The ICAA, INTBAU, and the Prince’s Foundation are pleased to announce a collaborative series of high-level online talks on ‘The Architecture of Place’.Perhaps now more than ever before, we are all aware of the built environment that surrounds us, and of the impacts it has on the health of individuals, communities, and the planet. The Architecture of Place series brings together the established and emerging voices working to create a better built future.Running from October through December 2020, this series of seven lectures and discussions was hosted via Zoom and introduced by Michael Lykoudis, Dean Emeritus of the University of Notre Dame School of Architecture. The programs were free and open for public registration, and recorded versions of the programs are being made available to all.
This talk will focus on local forces that influence design, like climate, or the skills of the labor force, or the proximity of materials, or local culture; and larger forces--regional, national, and global--that are in constant tension with local forces. The goal of the talk is to help architects find a good balance between all these competing considerations, but it also addresses a question many of us face, which is whether we have the right--or the professional standing--to work in far-flung places that we don’t know as well as we know our own backyards.Watch Now
Our urban areas are expected to grow one and a half times by 2045, to over six billion city dwellers - with developed land projected to triple. This rapid growth and urbanization is also set against the backdrop of natural resource depletion and climate change. In order to plan sustainable cities and communities within this context it is important to take an interdisciplinary approach – understanding that the way in which we design and build our cities impacts our public health, economy, environment, and our mental and physical wellbeing. This talk will explore the intersection between health and urbanisation and what it means for how we plan and manage our cities.Watch Now
It is difficult to find a country in the world not currently facing a housing crisis. The scale, scope, and nature of the challenge varies from place to place. There is, however, one fundamental reality across the globe: we need to provide more homes, and we need to find the ways to do this that benefit communities without harming the environment.This talk will outline the concept of ‘missing middle housing’ and how traditional methods of design can create better places to live, for everyone.Watch Now
This course will look at the history and lasting legacy of housing segregation in America, intended and unintended. Beyond the past and present, we will discuss potential ideas for addressing these inequities, specifically the nationwide affordable housing crisis, so we might build a stronger future for all communities.
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The world’s urban population is projected to almost double over the next fifty years, and if current settlements trends persist, this would mean a tripling of the urban land mass. Half of that growth is projected in secondary cities and across Commonwealth Countries, with much of it likely to be unplanned. In this session, we will hear from Peter Oborn from the Commonwealth Association of Architects, who has just published a survey of the professions – a critical piece of research exposing how areas of the world that are growing most rapidly often lack any professional built environment resource. Ben Bolgar from the Prince’s Foundation will then present a new mayor’s toolkit designed to assist with planning for rapid urbanisation in places where professional planning resources are scarce. Ben will be followed by Haja Halimah Lukay from Bo City Council, Sierra Leone who will talk about her experience of using the mayor’s toolkit in Bo (where the urban populations is projected to triple in 20 years) and how she and her team have managed to implement the first phase of development control, ‘planning and planting’, within 7 months of starting the process.
A recording of this program will be available soon.
Design that works with, rather than against, its local climate is unquestionably the way of the future. For now, though, climate-responsive design remains something of a novelty, practiced and championed by the few and not the many. If we are to deliver the 230 billion square meters in new construction estimated to be needed between now and 2060 while also reducing the construction industry’s significant contribution towards global carbon emissions, the way we design needs to change, and fast. Fortunately, traditional, vernacular, and indigenous design have many possible solutions ready to be adapted and implemented.Watch Now
Designers understand the urgency of reducing humanity’s negative environmental impact, yet perpetuate the same mythology of technology that relies on exploiting nature. Responding to climate change by building hard infrastructures and favoring high-tech homogenous design, we are ignoring millennia old knowledge of how to live in symbiosis with nature. Without implementing soft systems that use biodiversity as a building block, designs remains inherently unsustainable.
In this talk, Julia Watson will discuss her research into thousands of years of human wisdom and ingenuity from places like Peru, the Philippines, Tanzania, Kenya, Iran, Iraq, India, and Indonesia. She will speak on how we can rediscover an ancient mythology in a contemporary context, radicalizing the spirit of human nature.Watch Now
The Institute of Classical Architecture & Art’s (ICAA) mission is to advance the appreciation and practice of the principles of traditional architecture and its allied arts by engaging educators, professionals, students, and enthusiasts. It offers a wide array of programs that are designed to promote the appreciation and practice of classical and traditional design, including classes, travel, lectures, and conferences.Learn More
INTBAU’s mission is to support traditional building, the maintenance of local character, and the creation of better places to live. We do this through workshops, summer schools, study tours, conferences, awards, and competitions. Our three objectives are to research, educate, and engage as widely as possible on the value and relevance of traditional architecture and urban design.Learn More
The Prince's Foundation, by focusing on three core tiers - Education, Projects, and Attractions - delivers work to improve the built environment, save heritage, and promote culture and education. Through education, The Prince's Foundation aims to create sustainably planned, built, and maintained communities, championing and celebrating the most important part of any community: its people. The charity continues to train a generation of architects, masterplanners, and placemakers, in order to ensure the continuation of the kind of timeless skills which have been developed over generations.Learn More