UoW + Docomomo UK: Lyons Israel Ellis Gray “A visit to Cavendish Campus hosted by Tony Fretton” | Friday, October 7 at 18:30 (BST)

When: Friday, 7th of October at 6.30pm

Where: Cavendish Campus, University of Westminster, 115 New Cavendish St, London W1B 2HW

To book tickets please go here.

Please join us for an event organised jointly with Docomomo UK:

We are celebrating the University’s finest building: 115 New Cavendish Street, and the work of its architects Lyons, Israel, Ellis.

John Ellis, architect and son of the partner Tom Ellis, will bein conversation with Elain Harwood and John Miller.

Lyons, Israel, Ellis, ‘the most important form of architects you never heard of’, were a remarkable firm and employers / mentors of Neave Brown, Alan Colquhoun, Eldred Evans, James Gowan, John Gray, Richard MacCormac, Rick Mather, John Miller, and James Stirling.

The Robin Evans Lecture 2022: Andrew Holmes – IMAGINATION: From Ink to Light | Tuesday, October 25 at 18:00 (BST), Robin Evans Room and online

When: Tuesday, 25th of October at 6pm (BST)

Where: Robin Evans Room, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, NW1 5LS + Online

About the Speaker

Born in 1947 in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, Andrew Holmes moved to London in 1966, and attended the Architectural Association.

He is best known for a series of 150 photo realistic colour pencil drawings exploring the apparently anonymous mobile infrastructure of cities. In addition his work encompasses printmaking, photography, film, and design.

The work in all its forms has been exhibited, and published widely for fifty-five years. Holmes is Professor Emeritus of Architecture at Oxford Brookes University, Guest Professor at the Technische Universitaat, Berlin, and a Visiting Scholar at the Getty Research Institute. He lives and works in London.

http://www.andrewholmes.me.uk

About this event

Andrew’s personal view is not the conventional idea of imagination. He will be talking about his experience of drawing.

During his working life the digital revolution has enabled a transformation. The craft of pencil and ink on paper has been joined by the skill of drawing with light. Andrew is fascinated by the ways in which an idea in the mind can be represented to the outside world.

The talk comprises an intense collection of images and visual effects. It offers observations about the unique quality of handicraft and the elements of three traditions:

Art is evidence, and an ability to select significant objects and experiences.

Art is the residue of engaging the existing systems with particular mechanical techniques and processes.

Art provides the possibility of fabricating new versions of reality.

About the Robin Evans Lecture Series

This series supports outstanding scholarship in the history of architecture and allied fields, building on the work of Professor Robin Evans (1944-1993). It encourages scholars working on the relationship between the spatial and social domains in architectural drawing, construction and beyond.

Evans’ work interrogated the spaces that existed between drawing and building, geometry and architecture, teasing out the points of translation often overlooked. From his early work on prison design and domestic spaces, through to his later work on architectural geometry, Evans sought to articulate the multiple points at which the human imagination could influence architectural form. His first book, The Fabrication of Virtue, analysed the way that spatial layouts provided opportunities for social reform via their interference with morality, privacy and class. In The Projective Cast: Architecture and its Three Geometries, Evans traced the origins of the humanist tradition to understand how human form influenced architectural drawing and construction, focusing on aesthetic dimensions in the production of architectural space.

This series will provide opportunities for the creation and/or dissemination of work by scholars working on similar questions of space, temporality, and architecture. In particular, it supports work that breaks the boundaries of traditional disciplines to think though these complex networks involved in the space between human imagination and architectural production.

Registering for the event

This year’s lecture will take place in the Robin Evans Room in hybrid format, with a limited number of places available for in-person attendance by students, staff and externals – in line with capacity for the room (100). Additionally, there is capacity for up to 500 attending remotely via Zoom. You must register if you plan to attend.

The in-person iteration will be followed by a short drinks reception in the Robin Evans Room, closing at approximately 21:00.

Register via Eventbrite

AJ Student Prize 2022 nominees: Reece Murray (BA Arch DS3.4) and Rebecca Kelly (MArch DS11)

Congratulations to Reece Murray from DS3.4 BA (Hons) Architecture and Rebecca Kelly from DS11 MArch on being nominated for this year’s AJ Student Prize.

To read more about their projects visit here.

Giorgios Malliaropoulos from MArch DS18 to participate in 2022 Sustainability Workshop organised by the Norman Foster Foundation

Congratulations to Giorgios Malliaropoulos, MArch DS18 student, on being selected from hundreds of applicants to be one of ten to participate in the 2022 Sustainability Workshop and represent the University of Westminster.

His interest in sustainability has been proved through his University project last year – ‘’Institute of Ground Tectonics’’ developed while at DS18, under the tutelage of Laura Nica, John Cook, and Ben Pollock. The project is a laboratory for investigating soil structures , sampling analysis and morphological changes in land. Constructed out of a series of innovative aggregate mixtures, the proposal was aiming to minimise the use of material and carbon-intensive materials, materials that would adapt to extreme weather conditions such as drought and storms. This project included complex climatic data gathering, diligent research, Computational fluid dynamics simulations, high standard drawings, and carefully crafted prototypes. 

Giorgios is currently finalising his research topic and agenda for the workshop, but he is interested in exploring soil morphologies & the possibility of controlling through design, nutrient concentration for more fertile soils and enhanced agriculture yields. 

MORE 2022 | Friday, September 23, 2022 from 18:30 (BST) at Marylebone Campus + Online

When: Friday, 23rd of September 2022 from 6.30pm (BST)

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

Join us on Friday 23 September for the launch of MORE 2022, an exhibition of the University of Westminster’s School of Architecture + Cities Master’s students’ thesis projects.

The exhibition will launch in Room M416 at 18:30 on Friday 23 September with a hybrid event, for both in-person attendees and those who may wish to attend online (via Zoom).  

The celebratory event will be followed by contributions from each of the participating courses (paired with the School’s annual student awards), and will close with a musical performance.

The physical exhibition will be supported by an online iteration – MORE 2022 – which will also launch on the evening of Friday 23 September at http://www.openstudiowestminster.org/more2022/

Register for the opening night via Eventbrite

Fire Experience Day for Architecture Students

On June 9, 2022 a group of staff and students from the School of Architecture + Cities, University of Westminster attended a pilot day hosted by the Fire Service Training College. The experience and information gathered was particularly useful with regard to the new Building Safety Bill and also the incoming RIBA/ARB criteria on Fire and Life Safety Design.

Staff attending:

  • Scott Batty
  • William Mclean

Students from Year 2, BA Architecture:

  • Luke Harvey
  • Ruhsan (Roxan) Sadrettin 
  • Kyrah-Chae Copeland-Thompson

The School hopes to be able to expand to a whole year group next year.

All images by Scott Batty

Dezeen: “University of Westminster spotlights 10 architecture, environmental design and technology projects”

Dezeen magazine has featured a selection of 10 students’ projects from the School of Architecture + Cities, University of Westminster.

The featured students are: Asena Koksal (MArch DS25), Edoardo Ripamonti (BSc Architecture and Environmental Design), Jan Macbean (BA Architecture, DS3.3), Joshua Dalsan (BA Architecture, DS3.6), Lilla Porkolab (MArch DS10), Malgorzata Socha (MArch DS15), Nikol Kaso (BA Interior Architecture), Suha Faisal Valiyaveettil (BSc Architecture and Environmental Design), Zhengyao Hu (BA Interior Architecture), Zuzanna Jodlowska (BSc Architectural Technology)

The Dezeen feature can be accessed here.

Featured image: The water healing mosque of Royal Docklands by Suha Faisal Valiyaveettil

OPEN2022 continues until Monday, July 11 in our Marylebone studios

When: June 17 – July 11, daily from 9am-5pm

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

OPEN 2022 is a hybrid exhibition of projects that reflect the varied design approaches of the University of Westminster’s School of Architecture + Cities, its diverse students, and their place at the heart of London. The show celebrates the openness and diversity of the University of Westminster’s Architecture and Design students and includes an extensive range of creative student work from first year to graduation, drawing on the vast body of developmental and finished work imagined and realised over the course of the last academic year.

The exhibition features work from:

  • Architecture BA
  • Architecture and Environmental Design BSc
  • Architectural Technology BSc
  • Designing Cities BA
  • Interior Architecture BA
  • MArch (RIBA Part II)

The exhibition continues in our Marylebone studios until Monday, July 11. It is available for viewing from 9am to 5pm, daily. For those unable to visit us in person, the online version of the exhibition can be accessed here.

https://vimeo.com/724434953
OPEN2022 BA Architecture | Film by Bodhi Horton from DS3.4

Photography by Rory Lindsay

Exhibition: Reimagining the Royal Docks | BSc Architecture and Environmental Design | Friday, June 24 from 17:00 (BST) at Silver Building in the Royal Docks

When: From Friday, 24th of June (5pm) to 14th of July 2022 (available for viewing Monday – Saturday, 9am-6pm)

Where: Silver Building in the Royal Docks, 60 Dock Road, E16 1YZ

BSc Architecture and Environmental Design will be hosting a public exhibition at the Silver Building in the Royal Docks, where local people can explore the students re-imagining of the neighbourhood. 

There is a public opening on Friday 24 June to which everyone is welcome.

To attend the opening, please register here.

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

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.