Tag: Technical Studies Lecture Series

Technical Studies Lecture Series: “Dynamic Building Skins” by Doris Sung from DOSU Studio / University of Southern California | Thursday, December 2, 2021 at 18:00 (GMT), Room M416, Marylebone Campus + Online

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Thursday, 2nd of December at 6pm (GMT)

Where: M416, Marylebone Campus, School of Architecture and Cities, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, London NW1 5LS 

Link to join livestream 

‘… if we are to develop truly sustainable architecture, we don’t necessarily need more materials. We need smarter ones.’ 

Doris Sung 

In her ‘Bloom’ project, architect and inventor Doris Sung created a large lightweight monocoque structure comprised of 414 hyperbolic paraboloid (hypar) shaped panels made from a bimetal lamination of two alloys of nickel, manganese and iron with different thermal expansion coefficients. Bloom is a wonderful exposition of the properties and potential of bimetals in the creation of new responsive building skins that can passively open and close to ventilate and shade the building. An animated film of the Bloom project shows how the surface is activated by sun and shade.  

Doris Sung has subsequently developed a whole series of innovative architectural applications using thermobimetal. Her initial research on self-shading, self-ventilating and self-assembling alongside contemporary fabrication technologies has expanded the physical potential of the material, for example in the twisting and folding of her Oculus prototype, and she has now patented systems that are being commercialised for wider application. Her InVert™ window-shading system incorporates small bimetal ‘petals’ within a double-glazed glass module, and as the temperature from the sun increases, the bimetal elements deform and block the sunlight and shade the building’s interior. As the sunlight moves and the temperature cools, the bimetal elements revert to their original shape and position. The resultant solar shading reduces heat gain, which in turn can reduce artificial cooling needs by 28–42%,36 depending on the geographical location. 

https://technicalstudies.tumblr.com/

For details contact: Will McLean 

w.f.mclean@wmin.ac.uk 

Technical Studies Lecture Series: “Cities of the future and the circular economy: Het Platform” by Ton Venhoeven, VenhoevenCS architecture + urbanism | Thursday, November 18, 2021 at 18:00 (GMT), Room M416, Marylebone Campus + Online

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Thursday, 18th of November at 6pm (GMT)

Where: M416, Marylebone Campus, School of Architecture and Cities, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, London NW1 5LS 

Ton will be giving the talk in person and the talk will also be live-streamed via this link. 

As the construction industry works towards a more sustainable post-pandemic future, Ton presents a timely, expert viewpoint having worked with government on a 2050 City of the Future design study. This study explored how cities should react to major challenges such as climate change, loss of biodiversity, natural resource depletion and pollution. As the leading architectural firm on the team, VenhoevenCS have conducted substantial research around this topic.   

The practice’s key projects centre around building healthier and more liveable cities with nature-inclusive design. The MicroCity is an innovative concept for buildings and neighbourhoods which reduces travel needs and is a major contribution to cities becoming truly self-sufficient and sustainable. An example of this is Het Platform, VenhoevenCS’ recently completed a mixed-use community building for living, working and playing right next to Utrecht Central station.  

Ton is a former Chief Government Advisor on Infrastructure to the Dutch government from 2008-2012. During his time in government he advised on sustainability of infrastructural, urban and regional planning. Prior to this he was a Professor of Architectural History and Theory at Eindhoven University of Technology (2005-2009), where his design research focused on the pedestrian city of tomorrow. Alongside his work as an architect and urban designer, Ton is an international consultant for Smart MicroCity and Healthy City, integrated planning, multimodal mobility networks and transit-oriented development. Among his clients are national and international governmental organisations, NGO’s and foundations. Sustainability is in Ton’s DNA: ever since the publication of Limits to Growth in 1972, he has made it a point in both his professional and private life to contribute to a sustainable, equitable world in which all life can thrive. His latest focus is on biodiversity and nature inclusive design. 

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For details contact: Will McLean – w.f.mclean@wmin.ac.uk 

Technical Studies Lecture Series: “Recent Projects” by Andy Watts, Grimshaw Architects | Thursday, November 11, 2021 at 18:00 (GMT), Room M416, Marylebone Campus + Online

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Thursday, 11th of November at 6pm (GMT)

Where: M416, Marylebone Campus, School of Architecture and Cities, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, London NW1 5LS 

Andy Watts is Grimshaw’s Director of Design Technology and oversees the application and exploration of innovative technological approaches across all Grimshaw studios, covering areas such as computational design, BIM, virtual and augmented reality technology, data-driven intelligence and DfMA.  

Andy strives to bring the benefits of design technology to as many Grimshaw projects as possible. He has worked to introduce these approaches to a range of their projects at various scales, with a range of different agendas.  

Beyond Grimshaw, Andy actively engages with the digital technology industry as well as representing the work of Grimshaw at various industry and academic events. He teaches at the Architectural Association in London and has taught at the Universities of Westminster, Lincoln, and Dundee and has organised educational workshops in Dubai and with the Pratt Institute in New York. Andy is also on the organising committee for the London VR/AR User Group which offers a platform to share Grimshaw’s leading knowledge in the field of VR with other architectural firms.  

Grimshaw was founded by Sir Nicholas Grimshaw in 1980. The practice became a Partnership in 2007 and operates worldwide with offices in four continents employing over 650 staff. Nicholas Grimshaw received the RIBA Gold medal in 2019. Notable practice projects include The Eden Project, the International Terminal at Waterloo and the Fulton Project, New York. 

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Technical Studies Lecture Series: “De-carbonising the Structure” by Thomas Hesslenberg, Elliott Wood | Thursday, November 4, 2021 at 18:00, Room M416, Marylebone Campus + Online

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Thursday, 4th of November at 6pm

Where: M416, Marylebone Campus, School of Architecture and Cities, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, London NW1 5LS 

Online: Live stream link 

Thomas Hesslenberg is a Senior Structural Engineer at Elliott Wood, a Structural & Civil Engineering practice based in London. Elliott Wood are committed to making “[…]engineering work harder for our clients, society and our planet” and they have created a phrase to capture their approach – Engineer a Better Society. Over the last couple of years, Thomas has been working around the issue of Embodied Carbon and how to reduce it in his companies’ projects, whilst also share his knowledge with the wider industry.  

Through the Institute of Structural Engineers (IStructE), Elliott Wood launched the Structural Carbon Tool last year, an open-source Excel-based software, which allows construction professionals to calculate their own projects Embodied Carbon. Thomas will be talking about the tool, what his company has learnt after using it on their projects, and what changes need to be made in order to help the construction industry get to Net Zero. 

Thomas is one of our visiting technical tutors/consultants for final year undergraduate and MArch Architecture. 

https://technicalstudies.tumblr.com/

For details contact: Will McLean w.f.mclean@wmin.ac.uk 

Technical Studies Lecture Series: “Dakar Earth Bricks” Nzinga B. Mboup – Worofila | Thursday, October 21, 2021 at 18:00, Room M416, Marylebone Campus + Online

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Thursday, 21st of October at 6pm

Where: Room M416 + Livestream, School of Architecture and Cities , University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, London NW1 5LS 

Livestream Link: https://eu.bbcollab.com/guest/fc7cfc71b9534b29830ec5e4ae564d16

Before air conditioning, people paid attention to materials and orientation for the natural regulation of heat.  

Nzinga Mboup 

Senegal’s traditional dwellings were made of earth, but that construction method has slowly been abandoned. Dakar’s sidewalks today are littered with piles of sand and stones that are mixed with cement to make cheap building blocks. 

Worofila and Mboup were inspired to use modern earth bricks made from soil and very small amounts of cement and water to create a mixture that is cut into blocks, compressed with a hand-operated machine and left to dry in the sun for 21 days. Unlike concrete, earth bricks require very little embodied energy to produce. Worofila have worked with Elementerre on the construction of private homes, offices and part of a train station. Elementerre, is an earth brick manufacturer founded by Doudou Deme in 2010.  

This reimagining and reengineering of earth construction remains niche and it currently costs more than concrete with many clients still unaware of this as a building material. Worofila has recently been longlisted for an Ashden Award, a British prize for climate solutions, which it hopes will raise visibility of this ‘age old’ but actually very new age natural material – locally sourced and with excellent thermal performance, which acts to moderate the internal temperature and humidity of the architecture.

https://technicalstudies.tumblr.com/

For details contact: Will McLean  

w.f.mclean@wmin.ac.uk 

Technical Studies Lecture Series: “Research as Practice: Material Formations” HANNAH | Thursday, October 14, 2021 at 18:00, Room M416, Marylebone Campus + Online

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Thursday, 14th of October at 6pm

Where: Room M416 + Livestream, School of Architecture and Cities , University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, London NW1 5LS 

Link to join livestream https://eu.bbcollab.com/guest/954cdae480dd42c7b74ca7c02d5e59df 

HANNAH is an experimental design and research studio working across scales from furniture to urbanism. HANNAH’s projects mine the tension between machine means and architectural ends. They reclaim authorship over processes of construction that influence the way we can build – or perhaps ought to build in the future. Leslie and Sasa will discuss the ‘Ashen Cabin’ (upstate New York), which uses 3D printed concrete and locally sourced ‘waste’ ash timber. 

Leslie Lok is a co-principal at HANNAH, an award-winning experimental design practice for built and speculative projects. Lok is also an assistant professor and the B.Arch Coordinator at Cornell University College of Architecture, Art, and Planning. Lok’s research and teaching explore the intersection of housing, urbanization, and mass-customized construction methods at multiple scales. At Cornell, Lok directs the Urban Construction Laboratory (UCL). 

Sasa Zivkovic is a co-principal at HANNAH, an experimental design practice based in Ithaca, New York. Zivkovic is also an assistant professor at Cornell University AAP where he directs the Robotic Construction Laboratory (RCL), an interdisciplinary research group that develops and implements novel robotic construction technology. Interdisciplinary in nature, the work integrates cutting-edge materials, advanced fabrication, mechanical design, architectural computation, structural optimization, and sustainable construction. 

https://technicalstudies.tumblr.com/

For details contact: Will McLean 

w.f.mclean@wmin.ac.uk

Technical Studies Lecture Series: “Experimenting with Architecture” McCloy + Muchemwa | Thursday, October 7 2021 at 18:00, Room M416, Marylebone Campus

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Thursday, 7th of October at 6pm

Where: Room M416, School of Architecture + Cities, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, London NW1 5LS

The design and architecture studio of Steve McCloy and Bongani Muchemwa has its roots in Africa and is based in London. The studio’s work is an inventive exploration into design thinking and designs have included a bamboo bicycle, a reinvention of the Police ‘Tardis’, street furniture, modular housing and wearable architecture. In 2020 McCloy + Muchemwa were named in the Architects’ Journal 40 Under 40, and featured in Wallpaper* magazine’s survey of the next generation of 10 London practices.

Steve is a registered architect with experience across a variety of sectors from public installations and private homes to civic buildings, polar research stations, and sustainable urban developments. He is also published as a researcher / author and has contributed to numerous books and articles including ‘Once Upon A China’ by CJ Lim + Steve McCloy (2021). Steve has exhibited work at the Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition, and was nominated for both the RIBA President’s Bronze and Silver Medals.

Bongani is a registered architect with significant experience at some of the UK’s most high profile architectural practices and he has won numerous awards for design excellence. His work with film and animation has been widely celebrated including at Magma Film Festival in Sicily. Bongani has exhibited work at the Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition, and was nominated for the RIBA President’s Bronze Medal. Bongani is also a lecturer and studio tutor at the University of Westminster, a Practice Mentor at the Royal College of Art, and is a trustee of the Wakefield-based arts charity Beam.

For details contact: Will McLean

w.f.mclean@wmin.ac.uk

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Technical Studies Lecture Series: “Mycelium and other Bio-based Construction Materials ” Ehab Sayed , Biohm, Thursday, December 3 at 18:00 [online via BB]

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Thursday, 3rd of December at 6pm

Event Link (no need to register):  https://eu.bbcollab.com/guest/3ea897faf8b14916a16d1b200581b1e9 

Ehab Sayed has over six years of experience as a sustainable designer, engineer, circular economy strategist and built environment innovator with a passion for creating a biomimetic (nature- inspired) circular future. Through extensive research on the global construction industry, he founded Biohm to champion a transformation towards the integration of biological processes in manufacturing.

Biohm have produced a mycelium thermal insulation panel that will be the world’s first accredited mycelium insulation product. We are also developing new products and alternative applications for mycelium, which is the vegetative part of a fungus. Biohm is a multi-award-winning research and development led, bio-manufacturing company. We allow nature to lead innovation, to revolutionise construction and create a healthier, more sustainable, built-environment. Biohm work in symbiosis with industry, local and national government, communities and academia to lead a step-change towards a circular future that is inspired by nature and driven by human, environmental and economic needs. 

For more details contact Will McLean – w.f.mclean@westminster.ac.uk

Technical Studies website – https://technicalstudies.tumblr.com/

Technical Studies Lecture Series: “Creating Civilised Cities,” Chris Williamson, Weston Williamson and Partners, Thursday, November 12 at 18:00 [online via BB]

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Thursday, 12th of November at 6pm

Event Link (there is no need to register): https://eu.bbcollab.com/guest/8cfdaba2b81a485d803c0a3181bc6da7 

Weston Williamson and Partners have gained a reputation for the elegant design and craft of complex design challenges. Their work includes significant infrastructure projects such as the new station at Barking Riverside, the centrepiece of a massive regeneration scheme. Other recent rail projects include two new stations on the Elizabeth Line (Crossrail) at Woolwich and Paddington Station. The Paddington project has been described by the client as “…the jewel in the Crossrail crown.” 

When Chris was asked to work with Andrew Weston for group projects at Leicester School of Architecture (for no other reason than they were next to each other alphabetically) he discovered that their skills didn’t overlap but dovetailed perfectly. Their shared ambition made for a perfect business partnership. Forty years later Chris manages and directs the studio and has recently published WW+P’s vision for the next 20 years, which talks about a diverse, collaborative design studio with strong delivery skills. In addition to being a chartered architect, Chris has an MSc in Project Management and believes strongly that the art of architecture requires excellent business skills in order to be realised. Chris has recently been the International Vice President of the RIBA responsible for setting a strategy to grow into a global membership institution and to encourage more UK architects to seek work globally.  

Chris and Weston Williamson also generously provide academic partnership and support to March studio DS22 run by Nasser Golzari and Yara Sharif. 

For more details contact Will McLean – w.f.mclean@westminster.ac.uk 

Technical Studies website – https://technicalstudies.tumblr.com/ 

Technical Studies Lecture Series: “Recent Projects,” Sophie Hicks, Wednesday, November 4 at 17:00 [online via BB]

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Wednesday, 4th of November at 5pm

Event Link: https://eu.bbcollab.com/guest/f9e3ae5001874d12b6a507f5d1160bd6

Sophie Hicks established Sophie Hicks Architects in 1990 whilst still a student at the Architectural Association and she became a chartered architect in 1994. Prior to her career as an architect she worked in fashion: as a stylist for Vogue Magazine; and for the designer, Azzedine Alaia. She leads a practice with a focus on both fashion retail and private residential design. Her retail projects include Westbourne House with Paul Smith, his “shop in a house”; and the development of a store concept for Chloé, with signature plywood walls, which has been used in over one hundred stores worldwide. Sophie has also worked closely with Yohji Yamamoto to design his flagship store in Paris; and she created a new-build flagship store for Acne Studios in Seoul.

In parallel with her retail designs, Sophie Hicks acquired three sites in London, all in conservation areas, with the intention of building a contemporary house on each. The first, a small house in Regent Square, was completed in 2014. The second, a street-facing house in Earl’s Court Square, was completed in 2018. The third, a larger house in Holland Park, has obtained planning permission. New-build, contemporary houses are relatively rare in central London, because of the strong culture in the UK of preservation of the historic environment. Sophie has designed these new houses to “…respect the past, and respond to it, while at the same time expressing the spirit of our own times.” Sophie Hicks is a member of the Panel for Creative and Design at the Institute for Apprenticeships (IFA). The aim of the IFA is to improve the work opportunities and job satisfaction of young people, avoid student debt, and address the skills shortage in the UK.

For more details contact Will McLean – w.f.mclean@westminster.ac.uk

Technical Studies website – https://technicalstudies.tumblr.com/