new issue of a+t: 'Design Techniques'

"How do architects deal with the design process? What inspires them? Design Techniques looks at different approaches to the creative moment. The architects themselves reveal their modus operandi, explain how they tackle the project and discuss motivation, devices, influences, justifications, effects and the origins of their design techniques.

a+t magazine and Harvard GSD initiate the SOLID series, Harvard Symposia on Architecture. Design Techniques is the first volume in the series. Faculty, critics and theorists, and students discuss the different approaches contributing personal experiences, working practices, and opportunities encountered in the field of design."

more here.

Technical Studies Lecture 22nd October: Sang Hoon Kim

TECHNICAL STUDIES OPEN LECTURE SERIES

Sang Hoon Kim – Populous
Olympic Stadium Transformation
Thursday 22nd October, 6.30pm
Room M416 (Robin Evans Room)

Sang joined Populous in 2001 to work on the redevelopment of Ascot Racecourse. As a member of the core team responsible for design of the building, he established the complex geometry of the tensile fabric roof structure. The project was opened to great acclaim by her Majesty the Queen in June 2006 at Royal Ascot.

Following completion of the Ascot Racecourse project, Sang joined the design team of another award-winning project, the London Olympic Stadium and Sang has been involved in this project from initial conceptual design stage through to final completion and transformation.

More recently, Sang has helped to develop the Strategic Masterplan for Lord’s Cricket Ground. Sang has continued his involvement with Lord’s, by leading the coordination of the architectural and engineering design for the redevelopment of the Warner Stand. Sang’s extensive knowledge of sport facility design allowed him to contribute to the sport chapter of the latest edition of the Metric Handbook (Planning and Design Data).

Sang will talk about the London Olympic Stadium, and the Olympic Stadium transformation recently completed for the Rugby World Cup.

Sang Hoon Kim is an alumnus of the Department of Architecture at the University of Westminster.

For lecture details contact Will McLean / Pete Silver
w.f.mclean@westminster.ac.uk
www.technicalstudies.tumblr.com

Funambulist Magazine Launch 2nd November

The Westminster Law & Theory Lab kindly invites you to

the London Launch of The Funambulist Magazine: Politics of Space and Bodies

on Monday, 2nd of November, at 7pm

at The Pavilion, University of Westminster, 115 New Cavendish St, W1W 6UW

Presentations of her article for the third issue by Reina Lewis, University of the Arts, on Islamic Fashion

Presentation of the first three issues by Leopold Lambert 

Reina Lewis is professor of Cultural Studies at London College of Fashion, and the author of Muslim Fashion: Contemporary Style Cultures (Duke University Press, 2015)

Andreas Philippopoulos-Mihalopoulos is the Director of the Westminster Law and Theory Lab and the author of Spatial Justice: Body, Lawscape, Atmosphere (Routeledge, 2014)

Leopold Lambert is the founder and editor of The Funambulist Magazine and the author of Weaponized Architecture (dpr-barcelona, 2012) 

The Funambulist Magazine is a bimestrial publication about the political relationships of the designed environment with the bodies. It operates alongside a blog and a podcast (Archipelago) that both share the same editorial line. 

List of the first four issues:

- 01 September 2015: Militarized Cities

- 02 November 2015: Suburban Geographies

- 03 January 2016: Clothing Politics

- 04 March 2016: Carceral Environments 

Followed by drinks reception

The event is free but places are strictly limited.

Please RSVP via https://www.eventbrite.com/e/london-launch-of-the-funambulist-magazine-politics-of-space-and-bodies-tickets-19004492950

Sound Installation in Estonia by Birgit Õigus

At Pähni Nature Centre in Estonia... "art academy students have developed and set up huge wooden megaphones to make the never-ceasing but scarcely noticeable calls and movements of forest inhabitants completely audible. The student Birgit Õigus designed the funnel-shaped megaphones for a project in the "Outdoor" auditorium at the academy. Hannes Praks, Head of the Interior Architecture Departments, explains, 'Being three metres in diameter at their widest point, the megaphones create a bandstand for the sounds that the forest produces.' Visitors can settle down comfortably inside the megaphones to enjoy the surreal backdrop of sounds."

more at DETAIL blog.

Technical Studies Open Lecture: William Alsop. 15th October.

TECHNICAL STUDIES OPEN LECTURE SERIES

Professor William Alsop – ALL Design

Progress Report

Thursday 15th October, 6.30pm Room M416 (The Robin Evans Room)

University of Westminster

Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment

35 Marylebone Road

London NW1 5LS

Will Alsop OBE RA was born in Northampton, the shoe making capital of Britain. He studied architecture at the Architectural Association in the 1960s and worked for the sartorially monochrome iconoclast Cedric Price for four years. He has been awarded the RIBA Stirling Prize for Peckham Library, London and the first RIBA World Award for The Sharp Centre for Design (OCAD), Toronto, amongst numerous other prestigious accolades for a multitude of projects. His work encompasses all sectors of architecture including urban design and planning. His studio practice also incorporates painting and product design.

His practice is founded principally to 'make life better' - the philosophy extends from the design of individual buildings to embrace broader principles of urbanism and city development and he uses painting, writing and 'playing' to further understanding of design. He sits on the architectural advisory boards for Wandsworth and Kensington & Chelsea Councils. He is visiting Professor of TU Vienna; Professor of Architecture at Canterbury School of Architecture, UCA and this year was awarded the degree of Honorary Doctor of Design (HonDDes) from the University of Greenwich, in recognition of his achievements.

“Because of his avant-garde and strikingly different buildings, Will Alsop has always been considered something of a ‘maverick’ or ‘infant terrible’ in the British architectural scene. Once dubbed "architecture's Mr. Blobby" by the press, Alsop's buildings often don't always look like buildings at all- most are a riot of bright colours, blobby pods, spindly supports and look nothing like the surrounding environment. His government offices in Marseilles are painted in Yves Klein Blue (YKB) and attract one million visitors a year, despite being intended only as the French equivalent of a county hall.

Open University

'Transforming Data' Symposium at University of Westminster

TRANSFORMING DATA: CREATIVE AND CRITICAL DIRECTIONS IN THE ARTS AND HUMANITIES

Westminster School of Media, Arts and Design, University of Westminster

Saturday, 24 October 2015 from 11:00 to 17:30 (BST)

London, United Kingdom

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/transforming-data-creative-and-critical-directions-in-the-arts-and-humanities-tickets-18860406985

In recent years cultural, social and political landscapes have been redrawn as unprecedented amounts of data has entered the public domain. This in turn has posed significant questions cutting across issues of privacy, security, culture and politics, giving birth to new aesthetic, political and social practices. This free one-day symposium brings together an interdisciplinary mix of artists, designers, academics and developers to reflect upon this phenomena, show work, exchange experiences and signpost important trends.

Questions the symposium will explore include:

How are artists and designers using data? What approaches are they taking? What issues are they tackling?

What can and can’t data tell us about the world? What are its limits in terms of representation and application?

What cultural institutional structures are emerging in response to data, what opportunities does this provide for creative practitioners?

How can we understand a political economy of data, and what alternatives to its use might this approach enable?

Speakers include:

Mark Graham: Oxford Internet Institute (OII), University of Oxford.

twitter.com/geoplace

Christian Fuchs: Communication and Media Research Institute (CAMRI), University of Westminster 

twitter.com/fuchschristian

Julie Freeman: Artist, Open Data Institute, Queen Mary University of London

translatingnature.org

twitter.com/misslake

Hannah Redler: Independent Curator

twitter.com/hannah_redler

Joanna Boehnert: Designer and design theorist, Centre for Research in Education, Art and Media, University of Westminster (CREAM).

(eco-labs.org)

twitter.com/Ecocene

Tom Corby and Gavin Baily: Artists, Centre for Research in Education, Art and Media, University of Westminster (CREAM). 

twitter.com/tom_corby1

Doug Specht: Doctoral Researcher and Visiting Lecturer at the University of Westminster

twitter.com/DougSpecht

Giles Lane: Director Proboscis

proboscis.org.uk

gileslane.net

Anastasia Kavada: Symposium chair, is Senior Lecturer in the Westminster Faculty of Media, Arts & Design at the University of Westminster.

twitter.com/AnastasiaKavada

-------------------------------------

The project is the result of collaboration between: the Centre for Research in Education Art and Media (CREAM), the University of Westminster; and the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford and is funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) as part of its Digital Transformations theme.

www.ahrc.ac.uk/research/fundedthemesandprogrammes/themes/digitaltransformations/

Aesop Store by Tacklebox

In this video Jeremy Barbour of Tacklebox explains the approach to the design of the Nolita Aesop store.

See more of Aesop's Taxonomy of Design videos here.

La Monte Young 'Dream House' Installation

'Coinciding with the 40th anniversary of the Dream Festival ... Dia presents a newly acquired, site-specific iteration of Dream House by La Monte Young, Marian Zazeela, and Jung Hee Choi at 545 West 22nd Street in New York City.

Dream House has been described as “a time installation measured by a continuous frequency environment in sound and light, in which a work would be played continuously and ultimately exist in time as a living organism with a life and tradition of its own.” 

“Dream House is a landmark contribution to the history of sound and light, a truly immersive experience, and one of the most important manifestations of Young and Zazeela’s collaborations,” said Jessica Morgan, Director, Dia Art Foundation.'

read more about the installation here.

National Sawdust in Brooklyn by Bureau V

National Sawdust is a multi-purpose space that "...aims to be many things: an acoustically sound concert hall, a rehearsal and recording studio, an incubator for contemporary music, and a restaurant and bar featuring an award-winning chef."

photos by Kim Nowacki/WQXR)

You can read more about the space and the design here, and listen to a news story below.

'Ordinary Streets' Film Launch, 6th October at LSE

Tuesday 6th October, 6.30-8pm, Wolfson Theatre, New Academic Building, LSE

‘Ordinary Streets’ is a short film based on an ethnographic and visual exploration of the spaces, economies and cultures of ‘street’. Through the lens of Rye Lane in Peckham in south London, the film engages with issues of migration, urban multiculture and regeneration.

Myfanwy Taylor from Just space will provide a commentary on the film.

‘Ordinary Streets’ is a film by Sophie Yetton, based on research led by Suzi Hall at LSE Cities.

The film screening will be followed by a drinks reception, which will take place directly outside the Wolfson Theatre.

– For further details of the research, please go to the ‘Ordinary Streets’ project page.

– For details about our latest ESRC research across streets in Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester and Leicester, please go to the ‘Super-diverse Streets’ project page.

– For full details on the launch event please see the ‘Ordinary Streets’ event page.

Image: Rye Lane, Peckham (Photo Credit: Nicholas Palominos, Ordinary Streets, LSE Cities, 2012)

University of Westminster BAIA 'Selfie Series' project

selfie at the West India Quay/Canary Wharf and Stratford by 3rd Year student Marilyn Masen

The 2nd and 3rd Year design students started the term off with a charrette that had to do with the theme of 'being a tourist in your own city.' They were asked to visit a place in London that they hadn't previously and document that through a series of selfies. The selfies were meant to reconsider the conventional selfie to not only show themselves but also an embodied experience of place. 

 You can see the results here.

University of Westminster 2015-16 Autumn Term 'Open Lectures' announced

Sharp Centre for Design by Alsop Architects (Will Alsop lecturing 15th Oct.)

Technical Studies ‘Open Lectures’ Autumn Term 2015-2016


Thursday 8th Oct, 6.30pm - Michael Ramage - University of Cambridge

Thurdsay 15th Oct, 6.30pm - Prof William Alsop – ALL DESIGN

Thursday 22nd Oct, 6.30pm - Sang Hoon Kim – Populous

Thursday 29th Oct, 6.30pm - Theodore Spyropoulous – Director of Minimaforms & AADRL

Thursday 5th Nov, 6.30pm - Esther Rivas Adrover

Thursday 12th Nov - Play Week / Special event organised by Sean Griffiths

Thursday 19th Nov, 6.30pm - Johannes Torpe – Creative Director for Bang & Olufsen

Thursday 26th Nov - Inaugural Professorial Lecture

Thursday 3rd Dec, 6.30pm - Gerry O'Brien – AKT II Engineers

Thursday 10th Dec, 6.30pm - Peter Barber – Peter Barber Architects

Thursday 17th Dec, 6.30pm - Andrew Watts - Newtecnic