On with the show ...

You are cordially invited to the exhibition of the work of our new MA graduates at RIBAhub Manchester. The exhibition features the work of

Robert Aspray MA
Carrie Bayley MA with Distinction
Neven Buric MA
Luke Butcher MA with Distinction
Stephen Gingell MA
Christina Gregoriou MA
Rongxiao Han MA
Angad Kasliwal MA
Anastassia Kolpokova MA
Jonas Komka MA
Meliz Kusadali MA
Natalie Macbride MA
Laleh Mohammad Zadeh Faida Pour MA
Jack O'Reilly MA with Distinction
Supriya Pundlik MA
Ketkibharat Tendolkar MA
Kathryn Timmins MA with Distinction
Preeya Vadgama MA with Distinction
Chen Xu MA

and runs between 29 September and 14 October. There will be an open evening on Tuesday 4 October at RIBAhub and the exhibition is a part of the MMU Faculty of Art and Design MA Show 2011

Lost in space

The new 2011 cohort for MA A+U begin their year immersing themselves in the forgotten and forgettable urban spaces of Manchester. With the recent award of the Carbuncle Cup to Salford's very own MediaCityUK now is the time to propose new configurations for the public realm.

Architecture + Urbanism recommends 'Forgotten Spaces Sheffield'

All that media fuss about stars of 'The Wire' reunited in Othello at The Crucible Sheffield shouldn't distract from the exhibition of shortlisted entries for the recent Forgotten Spaces Sheffield competition also on display in the theatre between 15 September and 8 October. Entries exhibited include Pigs Bees and Bells by the equally reunited 'retired group' of David Britch, Eamonn Canniffe and Stephen Martlew.

A press release from competition and exhibition organisers Sheffield Hallam University is available here

MA Architecture + Urbanism 2011 Degree Show

With the examination process over for another year (and with an 100% success rate) the new graduates of the MA A+U course will be exhibiting their work at RIBA Hub Manchester between 29 September - 14 October. There will be an open evening on Tuesday October 4.

Architecture + Urbanism recommends 'Postmodernism: Style and Subversion 1970-1990'

Postmodernism: Style and Subversion 1970-1990

at the Victoria and Albert Museum London 23 September 2011- 15 January 2012

Of all movements in art and design history, postmodernism is perhaps the most controversial. This era defies definition, but it is a perfect subject for an exhibition. Postmodernism was an unstable mix of the theatrical and theoretical. It was visually thrilling, a multifaceted style that ranged from the colourful to the ruinous, the ludicrous to the luxurious.

What they all had in common was a drastic departure from modernism’s utopian visions, which had been based on clarity and simplicity. The modernists wanted to open a window onto a new world. Postmodernism, by contrast, was more like a broken mirror, a reflecting surface made of many fragments. Its key principles were complexity and contradiction. It was meant to resist authority, yet over the course of two decades, from about 1970 to 1990, it became enmeshed in the very circuits of money and influence that it had initially sought to dismantle.

Postmodernism shattered established ideas about style. It brought a radical freedom to art and design, through gestures that were often funny, sometimes confrontational and occasionally absurd. Most of all, postmodernism brought a new self-awareness about style itself.

Architecture + Urbanism recommends 'Designing Place'

Designing Place - International Urban Design Conference

5th & 6th April 2012

Designing Place is an International Urban Design Conference organised by the Urban Design Research Group at the Department of Architecture and Built Environment, The University of Nottingham.

Over the past twenty years, place has emerged as the key concept for urban design. The concept of place is loosely defined as the interrelationship between the formal and spatial organisation of buildings, groups of buildings, streets, spaces and landscapes; the activities taking place within it and the meaning associated with it. The agency assigned to each of these components of place varies according to different traditions of thought and design theory. By definition, the triad of space, activity and meaning cannot be captured in a fixed theoretical framework.

The conference seeks to revisit and clarify place as a concept for current urban design theory and practice. It invites papers that examine the definition, scope and instrumentality of place as a tool for design.

Keynote Speakers:

Amanda Reynolds, Chair of the Urban Design Group

Ali Madanipour, Professor of Urban Design, Newcastle University

Themes:

• Theoretical definitions and the conceptual components of place

• Methodological studies that suggest a form of analysis or pedagogy

• Case studies that examine the specificities of place

Contributions will be organised in thematic sessions. Selected texts will be published in an accompanying book.

Submissions:

Abstracts should not be longer than 400 words, and sent by e-mail as Word (doc) or Adobe Acrobat (pdf) files to katharina.borsi@nottingham.ac.uk by 30th September 2011. Abstract proposals will be reviewed by the conference advisory board. Abstracts need to indicate:

• Paper Title
• Name, Surname and Affiliation of all authors
• 150 words biography of all authors
• Email address for corresponding author
• Keywords

Architecture + Urbanism recommends 'City Futures: New Perspectives on Placemaking'

Sheffield Hallam University is hosting a conference on 22 September 2011 entitled

City Futures: New Perspectives on Placemaking

The conference is being held in conjunction with the award ceremony for the RIBA Forgotten Spaces of Sheffield competition