DaeWha has delivered a public lecture at the Architecture Commission of Saudi Arabia on Thursday 9th November. The conversation, moderated by Prince Nawaf bin Ayyaf, covered the philosophy behind DaeWha's architectural projects and address: How can architects respect the past and build for the future? Where is the intersection between traditional craft and cutting edge technology? And what is the place of artistic and cultural identity in a rapidly changing world?
The conversation can be streamed on YouTube.
Architect DaeWha Kang will speak about his full regeneration of St Andrew Holborn, a Grade 1 listed church built by Wren and damaged in the war. In addition to a deep dive into architectural design and virtuoso craftsmanship, DaeWha will reflect on broader considerations of the design profession. In particular, he will speak about the pressing need for the world’s most ambitious architects to work within heritage contexts, and the important role that spiritual and civic spaces will play in a rapidly changing world.
March 13th 2023 5:30pm UK time
Email info@daewha.com for Zoom details.
A discussion on the role and potential of VR and virtual spaces in the world of design, presented by Lara O (VII) with speakers including:
DaeWha Kang & Eduardo Camarena – from DaeWha Kang Associates; the studio is increasingly commissioned by clients to design buildings and spaces exclusively for online worlds.
Encho Rachev – digital modelling expert from SNUG Architects. Encho modelled the entire St Paul’s site using Unreal Engine; he presents the model and discusses the ‘gamification’ of a visit to the school.
Ellis Whitcomb – Deputy Head at St Paul’s Girls’ School, a product designer by profession and the member of staff responsible for the currently-under-construction Centre for Design and Innovation. Mr Whitcomb presents a walkthrough of the new building, discussing how the virtual building has informed the design process from the client side.
Notes from our conversation about Argyrios’s 3rd seminar.
Argyrios
Post-capitalist architecture
0.1% of the population has access to the services of an architect.
We mainly provide the services to the elite and also to very locally specific things.
Neglecting localism: the architect becomes less of a designer and a designer of a framework.
DK: How is this different from 20th century socialist modernism?
The architect is also hiring workers and educating them, not just fees.
Is our role stuck in the past?
How do machines? Do they have perception?
Michal:
Value of the Architect – how do we link to – productivity as value for our work
Michal thinks the value of architect’s work should be based on the result or output, rather than the production or process.
Argyrios:
The value of the architect. Maybe our role should be more open to the community.
The role of having ARB and RIBA. Is there a reason for these institutions to exist?
ARB gives you additional liability.
Marco:
It seems like the ambition is to redefine everything, which is great. But maybe it would be beneficial to give a degree of scale to the definitions.
Regarding liability, we have this social contract. The problem might not be the RIBA or ARB but society as a whole.
Typology was interesting to Marco. Aldo Rossi: links the idea of typology to the city.
Also Marco found the idea of participation interesting.
Stella:
The discussion between value vs productivity is interesting.
For architects – value has to do with beauty, uniqueness, etc… And yet for real estate people, it might be something different.
Some of the ideas have come previously in the ages –
From mass productivity to mass customization?
How will this agenda be used to move from theory to design? And how will it be different from what has come in the past?
Argyrios:
There is a feeling that the business model that is currently creating our buildings is going to reach a dead end at some point.
Communism 2.0? Distributed wealth, distributed knowledge? Where are we pointing here?
Our value is very low in relation to the rest of the market. Question.
Stella:
People cannot live without hospital, pharmacist, teachers.
Why do they believe that they can live without architects?
Marco:
It would be nice to survey what architectural graduates end up doing, and what does that mean in terms of the value that they contribute?
DaeWha
“Professionalisation” and “Democratisation”
Moving production to the consumer? Distributed 3d printing for instance.
Arthur and self – build, community – build, self – print.
Teaching and leading and opening rather than closing and secreting.
Value / Fees, salaries, market value
Impact / Accessibility / Reach
Marco:
Designing spaces that are at the forefront to design the social ordering of society.
