Open Studio is an interactive project run by the School of Architecture + Cities at the University of Westminster to make its design, research and practice-based work available online while it is happening. The site acts as a real time teaching and learning environment in which the work of both students and staff is curated and documented – the work of its design studios, or its other teaching and research groups and workshops. Read more in Blog, follow us on Twitter and like us on Instagram.
When: Wednesday, 3rd of May at 13:00 (BST)
Where: Online (link below)
The next Architecture + Cities Research Seminar is taking place on Wednesday, 3 May, 13:00 – 14:00 online.
PhD student, Didem Ertem will be presenting her research on ‘Small-scale Events and Everyday Multiculture in Finsbury Park.’
The link to this seminar is here.
When: Workshops on Saturday 22nd, Sunday 23rd, and Monday 24th of April 2023 | Conference on Wednesday 26th and Thursday 27th 2023
Where: University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Rd, NW1 5LS
The School of Architecture + Cities is hosting Shape To Fabrication 2023. This is the first time that the industry leading event has been hosted by a university. The conference sessions are co-moderated by Arthur Mamou Mani (MArch DS10 tutor).
Shape to Fabrication is an Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) and Design focused conference, presenting innovative real world projects going beyond the theoretical. Focus is on proven application and evidence based project delivery.
Presenters at the conference represent an international field of Architects, Engineers, Designers, Fabricators and Software Developers, all working at the cutting-edge of their industries within AEC and Design.
The 8th iteration of Shape to Fabrication is presented in partnership with the School of Architecture and Cities, University of Westminster, and the 2-day conference takes place at the University of Westminster’s Marylebone Campus, London, on the 26th & 27th April 2023.
For more information and to book tickets please go here.
University of Westminster staff and students, to book please use the links below:
Featured Image: Shape to Fabrication, Brian Gillespie, Robert McNeel and Associates, 2018
When: Wednesday, 3rd of May 2023 at 3pm
Where: Robin Evans Room (M416), University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Rd, NW1 5LS
To book you place via Eventbrite, please go here.
The acclaimed Supercrits series returns on May 3, with Louisa Hutton, Matthias Sauerbruch and Juan Lucas Young presenting Sauerbruch Hutton’s groundbreaking project GSW, completed in 1999, for a ‘crit’ by a panel of international critics and a public and student audience.
Built in ‘the magic (but brief) moment after the fall of the Berlin Wall, when the potential future was stronger than all of the present’, GSW suggested a new, progressive, environmentally responsible and beautiful architecture which could relink the severed halves of the city. An assembly of different parts and forms relating history and future, it pioneered an environmental approach as an expressive part of its architecture, notably in its beautifully coloured, adjustable, solar-shuttered facade, which acts as a ‘dynamic painting’ in reds and pinks, fusing occupancy and sustainability.
The event will be chaired by Kester Rattenbury, Paolo Zaide and Conor Sheehan (Studio MASH).
Devised in 2003 by the research group EXP at the University of Westminster, Supercrits invites the world’s most influential architects ‘back to school’ to present a well known project to an expert panel and student audience. Former Supercrits have been Cedric Price: Potteries ThinkBelt; Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown: Learning From Las Vegas; Richard Rogers: The Pompidou Centre; Bernard Tschumi: Parc de la Villette; Rem Koolhaas: Delirious New York; Leon Krier: Poundbury; Michael Wilford: Neue Staatsgalerie; and Will Alsop: Le Grand Bleu.
website www.supercrits.com
books https://www.routledge.com/Supercrit/book-series/SUPERCRITS
instagram @supercrits
The event is free to attend, however places are limited and a valid ticket will be required for entry.
When: Thursday, 30th of March 2023 at 6pm (BST)
Where: Robin Evans Room (M416), University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Rd, NW1 5LS
“The making of a photograph is constructing a microworld: it has its own technique, craft and aim. Through this lecture, we will explore thirty-five years in the making.”
Over a period of more than thirty-five years Hélène Binet has captured both contemporary and historic architecture. She is a fervent advocate of analogue photography, working exclusively with film, and a firm believer that ‘the soul of photography is its relationship with the instant’.
Binet’s work has been exhibited in both national and international exhibitions, including a solo exhibition at the Power Station of Art, Shanghai, in 2019. She was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 2007 and in 2015 was the recipient of the Julius Shulman Institute Excellence in Photography Award. She was also the recipient of the 2019 Ada Louise Huxtable Prize, awarded to a woman who has made a major contribution to architecture, and is one of the Royal Photographic Society’s Hundred Heroines.
ALL WELCOME
Re-Imagining Coral Reefs is a VR Design Summer School that invites student co-creators to contribute to an immersive VR installation that communicates the vital climate science of coral reef restoration to a wider audience. Working with marine biologists from ZSL London, students will explore the vital scientific research on coral reefs, an ecosystem that provides habitats to 25% of the world’s marine species.
Using 3D scans and audio data of coral reefs collected from the field in Indonesia, students will create their own 3D VR interpretations of coral reef models that engage the public in a more empathic understanding of the climate science. They will also be re-designing new forms of reef restoration structures in collaboration with the scientists. Through these activities, students will be learning to use the Meta Quest VR headset as a design tool, as well as a range of digital tools typically deployed in spatial and game design, such as Grasshopper, Unity, Gravity Sketch, as well as fabricating their creation via 3D printing. The output from the summer school will be part of an London Festival of Architecture Exhibition/Event.
The Summer School is open to all students within the school, including final year students. Places are limited, so an interview process will be implemented. Once we have received your application, we will be in touch with further instructions.
Briefing Session 1: 31st March 1pm M327
Briefing Session 2: 27th of April 1pm M306
Apply at: https://tinyurl.com/yc5dtufy
Contact: John Zhang at zhangj@westminster.ac.uk
When: Wednesday, 8th of March at 13:00 (GMT)
Where: Online (link below)
The next Architecture + Cities Research Seminar will be given by Nick Beech, Senior Lecturer in the History and Theory of Architecture, a member of the Architectural Humanities Research Group and Co-Director of the Centre for the Study of the Production of the Built Environment (ProBE), at 13.00 online, on March 8. The topic of the seminar is:
Translating Ferro/Transforming Knowledge: Sergio Ferro, William Morris and a new field (details below).
The link to the seminar is here.
When: Tuesday, 14th of March, 13:30 (GMT) – Wednesday, 15th March, 16:30 (GMT)
Where: School of Architecture + Cities, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, London NW1 5LS
Gender Ecologies is a programme of the British Council launched to support the development and delivery of projects that explore the intersection of women, climate change and arts, demonstrating how arts can be a catalyst for positive change, action and impact in environmental issues. The programme promotes collaboration and mutual exchange of crossdisciplinary knowledge and skills between Pakistan and the UK.
Book your tickets on Eventbrite
Please note: when booking your tickets for the conference, please note you will need to reserve tickets for both days (14 and 15 March) if you intend to be present at both.
Should you be interested in attending the Cody Dock event on 12th March, please contact Corinna
ITINERARY: OFF SITE/ON SITE WORKSHOP
Sunday 12 March 11 am – 4.30 pm
Location: Cody Dock, Lower Lea Valley
Grounding Landscapes: embodied mapping led by choreographers Claire Burrell and Carolyn Deby from Sirenscrossing with a response from Pakistani based Performance Artist Abuzar Madhu. The Cody Dock resident ecologist will draw observations of the local primary species as part of the workshop.
Tuesday 14 March 1.30 pm -4.30 pm
Location: University of Westminster, Marylebone Road, London, Room 204.
Roundtable symposium where Marvi Mazhar (architect) with Zohaib Kazi (filmmaker) and Abuzar Madhu (performance artist) will be discussing their recent filming of activist fisherwomen, around the Indus River, Pakistan. The documentary will be a visual investigation to open questions about the significance of land and water protection in times of climate crisis. Corinna Dean will respond with her research along the River Lea which looks at the role of contamination and remediation as agency.
Wednesday 15 March 1.30 pm – 4.30 pm
Location: University of Westminster, Marylebone Road, London, Room 204.
The Gender Ecologies team will be joined by Lindsay Bremner, (Professor, architect, writer, head of research UoW) Carolyn Deby, (Sirenscrossing), Claire Burrell (Choreographer) and Kate McMillan (artist, author, King’s College) to discuss how art and research methodologies can raise awareness of environmental issues and environmental justice.
Where: Exhibition Road Courtyard, V&A South Kensington, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 2RL
When: Friday, March 3 to Monday, May 1, 2023
Congratulations to Shahed Saleem, Reader in Architecture in the School of Architecture + Cities and BA Architecture DS2.3 tutor. Since the Pavilion’s inception in the days before the pandemic, Saleem has involved students in all aspects of its creation, and over 20 students from our School have helped in its fabrication.
“The Ramadan Pavilion is a purpose-built architectural structure and showpiece of creative art and design to celebrate the holy month of Ramadan. The Pavilion will host a series of public events and two Open Iftars as part of the annual Ramadan Festival curated by Ramadan Tent Project.
The aim of the annual Ramadan Pavilion is to celebrate the lived experiences of Muslims across the UK and globe during the holiest month of the Islamic calendar, and to bring attention to the core values and traditions of Ramadan through architectural expression, experimentation and associated public arts programme. ”
V&A website
More info on the project here.
The opening event will take place as a part of the Ramadan Conference 2023 on Sunday, March 5 at 1pm. More info about the event here.
When: Wednesday, 22nd of February, 13:00-14:00 (GMT)
Where: Online
The next Architecture + Cities Research Seminar will take place on Wednesday, 22nd of February 2023, 1pm-2pm, and will be given by two colleagues from the Active Travel Academy, Ersilia Verlinghieri and Charlie Couve. The seminar will take place online (link available above).
The School of Architecture + Cities at the University of Westminster is pleased to offer three full time studentships and three full time fee waivers only, for three and a half years, for prospective PhD students starting in October 2023 or February 2024. Amongst others, we welcome applicants looking to undertake joint PhDs in partnership with practice, industry and/or business.
Located in the heart of London, the School of Architecture + Cities is a flourishing, cross- and inter-disciplinary school with a reputation for research excellence in architecture and urbanism across a range of disciplines. In the 2021 Research Excellence Framework, our research was judged seventh overall in research power in our Unit of Assessment, a measure of overall number of researchers submitted and overall GPA and research staff involved in supervising PhDs are internationally recognised as leaders in their fields. Our research is organised in five research groups and four research centres. Successful applicants will be aligned with one of these entities and contribute to their research and public engagement activities.
Architectural Humanities: Proposals that consider contemporary critical questions about architecture and its contexts, employing humanities-based and/or interdisciplinary methods, such as archival and documentary analysis; oral histories; film and visual analysis; drawing; participatory research; installations; and exhibitions. For further information contact Kate Jordan, k.jordan@westminster.ac.uk or Davide Deriu, d.deriu@westminster.ac.uk or visit the research group’s webpage.
Emerging Territories: For further information contact Krysallia Kamvasinou, k.kamvasinou@westminster.ac.uk or Giulio Verdini, g.verdini@westminster.ac.uk or visit the research group’s webpage.
Making and Practice: Proposals that involve either the use of design or practice based methods and processes within their research, or on testing and evaluating design performance for climate change and human or non- human comfort in the built environment. Research methods may include drawing, fabrication, prototyping, live projects, installations, exhibitions, environmental design and analysis, or materials research. For further information contact John Zhang, j.zhang1@westminster.ac.uk or Paolo Zaide, p.zaide@westminster.ac.uk or visit the research group’s webpage.
Place and Experience: For further information contact Stroma Cole, s.cole@westminster.ac.uk or Ilaria Pappalepore, i.pappalepore@westminster.ac.uk or visit the research group’s webpage.
Transport and Mobilities: Proposals that contribute to research into making transport systems and mobilities safe, sustainable, equitable, accessible to all and promoting of health and wellbeing. Focus areas may include active travel; transport equity; sustainable freight and logistics; air traffic management. For further information contact Enrica Papa, e.papa@westminster.ac.uk or Gerald Gurtner, g.gurtner@westminster.ac.uk or visit the research group’s webpage.
Proposals are invited that contribute to one or more of the following research areas. You are strongly advised to discuss your proposal with a research group convenor or potential supervisor before submission.
For current research group news see: http://www.openresearchwestminster.org/
Applications are invited for the following awards, which are tenable for up to three and a half years of full-time study subject to minimum enrolment periods:*
One of three studentship awards comprising:
• A fee waiver at Home or International rates for three years.**
Proposals that broaden the school’s commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion and / or deal with matters relating to climate change will be prioritised. Home and international applications will be considered for funding and supported at appropriate rates.
The academic staff member responsible for PhD admissions in the School is Dr Kate Jordan who can be contacted by email via: k.jordan@westminster.ac.uk.
Candidates should normally have a minimum classification of 2.1 in their Bachelor Degree or equivalent and preferably a Masters degree. Applicants whose secondary level education has not been conducted in the medium of English should also demonstrate evidence of appropriate English language proficiency normally defined as IELTS: 6.5 (overall score with not less than 6.0 in any of the individual elements).
Read more about out entry requirements here: https://www.westminster.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/research-degrees/how-to-apply-for-a-research-degree
The closing date for applications is 5pm on Friday 19 May 2023. Interviews will be held on Thursday 15 or Friday 16 June either online or in person.
The Studentship title is A+C Research Studentship.
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