experience of London’s stations for Londoners, commuters and visitors alike. Architecture and design students, recent graduates and emerging practitioners are invited to submit proposals that showcase a creative vision for these seating provisions and can inform a prototype for how a future of station seating might look.

For more information and to submit entry please click here.

DEADLINE: midday on Monday 11 November 2019

Featured image: City Benches 2018 – Studio Yu x tomos.design © Agnese Sanvito

LFA Walking Tour: “Impact of urban form on microclimate, air quality and human health” with Mehrdad Borna_ Saturday, June 22nd, 10:30-12:00, Canary Wharf

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

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.

Itinerary​

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.

  • Meet at Canary Wharf Underground station
  • Guided visit to Canary Wharf district
  • Guided visit to Crossrail Place Roof Garden

The event is free!

To book tickets and for more information please visit here.

London Festival of Architecture Symposium: “Thresholds or barriers? Perspectives on boundaries and architecture” _ June 14, 13:00-19:30, Royal Academy

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Friday, 14th of June, 13:00 – 19:30

Where:  The Benjamin West Lecture Theatre, Burlington Gardens, Royal Academy of Arts, Piccadilly

This year’s LFA symposium organised in collaboration with the Royal Academy offers a rich exploration of the role and application of boundaries in architecture and placemaking. This day long symposium brings together a rich mix of speakers to explore the architecture of both tangible and intangible boundaries. The symposium will conclude with a keynote in-conversation-with between Farshid Moussavi RA (Director of Farshid Moussavi Architecture and Professor in Practice of Architecture at Harvard Graduate School of Design) and Eyal Weizman (Director of Forensic Architecture and Professor of Spatial and Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths, University of London) discussing the boundaries that both have faced in their work, both past and present, drawing upon their experiences in practice. The conversation will also touch upon questions around the agency of architecture in bridging spatial and social boundaries, as the discussion dives into the notion of boundaries as something to explore and challenge.

For more information and full list of speakers please visit the RA website via the following link:
https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/event/thresholds-barriers-perspectives-boundaries-london-festival-architecture-symposium

LFA has kindly reserved 5 free tickets for the School of Architecture + Cities students and members of staff. The tickets will be distributed on “first come-first served” basis. Those who are interested should email Rosa Rogina rosa@londonfestivalofarchitecture.org

Otherwise, to book tickets please visit here.

LFA Symposium: Call for Participants_Deadline: 3pm, Friday, January 25,

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

The LFA has launched its call for participants for the second annual LFA Symposium, organised in partnership with the Royal Academy of Arts. The LFA Symposium is a focal point of the LFA programme, and offers an outstanding platform for participants to share and develop their thinking while networking alongside prominent architects, academics and commentators.

The LFA invites both emerging and established architects, researchers and practitioners whose work explores the 2019 LFA theme of ‘boundaries’ to apply to take part in the Symposium, which will take place at the Royal Academy of Arts during the London Festival of Architecture in June 2019. When considering the role and application of boundaries in architecture, applicants are encouraged to consider both tangible and intangible boundaries. Examples include:

Tangible boundaries:

  • Physical boundaries such as borders, fences and walls and their impact on day-to-day physical experiences of the city
  • Critical assessments of the historic importance of physical boundaries
  • Architectural boundaries, privacy and the body

Intangible boundaries:

  • Unseen geographical boundaries such as postcodes or administrative borders
  • Bridging invisible lines of separation between different social groups
  • Assessments of the effect of land ownership and the perception of space

At this initial stage, potential participants are invited to submit an abstract of up to 300 words and a one-page CV by 3.00pm on Friday 25 January 2019.

The successful applicants will be invited to present their selected work at the second London Festival of Architecture symposium at Royal Academy of Arts on Friday 14 June 2019.

Read more in: Call for Participants document (pdf)

To submit entry go to: https://www.londonfestivalofarchitecture.org/symposium/ 

 

The LFA Symposium was established in 2018 by the LFA in partnership with the Royal Academy of Arts, as a focal point of the festival to offer a rich exploration of the festival’s annual theme. In 2018, the inaugural LFA Symposium – entitled Does Identity Matter? brought together 150 prominent architects, academics and commentators, and featured a range of leading figures including architect Mary Duggan alongside writer and broadcaster Tom Dyckhoff.

Tamsie Thomson, director of the London Festival of Architecture, said:

Once again the LFA Symposium promises to be a highlight of our festival programme in 2019, and our open call for participants is a brilliant opportunity to share thinking and a stage with some of the best architects, academics and commentators around. Our 2019 festival theme of ‘boundaries’ is deliberately broad, and I’m certain it will provoke a fascinating exploration of how tangible and intangible boundaries affect life in the city, and how architects can understand and unlock the many puzzles that those boundaries present.

Maya Ober, designer and research associate at the Institute of Industrial Design, FHNW Academy of Art and Design in Basel, responded to our call for participants for the inaugural LFA Symposium in 2018, where she presented her research into identity within the built environment. She said:

The LFA Symposium showed how important it is to foster critical reflection on the politics of design and architectural practice. Participation in the LFA Symposium has led to the further development of my research as well as facilitating establishing new professional networks.