U.K. profs eye architecture, resources, new materialism

Two design educators from the United Kingdom will present “Architecture and its Resources: Towards a New Materialist Practice,” 5:30 p.m. Monday, April 16 in Preston Geren Auditorium as part of Texas A&M’s Department of Architecture Spring 2012 Lecture Series .

The featured speakers are Jon Goodbun from the Royal College of Art and Karin Jaschke, from the University of Brighton.

Goodbun, who also serves on the faculty of the Bartlett School of Architecture and the University of Westminster, is working on a book titled “How to Become an Urban Ecologist — Re-imagining the Project of Planning.”

He is a founding member of [Scarcity and Creativity in the Built Environment] (http://www.scibe.eu/) , a project that explores the relationship between scarcity and creativity in the context of the built environment. Project participants are investigating how conditions of scarcity might affect the creativity of different actors involved in the production of architecture and urban design, and how design-led actions might improve the built environment in the future.

Jaschke is subject leader in undergraduate history and theory in architecture and interior architecture at the University of Brighton. Her Ph.D. thesis, currently in the works, examines the engagement of late-modern architects with traditional cultures. She is also developing two conference papers: “Acting Up: Architectural Practice as Performance” and “The Mise-en-scène of Elementary Living: Dutch Architects in the Sahara.”

Both papers draw from her research and recent work on the notion of professional practice as performance formulated by interpretive archaeology. They describe how architecture may approach issues of sustainability and ecology that are both critical and creative.

Jaschke also co-edited the book, “ [Stripping Las Vegas: A Contextual Review of Casino Resort Architecture] (http://arts.brighton.ac.uk/staff/karin-jaschke/portfolio-of-major-works/urban-landscapes) ,” which features pieces by Las Vegas scholars, architects and writers. The book offers starting points for expanding a theoretical discussion on Las Vegas while also serving as a reference work for an architectural readership.