Tag: Paolo Cascone

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

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

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

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

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).

LFA 2022 + UoW: The African Off-Grid Housing Project | Monday, June 20, 2022 from 17:00 to 19:00 (BST) | Online Event

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Monday, 20th of June 2022, 5pm-7pm

Where: Online Event

The talk will disseminate the results of the African Off-grid Housing [AOH] research project developed at the School of Architecture & Cities of the University of Westminster thanks to the support of the Global Challenge Research Fund / UKRI.

The talk is curated by the [AOH] Principal Investigator Dr Paolo Cascone in collaboration with the Research Associate Maddalena Laddaga, with the aim  to animate an open discussion on innovative design to build methodologies towards affordable and self-sufficient housing solutions for sub-Saharan Africa. Therefore the [AOH] research team will be in conversation with a panel of international experts from different backgrounds, to discuss possible synergies and developments, among the others:

  • Conor Black / Arup
  • Dr Claudia Loggia and Dr Viloshin Govender / University of KwaZulu-Natal
  • Vincent Kitio / Chief Urban Energy Unit / UN-Habitat
  • Prof Mark Raymond / Director of the GSA / University of Johannesburg

To attend, please register here.

“Inclusive Tectonics” with Paolo Cascone at New York Institute of Technology | Wednesday, April 27, 2022 from 18:00 to 20:00 (EST) Online

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

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 .

SA+C: Climate Conversations, February 7 to 11, 2022

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

A Talks Series about Climate Change, Environmental Sustainability and Design Projects by tutors and friends of the School of Architecture + Cities 

— 

Paolo Zaide 

Floodscapes 

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. 

Ben Pollock  

4D Island -Planning for Climate Uncertainty 

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

— 

Barnabas Calder 

Architecture: from Pre-history to Climate Emergency 

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

— 

Era Savvides & Athanasios Varnavas – Urban Radicals 

From Waste to Resource 

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

— 

Paolo Cascone 

African off-grid housing synthetic-vernacular design for climate sensitive architectures 

‘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

— 

Jim Pockson & Kit Stiby-Harris 

Better Than How We Found It? 

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 

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89688306802

Recording of the “How will we live together? Westminster at the Venice Biennale” event is now available online

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

Recording of the online event that celebrates University of Westminster‘s work exhibited at the prestigious 2021 Venice Architecture Biennale (22nd May-21st Nov), which took place on the 9th of June 2021, is now available for viewing here.

Academics based within the College of Design, Creative and Digital Industries have co-produced three different installations to respond to the theme: How will we live together?

At the event, we hear more about the ideas underpinning each piece of work, and – given the fundamental themes they address – discuss how architecture and practice based research can help us to better understand the world’s most pressing challenges.

Following an introduction to the three installations, Ifor Duncan, an academic based at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, responds to the work. These contributions are followed by a panel discussion and questions from the audience.

More details about the installations and the academics involved are provided below.

Monsoon Assemblages (led by Lindsay Bremner) and Office of Experiments (led by Neal White) have created an immersive installation that challenges and redefines ideas of border, scale and agency. It draws on climate data and field work to convey how climate change and the Anthropocene are resulting in increasing monsoon volatility, shorter rainy seasons and more frequent extreme weather events. The installation investigates these events through the flight of the Globe Skimmer dragonfly that follows the monsoon from east Africa to southeast Asia and back again. Video footage of the dragonfly collected during field work is projected into the exhibition space highlighting the vulnerability of the dragonfly to shifting monsoonal dynamics.

In a collaboration with the V&A Museum, Shahed Saleem’s Pavilion looks at the self-built and often undocumented world of adapted mosques to explore contemporary multiculturalism in London. The work explores three different case studies that illuminate stories of immigration, identity, and community aspiration. The cases are the Brick Lane mosque, a former Protestant chapel then Synagogue; Old Kent Road mosque housed in a former pub; and Harrow Central mosque, a purpose-built space that sits next door to the converted terraced house it used to occupy. The Pavilion is partly carpeted, as in a mosque, and these stories are explored through 3D architectural reconstructions, filmed interviews and photographs.

The African Fabbers School video-installation project, curated by Paolo Cascone and Maddalena Laddaga, proposes an innovative research by practice agenda for the next generation of European and African architects. The African Fabbers School [AFS] is an itinerant laboratory of ecological design and self-construction for community-oriented projects between Europe and Africa. This ecosystem of site-specific projects has structured an abacus of paradigmatic design to build modus operandi based on a learning by doing methodology. Thanks to the interaction between people from different backgrounds (including African artisans, local communities, European students) the [AFS] investigates the relationships between traditional knowledges, advanced design processes and digital manufacturing.

Respondent

Ifor Duncan is a Post-doctoral fellow in Environmental Humanities at the Center for the Humanities and Social Change, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. He is a writer and inter-disciplinary researcher, with a PhD from the Centre for Research Architecture, Goldsmiths. His research concerns the relationships between political violence and watery spaces and materialities. Previously Ifor taught at the CRA and in the School of Architecture at the Royal College of Art.

How will we live together? – Westminster at the Venice Biennale | Wednesday, June 9, 2021, 16:00-18:00 (BST)

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Wednesday, 9th of June 2021, 16:00-18:00 (BST)

Register: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/how-will-we-live-together-westminster-at-the-venice-biennale-tickets-155634983425

Join us for an online event that celebrates University of Westminster‘s work that is being exhibited at the prestigious 2021 Venice Architecture Biennale (22nd May-21st Nov).

Academics based within the College of Design, Creative and Digital Industries have co-produced three different installations to respond to the theme: How will we live together?

At the event, we will hear more about the ideas underpinning each piece of work, and – given the fundamental themes they address – discuss how architecture and practice based research can help us to better understand the world’s most pressing challenges.

Following an introduction to the three installations, Ifor Duncan, an academic based at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, will respond to the work. These contributions will be followed by a panel discussion and questions from the audience.

More details about the installations and the academics involved are provided below.

Monsoon Assemblages (led by Lindsay Bremner) and Office of Experiments (led by Neal White) have created an immersive installation that challenges and redefines ideas of border, scale and agency. It draws on climate data and field work to convey how climate change and the Anthropocene are resulting in increasing monsoon volatility, shorter rainy seasons and more frequent extreme weather events. The installation investigates these events through the flight of the Globe Skimmer dragonfly that follows the monsoon from east Africa to southeast Asia and back again. Video footage of the dragonfly collected during field work is projected into the exhibition space highlighting the vulnerability of the dragonfly to shifting monsoonal dynamics.

In a collaboration with the V&A Museum, Shahed Saleem’s Pavilion looks at the self-built and often undocumented world of adapted mosques to explore contemporary multiculturalism in London. The work explores three different case studies that illuminate stories of immigration, identity, and community aspiration. The cases are the Brick Lane mosque, a former Protestant chapel then Synagogue; Old Kent Road mosque housed in a former pub; and Harrow Central mosque, a purpose-built space that sits next door to the converted terraced house it used to occupy. The Pavilion is partly carpeted, as in a mosque, and these stories are explored through 3D architectural reconstructions, filmed interviews and photographs.

The African Fabbers School video-installation project, curated by Paolo Cascone and Maddalena Laddaga, proposes an innovative research by practice agenda for the next generation of European and African architects. The African Fabbers School [AFS] is an itinerant laboratory of ecological design and self-construction for community-oriented projects between Europe and Africa. This ecosystem of site-specific projects has structured an abacus of paradigmatic design to build modus operandi based on a learning by doing methodology. Thanks to the interaction between people from different backgrounds (including African artisans, local communities, European students) the [AFS] investigates the relationships between traditional knowledges, advanced design processes and digital manufacturing.

Respondent

Ifor Duncan is a Post-doctoral fellow in Environmental Humanities at the Center for the Humanities and Social Change, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. He is a writer and inter-disciplinary researcher, with a PhD from the Centre for Research Architecture, Goldsmiths. His research concerns the relationships between political violence and watery spaces and materialities. Previously Ifor taught at the CRA and in the School of Architecture at the Royal College of Art.

BSc Year 3 Studio Architecture and Environmental Design online crits | Tuesday, April 6 (2pm-5pm) and Thursday, April 8 (10am-1pm and 2pm-5pm)

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Tuesday, 6th of April, 2pm-5pm and Thursday, 8th of April, from 10am-1pm and 2pm-5pm

BB link of the online sessions: https://eu.bbcollab.com/guest/0c1eb0958d304a78a4b51396245b91fd

Tutors: Paolo Cascone and Yota Adilenidou

Synthetic Vernacular Architecture / Learning from African Fabbers

Premise:

We do not lack communication, on the contrary we have too much of it. We lack creation. We lack resistance to the present.

Gilles Deleuze

The studio is conceived as a research by design laboratory investigating on performance- oriented architecture; trough the negotiation between multiple social and environmental parameters, the discourse of the studio explores an information-based design process towards an ecological approach to the built environment. This year the Studio will focus of an innovative way of learning from vernacular architecture to generate new architectural ecological typologies. These typologies will respond to the need of housing, health and educational affordable architectures for the African context.

Studio Blog: www.ds3astudio.com

Visiting Critics

Tuesday, April 6 [2pm-5pm]

Elif Erdine / EmTech AA

Nasser Golzari / UoW

Marco Poletto / Ecologic Studio

Thursday, April 8 [10am-1pm]

Conor Black / Arup

Harry Charington / UoW

Annarita Papeschi / The Bartlett

Thursday, April 8 [2pm-5pm]

Christina Duompioti / EPFL

Farzana Ghandi / NYIT

Juan Vallejo / UoW

Decolonising Performative Architecture Seminar Series: “Sustainable Architecture in the Digital Era” Hanaa Dahy, BioMat, ITKE, University of Stuttgart, Tuesday, March 16, 2.00pm GMT | Online

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Tuesday, 16th of March at 2.00pm GMT

Blackboard link: https://eu.bbcollab.com/guest/a1f67e76494344a3ba9b0a002be29c38 

The seminar is organised by Paolo Cascone, Yota Adilenidou and Maddalena Laddaga in the frame of Architecture and Environmental Design DS3A “Decolonising Performative Architecture” seminar series.

Hanaa Dahy is a registered architect, engineer and material developer who established in the frame of her professorship the research department BioMat (Bio-based Materials and Materials Cycles in Architecture) as a Junior Professor at ITKE (Institute for Building Structures and Structural Design) since July 2016 at the Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning in the University of Stuttgart. She earned her PHD from ITKE in Stuttgart in 2014 with Excellence and earned her Bachelors and Master Degree in ‘Architectural Engineering’ in 2003, 2006 respectively from Ain Shams University in Cairo with Honors. Hanaa developed, designed and manufactured a number of innovative sustainable building products that were widely presented in international exhibitions and attracted a lot of industrial interests. Among other research areas, she is particularly interested in biomimetic principles, sustainability and their impact on architectural practice and applications. She has pending European and international patents, earned the best of Materials and Design award (Materialica) in Munich in 2015 and the Material Prize award (MaterialPreis) in 2016 from the Design Center of the state Baden-Württemberg in Germany, a fellowship for the innovation of university-teaching in 2017, a number of research/industrial project funds and is a member of a number of European and international scientific and professional bodies. Her teaching and training are in the area of architectural design, composites, structure and materials, smart systems, fabrication and biomimetics 

Decolonising Performative Architecture Seminar Series: “Italian Pavillion 2021: Exaptation and Serendipity” Alessandro Melis , University of Portsmouth, Curator of the Italian Pavilion – Venice Biennale 2020/21, Monday, March 15, 2.00pm GMT | Online

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Monday, 15th of March at 2.00pm GMT

Blackboard link: https://eu.bbcollab.com/guest/0c1eb0958d304a78a4b51396245b91fd 

The seminar is organised by Paolo Cascone, Yota Adilenidou and Maddalena Laddaga in the frame of Architecture and Environmental Design DS3A “Decolonising Performative Architecture” seminar series.

Dr. Alessandro Melis RIBA ARB AOU, is a full professor of architecture innovation at the University of Portsmouth and the Director of the Cluster for Sustainable Cities in the UK. In 2019, he was appointed by the Italian Minister of Cultural Heritage (MIBAC) as the curator of the Italian Pavilion at the 17th International Biennale of Architecture in Venice 2021, and in 2020 Ambassador of Italian Design on behalf of the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs. Previously, at the University of Auckland, he was the head of the technology area and director of postgraduate engagement at the School of Architecture and Planning. In the period 2010-2013 he has been the Director of Urban City Lab at the Institute of Architecture of the university of Applied Arts Vienna (Die Angewandte, Vienna) and visiting professor at the Foster Foundation, and in Germany (Anhalt University, Dessau). He holds a PhD in architecture design from the University of Florence. He has been an honorary fellow at the Edinburgh School of Architecture. He has also been invited as a to speak at the China Academy of Art, the University of Cambridge, the MoMA New York, TED, the Italian Institute of Culture in London, and the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris. He is a visiting critic at UCL Bartlett, Architectural Association London, SCI-Arc Los Angeles, RMIT Melbourne, TU Berlin, Florida International University, and New York Institute of Technology. In 1996, he founded Heliopolis 21, a multi-awarded architecture practice based in Italy, Germany, and the UK. The SR1939 Institute of the University of Pisa, the Stella Maris Hospital, and the Auditorium of Sant’Anna, inaugurated by the president of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella, are acknowledged both in scholar publications and in popular magazines as examples of excellence in sustainable design. The recognition of Alessandro’s research is corroborated by a record of over 150 scientific publications and by as many citations, including in popular periodicals such as Wired, the New York Times, the Independent, Reuters, and the Conversation. His work was the object of several exhibitions and of a recent monograph (Rome, 2020) edited by Giuseppe Fallacara Chirico, titled “Alessandro Melis, Utopic Real World.”