Abstract The motivation behind the interdisciplinary research project "Collaborative Design Platform" (CDP) is to resolve the current discrepancy between analogue ways of working in the early urban design stages and the ever-increasing use of digital tools in office pratice. By directly linking familiar, analogue ways of working with digital computer aided design tools, the CDP represents a working environment that allows designers to work the way that they are used to, while making use of the potential of computers. The platform creates a direct connection between physical volumetric models and interactive digital content using a large-format multi-touch table as a work surface combined with real-time 3D scanning. Combining the 3D data from the scanned model with the 3D digital GIS environment model makes it possible to computer design relevant simulations and analyses. These are displayed in real-time on the working model to help architects assess and substantiate their design decisions. Biography Frank Petzold's research and teaching activities cover the entire spectrum of IT-supported architectural design and planning. He has contributed more than 50 papers and articles to conferences and professional journals. As part of the Collaborative Research Centre project, "Materials and constructions for the renovation of building structures", funded by the DFG (German Research Foundation), he examined architectural design in existing built contexts and the structured capture of data for building information modelling (BIM). In the DFG-funded "AR Cave - projection-based technology for on-site surveying, visualisation and simulation" research project, augmented reality methods were employed for working directly within existing built contexts. The "KREMLAS - Development of a creative evolutionary design method for layout problems in architecture and urban design" research project (also funded by the DFG) examines approaches for assessing solutions produced using evolutionary methods.

Martin Centre Research Seminar Series

Prof. Dr. Ing. Frank Petzold + Gerhard Schubert "Collaborative Design Platform"

Abstract: The title of this lecture is explained by Richard Murphy Architects' location between two different points pf view. There is little in our work that might be called avant-garde. The office does not subscribe to the high-octane world of the international 'starchitects' depositing iconic buildings in different cultures around the world, which whilst having some superficial photo-journalistic value, rarely repay close inspection. The other position is represented by the society in which we work, Edinburgh in particular, but also elsewhere in the UK. This is a city in which many citizens wish that the modern era had never occurred. Modern architecture, it seems to be universally agreed, has spoilt the view. However it is essential for the health of our culture that we make buildings that are recognisably of today so that in the future there will be some history of this era to preserve. Rooting recognisably new buildings into old places or particular landscapes; contributing towards rather than damaging, their location; continuing rather than fossilising, the history of a place: these are our objectives. We call it architecture of its time and place. Biography: Richard Murphy was educated at Newcastle and Edinburgh Universities. Before founding Richard Murphy Architects he worked for MacCormac Jamieson and Pritchard Architects in London, and directed the edinburgh office of Alsop Lyall & Stormer Architects. He has taught at Edinburgh University, Robert Gordon University, Edinburgh College of Art, Strathclyde University, The Technical University of Braunschweig, the University of Virginia and Syracruse University, New York State. Richard's publications include Carlo Scarpa and the Castelvecchio (Butterworths Architecture, 1991), Querini Stampalia Foundation, Carlo Scarpa (Phaidon Press, 1983) and An Architects' Appreciation of Charles Rennie Mackintosh (Bellew Publishing, 1990). He is an Academician of the Royal Scottish Academy, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and an Honorary Fellow of Napier University. His practice has won 21 RIBA and RIAI awards in as many years.

Richard Murphy OBE "Of Its Time and Place"

Abstract: Passive solar architecture, with some active assistance, will be viewed through the lens of James J Gibson’s theory of ‘affordances’, 1977, Jay Appleton’s ‘prospect-refuge’ theory, 1975, Aldo van Eyck’s ‘reciprocity’, 1961-62, and ‘in-between’, 1959, and Alvar Aalto’s ‘From Doorstep to Living Room’, 1926. All four theoretical strands will inform commentary on the use of sun-traps, sun-buffers, sun-diodes and sun- collectors in a range of domestic and non-domestic projects; this leading to a discussion of the key ‘comfort’ and ‘well-being’ issues for occupants of low-, zero-, and plus-energy buildings and their carbon footprints. Tensions between technology and human frailty will be raised, for example in relation to indoor air quality and sensory satisfaction. The presentation will conclude on the issue of emphasis regarding new-build and retrofit models and the alignment of, rather than competition between, ‘passive-solar’ and ‘passiv-haus’ solutions. Biography: Colin Porteous is an architect with an interest in energy-efficient design. He became a full-time academic in 1986, leading a community technical aid centre linking the problem of fuel poverty to passive solar solutions via the EU-funded Easthall Demonstration Project in the early 1990s. He initiated the Mackintosh Environmental Architecture Research Unit (MEARU) in 1993, and is author of The New Eco- Architecture (2002), Solar Architecture in Cool Climates (2005) and Sensing a Historic Low-CO2 Future (2011) – a holistic overview of indoor air quality (Chapter 8, Intech.org; free online book).

Prof. Colin Porteous "Solar 'Affordances' - Research and Observation Retrospective"

Abstract: This lecture will discuss alternative approaches to urban energy modelling, suggesting that the most powerful and flexible approach is one of micro-simulation in which individuals (agents) may be explicitly simulated. The discussion will include: emerging procedures for generating and attributing a synthetic population of agents’ how their presence may subsequently be simulated at a range of potential destinations’ their activities within these destinations and the range of activity-dependent behaviours; likewise their investments in energy-related technologies and behavioural changes. The lecture will also outline some remaining challenges to the achievement of a fully comprehensive urban energy micro-simulation platform. Biography: Professor Darren Robinson is Chair in Building and Urban Physics and Deputy Head of the Department of Architecture and Built Environment at the University of Nottingham. For the past fifteen years his work has focused on the development of models of building occupants’ comfort and behaviour and of models of buildings’ energy use at the urban scale – these two interests now converging in the form of urban energy micro-simulation software. This is summarised in his most recent book “Computer Modelling for Sustainable Urban Design”. Darren has received the CIBSE Napier-Shaw Medal (2007), the Building and Environment journal Best Paper Award (2009 and 2010) and the JBPS Best Paper Prize (2010-2011).

Prof. Darren Robinson "Towards Urban Energy Micro-simulation - the Primordial Role of the Urbanite"

Abstract: This lecture explores the human dimension of new city-building that has emerged in East Europe. Utilizing firsthand research culled from more than 100 interviews conducted primarily in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia—a city whose public spaces have unravelled over the last two decades—this lecture will examine the ways people live and experience the new, post-socialist urbanism. Also addressed are what these new spaces tell us about their builders, users, and inhabitants. Embracing an explicitly cultural approach, this lecture will suggest that disappointment with socialist and post-socialist conditions has led to mass scepticism toward the public domain (further resulting in a radical de-construction of public spaces), and will offer provocative insights into the complex relationship between society and space during times of fundamental change. Biography: Sonia Hirt’s focus as a scholar and teacher is on exploring the complex social meanings of the urban built environment. She aspires to help enhance the quality of urban environments first by developing a richer understanding of the social processes and cultural values that influence their evolution, and second by provoking critical debates within the urban planning profession. She conducts research along three main themes: East European urbanism – resulting in two books: Iron Curtains: Gates, Suburbs and Privatization of Space in the Post-socialist city (2012) and Twenty Years of Transition: The Evolution of Urban Planning in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union, 1989-2009 (with Kiril Stanilov, 2009); comparative urban planning and land-use regulation – she is currently writing a book on the subject tentatively entitled Zoned in the USA: Urban Planning and the American Dream; and urban planning theory and history – she is especially interested in the ideas of Jane Jacobs and has edited a forthcoming volume, The Urban Wisdom of Jane Jacobs (2012). Sonia Hirt holds a fellowship from the Institute of Society, Culture and the Environment. Last year she served as a visiting associate professor at the Graduate School of Design of Harvard University.

Prof. Sonia Hirt "Iron Curtains: Gates, Suburbs and Privatization of Space in the Post-socialist City"

Abstract: This lecture explores the steel, brick and ferro-concrete Cambridge built in the late 50s and 60s: the almost invisible ‘Other Cambridge’, that today is not part of the identity of the city. Cambridge as a city, indeed as a University, is commonly linked to a more reassuring model in the English tradition, compressed between the noble stereotype of King’s chapel and the view from The Backs. Arcadian visions that communicate calm in the name of the arts and scholarly pursuits. But what of innovation? The aim of this talk is to stimulate a debate regarding a controversial period of architecture that is undergoing a suppression of memory and to open up to the wider public the ‘other side’ of Cambridge, often unknown and misjudged. Apart from Stirling’s Faculty of History there are many interesting buildings unknown to the general public as well as to the international scholarly community. The cues for this task are contained in the splendid images preserved in the RIBA British Architectural Library Photographs Collection that will be analysed during this seminar, which complements the exhibition Cambridge in Concrete. Biography: Marco Iuliano is a Senior Research Associate of DIGIS (Digital Studio for Research in Design, Visualisation and Communication) and a Marie Curie Fellow in the Department of Architecture at Cambridge. His research focuses on the intersections between architecture and the visual arts. He is the recipient of several grants and awards, including the Italian CNR Fellowship (2005), the J.B. Harley Fellowship (British Library, 2008) and the Paul Mellon Centre Grant for Studies in British Art (2012). His many publications include a contribution to the History of Cartography (University of Chicago Press) and he is UK correspondent for Il Giornale dell'Architettura. Dr Iuliano has co-authored three books: the most recent, Melchior Lorck, was selected as 2010 Book of the Year in the Times Literary Supplement. He has taught Contemporary Architectural History since 2005 and is curator of the 2012 exhibition Cambridge in Concrete.

Dr. Marco Iuliano "The Other Cambridge"

Abstract: Rafael Moneo (born 1937) is one of the most thoughtful current architects, whose work has inspired a younger generation in Spain and internationally, since he has taught at Harvard for many years. His practice and writings challenge contemporary assumptions, which suggest that architecture’s role has somehow been superseded, and question the position of those who “wish to think of architecture only in relation to instantaneity and action”. Yet, unusually for an architect much concerned with theoretical issues, he insists that it is only in the construction of a project that architecture can actually be realised - “architecture needs the support of matter” – and this is one defence against the arbitrary. Another is an acute self-consciousness about the history of architecture, which is available for appropriation by the skilful architect. This lecture will discuss Moneo’s prolific architectural output, in an attempt to illustrate his theoretical position. Biography: Nicholas Ray is principal of NRAP Architects, Reader Emeritus in Architecture at the University of Cambridge, and a Fellow of Jesus College. His most prominent local buildings are Quayside, opposite Magdalene College, and the renovations to the University’s Department of Chemistry. He is the author of Cambridge Architecture, a Concise Guide (CUP 1994), (Re)Sursele Formei Arhitecturale (Paideia 2000), Alvar Aalto, (YUP 2005), Architecture and its Ethical Dilemmas (Routledge 2005) and “Philosophy of Architecture”, a chapter with Christian Illies in Philosophy of Technology and Engineering Sci2009). He is currently working on a monograph of Rafael Moneo, with Francisco Gonzalez.

Nicholas Ray "Rafael Moneo and the Problem of the Arbitrary"

Abstract: Jonathan Hendry Architects is an award winning, chartered practice based on the edge of the Lincolnshire Wolds, with a reputation for making architecture that is well crafted, with simple forms that have a strong sense of materiality with subtle complexities. The work is developed through a rigorous process of investigating urban and historical context, economic and social history, landscape characteristics and geographical significance. The practice has designed a wide-ranging body of work covering many aspects of the built environment – focusing on creating buildings that relate to a ‘Place’ through a process of observation and the re-working of the existing site. Biography: Jonathan Hendry has worked for Allies and Morrison and Jamie Fobert Architects, before establishing Jonathan Hendry Architects in 2000. His award winning chartered practice prides itself on producing high quality architecture in a wide variety of genres including public buildings, private dwellings, commercial buildings and furniture design. Jonathan was a RIBA regional awards judge in 2008 and also wrote a regular column in the Architects Journal from 2007-08. In 2011 he won the annual Young Architect of the Year Award.

Jonathan Hendry "Observational Abstraction"

The Martin Centre for Architectural and Urban Studies is the research division of the University of Cambridge Department of Architecture, honoring in its title the late Sir Leslie Martin, Emeritus Professor of Architecture. Since 1970, the Centre has held open lectures once a week during full term. The talks are intended for non- specialist audiences, and all are welcome.

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Martin Centre Research Seminar Series

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