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, 3rd of April 2025 at 6pm
WHERE: M416 (Robin Evans Room), Marylebone Campus, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, NW1 5LS
“Until it is built, all architecture is speculative fiction. As we contemplate the built worlds we will bring into being through our design work, this talk invites us to use methods of collective writing and making to learn from the speculative fiction authors who imagine alongside us.”
WHEN: Thursday, 27th of March 2025 at 6pm
WHERE: M416 (Robin Evans Room), Marylebone Campus, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, NW1 5LS
Based on research conducted for her book, No Compromise: the work of Florence Knoll (Princeton Architectural Press, 2021), this presentation will look at the work of this iconic American designer. Florence Knoll was one of the minds behind the iconic Knoll enterprise: a company which became well-known for the licensing and distribution of some of the most seminal furniture pieces of the twentieth century – including the Barcelona collection, by Mies van der Rohe; the Tulip Collection, by Eero Saarinen; and the Diamond Collection, by Harry Bertoia.
“My research looks at the role Knoll had in commissioning and overviewing the production of these pieces (alongside many other classics issued by the company during her tenure), while also looking at her other activities in the company: her contribution to the development of the company’s unique marketing profile, the creation of a highly innovative textile department, and, most importantly, the establishment of the Knoll Planning Unit, the interior design division that she ran, and through which she invented the infamous ‘Knoll look’.”
Dr Ana Araujo was trained as an architect and currently works in the fields of art curating, research and education. Her interests range across the fields of design, the visual arts, psychology, anthropology and gender studies. Ana also runs an online art gallery which is focused on the investigation of the feminine in art and culture. She is currently course director of the MA Interior Architecture and Design course at Birmingham City University.
WHEN: Thursday, 13th of March 2025 at 6pm
WHERE: M416 (Robin Evans Room), Marylebone Campus, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, NW1 5LS
CJ Lim and Luke Angers lecture will be based on their recent book, Dreams + Disillusions:
“Dreams + Disillusions explores the plethora of ideas and ideologies that have shaped and reshaped architecture and cities. Its research fluctuates between the world of concrete reality and the multiple universes that exist in lucid prose, poetic visions, and the outrageous imaginations of history’s (in)famous minds. The six chapters reveal architectural stories of urban lives, gender equality, spatial and social justice; exploring how dreams, whether shaped by circumstance, manipulation, or planned perfection, dreams can sometimes be left disillusioned. With 18 illustrated speculative case studies and over 150 drawings, the book presents an abundance of curious imaginings, diverse provocations and satirical criticism.”
Copies of the book will be available for purchase after the lecture at a discounted price of £20 each (cash only).
CJ Lim is the Professor of Architecture & Urbanism at the Bartlett, UCL. Continuing his passion for architectural storytelling, Dreams + Disillusions is his 12th authored book, and has claimed the number one spot on Routledge’s 2024 Annual Bestsellers List, making it his 6th book to achieve this distinction.
Luke Angers is an architect and author. He has a long-standing interest in the spatial narratives of urbanism and landscape.
When: Thursday, 21st of March 2024 at 6pm
Where: M416, Marylebone Campus, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, NW1 5LS
“For such a long established and deeply entrenched subject, adaptive reuse has a remarkably short history. It is a practice that stretches back to almost the first constructed buildings themselves; for structures have perpetually been altered to accommodate the needs of their different occupants, and yet until recently has lacked the professional, theoretical, and historical recognition of new-build architecture. However, 21st century issues of culture, heritage, and sustainability have pushed adaptive reuse from the periphery into the forefront of architectural debate. Adaptive reuse is a young subject, and as such, is not burdened with the weight of history that architecture carries. It has the freedom to collect influences from a wide range of sources that allows for a transgressive, pluralistic approach. This discussion will examine the evolution of adaptive reuse into the subversive force that it assumes today.”
ALL WELCOME
When: Thursday, 21st of March 2024 at 6pm
Where: M416, Marylebone Campus, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, NW1 5LS
“On January 6, 2021, supporters of then President, Donald Trump, stormed the U.S. Capitol Building. In a stunning display of a historiographical phenomenon known as ‘presentism,’ insurrectionists desecrated the seat of American democracy, while simultaneously recording and archiving their illegal conduct. In the aftermath of the insurrection, everyday citizens, museum curators, and criminologists bagged, tagged, and collected memorabilia, artefacts for accession, and legal evidence, attesting to the day’s violent and unprecedented activities. This lecture examines the roles that architecture, and more broadly the politics of space, played in the events that unfolded that day.”
ALL WELCOME
When: Thursday, 7th of March 2024 at 6pm
Where: M416, Marylebone Campus, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, NW1 5LS
Prof. Philip Steadman’s methodology combines meticulous scholarly research with geometrical analysis, and physical experiments. Bringing together history, theory and empirical evidence he is able to provide new insights into the way artists, such as Johannes Vermeer, employed the camera obscura to produce accurate and seemingly luminous painted images. Steadman’s book, ‘Vermeer’s Camera’ has been featured in numerous television programmes, as well as in the full-length film ‘Tim’s Vermeer’, released in 2013. This lecture will also include his recent research on the painting techniques of the eighteenth-century Venetian artist, Giovanni Antonio Canal (known as Canaletto).
ALL WELCOME
