Tag: Sustainability

ProBE Research Symposium: “Sustainability, Social Impact and Equity in the Production of the Built Environment” | Tuesday, July 9, 2024 at 10am (BST) in Room C1.15-16, New Cavendish Campus

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Tuesday, 9th of July 2024 from 10am to 5pm (BST)

Where: Centre for the Study of the Production of the Built Environment (ProBE), Room C1.15-16, University of Westminster, New Cavendish Campus, 115 New Cavendish St, London W1W 6UW

To book you place, please visit here.

The Centre for the Study of the Production of the Built Environment (ProBE) – a multi-faculty research centre spanning Westminster Business School (WBS) and the School of Architecture and Cities (SA+C) at the University of Westminster – is inviting you to a research symposium on reassessing research priorities for the study of the production of the built environment.

The symposium will be an opportunity to hear about ProBE’s current and recently completed research and to discuss priorities for future research on the production of the built environment, in particular the issues that most urgently need addressing, such as combatting climate change, improving vocational education and training (VET), and addressing sectoral equality, diversity and inclusion challenges in UK, Europe and across the globe. It will bring together ProBE members, past, existing and prospective collaborators, project partners from within the University of Westminster and beyond, including academic organisations, unions, industry practitioners, environmental organisations, policymakers and the wider society, for an interactive day of discussion.

The symposium will include keynote presentations from ProBE members and external speakers and panel discussions on the following key research areas:

  • embedding climate literacy into construction VET in different countries,
  • women in construction in Europe and beyond,
  • fuel poverty and energy retrofit in housing in the UK,
  • transforming VET and working conditions in the scaffolding sector across Europe.

Architecture + Cities Research Seminar: Dynamic Accessibility Analyses to Support Sustainable Urban and Transport Planning | Monday, February 6 at 1pm (GMT), M321

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Monday, 6th of February, 13:00-14:00 (GMT)

Where: M321, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, NW1 5LS

The next Architecture and Cities Research Seminar will take place on the 6th of February, 2023, 13.00 – 14.00 as an in-person presentation in M321 (note the change of venue from previous seminars). It will be given by Elias Pajeres, a researcher currently visiting the EX-TRA project.

All staff and students are welcome to attend. 

“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 .

ArCCAT Climate Action Week: Practicing Sustainability – from Portfolio to Practitioner | Tuesday, October 26 at 18:00 (BST), Robin Evans Room (M416) + online

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Tuesday, 26th of October 6pm – 8pm

Where: Robin Evans Room (M416) and online | to book tickets please go to Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/practicing-sustainability-from-portfolio-to-practitioner-tickets-191649176847

Organiser and Moderator: Harry Charrington

Speakers: Chris Morgan, John Gilbert Architects, Glasgow. Gordon O’Connor-Read, Rural Urban Synthesis Society and Laing O’Rourke.

How do you take the ideas and commitment of your student portfolio into architectural practice? How can you build a career that reinforces your ideals and aims, rather than compromises them? These two talks, by architects at very different stages of their careers will illustrate ‘how they do sustainable practice’, and the challenges and success they have had in addressing the concerns they had as students through their built projects.

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 

International Competition: “Affordable Housing Design Challenge 2018″_May – August 2018

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Introduction

My friends and I have very little time to chat because we work overtime every day. What’s important is that my friends and I don’t want to live like this. We want a place with certain standards; i.e. with enough equipment and a bathroom inside, with enough space to live in. (Hem Sela, 26)

Cambodia (Khmer: Kampuchea, officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia) is currently experiencing something of an industrial revolution in the 21st century. Cambodia is developing to become an economic centre for manufacturing and production, graduating from the status of a Low income country to a Low- middle income Country in 2016. As more international companies move their production within Cambodia’s borders, the capital city located on the banks of the Tonlé Sap and Mekong River, Phnom Penh, is experiencing rapid urbanization.

As low-income workers flood the city to live nearer to employment opportunities, and to pursue better living conditions, the city struggles to build infrastructure and affordable housing to support its new residents. Despite the national economic optimism, many urban residents live in dismal, slum-like conditions. Small multi- family units with poor ventilation, light, and water access are offered without proper rent protection, leaving the city’s most desperate residents vulnerable to their landlords. Often, the housing available to these low-income workers is little more than a poorly constructed room.

The Phnom Penh Special Economic Zone, in association with United Nations Development Programme SDG Finance initiative and Building Trust International, aims to support the transition from Special Economic Zones to SUSTAINABLE Economic Zones in line with the UN SDG Goals. This first challenge focuses on building new affordable social housing for low- income workers.

These new units should be well-designed, sustainable, and most importantly, improve the quality of life of the intended residents and the surrounding community. More than just housing, this new project should build a future for workers and their families in Cambodia.

Eligibility:

Design professionals, Engineers, Architects, architecture/design/engineer graduates or architecture/design/engineer students are eligible to participate.

Key Dates:

Competition Officially Announced: 1st May 2018

Registration deadline: 15th July 2018

Closing Date for Submissions: 1st August 2018

Announcement of Winners: 1st September 2018

The winners will be posted on www.buildingtrustinternational.org

To download catalogue with more info: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/j1j33y4grxhgec9/AAByxb8Ej7mo5FL96vKb2c_5a?dl=0

“Cleveland – Alternatives to the Present” Conference on Architecture, Urbanism, Sociology, Development & Planning_Deadline for Abstracts: 5th June 2018

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Where: Kent State University, Cleveland

When: 01-02 November 2018

Deadline for abstracts: 05 June 2018.

To download form and more info: http://architecturemps.com/cleveland/ 

Context:

Alternatives to the Present…… The New Urban Agenda of the United Nations presents itself as a blueprint for governments globally. Through it, UN-Habitat seeks to combine the material, social and environmental agendas molding the urban world. The American Planning Association reflects this, advocating for planning that promotes social equity, inclusive communities, and expanded opportunities for all. The International Union of Architects speaks of revolutionizing design to ensure sustainable human settlement, while the AIA champions liveable communities. In the UK, the RIBA links housing design and social inclusion and the National Housing Federation connects the provision of homes to public health. All this reflects the field of sociology and geography with the ISA identifying cites as the principle site of social conflict and political contestation and the American Association of Geographers linking the notions of resilience and urban justice.

This apparently holistic view suggests that 20th Century top-down and disciplinary reductive understandings of the urban condition, such as those attributed to the Athens Charter, are a thing of the past. It also suggests a scenario in which social equity is fully integrated into notions of development. However, even a cursory glance at the reality of early 21st Century urbanism shows this is clearly not the case. On the one hand, individual disciplines still tend to work in isolation and even in competition, while on the other, Neoliberal agendas still represent the raison d’être of most development projects. The Alternatives to the Present conference seeks to critique the dichotomies involved in this increasingly confused scenario by bringing together various disciplines to interrogate the diversity of factors either limiting or activating the possibilities of an equitable urban future.

Key Dates:

Abstracts: 05 June 2018 | Abstract Feedback: 25 June 2017 | Registration opens: 01 July 2018

Conference: 01-02 Nov 2018

Full Paper Submission (where applicable): 10 Jan 2019 | Feedback for publication: 10 March 2019 | Full Publication: 10 July 2019

Nb. There will be a second round of late abstract submissions on 01 September 2018.

Featured image from Amps web-site.

Ute Schneider “Designing Flexibility” – Wednesday 14th February, 18:00, Robin Evans Room (M416)

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

Lecture organised by Alessandra Cianchetta and Juan Pinyol, MArch DS24 studio leaders and tutors

When: Wednesday, 14th February, 18:00

Where: Robin Evans Room, M416, Marylebone Campus

Ute Schneider studied architecture and urban planning at the technical universities of Constance, Stuttgart, Karlsruhe and Delft. During her studies she worked in various German and Dutch internationally operating architectural offices, among others with Neutelings Riedijk Architekten in Rotterdam where she continued her professional career after graduation. In 1998 she founded the multidisciplinary office zipherspaceworks in Stuttgart working within the disciplines architecture urbanism & design.

In 2003, Ute Schneider began working with KCAP. Since 2006 she established KCAP’s Swiss office in Zurich and got appointed director in 2009. Since 2016 she became partner of KCAP. In this position she is responsible for the management of the office and in charge of the coordination of KCAP Zurich’s projects spanning from architecture and urban planning to the design and development of masterplans and transformation strategies in various scales and context’s. She has a focus on transport oriented developments like the masterplans for Europaallee, the Airport Region Zürich, the Airport City of Dublin, Gare TGV Montpellier, divers station precincts in Switzerland, MUC Airsites, CAG and Jurong Lake District Singapore.

In addition to her work as an architect and urban planner, she was involved in various exhibitions and publications about KCAP. She is regularly invited for lectures, as guest critic and teacher at various international universities and regularly participates in juries. Since 2012, she is responsible for the integration of urban design at the University of Liechtenstein.

KCAP Architects&Planners is a Dutch office for architecture, urban design and urban planning, founded by Kees Christiaanse in 1989. During the last 25 years KCAP has established itself as one of the leading international practices in the fields of architecture and urbanism. With a multi-disciplinary approach to complex design issues, KCAP has gained extensive experience in large-scale urban design and master planning, waterfront redevelopments, campus design and public transportation hubs. Architectural designs range from housing, education and care to public and utility buildings and mixed-use programs. KCAP develops concepts and visions that address sustainability, urbanization and infrastructure. KCAP is connected to various urban research programs. KCAP is based in Rotterdam and has two branch offices in Zurich (CH) and Shanghai (CN). KCAP Zurich was established in 2006 a er winning two international design competitions in Zurich. KCAP Shanghai, established in early 2011, and supports KCAP’s growing portfolio in China.

Call for Papers: RGS-IBG Annual International Conference, Cardiff University, 28-31 August 2018 – Deadline for Abstracts: 9th February

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

Elusive landscapes of ‘design’ in the city

Session convenors: Gabriele Schliwa (University of Manchester) and Robert Cowley (King’s College London)

Although design was historically associated with the form of industrial and commercial products (and with the professional field of ‘urban design’), processes of ‘design thinking’ and the conceptual language of design have become commonplace in many spheres of practice and governance. In line with Richard Buchanan’s early understanding of design thinking as a ‘new liberal art of technological culture’ (Buchanan 1992), varied design processes are now advocated and applied across fields as diverse as public service delivery, democratic institutional decision-making, corporate management, international disaster relief, and even military operations research. This long-term trend has significant implications for urban space, not only in relation to governance approaches and new types of citizen engagement, but also in, for example, the development of infrastructural innovations, experimental and grassroots initiatives, the implementation of sustainability agendas, and the spread of digital/’smart’ urbanism.

This panel aims to critically and constructively engage with emerging modes of governing and reshaping urban space and social relations through the lens of design.

The scattered and elusive landscapes of design in the city we seek to explore include:

  • Design processes that follow ‘the concept of co-‘ (Bason 2014) such as co-design, co-creation, co-production or collaboration and are often concerned with ‘citizen engagement around urban issues’ (Balestrini et al 2017)
  • Design concepts previously used in the digital design sector and/or in the context of business innovation (e.g. service design, experience design, interaction design, interface design, human-centred design)
  • Ways of thinking including design thinking and resilience thinking (Cowley 2017) or creative thinking
  • Shifting identities, often from private towards public subjectivities, e.g. consumer to citizen, user to participant or claims about ‘citizen-centric’ goals (Cardullo and Kitchin 2017)
  • Workshops, events or projects such as e.g. innovation labs, living laboratories (Evans and Karvonen 2014), civic hackathons or jams in support of smart or sustainable city agendas
  • Cybernetic urbanism and aspects of environmental control (Gabrys 2014, Halpern 2015, Krivý 2016, Luque-Ayala and Marvin 2017)

Considering this variety of logics and activities, we would like to invite position papers or short provocations based on related empirical work, personal experience or theoretical considerations. These will be followed by a wider discussion. Contributions could address (but are not limited to) the following themes:

  • Rationalities – What does design as a mode of governing promise and what does it deliver in practice?
  • Contexts – In which contexts is ‘design’ as a mode of governing being mobilised today?
  • Levels of facilitation – Who is hosting, facilitating and participating in ’design thinking’ or ’designerly’ initiatives
  • Governing spaces – What are its spatial dimensions and spaces of inclusion and exclusion?
  • Power – What are the mechanisms of empowerment and disempowerment?
  • Historical perspectives – What are the origins of ‘governing through design’ approaches and current drivers behind this trend?
  • What theorisations and conceptualisations do we need to better understand the power relations and implications of design or designing in cities?
  • How can we maintain a critical, reflective, and constructive practice when designing with people becomes part, or even the focus of our academic work (particularly under funding schemes aimed at impact and innovation)?
  • What are its opportunities, limitations or dangers when attempting to steer society into more desirable directions?

Please submit your proposed title and abstract (200 words) to gabriele.schliwa@manchester.ac.uk and robert.cowley@kcl.ac.uk by Friday 9th February 2018.

Featured image source: http://www.rgs.org/WhatsOn/ConferencesAndSeminars/Annual+International+Conference/Timeline.htm

Premier: “A Story of Dreams” film about Jaime Lerner – RIBA, 17th October, 19:00-21:00

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

On Tuesday 17th October, RIBA will host a European premiere of “A Story of Dreams”, film on Jaime Lerner’s groundbreaking work as a mayor of Brazilian city of Curitiba.

Jaime Lerner is a community architect and transformational city leader who believes ordinary people, with their positive energy can upgrade their environment. As Parana State Governor, Curitiba Mayor, and practicing architect within the America’s and Africa, he believes sustainability succeeds by releasing ordinary people’s latent energy to survive and prosper.

To find out more and book tickets: https://www.architecture.com/whats-on/premier-a-story-of-dreams-a-film-about-jaime-lerner#