Next Tuesday, May 25, BIArch renews its Open Lecture cycle with a talk by Chinese architect and head of the Architecture Department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Yung Ho Chang. The lecture, titled “China, Carb, City, China” will be delivered in the Auditorium of La Pedrera, at 8pm.
"Dream Cube" Shanghai Corporate Pavilion, Shanghai Expo 2010 (Photo courtesy of Atelier FCJZ)
Chang will be introduced by Albert Ferré, Editorial director at Actar Publishers, Barcelona, and managing editor of the Prince Claus Fund Library, Amsterdam.
Split House, Commune by the Great Wall, 2002 (Photo by Flickr user Ole Wa Jian)
In 1993, after receiving a Masters degree in Architecture at University of California Berkeley and teaching in universities in the U.S. for over 15 years, Chang founded the first private architecture firm in China: Atelier FCJZ (which stands for Feichang Jianzhu, or “unusual architecture.”) In 1999 he founded and became the first director of the Graduate Center of Architecture at Peking University, and in 2005 he was named head of the Architecture Department at the MIT.
Bamboo Lantern, 2009
Yung Ho Chang’s work reflects the tensions and opportunities that mark contemporary China’s constant debate between local character or tradition and a stronger global presence. The architecture of Atelier FCJZ strives for a delicate yet significant balance (or play) between the two, putting particular emphasis on physicality and materiality, on the actual process of making buildings.
Jinhua Park Pavilion (Photo by Iwan Baan)
The firm’s projects include residential and smaller-scale tourist projects reminiscent of both traditional Chinese courtyard house typologies and classic American modernism, as well as larger mixed-use complexes and boldly-designed public commissions boasting advanced technological features.
Escalator, Dream Cube (Photo by Basil Childers)
Yung Ho Chang is a member of the BIArch Advisory Council. During his intervention at Council’s first meeting last June, Chang emphasized his conviction that architecture has to be anchored in a discipline that feeds on information exchanges between teaching, research and practice.
BIArch Open Lecture
“China, Carb, City, China”
Yung Ho Chang
Introduction by Albert Ferré (Actar)
Tuesday, May 25, 2010. 8 PM
Auditorium of “La Pedrera”
Passeig de Gràcia 92
Barcelona
Download a detailed flyer of the event here.
Attendance is free, but capacity is limited. RSVP through Facebook. For more information, visit the event page on the BIArch website or contact us at events@biarch.eu.
Forthcoming: Stan Allen Open Lecture
The second BIArch Open Lecture of the Spring 2010 cycle will be delivered next Friday June 11th by Stan Allen, principal of Stan Allen Architect and Dean of the Princeton University School of Architecture (SOA). The lecture, titled “From Object to Field (and back)” will take place in the Auditorium of La Pedrera, at 7 pm. Allen will be introduced by Madrid-based architect Arturo Franco, Director of Arquitectura COAM.
Sagaponac House, The Hamptons, New York
Stan Allen studied at Brown University, The Cooper Union, and Princeton University. After working for Richard Meier and Partners in New York and Rafael Moneo in Spain, he established his own practice in 1990. For over 12 years he was a professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP), from 1989 to 2002. His work has been published in Points and Lines: Diagrams and Projects for the City (Princeton, 1999) and his theoretical essays in Practice: Architecture, Technique and Representation (G+B Arts, 2000).
Maribor Gallery, Slovenia
Allen’s academic work and professional practice illustrate his conviction that “in an increasingly specialized world, architects are the last surviving generalists.” Allen believes that architecture demands a particular set of technical or formal skills and professional traits but also openness and flexibility to incorporate different types of inputs into a truly “synthetic art form”.
Paju Book City, Korea
Stan Allen is a member of the BIArch Advisory Council and will be part of the MBIArch Master’s Degree in Architecture program 2010-11 faculty (he will be leading one of the program’s design studios). At the the first BIArch Advisory Council Meeting, Allen argued in favor of a dual role of architectural education: “to train the best possible practicing architects…to provide the necessary skills to function within the discipline,” but also to “drive the discipline forward”.
BIArch Open Lecture
“From Object to Field (and back)”
Stan Allen
Introduction by Arturo Franco
Friday, June 11, 2010. 7 PM
Auditorium of “La Pedrera”
Passeig de Gràcia 92
Barcelona
Download a detailed flyer of the event here.
Attendance is free, but capacity is limited. The lecture will be broadcast live online. RSVP through Facebook. For more information, visit the event page on the BIArch website or contact us at events@biarch.eu.