Trust Us: Architecture panel discussions

Here’s what the organisers say:
Trust Us is a one-day series of discussions on relationships between institutions, architects, and people that shape our built environment. The event, which will take place on 15 September as part of the London Design Festival, will bring together architects, planners, and council members in three panels on open platforms for architecture, public participation, and architecture education.

The talks aim to recognise that although architecture is an inherently collaborative practice, too often the nature of its relationships are dictated by money and power. The effect has been twofold. Architects have lost considerable control over the production of the built environment to developers who routinely “value engineer” long term concerns in favour of short-term profit. Secondly, a social responsibility of design to help build better places, more liveable neighbourhoods and healthier communities has been neglected. A slow down in the building sector has shaken the confidence of many young architects; and after years of being marginalized, much of the public has lost faith that designers are able to meet the needs of the many instead of fulfilling the desires of the few.

Three independent conversations will explore the question of accessibility, transparency, and accountability in architecture as a means of restoring confidence in the discipline. The first discussion will explore the digital, physical, and social infrastructure of open-source architecture, particularly in regards to the alternative economies and sets of relationships that it is both based on and encourages. A second conversation will focus on building trust and support between people, stakeholders, and architects through active public participation, using the urban development of the Olympic site and the Olympic fringe as a case study. The last conversation will ground the discussion by thinking about possibilities in architecture education—leaving behind the “cult” of the individual to teach the craft of collaboration.

Trust Us: Architectural panel discussions presented by Openvizor

In association with Icon magazine

September 15
10:30 – 17:30
Hochhauser Auditorium, V&A, Cromwell Road, London SW7 2RL

Openness: On Open-Sourcing and Knowledge Sharing (10:30-12:50)
Dan Hill, Sitra
Finn Williams, Common Office
Chair: Shumi Bose, Editor/ Curator

Ownership: On the Olympic Site and Public Participation (13:20-15:10)
Alfredo Brillembourg, Urban-Think Tank
William Chamberlain, Hackney Wick Cultural Interest Group
Esther Everett, London Legacy Development Corporation
Ian Freshwater, 2012 Legacy London, Borough of Hackney
Chair: Daisy Froud, AOC Participation

Education: On Expanded Practices in Architecture (15:30-17:30)
Harriet Harriss, Oxford Brookes University
Eyal Weizman, Centre for Research Architecture at Goldsmiths
Chair: Aram Mooradian, ArchEndWorld

Registration is not required, but space is limited. For reserved press seating, please email [email protected]

www.trustus-ok.com

Image

© Filip DUJARDIN, Untitled from series ‘Sheds’

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