Event Date: January 14, 2021
Time:
12:00 PM – 1:30 PM (EST)
and 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM (MST)
Cost: complimentary
*Certificates of Completion for professional development will be issued with full attendance.
To Register:
https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJYpc-iqqjgoH9R24JaAcKkWWjwaRW8kbH95?timezone_id=America%2FNew_York
Zaha Hadid's principal architect, Patrik Schumacher, ZHA senior partners Cristiano Ceccato & Craig Kiner, with Dr. Brian R. Sinclair, professor at the University of Calgary, will be discussing the topic of Culturally Sustainable Design. The session will be moderated by Sam Oboh, principal architect at Ensight + Architecture.
The term ‘sustainability’ is generally understood to refer to environmental performance, passive design and renewable or low-energy requirements. While this undoubtedly remains its focal point, sustainability today can be inferred to signify much more: economic sustainability, social sustainability and technological sustainability – all of which are constituent elements of a civilisation, if understood as a temporal society and its cultural output.
In an age of a growing awareness of marginalised cultures, minority populations and globalized socio-economic diversity, it is imperative that contemporary architecture addresses the urgent need to safeguard and sustain those elements of society which are otherwise at risk of relegation. Safeguarding of a naturally sound and healthy environment, in form of environmental sustainability, is the cornerstone for the successful preservation of a distinct culture. However, for a project to be truly sustainable today, it must do much more than just embody energy-efficient design.
A truly culturally sustainable design must first and foremost engage with the society and people that it will affect, and its designers must confront the historical, political, and socio-economic fabric in which they plan to intervene. Today, societal overlay through historic displacement, immigration, cultural marginalisation and even genocide have led to the erosion and potential erasure of pre-existing historical cultures. Understanding the amalgamation of traditions and the emergence of new forms of hybrid culture require a profound engagement with different members of the many constituent societies, their traditions, beliefs and needs.
In this lecture / talk, regional and international practitioners will showcase a set of guiding principles & exemplary projects which demonstrate careful analysis of environment, civilization, and ethnicity to create the basis for the synthesis of contemporary socio-economically and culturally sustainable design solutions.
Further details can be found on the RAIC Centre for Architecture's website:
http://architecture.athabascau.ca/news/index.php
Contact:
Dr. Henry Tsang
Assistant Professor / Athabasca University RAIC Centre for Architecture
htsang@athabascau.ca
Veronica Madonna
Assistant Professor / Athabasca University RAIC Centre for Architecture
vmadonna@athabascau.ca