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  • University of Virginia School of Architecture7
Start Over Collection School of Architecture Lectures Unit University of Virginia School of Architecture

1. Biophilic Cities Manifesto (1:20:02)

Date:
2013-10-17
Summary:
Dr. Jennifer Wolch, Dean of the College of Environmental Design at the University of California, Berkeley speaks about the tensions of implementing urban nature projects. Wolch challenges us to think carefully about the many different and often marginalized interests (people and animals) that must be taken into account, and the potential “collisions” she sees in the movement.

2. Birthright: People and Nature in the Modern City (1:32:58)

Date:
2013-10-18
Summary:
Dr. Stephen Kellert spoke to participants at the Biophilic Cities Launch about the ethical and value changes that need to occur to achieve biophilic design in cities. He argued for a theory of cities (using his own city of New Haven as an example) that explains location, livability and future thriving based on natural features and conditions.

3. Harry Seidler : Architecture, Art and Collaborative Design (1:42:11)

Date:
2013-11-08
Summary:
This illustrated lecture traces the life and work of Sydney architect Harry Seidler (1923-2006), his key role in bringing Modernism and Bauhaus principles to Australia, identifies his distinctive hand, and explores long-lasting creative collaborations with leading visionaries of the 20th century, including with architects Marcel Breuer and Oscar Niemeyer; artists Josef Albers, Alexander Calder, Norman Carlberg, Charles Perry, Frank Stella, and Lin Utzon; engineer Pier Luigi Nervi, photographer Max Dupain, and developer Dick Dusseldorp, founder of Lend Lease Corporation. In almost sixty years, Seidler has realized over 120 of his designs—from houses to mixed-use multi-story towers and prominent government commissions—all over Australia, as well as in Austria, France, Israel, Italy, Mexico, and Hong Kong. Apart from the architect’s creative achievements, the lecture will reveal a story of Seidler’s life, a fascinating journey from his motherland of Austria to England, Canada, the United States, Brazil, and finally, to Australia, where he settled in 1948, eventually becoming the country’s most accomplished architect. Among projects to be discussed: Rose Seidler House (1950), Harry and Penelope Seidler House (1967), and Australia Square (1967) in Sydney; Edmund Barton Building (Canberra, 1974), Australian Embassy (Paris, 1977), Hong Kong Club (HK, 1984), Shell Headquarters (Melbourne, 1989) and residential complex Wohnpark Neue Donau (Vienna, 1998).

4. Historical Practices, 1999 – 2013 (1:18:13)

Date:
2013-09-23
Summary:
"In this talk I will examine the idea of historical practices such as reconstruction, archiving, reenactment, and counter factual history (among others) within the context of architecture and landscape. Rather than simply forms of historical realism, I see these practices as possible techniques of agitation, speculation, and provocation in contemporary architectural practice. I'll briefly examine these practices in a few iconic examples from the history of architecture. Following this, I’ll discuss ideas of historical practices through a series of my own projects. My own work tends to further entangle the above forms of historical practice with socio-natural themes, the history of degraded environments, the history of urban radicalism, and the concerns of a future, liberatory mode of subjectivity." Dean's Forum Lecture, Campbell Hall

5. Philadelphia City Planning Commission: A Review of the Integrated Planning and Zoning Process (1:14:16)

Date:
2014-04-04
Summary:
The mission of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission is to guide the orderly growth and development of the City through the preparation and maintenance of a Comprehensive Plan; preparation of the City’s annual Capital Program and Budget based on this comprehensive plan; and recommending action on zoning legislation, code amendments, and regulations concerning the subdivision of land. Beginning in 2008, the Commission began work on its “Integrated Planning and Zoning Process.” It is composed of three interrelated components: zoning code reform, the preparation of a new citywide comprehensive plan, and the creation of the Citizens Planning Institute. In April 2013, the City Planning Commission was awarded the American Planning Association’s National Planning Excellence Award for a Best Practice for this work. This lecture will describe Philadelphia’s Integrated Planning and Zoning Process, including lessons learned.

6. Psychedelic Architecture: Towards a New Allegory (55:19)

Date:
2013-10-28
Summary:
John Hong, AIA LEED AP, introduces the recent work of his firm SsD through the rubric of ‘Psychedelic Architecture.’ By reflecting on the radical social shifts of the 1960's and early 1970's he draws uncanny parallels with the environmental and cultural changes taking place today. Where Metabolist and Situationist architecture of the '60's offered alternative forms of practice and discourse however, Hong calls for a current and more deeply engaged look at form and allegory (as opposed to form and function), that meets the global challenges of today.

7. Reconstructing Wittgenstein: Four Perspectives (1:52:31)

Date:
2014-03-28
Summary:
Event held in conjunction with the exhibition Reconstructing Wittgenstein. The Architecture of Ludwig Wittgenstein. In direct comparison to contemporary Viennese works by Behrens, Hoffmann, Frank, Loos or Prutscher, the intriguing qualities of the Stonborough-Wittgenstein House (1926-1928) are highlighted by the radical nature and modernity of its architecture. Today, the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein is credited with being the architect of the Stonborough-Wittgenstein House in Vienna, in collaboration with Paul Engelmann. The exhibition extends beyond the Viennese context and emphasizes a broader cultural environment, considering the positions of Emerson, Alois Riegl, Schmarsow, Schinkel, Bötticher, Wagner, Behrens, Mies van der Rohe and Perret. Ludwig Wittgenstein’s fundamental structuralism in creating architecture transcends cultural conventions of his age and demonstrates liberation of contemporary modern architecture with the aid of the collage. The exhibition was curated by August Sarnitz, Professor at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, and organized as a travelling exhibition with support from the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It includes material provided by the Stonborough Family and the Archives of the City of Vienna, as well as new photographs by Thomas Freiler. Reconstructing Wittgenstein as an Architect - Ludwig Wittgenstein and Margaret Stonborough-Wittgenstein August Sarnitz, Professor, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna Wittgenstein: Language, Space and Architecture Nana Last, Associate Professor in Architecture, UVa School of Architecture Wittgenstein: Some Continuities and Discontinuities Cora Diamond, philosopher and Professor Emerita, UVa Department of Philosophy Scenes of Inhabitation: Freud/Wittgenstein Sheila Crane, Associate Professor in Architectural History, UVa School of Architecture Presented by Esther Lorenz, Lecturer, UVa School of Architecture Supported by the Austrian Cultural Forum, Washington