Review of UIA 2014 Durban - Day 2

The second day brought with it some more amazing speakers.

The Student Lounge

Here are the main points from the keynote by Francis Kere

• 'It is we that decide what happens with our cities.'
• '98% of the Population in Burkina Faso build houses out of clay.'
• 'Whatever you do, the user has another idea for the building.'
• He built an Opera Stage in Africa for a client then it transformed into an Opera Village.
• He believes that education is the key for Africa to develop

He received a standing ovation for his keynote.  

Next up we heard from Susannah Drake and these were her highlights:

• 'My vision was to transform singular use spaces into multi-use spaces.'
• 'People want recreation spaces.'
• She showed us how water can be diverted in case of emergencies such as mass floods.

Next we heard from Kjetil Thorsen and these were the highlights:

• Some of his designs include a keyless, windowless, doorless museum
• He showed us how to design a farm on top of a shopping mall so as not to waste farm land

There are also many free events around the city and don't forget to stop by the Kwa Muhle Museum to see the Green Heart City Book and Design Boma.  Be sure to stop by for their lunch special of Chakalaka Bunny Chow.  They are there all week.

Look out for the interactive art displays at the conference. 

Be sure to see the mini film festival which is on the go at Coast of Dreams.   There are some wonderful documentaries with architecture themes.  Shows at 11am, 2pm and 6pm.  

One of the discoveries I found at the Expo section is that there is now a .archi web address exclusively for architects.  Pop by their stand or find out more at www.register.archi

There was also a book launch around the Sophia Gray Memorial Lecture.  You can find the book at The Book Lounge.  Sophia Gray was the first female architect.  She was self-taught and built mostly churches.

The Sophia Gray Memorial Lecture started with 40-50 people and now has 500-600 audience members. The next lecture is on 28th August in Bloemfontein.  

After Lunch I attended the Pecha Kucha session that students presented.  The themes were varied including creative spaces for Durban, homelessness in Australia and even contrasting spaces in Namibia. 

The last keynote of the day was by Rahul Tehrota and he showed us Mumbai and how the people live in the city and how festivals dominate this city.  'In buildings you don't need aircon everywhere,' stated Tehrota.

Find out more about UIA 2014 here - http://www.uia2014durban.org/

#UIA2014 #otherwhere #architecture 

Review of UIA 2014 Durban - Day 1

It's been a day full of amazing insight, hearing from some fantastic speakers in the Architecture community.
They are all at UIA 2014 Durban, the International Union of Architects World Congress.

Here are some of the highlights from the opening ceremony and my first day at the event:

• 'Architecture is political' - Hilton Judin
• 'Architecture otherwhere enables us to disrupt' - Hilton Judin
• 'Architecture is cultural' - Hilton Judin
• 'Architecture is social' - Hilton Judin
• 'Architecture activates.' - Hilton Judin

The opening ceremony included a wonderful artistic dance piece all around Durban. 

The UIA President reminded us that 'Otherwhere is Africa.' 

The Durban Mayor welcomed the delegates and reminded everyone to visit Rivertown, Warwick Junction and the other Heritage sites in Durban. 

The Premier of KZN wanted slums removed and hoped that the architecture community would work with the government in this area. 

The Minister of Public Works posed some interesting questions: 'What role will architects play in global problems such as informal settlements? and 'What are we doing for the problem of homelessness?'   He reminded the audience that we need to create a build environment which is humane. 

Next I attended the Open Building Implementation Workshop.  They had some insightful speakers.

Find out more about them here - www.open-building.org

We heard how Open Building has the idea of distinct levels.  Users / Inhabitants may give input on the design.

We were reminded that some open spaces have withstood the test of time.  Places where Festivals or Morning Markets are held.  

I also explored the Exhibition Centre where there was much on offer including another area for talks and various exhibtors.  

There is also a wonderful Mini-Film Festival on the go within the conference.  The Architect Africa Film Festival 2014.  In collaboration with DIFF 2014.  

Look out for some gems including:

• Great Expectations
• Microtopia
• The Vision of Paolo Soleri
• 9/11 Explosive Evidence

The festival runs from 4 August - 6 August at The Coast of Dreams Building - UIA 2014 Campus

I next managed to sit in on the keynote by Cameron Sinclair.  You can find him on Twitter @casinclair 

Some of the highlights from his keynote included:

• 'I became an architect because I grew up in crappy housing.' 
• 'How do we get architects to make a difference in society?'
• 'How do we improve communities?'
• 'When you are working with communities you have to hustle.'
• 'You have to be incredibly creative.'
• 'Architects spend decades perfecting their techniques'

He shared his insight into a community project he worked on in Haiti:

• 'After 4 weeks nobody cares about a disaster i.e. the media.' 
• 'Good funding comes from Individuals and Corporations.'
• Children raised money for the funding of some of these projects.

He then shared insight about a community rebuild in Japan

• The story of 1000 Paper Cranes
• They asked for 1000 Paper Cranes from the community, a benefactor was willing to pay $1 for each crane, millions of cranes arrived, the benefactor agreed to pay $500 000. 
• A wonderful story on the power of social media.

You can find more insight in this video:

The conference continues tomorrow

Website: http://www.uia2014durban.org/

Download the App: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/uia-2014-durban/id898072172?mt=8

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Article by +Fred Felton 

(Find him on Twitter @fredfelton)