Capita Selecta Spring 2012

DWELLING ON HOUSING

WORLDWIDE APPROACHES TO AFFORDABLE HOUSING

With cities all over the world growing at an ever increasing speed, the issue of providing affordable housing is of global importance. How can the large scale demand for decent housing be accommodated? How do possible solutions impact the liveability, vibrancy and sustainability of our world’s cities? How can industrial efficiency and mass production be met with local conditions? And, finally, what role can European architects play in providing solutions worldwide?

The Capita Selecta lecture series addresses this issue of affordable housing in exploding cities. By focussing on different areas in the world – Ethiopia, China, Russia and India - the importance of local cultural conditions will be explored. In consecutive double lectures, one speaker will present a more general overview of the particularities of the housing issue in the country at hand, while the other will discuss the issue from the point of view of the architectural practice. Students are encouraged to engage in a discussion with the speakers after the lectures.

Thematically the series is linked to the Dwelling MSc2 Global Housing Studio, however, all architecture students are invited to attend the lectures. Students who enrolled in the course, are asked to write an essay to fulfil the course requirements. Details will be provided by the start of the first lecture, on May 31st.

   

 

Watch the lectures on Collegerama, click here and go to:

>TUDelft - Public Lectures >Faculty >Architecture >Lecture series - Capita Selecta >2012
 

ETHIOPIA

Zegeye Cherenet - Ethiopian architect and lecturer at the HCU Hamburg

Born in Addis Ababa, 1972. Earned B.Sc in Architecture and Urban Planning from Addis Ababa University,1994 and Master of Architecture (with Honor) from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT, Roorkee),1998. He has been teaching design in the Department of Architecture - Addis Ababa University since 2000. Guest lecturer - in various colleges and universities in Ethiopia and abroad on theories in contemporary and vernacular architecture in Ethiopia and trends of urbanization in North-East Africa. Academic Guest (August 2006 – August 2007) in the department of architecture in ETH Zurich, teaching design and construction under the chair of Professor Marc Angelil and Professor Andrea Deplaz. Serving as a chairman of the department curriculum committee AAU, Architecture since 2005. Served as a general secretary of the Association of Ethiopian Architects (AEA, 2004-2008). In addition to teaching architectural design, runs his practice with his partners in Addis Ababa (OADUS architecture and engineering-office for architecture, design and urban studies). Has designed and built many private and public buildings in various places in Ethiopia. Currently serving as a deputy director of EiABC (Ethiopian institute of Architecture, Building construction and City development- in Addis Ababa University) and also a Chair holder of architecture and design in the institute (October 2009-February 2011).

PhD project title:

DESIGNING THE INFORMAL? In search of water sensitive and sustainable urbanization strategies. The case of Lake Tana Region - Ethiopia.

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Dirk Hebel - Former Scientific Director of the EiABC, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia

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CHINA

Daan Roggeveen - co-author of “How the City Moved to Mr Sun”, Shanghai

Daan Roggeveen is a Shanghai-based architect. Together with journalist Michiel Hulshof, he founded and oversees the Go West Project, a multidisciplinary research and design studio focusing on the development of emerging megacities. The studio has a deep interest in urban cultures and wants to understand and contribute to them through research, architecture and media.

 

The body of work produced over the past years by Go West is extensive and varied: lectures, blogs, essays, installations, performances, events, photo essays, architectural designs, urban plans, books and policy proposals. Some of these projects are client work, others are self-commissioned or unsolicited. The work has been widely published in China and Europe. Go West lectures at Chinese and European universities on a regular basis.

Go West works in an international network of writers, designers, architects, researchers and journalists and has offices in Shanghai and Amsterdam. Clients of Go West include governments such as the City of Amsterdam and the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment, platforms such as the Shenzhen/Hong Kong Biennale, the Gopher Hole Gallery in London and the Amsterdam City Theatre, and universities like the Hong Kong University.

In September 2011 Go West launched How the City Moved to Mr Sun – China’s New Megacities, an acclaimed book describing the transformation of potential world cities in central and western China. The Dutch edition of the book was launched in March 2012.

Currently, Go West is amongst others working on a research and design project for a Chinese-style Special Economic Zone in Europe and on architectural projects in China. The Chinese edition of How the City Moved to Mr Sun is due winter 2012.

www.gowestproject.com

 

Liu Xiaodu - partner of Architectural office 'Urbanus' Shengzen/Beijing/Hong Kong

Mr. LIU Xiaodu is a founding partner of URBANUS. He received his Bachelor of Architecture degree from Tsinghua University, and Master of Architecture degree from Miami University. Prior to establishing URBANUS, Mr. Liu has taught in Tsinghua University and he has worked in American design firms as a project architect. In 1999, Mr. Liu co-founded URBANUS with his partners MENG Yan and WANG Hui. Mr. Liu has been invited to lecture by many international academic institutions and he has been a guest critic in many Universities both in mainland China and Hong Kong University .He is also a visiting professor in Hunan University.

More than a design practice, URBANUS is also a think tank. It aims to formulate architectural strategy from the urban environment in general, and the ever changing urban conditions in specific. URBANUS always focuses on the urban reality in China and seeks architectural solutions based on its research of the emerging urban problems.
URBANUS has achieved international recognition with projects such as Shenzhen Dafen Art Museum, the social housing Urban Tulou, Tangshan Urban Planning Museum. URBANUS has won prestigious awards and been invited to contemporary architecture exhibition in New York, Paris, Barcelona, Lisbon, Rotterdam, Sao Paulo, Rome, Brussels, Hong Kong, and Its works have been published in prestigious newspapers and magazines, including Domus、Abitare、Mark、Architecture Record、Blueprint、a+d、a+u, ect.
 

RUSSIA

Bart Goldhoorn - editor-in-chief 'Project Russia', Moscow

Bart Goldhoorn was trained as an architect at Delft University of Technology. In 1995 he founded the Russian architecture journal PROJECT RUSSIA in Moscow, followed by PROJECT International in 2001 and PROJECT Baltia in 2007. He has been interviewed frequently in Russia by publications, radio and television. As a specialist in post-Communist architecture, he has lectured and published in various European countries as well as the USA. He is currently the curator of the first Moscow Architecture Biennale, the theme of which is housing.

 

INDIA

P. K. Das - P. K. Das & Associates, Mumbai

P K Das’ priority has been to establish a very close relation between architecture and people by involving them in a participatory planning process. His firm P K Das and Associates’ wide spectrum of work includes projects in urban planning and design, architecture, interiors and social and environmental sectors.

With more than 150 projects to his credit, his current planning and architectural works include townships, industries, a stadium, museum, public places of historical significance, Mumbai’s waterfronts, holiday homes, clubs and resorts, schools and institutes, corporate offices and call centers, large-scale housing and individual residences.

Das is also actively involved in organizing slum dwellers for better living and evolving affordable housing models, engaging in policy framework for mass housing, reclaiming public space in Mumbai by developing the waterfronts, urban renewal and conservation projects.

He has been widely published and has also delivered talks and lectures across the world. His work in the development of Mumbai’s coastline and his slum rehab projects have won him several national and international awards including the first Urban Age award conferred to the Mumbai Waterfronts Centre whose Chairperson is P K Das. With an extremely strong emphasis on participatory planning, he hopes to integrate architecture and democracy to bring about desired social and physical regeneration in the country.

Das was the only Indian speaker invited to the UIA-2008 Congress held in Torino. On 24th January, 2009 he delivered the key-note address at a conference at the School of the Built Environment, University of Nottingham, UK. Subsequently Das has been a key-note speaker at the Morgen / Tomorrow Congress in Amsterdam in October, 2009. 

http://www.pkdas.com

 

Robert Verrijt - Architecture Brio, Mumbai

Born in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, Robert Verrijt's passion is traveling. Much of his summer holidays were spent exploring Mediterranean villages and cities. After being awarded the 2nd price at the Dutch Archiprix for his masters thesis in Architecture at the TUDelft he moved to Sri Lanka where he joined the office of Channa Daswatte, one of Geoffrey Bawa's protégés. His work here included renovations, houses, high end condominiums, boutique resorts and hotels. In Mumbai he has taught part time at the KRVIA school of Architecture, and is currently visiting faculty at the Balwant Sheth School of Architecture.

http://architecturebrio.com/html/bio2.asp