Designer and historian David Gissen discusses themes from his recent book re-examining architectural history through the lens of disability.
By re-contextualizing the history of architecture through the discourse of disability, David Gissen’s 2023 book The Architecture of Disability: Buildings, Cities, and Landscapes beyond Access challenges current modes of architectural practice, theory and education by proposing architecture that fully integrates disabled persons into its production. Both the author and book look beyond traditional notions of accessibility and show how certain incapacities can help to positively reimagine the roots of architecture. A Q&A session will follow Gissen’s presentation.
Join The University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture for a lecture with Craig Dykers and Elaine Molinar of Snøhetta. In their lecture, “Towards a Peaceable Kingdom,” the UT Austin alums and designers for The Blanton’s New Grounds Project will explore projects that take into account the geological, ecological and cultural layers of a site, considering the many living species beyond our own.
Matsue City is steeped in history, from carefully preserved samurai residences and tea houses to the majestic fortress of Matsue Castle. Completed in 1611, Matsue Castle is one of only a few castles in Japan to retain its original castle keep and is designated a national treasure. At this talk, Matsue Mayor Akihito Uesada illuminates the city’s fascinating samurai history, rich cultural heritage and culinary treasures. The program includes an exclusive viewing of a historical reenactment video of the construction and establishment of Matsue Castle. Previously only available on-site at the Matsue City Museum, this video is being shown for the first time outside Japan—at Japan Society. Attendees will also discover Matsue’s culture first-hand through special on-stage demonstrations by some of the city’s highly skilled craftspeople.
Pierre de Meuron and Jacques Herzog of Herzog & de Meuron.
The Center for Architecture and Design is thrilled to present the 36th Louis I. Kahn Award to Herzog & de Meuron. The 2001 Pritzker Prize-winning Herzog & de Meuron is known for working on projects at every scale – from furniture to territorial studies – and approaching each project without preconceptions Notable examples of their work include the Tate Modern gallery in London, Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Germany National Stadium in Beijing, China, the main stadium for the 2008 Olympics, and Prada Aoyama in Tokyo. In November 2022, the firm broke ground on the much-anticipated Calder Gardens dedicated to the works of Alexander Calder on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia.
Patricia Rhee, a Partner at Ehrlich Yanai Rhee Chaney Architects, has been practicing architecture for 20 years. She received her Master's degree in Architecture from Harvard's Graduate School of Design and received her Bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania. She is a member of the AIA, DBIA and is a LEED Accredited Professional. She is a Board Member of the Culver City Chamber of Commerce and recipient of the 2017 Culver City Women in Business Council Visionary Award. Patricia was also a Founding Co-Chair of the AIA Los Angeles Women in Architecture Committee. In 2015, her firm received the 2015 National AIA Firm Award, one of the industry’s highest honors. Patricia has served as Lead Designer for several of the firm’s most challenging and award-winning projects including the John M. Roll United States Courthouse and the United Arab Emirates’ Federal National Council Parliament Complex. Patricia believes that architecture should facilitate community gathering, bringing people together, encouraging dialog and exchange.
Please come to the Mumford Lecture in-person or virtually!
Emily Badger, the New York Times urban policy writer, will deliver this year's Lewis Mumford Lecture at The City College of New York on Thursday, April 27. Her talk, 6 - 7:30 p.m. in the Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture's Sciame Auditorium, is entitled, "Pressing Change in the Increasing Inflexible City." It will focus on how cities must change as the nation emerges from the pandemic. To watch virtually, a Zoom link is available. Badger writes about cities and urban policy for The Upshot from the Times' Washington bureau where she covers the interconnections between housing, transportation, and inequality. Her Mumford lecture discusses how cities will respond to the changing dynamics of urban life. Buildings that once housed businesses will have to be modified to accommodate the needs of those who will soon live there. Hotels, once temporary lodgings for people on the road, will have to be adapted as single-room-occupancy spaces for those who need permanent addresses. Sidewalks will turn into eateries, and parking lanes will become bus corridors. Increasingly, roads dedicated to cars will be adapted as bicycle paths and walkways for pedestrians.
Humankind is rapidly becoming an urban species, with projected growth of city dwellers quadrupling from 2.3 billion to 9.3 billion between 1980 and 2080. Despite this growth, governments are slow to respond with urban policies that reflect changing demographics.
Mongrel, Pardo’s site-specific installation at the Miami Museum of Art and Design, exploring the immigrant experience
Join The University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture for a lecture with renowned artist and MacArthur Fellow Jorge Pardo, whose work explores the intersection of contemporary painting, design, sculpture, and architecture. The lecture will be followed by an on-stage conversation with Program Director for Interior Design, Igor Siddiqui. Free and open to the public.
German-based architect Matthias Sauerbauch will present a lecture addressing how his design firm has shifted its thinking in the context of ever-increasing climate awareness. Strategies from reduction of CO2 emissions through to computerised building management systems will be explored.
The WAPW Academic Association together with the Faculty of Architecture of the Warsaw University of Technology invite you to the next lecture in the "About Architecture" series. Our guests will be architects Małgorzata Kuciewicz and Simone De Iacobis from the CENTRALA studio. The studio was founded in 2001. It changed for years and today it is created by Małgorzata Kuciewicz and Simone de Iacobis. The goal of the studio is to initiate a debate on architecture, inspire interdisciplinary activities related to architecture and design, and to create artistic projects inviting you to discuss the condition of urban design in Poland. More information can be found at https://fb.me/e/2jNiZEmK7 The lecture will take place on Tuesday, February 28th at 6:00 pm at the Faculty of Architecture. More information will follow soon, so stay tuned!
Since Japan and the West began exchanging ideas in the mid-19th century, Japanese design sensibilities—from elaborate kimono garments and meticulously raked gardens to lavish compositions of ukiyo-e woodblock prints—have had wide appeal across Europe and the United States. Often ornate yet minimalistic, Japanese design embodies numerous visual approaches underpinning the notion of “just right” or “just enough,” known as hodo-hodo. While no single element characterizes the entirety of Japanese design culture, many scholars attribute the spectrum of Japanese design to cultural, social and spiritual practices deeply grounded in Japan’s history that continue to be observed in Japanese design practices today. Featuring a discussion with Taku Satoh, one of Japan’s most critically acclaimed contemporary designers, alongside two internationally recognized authorities on Japanese design sensibilities, Linda Hoaglund (bilingual filmmaker and cultural producer) and Sarah Teasley (Professor of Design, RMIT University), this live webinar will explore the underlying aesthetic and cultural roots essential for understanding the essence of Japanese design.
Karel Klein is an architect and educator who has been working with various AI technologies since 2016. Her ongoing project is an investigation into crossbred image-objects produced using atypically trained GANs (generative adversarial networks) and their capacity for contemporary myth-making in architecture. In the same way that imaginative vocabulary and metaphoric style were primary, if literary instruments for the invention of new mythologies for the Surrealists, the strange and idiosyncratic qualities of images produced using AI are similarly a kind of matter metaphor-ed and made visible by the cyborg imagination. With these tools, Karel is interested in the re-enchantment of the architectural body—one that both foments and succumbs to sensual perceptions, and one that discovers new and unexpected relations to the world beyond the realm of the rational. Her work in this realm has been exhibited at the 2021 Venice Biennale; the FRAC Institute, Orleans, France; Des Lee Gallery, St. Louis; and SCI-Arc Gallery, Los Angeles. Recent essays in pursuit of this work include “Verto Pellis” in Offramp, issue 17; “Machines are Braver than Art” in “Rendering Fiction,” Paprika!, volume 7, issue 8; and “Machines À Rechercher,” in Log 55, summer 2022. Karel teaches currently at Washington University, University of Pennsylvania, UCLA, and the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc).
