Constructing Realities Lecture Series 2023-2024

The Constructing Realities series invites speakers to explore the design and making of our built environment, examining how invention, creativity, collaboration, and technology are shaping the future of the spaces we live in. Contributors will range from architects, engineers, environmental engineers, façade engineers and material scientists: all practitioners who are at the forefront of their industry or disciplines.
 
This lecture series has the potential of directly informing your practice. It is discursive and offers opportunities for students, stakeholders, professionals and the wider public to learn from and question the people who are constructing the realities we inhabit. A networking opportunity will follow each lecture which is based at our the new UCL East Campus. 

This lecture series is organised in collaboration with our student society SEAD and is sponsored by Deco.

Schedule

Thursday 2 November | Neven SIdor Partner of Grimshaw Architects

Who are we…Why are we here…Where are we going?

Thursday 16 November | Manja van der Worp of YIP Engineering

The proof is in the pudding: learning by doing

Thursday 30 November | Gavin Henderson, Principal Director of Stanton Williams

Building collaboration: designing spaces for creative thinking and experimental making

Join Stanton Williams’ Gavin Henderson as he reveals the thinking and design process behind the creation of UCL East Marshgate and discusses some of the practice’s key projects which - like this remarkable scheme - creatively reinterpret building types to encourage cross-disciplinary collaboration, stimulate creative thinking and accelerate innovation.

Stanton Williams is a London based architectural practice that has gained international recognition for its thoughtful and innovative approach to sensitive sites and complex, ambitious projects. The practice has developed its portfolio from an initial focus on museums and galleries to encompass a wide range of projects at different scales. All of which share an overarching aim to place people at the forefront of the agenda and to create sustainable, resilient spaces that respond to their cultural, social and physical context. Recently completed work includes the UCL East Marshgate where the lecture will be held.

Gavin Henderson is Principal Director at Stanton Williams. Gavin has led many of the practice's high-profile projects, including the Stirling Prize winning Sainsbury Laboratory for the University of Cambridge and two major education and research buildings in London: The Zayed Centre for Research into Rare Disease in Children for UCL and Great Ormond Street Hospital, and UCL East Marshgate - a new 35,000 square metre academic building on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Much of Gavin's current work involves projects within complex historic environments, including: a new college court for Emmanuel College, Cambridge; student accommodation for Magdalen College, Oxford; an innovative life sciences quarter in the centre of Stevenage; and a new cancer centre for the Royal Marsden Hospital Chelsea site in the heart of London.

Thursday 11 January | Mike Tonkin, Tonkin Liu

Tonkin Liu: A Nature-Focused Design Process 

Mike Tonkin is an Architect, Landscape Architect, and teacher. He established his practice in 1989 and co-founded Tonkin Liu with Anna Liu in 2002. The practice of Tonkin Liu is informed by a nature-focused design process and an ambition to reconnect people to nature. Lessons from nature and first-hand knowledge of vernacular architecture have been informed by extensive international travel. Over the last twenty years, Mike has taught and lectured at the AA, the Bartlett School of Architecture, the University of Cambridge, the University of Bath, the RCA and the University of Westminster. His PhD, The Nature of Place, undertaken with the Engineering Department at the University of Bath, demonstrates how a nature-focused storytelling approach can bring innovation to architecture.

Thursday 18 January | Andy Sedgwick, Arup

Event Postponed to later date. 

Thursday 25 January | Chris Wise

Chris Wise of Expedition and The Useful Simple Trust explores Expedition Engineering. 

Chris co-founded Expedition in 1999 and The Useful Simple Trust in 2008. Prior to this, he worked for Ove Arup and Partners from 1979. Serving in the UK, Australia and USA, he became Arup’s youngest Director in 1992, later appointed one of five Board Directors responsible for Building Engineering.

He has a reputation for hands-on creativity and innovative engineering projects, both as design lead, and in collaboration with some of the world’s leading architects. He has also been a long-time innovator in the field of engineering design education, including founding the Constructionarium while the first Professor of Creative Design at Imperial College.

In 2012, Chris was honoured with two Gold medals, receiving the highest individual award from both the UK’s primary professional engineering institutions, IStructE and ICE, in recognition of his design and educational contribution to engineering in the design community and society.

Thursday 1 February | Alastair Hall

Full details to follow. 

Thursday 22 February | Peter Clegg

Full details to follow. 

Thursday 29 February | Gary Elliott

Full details to follow. 

Thursday 7 March | James O'Callaghan

Full details to follow. 

Thursday 14 March| Andy Sedgwick - rearranged

Full details to follow. 

More information

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Image: Tim Lucas