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The Impact of Globalisation on Architecture and Architectural Ethics

Published on December 21, 2011 in Book, Headline and Newsletter. 0 Comments

The Impact of Globalisation on Architecture and Architectural Ethics by Faida Noori Salim  is now available as part of  The Constructed Environment series.

The development of globalisation, both economically and financially, has promoted the flow of both information and people. Globalisation is seen as an outcome of advancing communication technology and the development of the Internet, which subsequently encouraged international interdependence and the compression of time and space. This book is devoted to answering the question: In what way does the impact of globalisation affect the role of architecture, and how should it be interpreted ethically? This book argues that the ethical evaluation of the role of architecture should be linked to architecture’s natural ethical responsibility to form a relationship with a culture. Today, iconic architectural forms and celebrity architects lead the innovation/transformation process, while the “ordinary” practice of architecture leads the innovation/stabilization process using the differentiation/integration dynamic. Architectural theory advances the use of the interpretation/reinterpretation dynamic in architecture, which helps to destabilise meaning in architectural language. When this theory is transcribed to real world architecture, it can result in the alienation of the physical horizons of cities and thus in the alienation of its citizens.

Faida Noori Salim is an Assistant Professor. She graduated from the University of Baghdad in June 1975 and obtained her Master’s Degree in Architectural Studies at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) in May 1984. She has taught in three Departments of Architecture in Iraq: The University of Baghdad, The University of Mosul, and the University of Technology. She studied for her Doctoral degree at the University of Auckland in New Zealand and graduated in March 2011.

Cultural Sustainability and Changing Worldview: Dilemmas of Architecture and the Built Form

Published on November 9, 2011 in Book, Headline and Newsletter. 0 Comments

 

Cultural Sustainability and Changing Worldview: Dilemmas of Architecture and the Built Form by Faida Noori Salim  is now available as part of  The Constructed Environment series.

“Network societies” will never replace traditional communities. In today’s evolving global culture, the issues of cultural sustainability, identity, and belonging are being challenged. At the heart of this challenge is the difficulty of individuals’ spatial and social assimilation. Looking back, architecture and the constructed urban form have always faced dilemmas that continue to challenge communities. Thus, the challenge facing the traditional mechanisms of belonging is an urgent matter and is presented as a dilemma due to the transitional nature of today’s time period. Individuals as users and as architects need to rediscover the secure home and place, without which no community can be sustained.

This book discusses Baghdad as an example of a city whose cultural stability was challenged over a short period of time, and should serve as a reminder to other cities of the importance of stability and belonging. The flow of information affects the flow of people’s inner space, which can no longer be thought of as internally controlled, and architecture should be aware of such changes and the dilemma it creates for the occupation of space. It concludes that architecture and the built form cannot afford to continue on its current path if society aims at sustaining its cultural and social capital. This is especially evident in the fact that architecture is closely linked to power, which has an important role in the stability of communities and their cultures.

The role of iconic architecture’s transition to sovereign architecture plays an important role in changing the norms of the built form and asserting new rules. Thus, the role of the architect’s responsibility becomes increasingly important, and the question of good faith and freedom becomes central in relation to the ethical role of the architect and architecture in the social system.

Call for Journal Editor

Published on August 30, 2011 in Headline, Journal and Newsletter. 0 Comments

The International Journal of the Constructed Environment seeks an editor, or team of editors, for a one-year term. This is an opportunity to make a significant contribution to what we believe will become one of the leading journals in its field, the journal’s associated conference and, more broadly, the knowledge-community which the journal and conference seek to serve.

The roles of the editor are to:

  • write an introduction for the Journal volume which would be included in the first issue for the year, and possibly on the website, the newsletter and other appropriate places or for the purposes of marketing and promotion.
  • collate papers addressing a theme of the editor’s choosing into a book, to be launched at the conference at the completion of the editor’s term. The chapters may be drawn from submissions to the journal during this or recent years, and other material as considered appropriate.
  • actively solicit manuscripts for the Journal from well-known and notable members of the community—these would could be refereed if the author wished, or regarded as ‘invited papers’.
  • assist the Commissioning Editor with suggestions of supplementary peer reviewers for specific papers (and this will never be burdensome – note that the Commissioning Editor of the Journal finalizes a majority of the peer reviewer requirements based on thematic matching and ‘mutual obligation’ principles in which all author requested to review up to three other papers).
  • promote the journal throughout their network and other associated networks.
  • maintain regular communications with the community via periodical blog posts to the community website (which feeds automatically to our email newsletter, Facebook and Twitter).

The editor will be offered a complimentary electronic subscription to the Journal, free copies of the book which they edit, an electronic subscription to the book series as well as complimentary registrations to attend the conferences at the beginning and end of their term.

Qualifications

The Editor of the Journal must possess the following attributes:

  • They will have successfully obtained higher degree, and have academic teaching and scholarly research experience in an area related to the subject matter of the Journal.
  • They will have published in this or other comparable scholarly journals.

Applicants are asked to send:

  1. a cover letter outlining their interest and relevant experience, and the ways in which you would propose to enhance the profile of the journal
  2. a curriculum vitae
  3. a special theme outline: a title with paragraph explanation.

Please send applications and supporting documentation to journals@constructedenvironment.com.

The deadline for applications is 26 September 2011.

Slought Foundation Exec Director, Aaron Levy, to speak in Chicago

Published on June 30, 2011 in Headline and Newsletter. 0 Comments

Aaron Levy is the Executive Director and Chief Curator of Slought Foundation, and lectures in the English and History of Arts Departments at the University of Pennsylvania. He will present a plenary session at the Second International Conference on the Constructed Environment, 29-30 October 2011 in Chicago, USA.

He recently completed a PhD at the University of Leeds on the cultural politics of display at the Venice Architecture Biennale, where he co-curated the exhibition “Into the Open” for the US Pavilion (2008) and then co-edited “Architecture on Display: On the living history of the Venice Architecture Biennale”for the Architectural Association (2010). His current activities at Slought Foundation have developed reflexively in response to local and global conditions, and are situated at the intersection of art, social theory, and advocacy. More…

Erik Hemingway, Associate Professor at UIUC and principal at hemingway+a/studio, to speak at Constructed Environment Conference, Chicago

Published on June 30, 2011 in Headline and Newsletter. 0 Comments

Erik M. Hemingway is an Associate Professor in the School of Architecture at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and principal/artist at hemingway+a/studio, based in Chicago. He will be presenting a plenary presentation at the Second International Conference on the Constructed Environment, 29-30 October 2011 in Chicago, USA.

Erik M Hemingway’s projects have been internationally recognized with awards over the last two decades in such publications as architecture, Architectural Record, Global Architecture and *surface in addition to recent inclusion to the 2009 Hong Kong & Shenzhen Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism and Architecture. Previous to establishing his critical practice, he worked in the offices of Arquitectonica and the Pritzker Laureate Zaha M. Hadid. hemingway+a/studio is now based in Chicago located in a Mies van der Rohe tower that serves as a space for his current design research. He also teaches design in the School of Architecture at the University of Illinois, Urbana- Champaign where he was the 2006 Faculty Excellence Hire. More…

Ryan E. Smith of the Integrated Technology in Architecture Center (ITAC) to speak in Chicago

Published on June 11, 2011 in Headline and Newsletter. 0 Comments

Ryan E. Smith is an Associate Professor and Director of an interdisciplinary research group dedicated to lean and sustainable design and construction inquiry called the Integrated Technology in Architecture Center (ITAC). He will be presenting his plenary presentation titled ‘Constructed Economies and Ecologies’ at the Second International Conference on the Constructed Environment, 29-30 October 2011 in Chicago, USA.

He is a researcher, educator, author and speaker on the integration paradigm and building technology. He is author of Prefab Architecture: a guide to modular design and construction (Wiley, 2010) and co-editor of Building Systems: design technology & society (Routledge, 2012). He serves as the educational chair on the AIA Center for Integrated Practice Leadership Group, and is a member of the Lean Construction Institute. He is currently President of the Building Technology Educators’ Society (BTES), an academic group of building technology and building science educators. More…

Announcing–2011 Constructed Environment Conference, Chicago

Published on November 30, 2010 in Headline and Newsletter. 0 Comments

We are pleased to be holding the Second International Conference on the Constructed Environment at the University Center, Chicago, USA from 29-30 October 2011.

Updates and announcements on plenary speakers, the conference dinner and tours, and the program will all be shared with the Constructed Environment Community. Join our online conversation by subscribing to our monthly email newsletter and subscribing to our Facebook, RSS, or Twitter feeds at http://constructedenvironment.com/.

We are looking forward to receiving your proposal for the Call for papers and hope you will be able to join us in October 2011 in Chicago!

Now Available–Conference Dinner at Venice’s Restaurant Corte Sconta

Published on September 25, 2010 in Headline and Newsletter. 0 Comments

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The 2010 Constructed Environment Conference delegates and plenary speakers will gather together for the conference dinner on Thursday, 18 November at Restaurant Corte Sconta in Venice.

The Corte Sconta is now an important point of reference on the Venetian restaurant scene. Quality and freshness are ensured by using strictly seasonal products, attentively served in a space more geared to function than to form.

The meal will include their acclaimed antipasti, fresh vegetables and local seafood delivered daily, handmade pasta made fresh each day, along with a delicate desert. Their special house blend of Prosecco will also be served during the course of meal. The entire meal will offer you a pleasant memory and yet another reason for coming back to Venice.

To reserve your place at the dinner, or for more information, please visit the Activities & Extras webpage.

René Davids FAIA, UC Berkeley School of Architecture, to give plenary in Venice, Italy

Published on September 21, 2010 in Headline and Newsletter. 0 Comments

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Professor René Davids will be joining the 2010 Constructed Environment Conference as a plenary speaker this November at its annual conference in Venice, Italy, held alongside the 12th International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale.

René Davids, FAIA (born Santiago, Chile) received his bachelor of architecture degree from the Universidad de Chile and on a British Council Fellowship, a master’s degree in environmental design from the Royal College of Art in London. He headed a Diploma School Unit at the Architectural Association School for eight years and also taught at the Royal College of Art and the Macintosh School in Glasgow. Before becoming Professor of Architecture and Urban Design at the UC Berkeley School of Architecture, he taught architecture at the University of California, San Diego, the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile in Santiago and the University of New Mexico. René Davids is Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and a member of the Colegio de Arquitectos de Chile. He was awarded a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship and a Progressive Architecture Award for research on the hillside elevators of Valparaíso, Chile and is currently working on a book that examines the relationship between technology, topography and urbanism in selected North and South American cities. More…

Kathryn H. Anthony announced as plenary speaker–Constructed Environment Conference, Venice, Italy

Published on August 31, 2010 in Headline and Newsletter. 0 Comments

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Kathryn H. Anthony, the newest addition to the 2010 Constructed Environment Conference plenary schedule, is the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, School of Architecture’s longest serving female faculty member, its only female Full Professor, the first woman to have served as Chair of the Design Program Faculty and as Chair of the Building Research Council. She holds the lifetime title of Distinguished Professor from the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA). She received national awards from the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the ACSA, and the Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA). She holds a Ph.D. in architecture and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of California at Berkeley.

The author of Designing for Diversity: Gender, Race, and Ethnicity in the Architectural Profession (2001, 2008), Design Juries on Trial: The Renaissance of the Design Studio (1991)and over 100 publications, Dr. Anthony has served as a spokesperson about gender issues in architecture on ABC World News with Diane Sawyer, National Public Radio (NPR), The Chicago Tribune, The Economist, The Los Angeles Times, Time.com, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and elsewhere. The New York Times (April 13, 2009) featured her words as the ‘Quotation of the Day’. More on Kathryn H. Anthony…

Also, more on the 2010 Constructed Environment Conference plenary speakers…