Tag: University of Westminster

Film Screening: “The Oil Machine” | Friday, February 24, 2023 at 13:00 (GMT) in Regent Street Cinema

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Friday, 24th of February 2023 at 1pm

Where: Regent Street Cinema, 307 Regent Street, London W1B 2HW

To book tickets please go here.

Join the University of Westminster’s Schools of Architecture + Cities, the Humanities, Law, and the Social Sciences for a screening of the new film The Oil Machine on 24 February, 13.00 – 14.30 at the Regent Street Cinema, 307 Regent St., London W1B 2HW for an inspiring screening and conversation on our energy future.

The Oil Machine explores our economic, historical and emotional entanglement with fossil fuels by looking at the conflicting imperatives around North Sea oil & gas. This invisible machine at the core of our economy and society now faces an uncertain future as activists and investors demand change. Is this the end of oil?

The film brings together a wide range of voices from oil company executives, economists, young activists, oil workers, pension fund managers, and considers how this machine can be tamed, dismantled or repurposed

The screening will be followed by a panel discussion hosted by Lindsay Bremner, School of Architecture + Cities with discussants Lucy Bond, School of Humanities, Julia Chryssostalis, Westminster Law School and member of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty campaign, Ruth MacKenzie, Westminster Law School, Wojciech Ostrowski of the School of Social Sciences and architecture students Antoni Canyelles and Maja Kurantowicz.

The screening is free, but booking is required as cinema numbers are limited.

UoW School of Architecture + Cities with Zaha Hadid Foundation (ZHF): Fully funded interdisciplinary PhD studentship | Application deadline: Friday, January 20, 2023

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

The University of Westminster School of Architecture and Cities (UoW), in collaboration with the Zaha Hadid Foundation (ZHF) welcome applications for an interdisciplinary PhD studentship funded by Technē under its Doctoral Training Partnership Scheme, to begin in September 2023. Applicants will be shortlisted via the UoW online application and interview arrangements and be subject to approval via the subsequent Technē online application process.

Project Overview and Research Outline

Zaha Hadid was the first woman and Arabic architect to win architecture’s Pritzker Prize (26th Laureate), yet there are few academic studies of her ground-breaking career as an international pioneer in the continuation of Modernism and the emergence of ‘parametric’ design. This first PhD project with the newly formed ZHF will combine reinterpretations of her ethnic and gendered context with detailed exploration of her seminal role in reshaping architecture through digital production. The ensuing work will contribute to the development of a major research foundation. 

This PhD may span or link three key areas. The work will chart and analyse the translation of her world-famous speculative paintings through emerging digital technologies to inform major innovations in architectural practice; will test her often-vehement criticisms of professional barriers to gender, especially women and those from global minority backgrounds; and will combine these to offer new histories and interpretations of her work. Moreover, the outcomes will test, in practice at the ZHF, how the capturing of digital and process-driven design can shape the construction of architectural archives. 

For more information go here: 

On Jobs.ac.uk:

https://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/CWA034/interdisciplinary-phd-studentship-funded-by-techne-under-its-doctoral-training-partnership-scheme

On the UoW website:

https://www.westminster.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/research-degrees/studentships/school-of-architecture-and-cities-studentship

On Find a PhD:

https://www.findaphd.com/phds/project/interdisciplinary-phd-a-collaboration-between-university-of-westminster-and-the-zaha-hadid-foundation/?p153368

Featured image: Zaha Hadid with Zaha Hadid Architects, London 2066, Vogue Magazine (UK), 1991 © Zaha Hadid Foundation

Congratulations to Prof Kester Rattenbury on receiving the 2022 RIBA Annie Spink Award

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

On Monday, December 6, Professor Kester Rattenbury received the biannual 2022 RIBA Annie Spink Award at the RIBA President’s Medals Awards ceremony.

“The prestigious biennial prize is awarded to an individual who has made a significant contribution to the advancement of architectural education, in a school of architecture anywhere in the world that offers courses validated by the RIBA. 

Rattenbury is an architectural teacher, critic, writer and academic, who has taught design studio for 30 years: first at the University of Greenwich; then since 2000 at the University of Westminster in London. Here she ran the experimental studio DS15 with Sean Griffiths and also devised and spearheaded the research group EXP (Experimental Practice) with its leading projects the Supercrit series and the Archigram Archival Project – which was rated ‘Outstanding’ by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. She was made FRIBA in 2005 and Professor at Westminster in 2014. ”

RIBA

Read more here.

Featured image: Kester Rattenbury by Clare Banstead (source: RIBA website)

MArch DS18 student, Georgios Malliaropoulos, reports on his experience from 2022 Sustainability Workshop by the Norman Foster Foundation

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

The 2022 Sustainability Workshop organised by Norman Foster Foundation took place in Madrid, Spain, between 10th and 14th of October.

Georgios spoke about his experience to University of Westminster’s News:

“The Workshop aimed to explore the concept of sustainability at the intersection of natural and artificial. During the week-long programme, we aimed to generate projects and prototypes that demonstrated the transformative potential of combining different types of intelligence, namely ecological, human, and technological.”

To read more, please go here.  

Technical Studies Lecture Series: Michael Jones, Foster and Partners “Building Bloomberg” | Thursday, December 8 at 18:00 (GMT), M416 + Online

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Thursday, 8th of December, 6pm (GMT)

Where: M416, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, NW1 5LS + Online (see tumblr page below for link)

Michael Jones is a deputy head of studio at Foster + Partners. Alongside Senior Executive Partner Stefan Behling, he oversees almost 100 architects working on a wide range of international projects. He was awarded a bachelor degree in architecture in 1986 and joined the practice in the same year as an architectural assistant.  In 1988, he continued his studies at the Royal College of Art, gaining his master’s degree in architecture in 1990. He subsequently returned to Foster + Partners, where he qualified as an architect in 1994. 

He initially worked on a number of education buildings, starting with the Deuxième Lycée de Fréjus in the South of France, followed by the Law Faculty for the University of Cambridge. Thereafter, he focused on working with historic and listed buildings, initially as the project architect of the new International Rail Terminal for London at St Pancras Station, then as project director on the detail design and procurement for the Great Court at the British Museum. In 2000, he began work on the large-scale masterplan and expansion of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. During this time, he was leading the design of the UK Supreme Court in Westminster, the new Winspear Opera House in Dallas and a major a new Faculty Building for Imperial College London. 

Most recently he has been responsible for the new European headquarters for Bloomberg in the City of London and the ongoing renovation and expansion of the Imperial War Museum in London, the first phase of which was completed to coincide with the centenary of the First World War in 2014. 

https://technicalstudies.tumblr.com/

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

Technical Studies Lecture Series: Gnanli Landrou, ETH / OXARA “Cleancrete” | Thursday, December 1 at 18:00 (GMT), M416 + Online

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

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

Where: M416, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, NW1 5LS + Online (see tumblr page below for link)

“A derivative of the Northern Togolese language, Lamb-Kabyè, Oxara means, ‘Gathering and Community’, bringing the actors of the construction ecosystem together to collectively create an innovative and sustainable industry is a key ingredient to make our business scalable and to achieve our vision of providing safe and decent housing to all.” 

Gnanli Landrou

Gnanli Landrou is a materials scientist and entrepreneur. He was born in Togo, and when he was a young boy he travelled with his uncle in West Africa watching him build earth houses. Later, whilst studying in France he researched the challenges facing the global construction industry – energy and CO2 ​intensive production of cement, dwindling supplies of construction grade sand and gravel, and the high cost of concrete, unaffordable in many countries. Gnanli had experienced the benefits of building with clay/earth but also understood how labour-intensive and time-consuming traditional clay brick construction was. As a doctoral student at ETH Zurich, Gnanli worked with mentor Professor Guillaume Habert and together, they developed a process to turn clay-​based excavation material into an alternative cement free concrete. Importantly this material can be poured as concrete using the ready-mix infrastructure of the concrete industry. 

His ETH spin-​off company Oxara, is now developing a cement-​free concrete made from clay-​based excavation material with his main goal to solve the lack of affordable housing in Africa. In 2019 Forbes magazine listed Gnanli as one of Europe’s 30 most influential entrepreneurs under the age of 30. 

This talk is co-hosted and kindly supported by the Engineering Club http://engineeringclub.org.uk/ 

https://technicalstudies.tumblr.com/

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

Association for Tourism in Higher Education Seminar: “Resilience, Recovery, and Rejuvenation” | Friday, November 25, 10:45 – 15:00 (GMT), Marylebone Campus, M416 (morning session) + MG28 (afternoon session)

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Friday, 25th of November at 10:45am

Where: M416 + MG28, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, NW1 5LS

The Association for Tourism in Higher Education’s (ATHE) seminar Resilience, Recovery, and Rejuvenation will take place on Friday, 25th of November from 10.45am to 3pm. The morning session will be held in M416, and the afternoon session in MG28.

This timely event is being organised by Ilaria Pappalepodore.

You can book a place using this link: www.athe.org.uk/booking/

All welcome!

Technical Studies Lecture Series: Dr Pooja Basnett, University of Westminster “Bacterial Polymers” | Thursday, November 10 at 18:00 (GMT), Online

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Thursday, 10th of November, 6pm (GMT)

Where: ONLINE (Due to the London Underground strike action)

Dr. Pooja Basnett is a lecturer in Biological Sciences. She received a Cavendish scholarship from the University of Westminster to complete a PhD in Applied Biotechnology titled ‘Biosynthesis of Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) and their application in medical device development’. Following her PhD, she worked as a lead postdoc in the European Union-funded project – ReBioStent aimed at developing drug-eluting biodegradable stents. She also worked as a postdoc on other EU projects – NEURIMP which focused on the development of nerve conduits for peripheral nerve repair; POLYBIOSKIN – aimed at developing biocompatible and biodegradable skin contact products. She was also involved in an EPSRC funded project titled CYCLOPS which focused on the development of a wound healing patch with Artificial Intelligence (AI).  

Pooja’s research focuses on the production of bioplastics using bacteria and their application in medicine – she is also exploring other potential uses. Basnett has worked on producing novel biopolymers such as polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) via bacterial fermentation process using a range of waste streams. PHAs are naturally occurring biodegradable polymers and are a potential replacement for some petrochemical-based plastics. 

https://technicalstudies.tumblr.com/

For details contact: Will McLean  

w.f.mclean@wmin.ac.uk 

Architecture + Cities Research Seminar: “EXTRA Project” by Enrica Papa, Emilia Smeds and Tom Cohen | Monday, October 31 at 1pm (GMT) M416, Marylebone Campus + Online

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Monday, 31st of October, 13:00-14:00 (GMT)

Where: M416, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, NW1 5LS + Online

The next Architecture + Cities Research Seminar will be by Enrica Papa, Emilia Smeds and Tom Cohen, on their work within the EXTRA project, Experimenting with City Streets to Transform Urban Mobility. It will be a hybrid event in M416, with the virtual link here. 

All staff and students are welcome to attend.