Past Events

The History and Heritage of Post-war Council Estates

Bishop Grossteste University College, Lincoln

June 30 2011

Event web site

Post-war council estates are now more than fifty years old, and have acquired their own histories and heritage. The architecture and design, planning and development, demographic profile and cultural perceptions of such estates have evolved. Approaches to the preservation of post-war structures and shifts in housing tenure legislation are among those politically-charged factors affecting the rate of change.

This event will discuss interdisciplinary approaches to studying the past and present of post-war council estates in various parts of Britain. The estates of Lincoln will be one feature. Lincoln was one of the relatively larger and earlier providers of twentieth-century municipal housing outside of the major cities and conurbations.

Themes:

• Architecture, design and landscape planning

• Belonging, space and place

• Community history, archiving and local engagement

• Social trends, policy and practice

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Rethinking Holy Space Symposium

Research Symposium. All welcome.

Berrick Saul Auditorium, University of york

June 22 2011

Jas Elsner and Alexei Lidov on Rethinking Holy Space

 

2.00-5.00 p.m.

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Holy Space and the Senses

Graduate Seminar with Professor Alexei Lidov (Moscow State University)

Berrick Saul Auditorium, University of York

June 01 2011

All welcome-- especially graduate students!

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FLOW: a conference in two parts

Kingston University, London

May 12 2011 - May 13 2011

Event web site

For bookings and further information please visit: www.kingston.ac.uk/flowconference

The Dorich House Conference hosted by the Modern Interiors Research Centre and the Landscape Interface Studio, Kingston University in collaboration with Queensland University of Technology, Australia

Lawley Lecture Theatre, Kingston Hill Campus

Keynote speakers
Sandy Isenstadt, University of Delaware
Joel Sanders, Architect

‘FLOW: a conference in two parts’ will address issues of the complex relationships between interiors and landscape, which have become increasingly relevant to the understanding of the modern interior. In 2011, FLOW 1 will take a historical perspective covering the period from the late nineteenth century to the present day. Queensland University of Technology will host FLOW 2 in Brisbane, Australia in February 2012, with the aim of developing themes that emerge from the London conference.

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Situating Architecture: A Book Launch

Council Room, 1st floor, King’s College London, Strand Campus, WC2R 2LS

May 03 2011

Event web site

You are welcome to the launch of two books recently published about the social context of architectural practice. The event will include presentations by the authors, a response by Professor Jeremy Till, followed by an open discussion.

The event is chaired by Professor Robert Adam, Adam Architecture. The event will start at 18.00 and wine and refreshments will be served from 19.30 onwards.

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The Right to the City

Call For Papers: Architectural Theory Review Special Issue

May 03 2011 - May 03 2011

Call for Papers: The Right to the City

The Right to The City is an exhibition and publishing project exploring connections between architecture, art, philosophy and action; cosponsored by Tin Sheds Gallery at the University of Sydney and Architectural Theory Review. The Right to the City special issue will bring together papers that particularly consider architecture’s potential for reimagining urban life (to be published as Volume 16, Number 3, November 2011).

The Right to the City takes as its starting point David Harvey’s polemical article that asserted urban existence as a contested part of modern democracy: “The freedom to make and remake our cities and ourselves is, I want to argue, one of the most precious yet most neglected of our human rights”.  Given widespread, acute anxiety regarding our environmental predicament, coupled with attention to the world’s intensifying urbanisation, many artists, activists, planners and architects are seeking ways to “remake” the city in more socially connected and sustainable ways. These activities are often engaged with negotiating the increasing fragmentation and complexity of the contemporary city; developing critical spatial practices that engage in micro-political actions.

 

Architecture as a Social Catalyst

Recent decades have seen the emergence of a renewed sense of commitment by many architects to the idea of socially responsible architecture; what might be termed “engaged practice”. This commitment is frequently directed toward small-scale approaches of direct engagement, where the focus is on collaboration with clients and users to create community resources. Although this emphasis on collaboration and participation is familiar from socially engaged movements of the past, the architects are often at pains to distance themselves from grand manifestos or utopian theories. Rather than model design solutions addressed at a unified social entity the projects (often temporary) are highly contingent and beholden to their specific contexts. A shift in attitude might be discerned, where a broad “utopian” agenda is set aside for provisional solutions in the here and now – a commitment to a “radical pragmatism” attentive to the possibilities of addition, transformation and utilisation more than demolition, subtraction or replacement.

At the same time, this engaged turn in architecture frequently intersects with a contemporary convergence of site-specific, installation, community and public art, and political activism. Such practices – given terms such as “context-specific”, “site-oriented”, “site-responsive” or “socially-engaged” – often have a discernable emphasis on “microtopic” urban interventions. Adopting do-it-yourself (and design-it-yourself) approaches, temporary constructions, and the material organization of communicative situations, they overlap with engaged architectural practices in their concern for modeling alternative ways of communally inhabiting the city. They also share an emphasis on dialogical relationships through design processes that privilege working with others: interactive activities, collective action and participatory practices. Contingent, interactive, place specific, models of possible universes; they strive to imagine and invent positive social relations and better ways of dwelling in the world.

With these tendencies and convergences in mind, we invite papers that explore architecture’s contemporary role and potential for urban intervention - its capacity for transformative action. With reference to the above, we are particularly keen to receive submissions that reflect on:

-            Architecture’s agency in the city;

-            Alternative or expanded models for architectural practice;

-            Intersections of architecture, art and activism;

-            The limits of participation and collaboration in engaged architectural practice.

 

Completed manuscripts should be submitted to Architectural Theory Review by the 3^rd of May, 2011, via the journal’s website:

http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/13264826.asp

 

Queries regarding the special issue or The Right to the City project should be directed to Lee Stickells: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

 

 

 

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