External research events

Book onto our research events, and view details on past events held by the School of Architecture.

Lunch time lecture event in the arts tower
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Reflections Seminar Programme

The Reflections Seminar Programme is designed to celebrate new, challenging and provocative thinking in architecture. We have invited a range of international speakers to share their work in areas such as design, theory, culture and science. The events are open to practitioners, academics, staff and students and will give attendees the opportunity to meet and socialise with colleagues in the Sheffield region.


2019-2020 programme

Professor Caren Levy, The Bartlett Development Planning Unit, UCL
Critical Conversation in KNOW (Knowledge in Action for Urban Equality)

16th October 4pm, Arts Tower - 13.19 (13th floor

Professor Oren Yiftachel, Ben-Gurion University and UCL
From Displacement to Displaceability: Reshaping Urban Citizenship

*Organised with USP and the Urban Institute
20th November 4pm, Arts Tower - The Well (16th floor)

David Rudlin, URBED
Climax City: Masterplanning and the Complexity of Urban Growth
19th February 4pm, Arts Tower - The Well (16th floor)

Professor Ash Amin, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge
Stress, Precarious Lives, and Urban Dwelling
*Organised with USP and the Urban Institute
18th March 4pm, Arts Tower - The Well (16th floor)

SSOA External Research Events
Join us on Wednesdays, 4pm at the Arts Tower
All are welcome! (Events followed by drinks reception)

 


Past events

Doing disability differently changes architectural education and practice
Dr Jos Boys

27th February 2019

Whilst there are many discussions within architectural education and practice about the relationships between race, gender, sexuality and space, disability remains stubbornly located in an ahistorical, non-theoretical category, as a technical and legalistic after-thought. But what happens if we realize that disability (and ability) are problematic concepts; build creatively on the diverse knowledge about space that disabled people already have; and start design from a valuing of our many different ways of being in the world? By treating dis/ability as both a creative generator and a means to critique normative bodies and ‘normal’ social and spatial practices, this talk aims to offer some exciting and innovative new ways of rethinking relationships between bodies and space.

Jos is a Senior Lecturer at the Bartlett School of Architecture UCL, and Co-Director of The DisOrdinary Architecture Project which develops creative collaborations between disabled artists and architectural students, educators and practitioners. She was co-founder of Matrix feminist architecture and research collective in the 1980s and is a member of a feminist artist-architecture platform Taking Place. Having trained in architecture, Jos is most interested in exploring how everyday social, spatial and material practices come to frame what is ‘normal’ and ‘ordinary’, and to work with others on design interventions that question our assumptions about who gets valued and who doesn't (in society, in the design of built space and in architecture as a discipline).

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Lighting for Cities Inhabited by People, Not Cars
Malcolm Innes

Wednesday 5th December 2018

Community Co-Design, Creative Lighting and Research Through Design. Electric street lighting has developed wholly in the age of the motor car. Therefore, normal models of urban lighting are based firmly on designing for vehicle traffic. Even in completely pedestrian spaces, it is common for the same roadway lighting equipment and methodologies to be employed. However, people deserve urban lighting that promotes fun and engagement; aids interpretation of their surroundings; provides visual enhancement or artistic interventions; creates a sense of place and a sense of time. Pedestrian areas, free of the need to light vehicle routes, provide a perfect opportunity to create engaging and exciting environments. When a city decides to upgrade public lighting, we should be taking the chance to rethink traditional models of urban lighting to ensure that these vital urban systems produce the maximum benefit for both residents and visitors. We should also engage residents in the process of designing a captivating night-scape for their city.

This presentation will explore these subjects through the example of an ongoing permanent urban lighting project in the heart of Edinburgh’s Old Town UNESCO World Heritage Site. Commissioned by an enlightened client and city government, the project developed a new model of community co-design to empower local residents to take a stake in the dynamic and creative relighting of public spaces.

Malcolm Innes is an artist by training and has extensive experience of architectural lighting design and light art from 24 years working on international projects. Having worked for Kevan Shaw Lighting Design and Speirs and Major before setting up his own practice, Malcolm’s portfolio includes several multi-award winning projects including two IALD Radiance awards and nine IIDA awards.

After many years of part-time involvement in higher education, Malcolm is now a Reader in Design at Edinburgh Napier University. He specialises in architectural lighting, light art, projection and interactive digital arts and he is Programme Leader for the university’s 6 MA design programmes. Malcolm’s 2012 book, “Lighting for Interior Design” has been published in English, Spanish, Portuguese and Chinese.

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