Comparatively no longer a radical alternative to many approaches emerging to analyze and organize the design and construction processes which shape the built environment, THE FUTURE OF OPEN BUILDING conference asks participants to critically consider what the notion of 'open building' continues to offer within broader international contexts. The aim of this provocation is to encourage participants to challenge how collaborative synergies amongst the design professions and those impacted by design choices, are often made, unmade and transformed within every scale of the built environment. What forms and directions should ‘open building’ take in the twenty-first century?
Who Should Attend?
The programming is strongly oriented toward practicing professionals and academics interested in open building approaches to design and construction processes.
Structure
Each of the three days of conference program is organized around keynote speakers and moderated panels in the morning sessions. In addition supplementary afternoon programming will include: one afternoon of three parallel paper sessions, and a second afternoon of two technical tour options, as well as an exclusive film screening of CASE STUDIES NL that will be followed by a Q & A with the documentary filmmakers.
Special Guest of Honor
N. John Habraken Trained as an architect at Delft TU and the author of numerous books including Supports, an Alternative to Mass Housing (1962/72/99), The Structure of the Ordinary (1998) and Palladio’s Children (2005), Professor Emeritus N. John Habraken was the Director of SAR (Foundation for Architects Research) in the Netherlands from 1965 to 1975. Appointed professor at Eindhoven Technical University in 1967, he set up its new Department of Architecture and served as its first chairperson. Later he was appointed Head of the Department of Architecture at MIT, Cambridge, MA. From 1975-1981, he taught at MIT until his retirement in 1989. He is the recipient of the 1988 Creative Achievement Award of the Association of Collegiate Schools in the US; the David Roëll prize 1979 of the Dutch Prince Bernhard Fund; The King Fahd award for design and research in Islamic Architecture (1985-86); and the Oevre Award of the National Foundation for Art, Design, and Architecture in the Netherlands (BKVB oevre prijs 1996). Additional awards include: Honorary member of the Architectural Institute of Japan; Knight of the Royal Order of the Dutch Lion 2003; and recipient of the 2003 “Kubus for advancing the standing of Architecture,” by the BNA Dutch Association of Architects. In 2005, Mr. Habraken received an honorary doctorate from the Technical University Eindhoven.
Key Dates
January 30, 2015 - Paper Abstracts & Poster Proposals Due - CET Midnight (Central Europe Time) March 2, 2015 - Authors Informed & Payment Options Open May 1, 2015 - Full Papers Due for Review June 8, 2015 - Review Comments Distributed July 24, 2015 - Final Submissions Due August 10, 2015 - Regular Registration Closes September 1, 2015 - Late Registration Closes September 9-11, 2015 - Conference at ETH Zürich
Language
Conference keynotes, panels, paper presentations and tours will be held in English.