Canada

Join acclaimed Canadian architect Bruce Kuwabara as he discusses the influence of professor emeritus and former Daniels Faculty dean George Baird (by whom he was taught and for whom he once worked) on his approach to architecture and the public realm and on how it has informed the practice and work of KPMB Architects, the firm Kuwabara co-founded in the 1980s. In his lecture, Kuwabara will present KPMB buildings and projects that demonstrate how architecture contributes to the formation and vibrancy of the city while addressing the most pressing issues of our time, including climate change, affordability, mental health and reconciliation.

Join Harvard GSD professor Charles Waldheim for a discussion based on Technical Lands: A Critical Primer, which he co-edited with Jeffrey S. Nesbit. The book, published this year by JOVIS, assembles authors from a diverse array of disciplines, geographical specializations and epistemological traditions to interrogate and theorize the meaning and increasing significance of technical lands—spaces united by their “exceptional” characteristics, such as remote locations, delimited boundaries, secured accessibility and hyper-vigilant management.

Co-edited by Christina E. Crawford, the Daniels Faculty’s Claire Zimmerman and the late Jean-Louis Cohen, the recently published book Detroit-Moscow-Detroit: An Architecture for Industrialization, 1917-1945 examines spatial development, manufacturing, mass production and organizational planning across geopolitical lines in the 20th Century, exploring how capitalist and communist built environments were co-produced in a period of intense technical exchange. Also among its contributors, Crawford and Zimmerman will be in attendance to discuss their participation in the book as well as selected themes. The event is dedicated to the memory of fellow contributor Jean-Louis Cohen.

Assembled from the private collection of Singapore-based RT+Q Architects, this exhibition showcasing the buildings of Le Corbusier (1887-1965) features dozens of scaled models of the iconic Swiss-French architect’s work. Through the years, it has been a tradition at RT+Q for interns to spend their first week studying and building a model of a Le Corbusier project, the aim being to acquaint them with his diverse design legacy. This exhibition will run in the LWR Gallery until November 17.

Join architect Nzinga Biegueng Mboup, principal of the Dakar-based practice WOROFILA, for a lecture on designing and building in the Senegalese context, with references to its climate, culture, traditions and unique “concrete modernity.” Mboup will address working with biomaterials, passive design strategies, her various cultural projects, and her research and collaborations. A Q&A session will follow.

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.