School of Art and Design, Aalto University, Helsinki, Finland
May-June 2011

Nordes calls for perspectives on ‘Making Design Matter’. In the 2011 Nordic Design Research Conference, you are invited to present and discuss how design matters today.

Nordes 2011 in Helsinki is the 4th in a series of biannual conferences, which has included conferences in Copenhagen in 2005, Stockholm in 2007 and Oslo in 2009. Organized by Nordes – an open network of people interested in design research in the Nordic countries – the conference is attended by about 200 people and has rapidly been established as an important venue for design research. It serves several constituencies in design, ranging from design studies, history and management to professional design and practice-based research in art, crafts and design.

Participation is also open to people from outside the Nordic countries.

Click here to read the Call for Participation!

AFFIRMATIVE ARCHITECTURE SYMPOSIUM
Friday 20th August & Saturday 21st August 2010
Storey Hall, RMIT University, Melbourne

Affirmative Architecture is a two-day symposium convened by Dr Martyn Hook of the Design Research Institute at RMIT University, Melbourne. The event seeks to define an emergent trend amongst young architects to re-engage with the ability of architecture to make life better.

www.affirmativearchitecture.com

Registration now available on line
$50.00 per day/ $20.00per day Students

Speakers

• Tezuka (Tokyo)
• DSDHA (London)
• Veronika Valk (Estonia)
• NMBW
• m3 Architecture
• muf_aus
• Phooey
• Antarctica
• Terroir
• Pendal & Neille
• Richard Black
• Sue Anne Ware
• iredale pedersen hook.

The symposium draws together international and Australian architects and landscape architects who have demonstrated commitment to a social agenda and have made significant contribution to the public realm. Curated as a series of interactive lectures and panel discussions the speakers will describe their predominately built work and real projects that address real problems. Arguably these young practitioners are revising the Modernist ethos that architecture should provide effective solutions that benefit the community and the individual. In a contemporary context their work deals with positive consideration of social engagement, careful analysis of existing conditions and a deliberate, often challenging architectural response.

Organised in terms of geographic situation the symposium shall explore projects that expand the potential of architectural intervention in the city, the suburbs, the urban fringe, rural towns and remote locations.

Supported by RMIT School of Architecture & Design, Design Research Institute and ar magazine.

First Archicamp: Collaboration and Innovation in Architecture — 19th June 2010, Paris, France

The first Archicamp will be focusing on how collaboration between practices allows to compare each other’s knowledge and point of view to discover new ways to design and live urban spaces.

Architects, innovators, urbanists, landscape designers, sociologists, citizens and students — all are welcome together with their ideas: Archicamp is free to register!

More info on http://archicamp.org/ (en Français, bien sûr!)

Following the success of last years Sustainability Now events which attracted a combined audience of 3,000 professionals, this virtual event will continue to drive the sustainability agenda with a high quality conference programme and fantastic networking opportunities. The event offers the perfect opportunity for professionals working across architecture, engineering, quantity surveying, project management and construction to discuss and collaborate on cost effective sustainability.

For more information contact:

Martin Hurn
E: martin.hurn@ubm.com
T: +44 (0)20 7560 4072
M: +44 (0)7765 221 607

Registration to attend Sustainability Now is now open

Colour and Light in Architecture
International Conference, 11-12 November 2010
University Iuav of Venice, Venice, Italy
Please visit www.iuav.it/colour&light for updated information.

Call for papers deadline: 30 April 2010
Abstracts deadline: 14 June 2010
Full papers deadline (for accepted abstracts): 1 September 2010

Colour and light in architecture is an international two-day scientific conference for those interested in the history, human effects and design of colour and light (natural and artificial) on the built environment. It approaches the themes in their broadest sense, including aesthetics, psychology, history, design, physics, sustainability, emotions, performance and communication. Colour and light in architecture is the first international conference that has a major focus on the contemporary architectural processes related to the culture, design and perception and exposure to both natural and artificial lighting.

The goal is to bring together a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary group of researchers and designers working in this domain so they can meet, share experiences, present research, and exchange ideas.

The conference themes are focused on:

• History, Culture, Aesthetics and Representation of Colour&Light
• Colour&Light Design between Theory and Praxis
• New Technologies for Colour&Light

Colour and/or light at architectural, urban and environmental scale will be examined in depth  by these topics:

1. Historical and/or Contemporary Architecture:

• Historical or Contemporary design
• Restauration, requalification, maintenance, etc…
• Simulation  and Virtualization of Architecture

2. Colour and/or Light Planning and Mapping:

• Urban and Human Environmental Palettes
• Chromatic and/or Lighting Organization in Working Places and Schools
• Signs/Signals (eg. Road signals, Work signals, etc…)

3. Chromatic and/or Lighting Information:

• Archives, Methods and Instruments for Historical and Cultural Memory
• Urban Screens, Environmental Visuals etc.
• New Tools for Information

4. Innovation for Architecture and/or the Environment:

• The actual Production and Application Techniques
• Innovative Technologies and Peak Solutions
• R&D for Sustainable Innovation of Colour&Light

Women, House Design and Domestic Space
London Women and Planning Forum Seminar
Wednesday 24th March 2010, 1.30 – 5.30
City Centre Seminar Room, Department of Geography
Queen Mary, University of London

This half-day seminar focuses on house design and domestic space from a gender perspective. Taking some recent reports and debates on housing space standards as a starting point, the event will consider the historical and contemporary involvement of women in house design, women’s changing needs with regard to domestic spaces, and the implications of a gender perspective when formulating housing and space standards policies.

Speakers:

• Yolande Barnes
  Director – Residential Research, Savills
  Yolande is Director of Research with Savills, the UK’s largest real estate services company, and is also a Director of Design for Homes, a not-for-profit company which champions the value of good residential design, planning and construction.
• Dr Elizabeth Darling
  Senior Lecturer in History of Art, Oxford Brookes University
  Elizabeth works on 20th century British architectural history with a particular interest in inter-war modernism, social housing, and gender.
• David Levitt
  Levitt Bernstein Associates
  Levitt Bernstein is an award-winning architectural practice with a progressive outlook towards design and the development process. David has expertise in the area of space standards and housing design.
• Anne Thorne
  Partner, Anne Thorne Architects Partnership
  Anne has worked as an architect for twenty five years, and has always focused on women’s use of the environment and their participation in its creation both as users and as designers.

Registration: Room 126, Department of Geography, Queen Mary, University of London, Mile End Road, E1 4NS
The seminar is £25 and £10 for concessions. To reserve a place please contact the London Women and Planning Forum administrator, Evelyn Owen at e.owen@qmul.ac.uk or Department of Geography, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, London, E1 4NS.

Co-convened by the Victoria and Albert Museum and Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design at the University of Dundee, the international symposium, ‘Prototype – craft in the future tense‘ will explore the radical and multiple ways that creative people are experimenting with ideas. The symposium looks to excite the mind and nurture unusual conversations by presenting a diverse range of perspectives concerned with innovation and ingenuity.

Prototyping is done in many industries – from cars to ceramics, medical equipment to publishing, architects to chefs – but the process, development and understanding for each is different.  What can one discipline teach another about prototyping? What place does prototyping hold for scientists, artists, politicians, athletes or business managers? How can prototyping lead these and other disciplines to imagine and re-imagine the future?

This event aims to reduce barriers by generating trans-disciplinary conversations, thus setting the scene for the forging of new partnerships and fresh understandings for contemporary and future craftspeople. We hope to bring together representatives from academia, public and corporate sectors to discuss the history, theory and practice of prototyping, thereby creating a sustainable network of like-minded individuals and organisations that will continue to develop prototyping as a tool for change.

Invited speakers include:

• Michael Schrage, Business Innovator, MIT
• Elizabeth Sanders, Participatory Designer, MakeTools
• Stuart Brown, Biomedical Engineer, University of Dundee
• Norman Klein, Novelist & Cultural Critic, California Institute of the Arts
• Simon Starling, Conceptual Artist
• Pieter Jan Stappers, Design Theorist and Innovator, University of Delft
• Hazel White, Interactive Jeweller, University of Dundee
• Leonardo Bonanni, Architect, Designer, Artist, MIT Media Lab
• Frederic Schwartz, Architectural Historian, University College London
• Constance Adams, Space Travel Architect, Synthesis International
• Rosan Chow, Designer, Deutsche Telekom Laboratories
• Chicks on Speed, Musicians, Artists, Innovators

Prototype – Craft in the Future Tense will be acting as the central focus for Craft Festival Scotland, an ambitious series of nationwide events happening throughout the summer of 2010. “Future Craft”, the theme for Dundee’s contribution to the Festival, will portray the different faces of craft and the different voices it has as a creative practice. It will focus on reviving the way people see craft by initiating a range of public events comprising several major exhibitions, films and workshops which are set to challenge perceptions and profile debates around craft.

The University of Dundee has, for the past two years, been at the forefront of the V&A at Dundee Steering Group, with support from Abertay University, Dundee City Council, Scottish Enterprise and the Scottish government. The project, which aims to establish a presence for the Victoria & Albert Museum at the heart of the city’s waterfront, took a massive step forward in August when Michael Russell MSP, Minister for Culture, External Affairs and the Constitution, announced the Scottish Government’s significant commitment of support. An international architecture competition was launched in January of this year for the £47m centre, financial support for which is expected to come from the Scottish government, philanthropic and corporate sponsors via a charitable trust. As the first V&A base outside of London, V&A at Dundee would aim to provide space in which to showcase Scottish applied arts and design in an international context, act as a focus for debate and dialogue for the creative economy, enhance the creative environment for the benefit of the general public and creative education, and create a platform for partnership working in the cultural sector in Scotland.

Online registration is now open, and more information may be found on the event website: http://www.dundee.ac.uk/djcad/prototyping