Material Matters: Experiments in the Built Environment

Overview

Material Matters: Experiments in the Built Environment

October 15 |  2:00 PM – 7:00 PM at the Jameel Arts Centre | Register Here

This day-long international symposium brings together key thinkers from architecture, design and the visual arts to explore how innovations in materials and design are shaping the future of our cities in a time of environmental flux. Using both site-specific research and speculative experimentation, speakers urge a return to the vernacular and the local.

In light of a global imperative to reduce emission footprints and waste creation, architects, artists, and designers are increasingly looking to vernacular architecture and local landscapes as sources of knowledge and renewable materials. Their aim is to create context-responsive environments that work with local climates, landscapes and cultural habits: from engineering with algae, to building with salt, and seeing the city as a classroom.

Using both site-specific research and speculative experimentation, speakers at this symposium urge a return to the vernacular and the local, anchored around four key approaches: ​enabling sustainable production through bioregions and local materials, supporting civic engagement through new urban pedagogies, reflecting historical narratives through the  built environment, and impacting global expertise through regional design.

You can view the event program here.

This Symposium is commissioned by EUNIC (European Union National Institutions for Culture), conceptualised by waiwai Dubai and Art Jameel as venue partner, with endorsement from the UAE Ministry of Culture and Youth. EUNIC is the network of European Union National Institutes for Culture, with 36 members from all EU member states and associated countries.

Featured members of the Elements cluster:

  • Katia Arfara, Assistant Professor of Theater and Performance Studies, NYUAD
  • Dale Hudson, Associate Professor of Film and New Media, NYUAD

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