An Open Call

The students of the MA Architecture + Urbanism invite contributors to participate in their forthcoming symposium FRONTIERS OF RESPONSIVE ARCHITECTURE to be held in summer 2016. If you feel that your Research / Practice responds to the mission statement outlined below we would love to hear about it from you.

Submission requirements:

300 word abstract in English

2 Images of the work (Max file size 5 mb)

100 word brief biography of the authors

Contact details

Email: frontiersaandu@gmail.com

Deadline: 6th december 2015

In a world where urban inequality presents itself as an insurmountable problem there is no question that a transformation of our cities is needed. Can we continue to live our lives in naïve serenity and rely on our local and national governments to change these circumstances? What role does architecture play in this dilemma?

Urban challenges of underutilized space and irrational overbuilding have created a global divide for shelter which should be addressed with resourcefulness. To build homes quickly, local materials and plans for shelter need to be identified before an emergency arises. The potential for future re-use should always be considered. Is this agenda a sufficiently high priority for architects?

An initiative towards innovative but reliable architecture offers one solution. To simplify the conflict between social need and the existing infrastructure requires a mobilisation of solidarity. Should we be standing at the front of this battle not as reporters but as engaged architects addressing issues of resilient urban design?

Architecture + Urbanism recommends 'James Corner: Intimate Immensity - Public Space in the City'

A Landscape Architecture Open Lecture at Manchester School of Architecture

Tuesday 17 November 2015
5.30pm—7.30pm

Lecture Theatre BZ403
Benzie Building
Boundary St West / Higher Ormond St
Manchester
M15 6BR


James Corner is a leading-edge landscape architect and founder of James Corner Field Operations, based in New York City. He is also professor of landscape and urbanism at the University of Pennsylvania School of Design. His work has been recognized with the National Design Award, the Architecture Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the D&AD Black Pencil Award.

As an alumnus of the MMU landscape department, James returns to Manchester to discuss current ideas about the design of vibrant urban public spaces, the importance of seeing cities as landscapes, and the capacity for landscape to create new forms of city-making. He will present his designs for New York’s High Line, Santa Monica’s Tongva Park and London’s South Park at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, among other innovative public realm projects around the world.

His new book, THE HIGH LINE, published by Phaidon, will be available for signing after the talk and can be ordered at a 35% discount on registration.


Tickets

Please book your ticket online using the links on the msa.ac.uk website

Manchester School of Architecture Students only
Free Admission — Get your ticket on Eventbrite

Other Students and External Visitors
£10 Admission — Please pay using BuyOnline

MA A+U Dissertation Titles 2015-16

Karan Gandhi: SMART CITIES OR HAPPY CITIES?

Yuxin Tian: LIVERPOOL - DECLINE AND SPRAWL

Wenyi Huang: MANCHESTER'S ARCHITECTURAL CONTRASTS

Yuchen Qin: VANISHING CITY - MEMORY AND MONUMENTS

Rayan Almaghrbi: TALL BUILDING FUTURES

Xiaoyu Wen: WATERFRONT REGIONAL PLANNING

Xiaojun Wang THE DEVELOPMENT OF POST-COLONIAL ARCHITECTURE IN SHANGHAI

Peiyi Zhang: CHINA'S BUILDING BOOM AND ITS CONSEQUENCES

Selma Ayduz: THE EVOLUTION OF TURKISH HOUSING SINCE THE OTTOMAN PERIOD

Daqing Xu: INDUSTRIAL DESIGN AND CONTEMPORARY ARCHITECTURE

Moyang Liu: MISREAD AND MISUSED - WHAT IS NATURE IN ARCHITECTURE?

Yibo Gao: COUNTERMEASURES, BACKSTREET VITALITY AND RESIDENTIAL NEIGHBOURHOODS

Ewa Effiom: PLACEMAKING AND THE COMMODIFICATION OF URBAN SPACE

Announcing the Sixth International MA Architecture + Urbanism Symposium FRONTIERS OF RESPONSIVE ARCHITECTURE 2016

MA A+U are very pleased to announce the theme of the 2016 International Symposium

Frontiers of Responsive Architecture

In a world where urban inequality presents itself as insurmountable problem there is no question that a transformation of our cities is needed. Can we continue to live our lives in naïve serenity and rely on our local and national governments to change these circumstances? What roles does architecture play in this dilemma?

Urban challenges of underutilized space and irrational overbuilding have created a global divide for shelter which should be addressed with resourcefulness. To build homes quickly, local materials and plans for shelter need to be identified before an emergency arises. The potential for future re-use should always be considered. Is this agenda a sufficiently high priority for architects?

An initiative towards innovative but reliable architecture offers one solution. To simplify the conflict between social need and the existing infrastructure requires a mobilisation of solidarity. Should we be standing at the front of this battle not as reporters but as engaged architects addressing issues of resilient urban design?



Frontiere per un’Architettura Responsiva

In un mondo nel quale la disparità urbana sembra essere un problema insormontabile, non c’è dubbio che le nostre città debbano trovare un modo per evolversi.

Possiamo continuare a vivere le nostre vite serenamente ed ingenuamente e affidarci al governo locale e nazionale per dare una svolta a questa situazione? Quale è il ruolo dell’architettura in questo dilemma?

Sfide urbane di spazio sotto-utilizzato e di eccessiva costruzione irrazionale di nuovi edifici hanno creato una divisione globale per quanto riguarda il concetto di ‘rifugio’. Questa situazione deve essere trattata con ingegno. Prima che scoppi una vera e propria emergenza, dobbiamo trovare un modo per costruire case velocemente, utilizzando materiali locali e pianificando la creazione di ‘rifugi’, sempre considerando la possibilità per un riutilizzo futuro. È questo un programma di sufficiente primaria importanza per gli architetti?

Un’iniziativa per un’architettura innovativa ma affidabile potrebbe essere una soluzione. Per semplificare il conflitto fra necessità sociale e infrastrutture esistenti bisogna creare una mobilizzazione solidale. Non dovremmo forse essere in prima linea non come giornalisti, ma come architetti dedicati a risolvere il problema di una progettazione urbana resiliente?



Symposium website www.fora2016.wordpress.com where further information will be posted as it becomes available

Architecture + Urbanism recommends 'The World of Charles + Ray Eames'

THE WORLD OF CHARLES + RAY EAMES

On show at Barbican Art Gallery, London until 14 February 2016

Charles and Ray Eames are among the most influential designers of the 20th century. Enthusiastic and tireless experimenters, this husband and wife duo moved fluidly between the fields of photography, film, architecture, exhibition-making, and furniture and product design.

The Eames Office was a hub of activity where the Eameses and their collaborators produced an array of pioneering designs, communicating their ideas with a boundless creativity that defined their careers. The Eameses embraced the joy of trial and error and approached design as a way of life.

From personal letters, photographs, drawings and artwork, to their products, models, multi-media installations and furniture, 'The World of Charles + Ray' includes not only the designs for which they are best known, but provides an insight into the lives of the Eameses, the Eames Office and the breadth of their pioneering work, bringing their ideas and playful spirit to life.

Architecture + Urbanism recommends 'RUSKIN / ROCKS'

Ruskin/Rocks: Architecture and the Geology of Morals
Professor Andrew Ballantyne, University of Newcastle upon Tyne

Benzie 403
Manchester School of Art
5.30pm 20 October 2015

Drawing on his new book on JOHN RUSKIN Professor Ballantyne examines a crucial aspect of Ruskin’s thinking: the notion that art and architecture have moral value. Telling the story of Ruskin’s childhood and enduring devotion to his parents—who fostered his career as a writer on art and architecture—he explores the circumstances that led to Ruskin’s greatest works, such as 'Modern Painters', 'The Seven Lamps of Architecture', 'The Stones of Venice', and 'Unto This Last'. He follows Ruskin through his altruistic ventures with the urban poor, to whom he taught drawing, motivated by a profound conviction that art held the key to living a worthwhile life. Ultimately, Ballantyne weaves Ruskin’s story into a larger one about Victorian society, a time when the first great industrial cities took shape and when art could finally reach beyond the wealthy elite and touch the lives of everyday people.

Where are they now? Seen in 'New Light'!

2015 MA A+U graduate David Chandler has been shortlisted to exhibit his close reading of the urban structure of Stockport 'LITTLE UNDERBANK' in the forthcoming 'New Light: Real Northern Art' exhibition which is on show at The Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle 17 October 2015 - 7 February 2016. The acrylic on canvas painting (127 x 305 cm) records the view from David's window in the Manchester School of Art Marketplace Studios in Stockport, and represented his research process for his Master's thesis, uncovering hidden aspects of the town, a theme which chimes with the intention of the exhibition. As one of its judges, Laura Gascoigne, commented: “True to its name, New Light is a revelation. None of the open exhibitions I’ve judged in the past has tapped into such a pool of undiscovered talent. There are always a few established artists whose work one recognises, but nearly all the artists here were new to me and there were several I was astonished – and rather ashamed – not to have come across. I hope this exposure will make them more visible in future. The sheer variety of work, at all levels, was heartening – it bolstered my faith in the vigour of British painting.”

Following its run at the Bowes Museum, the exhibition tours to the Mercer Gallery in Harrogate, and finally the Panter and Hall Fine Art Gallery, London.

The exhibition website is http://newlight-art.org.uk/