THEME: Architectural Expression in the 4G era. The architect, the computer, the conversation
The osmotic flow of language between design and computers has evolved over the last generation. Dreamweaver ebbs and flows with encoding in a seamless manner which allows fanciful design to be realised with ease.
Are we exploiting the software sufficiently as a process that does not make a building look like a Revit prototype every time? COA Johannesburg 2012, presents a gamut of presenters who weave an architectural story from vibrant Brazil to complex Israel with Johannesburg in between. All three of these environments offer emollient opportunities for architectural design to complicated social environments. We know full well how powerful computers now are, but are we making more humanist spaces? We seek to explore.
Ably hosted by Joburg architect Hugh Fraser, Decorex SA has once more assembled some of the world and South Africa’s leading architectural and design talents to share their insights on this highly relevant topic.
Conversations on Architecture is made possible through sponsorship from Caesarstone. Since 1987, Caesarstone has been skillfully manufacturing high-quality, quartz surface solutions for a variety of uses and applications. www.caesarstone.co.za
Date: 8 August 2012
Time: 09h00 – 16h00 (registration from 08h00) followed by drinks on the Caesarstone stand inside the exhibition.
Venue: Gallagher Convention Centre
Cost: R969.00 inc Vat (Cost includes refreshments and entrance to Decorex)
The South African Institute for Architects will be assessing and validating the conference for between 0.5 and 1 CPD credit.
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Host:
Hugh Fraser
Hugh suffers from ADHD but manages to channel it into an appreciation of architecture and the built environment. He has practiced architecture and worked for the Cement and Concrete Institute and Glass South Africa. Hugh currently is employed at Paragon Architects in digital multi-media, which satisfies his craving for toys.
International Perception:
Senan Abdelqader, Israel
Senan Abdelqader is an architect and guest professor at Dessau Institute of Architecture, Germany; Lecturer and Unit Master at Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Jerusalem. He completed his studies in architecture in Germany, in 1989, where he then worked for several years, before returning home to Israel to establish his studio in 2004. Since then, he has worked on several private residential projects, public buildings such as schools and community centres and urban planning projects. He is also the founder of the In-formal architecture unit at the Bezalel Academy of arts in Jerusalem.
Lua Nitsche, Brazil
Lua Nitsche, of Nitsche Associated Architects in Sao Paulo in Brazil, works with her husband Pedro. This award-winning duo lives and work in one of the most complicated cities in the world but their recent work there has attracted much attention. Most notable has been the urbanisation of a one-million square metre area in São Paulo (Bairro Novo). They created an urban connection structure between the Tietê River, one of the major geomorphologic elements in the city, and the railway, an important element of the city’s mass transit network.
Local Insight:
Anthony Orelowitz
In South Africa, public space often tends to be privatised; so the role of commercial architecture takes on added responsibilities. Anthony Orelowitz, one of the founders and directors of Paragon Architects will discuss their role and views on the buildings they have designed, the impact on the street and the critical importance of exploiting software to deliver humanist buildings whose construction is made possible by this evolution of computers.
Nicolas & Christopher Bischoff
Meet two brothers from Burn Visual Illustration, with a passion for graphic design and illustration. Specialists in 3D Illustration and visualisation for South Africa’s architectural and design market, Burn has worked with some of the biggest names in the industry and on large and exciting development around the world.
Mo Phala
Mo Phala is an architect designing and contributing to the built environment by day and a DJ by night, designing and orchestrating humans in their musical experience of dance space across the South African landscape!
From working in the public sector as architect and urban designer for the City of Tshwane, to designing skyscrapers in the Chicago Offices of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill LLP (SOM), Mo’s career has been incredibly varied. But it was during his Fulbright Scholarship year in Chicago, in 2006, that Mo started his love affair with the digital realm. Most of his research focused on interactive architectural design, facilitated by advanced digital technologies and tools.
Kim Fairbairn
Kim Fairbairn’s career has largely centred around commercial projects interspersed with some sporting, institutional and some country residential commissions. A regular on the local, international and academic speaking circuit, Kim shares his insights on the processes relating to the design inception phase as well as the green revolution seen through the eyes of “Embodied Energy Content”.
Kim’s presentation at Conversations on Architecture is entitled ‘Provenance, my History’ and will touch on these topics. He will also deal with his interaction with his iPad in creating a narrative that is applied as a starting point to his work.
Alexandra Parker
Alex Parker, organiser of the Architect Africa Film Festival, researches the role of film and television in shaping urban representation. She serves on the board for the Architect’s Collective organising, amongst other events, the Architect Africa Film Festival. Can architects learn from the art of filmmaking? Can we incorporate the language of film into our presentations to clients or into our own visualisations of buildings? Parker will also screen student films from the Moving Spaces competition.
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For further details, please contact Josephine on Tel: 011 549 8300 / Josephine@tepg.co.za
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