The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Trust is pleased to present a further programme of lectures in its acclaimed series International Dialogues: Architecture and Climate Change in association with Gleeds. The highlight of the summer programme will be the RIBA Trust Annual Lecture, to be given by HRH The Prince of Wales on 12 May, as part of the RIBA's 175th Anniversary celebrations. Other talks include Michael Pawlyn at the Guardian Hay Festival, Peter Head's lecture 'Entering an Ecological Age' and two Denmark: Designing for Climate Change talks by four Danish architecture practices.
The International Dialogues: Architecture and Climate Change series takes as its premise that architecture and the design and use of our built environment is an integral part of the climate change challenge. This series brings together visionary thinkers and innovative practitioners from a range of disciplines to provide a forum for engaging with some of the key issues affecting architecture and the built environment now and in the future. This programme aims to inspire diversity in our thinking about architecture and its relationship to issues of global governance, ecology, the environment, science, engineering, technology, energy production, resource dependency, food production and international development, amongst many others.
International Dialgoues: Architecture and Climate Change is curated by Tamara Horbacka, RIBA Trust and sponsored by Gleeds. Developed in partnership with BioRegional One Planet Communities and Futerra.
RIBA Trust Annual Lecture 2009
HRH The Prince of Wales
Tuesday 12 May, RIBA
The RIBA Trust Annual Lecture is given by a non-architect on a subject of direct relevance to the built environment. The contents of this lecture will not be known until delivery, however sustainability is expected to feature. This lecture is by invitation only and takes place as part of the RIBA's 175th anniversary celebrations.
Denmark: Designing for Climate Change - Talk 1
3XN and Tegnestuen Vandkunsten
Tuesday 19 May, 6.30pm, RIBA, Jarvis Hall
Kim Herforth Nielsen is the nerve and epicentre of the Danish practice 3XN which has received acclaim for projects such as Ørestad College, Kubus in Berlin and the Het Muziegebouw concert hall in Amsterdam. To encourage architectural innovation the 3XN Research & Design wing focuses on the use of intelligent materials, new technologies and sustainability.
Tegnestuen Vandkunsten are the recipients of the prestigious 10th Alvar Aalto Medal 2009. For almost forty years, Tegnestuen Vandkunsten have focused on pioneering residential architecture and housing developments, designing for convertability and communality with a strong focus on residential involvement, dense-low rise, and most critically, sustainable development.
In partnership with the Danish Architecture Centre, the Architects' Association of Denmark and the Embassy of Denmark
Denmark: Designing for Climate Change, Talk 2
CEBRA and COBE
Tuesday 26 May, 6.30pm, RIBA, Wren Room
COBE are a young innovative Danish architectural practice, who are the recent winners of two prestigious design competitions for Nordhaven, a competition to design a new harbour front in Copenhagen and for a new Kulturhus in north-west Copenhagen. Principle founders, Dan Stubbergaard and Vanessa Carlow, develop sensitive and collaborative design solutions with a rigorous belief in the interdisciplinary co-operation with other professions.
CEBRA, based in Arhus and founded in 2001 by the architects Mikkel Frost, Carsten Primdahl and Kolja Nielsen, have realized a wide range of building projects. They won the Golden Lion at the 2006 International Architecture Biennale in Venice and have been commissioned to design a major exhibition on climate change for COP15, which will be taking place in Copenhagen in December 2009.
In partnership with the Danish Architecture Centre, the Architects' Association of Denmark and the Embassy of Denmark
Guardian Hay Festival 2009
Michael Pawlyn
Architecture and Biomimicry
Wednesday 27 May, 4.00pm, Hay-on-Wye
See www.hayfestival.com for more information and booking
Michael Pawlyn was one of the lead architects behind The Eden Project in Cornwall and founder of Exploration Architecture. Pawlyn believes that for every problem we face, from generating energy to manufacturing materials, there are examples from nature to give us inspiration. Importantly, the solutions are often more profitable than traditional approaches, as well as radically reducing the impact on the environment.
Michael Pawlyn is a founder member of the UK Green Building Council and a committee member of The Edge, an environmental think-tank.
Entering an Ecological Age
Peter Head
Tuesday 2 June, 6.30pm, RIBA, Jarvis Hall
Arup director, Peter Head explores how the world can begin to make the transition towards an ecological age of civilization. Through this talk, he will explore how human development is now following a dangerously unsustainable path globally, with waves of investment in low and middle income countries accelerating this problem as they follow an unsustainable model. In particular, he will focus on urban areas and methods of food production which consume land and non-renewable resources inefficiently and how, in order to do something to turn the situation around, we will have to move towards an ecological age.