Waad El Hadidy is an interior designer with an anthropologist’s mind. She started her design career at Starwood Capital/SH Hotels in 2012 at the launch of three luxury and lifestyle brands, 1 Hotels, Baccarat Hotels and Resorts, and Treehouse. While continuing to support SH, She established The Medusan in 2020 to create meaningful spaces and visceral experiences through collaborative design cultures and award-winning design. Waad El Hadidy is sharing with us, her upcoming projects and Design philosophy.
Could you tell us a little about yourself? Where are you from?
Hi! I’m a social scientist turned interior designer with a strong interest in global music. If categories were not important I would just say I’m a creative with an interest in all human experiences that elevate the soul. I’m Egyptian and I spent my early career in Cairo. Currently, I live between New York City (Brooklyn) and Mexico City.
Prior to working for Starwood Capital, you were a public policy researcher at NYU’s Wagner School of Public Service. How was the shift from an academic to a corporate environment?
I would say the shift was more from cerebral-laden work to emotive work. The environments were secondary in my experience. In my early design work, I spent quite a bit of time trying to codify what it means to imbue spaces with feelings and what a “mood board” signifies. I have to say I am much more of an emotive processor (someone who processes thoughts through feelings – I just invented that), but years in the academic world had that side a bit foreshadowed.
Can you tell us more about your role and responsibilities at Starwood Capital/SH Hotels?
I am responsible for the overall design direction of hotel projects while protecting and evolving the brand. A lot of the work has to do with embedding a project in place and building collaborative cultures.
1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge – Lounge
1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge – Lounge
What are you working on at the moment, and do you have any upcoming projects or collaborations that you’re able to tell us about?
I’m working on 1 Hotel Nashville, opening in early winter 2022. Currently, I’m bringing in Nashville artists to add further meaning to the spaces. I also just completed design guidelines for Ray (https://www.raycommunity.com), a new residential developer and brand that seeks to make culture and art more accessible through daily lived experience
1 Hotel Central Park – Lobby
1 Hotel Central Park – Bedroom
You mentioned that “your past and current lives converge as you design with “humanity in mind””, can you tell us more about your design philosophy?
I approach projects as visceral experiences rather than physical spaces. Of course, the latter is fundamental to the machinations of building a project, but my point of departure is different. My primary focus is how people feel emotionally connected to space, how it triggers memories or feelings, how space makes people feel or think. For me, connecting on that level is much more important than creating a “beautiful” space. Anyone with taste can create the latter. But it is more significant for a space to be relatable, familiar yet fresh, for it to beam with energy, especially in this world where humans are feeling increasingly lonely.
Where do you get the motivation and inspiration for your work?
The cliché answer is anywhere. But to be more nuanced, I think the bi-city life I’m living is very inspiring. It’s important to jolt yourself out of a certain perspective offered by staying in one place for too long. You begin to “see” things differently when you switch gears.
Outside of the Design World, do you mind sharing your other passions?
I run a music series called El Series. It started as a home music salon featuring NYC subway buskers and other musical talents and has grown to include a variety of musicians representing a range of cultural backgrounds. The Series brings music lovers together in laid-back convivial gatherings.
More information available on the-medusan.com
Baccarat Hotel New York – Bedroom
Baccarat Hotel New York – Bar
Baccarat Hotel New York – Lounge
Kourosh Salehi is the Design Director for LWK + PARTNERS. He is a British Architect, Urbanist, and educator with over 25 years of international experience. He has designed and successfully delivered a range of award-winning multidisciplinary signature projects in the UK, Asia and the Middle East. Kourosh has established a comprehensive portfolio of constructed and award-winning projects in London, Beijing, Hong Kong, Doha, and Dubai amongst others, covering a wide spectrum of projects. Kourosh shared with us, the environmental challenges he and his team are facing when developing projects in the Middle East.
Can you tell us a bit about your background? Where are you from?
I am a British Architect, raised and educated in London; architecture and urbanization have been my focus for the last 30 years.
What has inspired you to work in the Architecture field?
The field of architecture is wide and varied: the most appealing aspects to me are the social and economic wellbeing of our cities. Examination of the human conditions, using empathy and finding alternative solutions is the prime concern of my design approach.
What are your guiding design principles and can you tell us more about your role and responsibilities at LWK + Partners?
As a Design Principal, I advocate for rigorous examination of the brief and develop an inherent understanding of the context and the people.
Are there any specific processes or elements you make sure to include when working on large-scale master planning like “Qetaifan Island” in Doha?
Qetaifan Island Doha in Qatar is a leisure destination, we have been working on mixed-use development being a key component of Lusail’s expansion project. It is a comprehensive large-scale development project centered around a state-of-the-art Waterpark with leisure attractions, luxurious hotels and a wide range of residential units.
The client was looking to create a regional leisure hub providing a range of unique experiences, like the world’s largest water park and a signature hospitality offer, all set within a mixed-use residential development. The client’s brief and ambitions were to create a unique destination where Design and innovation are the core components.
Abu Dhabi Maritime’s ‘Community Activation Programme’ pilot projects
Burj Crown Leisure Deck (Credit LWK + PARTNERS)
What do you think are the biggest challenges and opportunities in your career/industry now?
The environment remains one of the greatest challenges of our times. Human expansion and global urban sprawl have placed great pressure on the earth’s natural resources. The debate around environment integration should remain at the center of any future solution.
What are you working on at the moment, and do you have any upcoming projects or collaborations that you’re able to tell us about?
We are currently involved in a number of landmark projects across the Middle East region based out of our Dubai Studio. Some Master planning projects are positioned in historically and environmentally sensitive locations, proposing both the greatest challenges and unique opportunities for creative design solutions.
Last, what would be your advice as an experienced Architect to Emerging talents?
Many architects invest in the impact of innovative forms to explore the boundaries of possibilities.
Today, more than ever it is urgent to “not just solve problems” but to produce “an architecture of ideas” that is in harmony with the global challenge of natural resources management.
LWKP GardenBridge
Burj Crown (Credit LWK + PARTNERS)
Penny Craswell is a widely published writer, curator, and teacher of design history and theory at the University of New South Wales, formerly a creative strategy associate at the Australian Design Centre and communications professional at Woods Bagot and Bijl Architecture. She has also served as editor of Artichoke magazine, deputy editor of Indesign magazine, and assistant editor at Frame magazine in Amsterdam. Penny is sharing her passion for Design and talk about her first book “Design Lives Here: Australian Interiors, Furniture, and Lighting” published by Thames & Hudson in 2020.
Where are you from? Can you share the guidelines of your professional background?
I grew up in Canberra and moved to Sydney after university (via Amsterdam). I originally studied Art History and Philosophy and wanted to be an art critic so I started my career in magazines and shifted to design a few years in. After working as Deputy Editor of Indesign and Editor of Artichoke magazine, I spent a few years working in communications for architecture firms (including Woods Bagot), before completing my Masters in Design History. I then worked as a Creative Strategy Associate at the Australian Design Centre, a role I finished in January to be a full-time writer. Along the way, I was also a curator at TEDx Sydney and have always written freelance outside my day job.
Can you tell us more about your experience as a teacher of design history and theory at the University of New South Wales?
At the University of New South Wales, design history is a compulsory course for all Bachelor and Masters of Design students. This is an unusual and wonderful thing as many students of design at other universities have to study art history instead. At the moment I’m teaching a great course called Positions in Design for second-year students.
What has drawn you to work in the communication/media industry in Architecture?
I always wanted to be a writer, but I am also fascinated by design, including industrial design, interiors, and architecture. I also like being part of a niche subject – we design writers are a small group but we all know each other.
You have published your first book: Design Lives Here: Australian Interiors, Furniture, and Lighting, in 2020.
Why choosing Australian interior as your first published subject?
I do love interiors and when Thames & Hudson asked me to write a book about interior design and homes, it was a dream come true. I also wrote about the architecture and included specific items of furniture/lighting in this book.
Do you have any favorite projects featured in” Design Lives Here”?
One of my favorites is Indigo Slam, an incredible project by Smart Design Studio which wowed everyone when it was first published and has the most incredible staircase of any building in Australia, I think.
You also have a blog, “The Design Writer”; how does it reflect your various interests?
The Design Writer includes articles about new homes, new hospitality projects and public buildings, new examples of furniture, lighting and object design, reviews of design exhibitions and anything else I find interesting. I also like to include innovative approaches to the climate crisis and projects that intersect with art or fashion.
What are you working on at the moment, and do you have any upcoming projects or collaborations that you’re able to tell us about?
At the moment I’m working on a series of articles with Australian design brand Koskela, plus my next book. I’m also working on developing projects as a consulting curator of design exhibitions working with galleries and museums.
Last aside Architecture and Writing, what are your main hobbies?
I would have to say tea-drinking is one of my major past-times. I also like to bake now and then, and I do love a good book, especially literary fiction. The Sydney Writers Festival is a highlight for me each year and the Milan Furniture Fair when I can go.
Liss C. Werner is Professor of ‘Bio-Inspired Architecture and Sensoric, CyPhyLab at the Institute of Architecture, TU Berlin. She is a registered architect and the founding director of Tactile Architecture. She practiced in the UK, Russia, and Germany. Liss research focuses on cybernetics in the discourse of computational architecture as a discipline of socio-ecological systems between technology, human, and nature; it combines material, geometry, biology, data and the sensory. Liss C. Werner takes us through her professional level and shares her experience as a Professor.
Could you tell us a little about yourself and your professional journey?
I grew up in a small town in Germany before starting my education as to be an architect. In Hamburg, I trained to be a draftsman for two years. I then moved to the UK for my studies and spent one year, 1998, as an exchange student in Australia at RMIT. My academic career began at the end of my studies as a studio master at the University of Nottingham. My international education and joy of travel took me to Carnegie Mellon University as a guest professor and to Malaysia, Finland, Austria, Portugal, Ukraine, the US, and the Bauhaus town Dessau, to name a few places. Practice started right after my high-school graduation, and I was lucky to work in the UK, Russia, and Germany.
Why have you chosen to be an Architect?
This is a great question. I think the profession has chosen me, not the other way around. My great-granddad was the founder of a sawmill, and in the 1950s, the company produced pre-fabricated building components made of timber. As a kid, I was fascinated by the way how a tree becomes something else. Also, having chosen to be an architect derives from my dad’s pleasure in architecture, my mum’s fascination with complexity and systems, and my passion for building and constructing things. Later, I realized that small urban and architectural interventions could change a seemingly irrelevant space to a place of social interaction. Finally, the ability and gift to create beautiful things is rewarding and indeed wonderful to share.
When have you started to focus on “Cybernetic” and “sensorial” Architecture?
In 2003 at the Bartlett School of Architecture, I came across the cybernetician Gordon Pask. He triggered my curiosity about how systems, sensors, and interaction are related, an organizational construct observed in architecture and urban design. Luckily, I then received mentorship on Design Cybernetics from his students Ranulph Glanville and Paul Pangaro (CMU). My focus on cybernetic and sensorial architecture gets stipulated each time I tackle a new architectural problem.
Kipisland interior
Kipisland office bridge
You founded the “Tactile Architecture” Studio in Berlin, can you share with us some of the projects you and your team have been working on?
A great project we worked on was a competition for the 15000m2 large Kipsala Island Auditorium in Riga, Latvia. The project entailed the transformation and extension to the existing international exhibition center and grounds in collaboration with the Riga Expo Centre next to the Zunds canal, famous for kayaking. We enveloped the existing building with flying stairs, cantilevering galleries, and elevated boxes. The design was driven by the concept of the bridge and the view. Another project was a scripted animated simulation of an in-silico biologically grown underwater habitat and infrastructure, connecting points on an island in the North Sea of Germany with selected points on the East Frisian mainland. The project was derived from our observations of the biological organism physarum polycephalum. We showcased the work as a movie at the Design Computing Exhibition curated by the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Prague.
As a University Professor, do you mind disclosing some of your research topics?
Our research topics are pretty broad in principle. Principles of biological organisms are just as important as intelligent lighting for crowd guidance or data analysis in workplaces to increase visual or acoustic comfort. Our design research is mostly data-driven and fosters feedback and interaction between artificial senses, such as proximity, sound or light sensors, and users. We utilize open data, such as climate data, to shape the geometry of e.g., façade panels. Material and space act as an interface to somehow humanify technology. Thus, we design and construct our intelligent objects ourselves using 3D printing and knowledge in sensor/hardware technology. On an urban level, our key topic is the future morphological and material transformation of our cities, our urban human habitats.
SOCO Phy
TUB Mousserons
TUB Super Organism
What is the most rewarding part for you about teaching at University?
Seeing my students observing, and indeed struggling, with curiosity and passion – and learning. I follow some of them, and some keep following me over the years, sometimes asking for advice. It makes me very happy to see them thrive.
Last, what are the advice and professional tips you give to your students?
Don’t stop following your dream. Draw by hand. Study the masters. Enjoy every mistake you make. Work with physical material to embody your profession. Be aware that the profession and the architect’s role are changing rapidly, so make sure you embrace the magic you, as architects, can create. Read ‘The Fountainhead’, 1943, ‘In Praise of Shadows’, 1933, and ‘Invisible Cities’, 1972. And remember, nature is our best teacher.
Liberty Island exterior
HK 02 human
https://cyphylab.chora.tu-berlin.de/
With over 30 years in the industry and many awards under his belt, Phill Mashabane has acquired expertise in the fields of Master planning; Urban Design and Development Planning; Architecture; Museum design; Storyline Development and Exhibit Design; Interior Architecture; and Heritage and Conservation. Phill Mashabane shares with us his personal journey from growing up in a rural environment in South African to his Architectural Studies in Paris, then attending Harvard Law School.
Could you tell us a little about yourself and your professional journey?
I was raised by conservative rural parents who expected one to account for one’s actions at all times. Coming from a family of nine siblings, my parents could not afford to carry me through beyond primary education. I however did not give in to the social and economic pressures that my family faced. I carried myself through high school wherein I completed my A levels and technical studies in London. I further enrolled myself in Paris where I completed my Architectural Studies (BArch).
I worked for five years in Paris before I headed back home to South Africa being a transit Architect working in various countries including Saudi Arabia, Ghana, Guinee, Bangui, Zimbabwe, and South Africa. When I could not be employed as an Architect in South Africa due to the repressive segregation laws at the time (Bantu/Native Building Workers Act, Act No 27 of 1951), I went back to Paris and registered at a Law School to further my understanding of the legal frames I was subjected to.
Upon completion (LLB), I worked as a Research Attorney in Paris. However, Architecture was my first passion. Architecture being engrained with the lives of people, I further empowered myself with the knowledge of Mediation and Arbitration both in Commercial and Construction.
I further pursued studies and earned my MSc in Knowledge and Project Management. I furthered my people’s engagement studies (Negotiation) at Harvard Law School. Amongst other things, I also studied music and earned my licentiate credentials, and performed in an orchestra where I played a Viola and alto saxophone.
I am an avid golfer and a motorsport enthusiast. Areas of interest remain strong in Architecture, Art, Race Relations, Music, and Law.
As for my professional journey; I worked for a Competition Practice in Paris. Deployed to implement the projects I designed for construction in Europe, Asia, and Africa. Later left the employ and became a traveling Architect working in various countries making my way back to my motherland where I co-founded Mashabane Rose Architects. Mashabane Rose Architects have earned their projects through competitions and unsolicited project development.
Why have you chosen to be an Architect?
I chose to be an Architect at an early stage as I viewed that to be an Architect was a composite of being a solution provider to social demands. Being an Architect requires one to fulfill various roles including but not limited to understanding race relations, arts and crafts, law, etc. in my journey, I have made an effort to equip myself with those competencies
You have been involved in the realization of major projects, but If you have to choose only one, which one’s would it be and why?
All the projects I have been involved in are unique and have their significance and are impactful in their own right. Most have been legacy projects that seek to record and uplift the lives of people. These have presented themselves at another level as Memory projects. One project that has gotten me to look deeper is the Mandela Capture site wherein the process to arrive at the final establishment, has gone through various social and community loops where my varied expertise was at play.
Freedom Park
In 2016, you have received the “Lifetime Achievement award for excellence in the field of Architecture” by the South African Professional Services Industry. Can you share more about this recognition?
This was a humbling acknowledgment by my peers and many institutions that I have engaged with and served, particularly in the field of Architecture and professional practice.
You are part of various professional groups or affiliates; what is the most fulfilling part for you to be involved with many associations?
The most fulfilling part is to add value and intervene where necessary to make others realize progress.
Can you please share with us, what are the main challenges when working on Architectural projects in South Africa or Africa in general?
The main challenge, in general, is to deal with a client that is not informed of the impact of Architecture and who looks out for “wow effects’ than the reason and functionality of the architectural intervention
Last, what would be your advice as an experienced Architect to Emerging talents?
Every course affects. Emerging talents should not disregard the morality and ethics of their intervention as it may have long-lasting effects on those that may be ignorant of their activities.
Museum of African Liberation – construction on process
Dinosaur Museum
Helle Juul is an Architect, Ph.D and Founding Partner of Juul | Frost Architects, a consulting firm for many of the largest educational institutions and Scandinavian cities in the fields of strategic urban development, urban spaces, and campus development. Helle has more than 35 years of experience from her practice and as a research and international lecturer and guest professor, jury member on national and international architecture awards. She is Vice President for the International Urban Development Association, member of the European Cultural Parliament among other organizations. Hellie is sharing her professional journey and her engagement in various associations.
Can you tell us a bit about your professional journey? Where are you based?
I graduated as an architect from the Aarhus School of Architecture back in 1981, and my PhD from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts School of Architecture from 1994. The year I finished my PhD, I founded Juul | Frost Architects with my husband and business partner, Flemming Frost. Today, we are an interdisciplinary studio with around 30 employees located in Copenhagen, but we work across all of Scandinavia, and currently also in Russia.
You founded “Juul | Frost Architects”, when and why did you decide it was time to start your own company?
After more than 10 years of research, teaching, and curating of international architecture exhibitions, I longed to apply knowledge to practice. I believe that the architectural practice qualifies research – it creates a necessary dualism between theory and research on one side and practice on the other side.
The application of research has been one of the recurrent themes during my career, which to a high degree has also defined Juul | Frost Architects’ DNA. Juul | Frost Architects have been responsible for several research projects, among others the 3 years long development projects ’Public Space as a catalyst for change’ and ‘Campus Areas of the Future – from the Academic Village to Global University Hub’. Projects that developed new approaches and pragmatic tools, that redefined how we think and design public spaces and campus areas in Scandinavia.
What are your role and responsibilities as Vice President for the International Urban Development Association (INTA)?
I was elected as Vice President based on my experience and my research in urban development, and based on Juul | Frost Architects’ focus on promoting health through urban planning – A focus our studio shares with the International Urban Development Association.
Together with the other board members of the International Urban Development Association, I am responsible for facilitating the international exchange of ideas and knowledge through collaborations, peer-to-peer panels, masterclasses and much more. I believe the international and interdisciplinary exchange is the key to innovative solutions.
What do you think are the biggest challenges and opportunities in your industry now?
With the increasing urbanization, the design of our cities, public spaces, and built environment will have a greater impact on our health and well-being as well as our health cultures: How we live our lives, our behavior, and the choices we make. Both with regards to our physical, but also mental and social well-being. Social segregation, urban loneliness, and an increase in sedentary lifestyles are just some of the challenges urban dwellers face.
I believe, that architecture plays an essential global role and is an important instrument in the development of society. For me, the role of the architect revolves around people. I’m interested in how architecture and urban spaces can act as the social glue, how they can address people’s needs, and how they can play a role in promoting their quality of life.
What are you working on at the moment, and do you have any upcoming projects or collaborations that you’re able to tell us about?
We have just initiated the interdisciplinary research project “The future’s urban health culture” supported by Realdania. The project’s goal is to secure the link between health and urban planning and to develop new tools and recommendations to work holistically with the promotion of social, physical, and mental well-being across scales.
The research project is to some extent a continuation of our focus, in our former project ‘Cities of Well-being’, where we developed a framework to secure resilience, identity, social sustainability and climate-friendly development. A framework we have applied in our integrated landscape designs, that merge natural preservation, climate adaption and promotion of biodiversity with the promotion of social, mental and physical well-being.
Arena Park Airview by Juul Frost Architects
Arena Park View by Juul Frost Architects
Last, aside from your passion for Architecture and Urbanism, what are you interested in?
I’m inspired by the arts, both literature, painting, sculpture, photography, and film. And how they can contribute with new perspectives on architecture and urbanism. It actually brings me back to my PhD which was a multi-aesthetic inquiry into arts interpretation of time and space. In that way, the inspiration from other fields of art and other disciplines has been a recurrent theme throughout all of my practice.
Campus Örebro by Juul Frost Architects
Tarkhanovo Eco-Park by Juul Frost Architects
Tarkhanovo Eco-Park Plan by Juul Frost Architects
Heath Gledhill is qualified in both design, management, and business as well as having a keen interest in Architecture, Urban Design, and Landscape Architecture. His passion for best practice project management combined with excellence in design and delivery, lead him to a Design Integration Practice Leader at Aurecon in Australia. Heath is part of the BLT Built Design Awards Jury panel and shared with us, his professional journey.
Can you tell us a bit about your professional journey? Where are you based?
I grew up in a small coastal town along the ‘Great Ocean Road’ in Victoria, Australia and have always been interested in the landscape.
From there I moved to Melbourne to study at RMIT University to study for a bachelor’s degree in Landscape Architecture, and have spent the remained of my time living and working predominately in urban environments.
My professional journey has afforded me time within the local government and consulting sectors (within Australia and multiple regions across the globe) and time within the Landscape Architecture, Urban Design, and Architecture fields. Across the journey, I have explored not only my design focus but the field of management and how this process impacts designed outcomes, which led me to undertake a Masters of Business Administration also to further support this interest.
What has inspired you to work in the Architecture and Urbanism fields?
Having grown up in a coastal landscape environment I have always been interested in the landscape and environment. This led to a natural progression to Landscape Architecture where I have been able to combine my interest in the landscape and the technical processes involved with complex projects.
Is there any specific processes or elements you make sure to include when working on large-scale projects like the Jumeriah Central and City Walk Central Park, in Dubai?
I think that it is always important to think not just about the project and its identified edges, but the broader place, context and connections. I firmly believe that the success of any project is as much about the design of the project itself as it is about understanding the place context and how people will access the site. This is especially important when you are considering large-scale sites and projects.
A method that my team has adopted is to think about the process in scales, starting with People, Places, and finally the City. This ensures that we think about how people will interact with the project and we can then consider the design aspirations from the human scale, as humans are the essential ingredient to activation of place.
What do you think are the biggest challenges and opportunities in your career/industry now?
I think that in a new, post-Covid world, one of the biggest challenges we face is how do we improve our cities and places to be safe yet inviting and accommodating the needs of the users.
One of the key areas that my team is exploring are the key ingredients which a city needs to flourish and considering how can we design road ecologies that regenerate, how can road environments be responsive to their context, and what level of amenity do individuals need to participate in resilient, joyous communities?
Post lockdown, Melbourne’s (as an example) urban environment is reacting to generously allow for human connection. Inner-city precincts are expanding bicycle networks and offering car spaces back to commercial enterprises in a bid to support community infrastructure and economy. We’re witnessing a re-imagining of road infrastructure and its role in supporting the vitality and health of our cities and people.
Design Integration has taught us that experiential qualities like ‘vitality’, ‘productivity’, and ‘liveability’ are often rooted in the quality, frequency, and richness of our connections with one another.
What are you working on at the moment, and do you have any upcoming projects or collaborations that you’re able to tell us about?
A core focus of my and my teams work now is focused around transport and the integration of these networks into our urban environments.
Two key projects which I am involved in at the moment with Melbourne (Australia) is the Airport Rail Link and Suburban Rail Loop projects, which are large scale, complex urban and precinct focused projects which will ultimately change the way in which people move and interact with the city, suburban areas and beyond.
These are once-in-a-lifetime scaled city-shaping projects, which are highly challenging, yet rewarding in their scope and long-term opportunity and legacy outcomes.
Last, aside from your passion for Architecture and Urbanism, what are you interested in?
In a pre-covid world, travel and exploring new places was a keen interest. Throughout my career to date, I have been lucky enough to travel to many places around the world exploring built form, urban and regional realms.
Thomas Hoepf, FAIA, is the Senior Vice President and Design Director at EXP Architects + Engineers in Chicago. His experience includes projects of ranging types and scales for public and private clients. With nationally recognized design expertise Tom’s projects have won numerous design awards, including 35 National, Regional, and Local AIA Design Excellence Awards, and have been widely published. Thomas Hoepf is sharing with us his guiding design principles and his passion for teaching.
Can you tell us a bit about your background? Where are you from?
I was born in a small town in northwest Ohio, USA and moved to Chicago immediately after graduate school. I knew I wanted to live and practice in a larger city, and Chicago was that city – an amazing history and always a history of an energetic forward-looking ethos.
What has inspired you to work in the Architecture field?
When I was young, I always enjoyed drawing, whether it was something I observed or something from my imagination, and I was pretty good at it. My family moved a few times as well, and my parents would always take me to look at houses with them. I think somehow that started me thinking about buildings and design. I made my own T-square and started designing houses and I guess my interest grew from there. I was also interested in music, as a guitar player, and debated between architecture and music. But having no formal training in the latter I never quite had the confidence to pursue it. Of course, I knew nothing about architecture either, but somehow it seemed to strike a balance of creativity and practicality.
What are you working on at the moment, and do you have any upcoming projects or collaborations that you’re able to tell us about?
One of the things I love about what I do is that I am always involved in many different projects at any given time, and those projects range in scale, type and complexity – from transit stations to courthouses, to airports, to picnic shelters – so we’re never pigeon-holed or bored. Secondly, I would say that all of our projects are collaborations. One project, in particular, I would highlight that my team and I are working on happens to be the largest project the Chicago Transit Authority (Chicago’s mass-transit agency) has ever undertaken – a project called the Red-Purple Modernization. It entails the design of more than a mile of new elevated track structure, as well as four new stations on the north side of Chicago. On the one hand, while it’s a huge project in terms of scope, it’s actually very intimate in a sense, because each of these new stations resides in a different neighborhood and street – each with a unique physical character and cultural identity. So, from a design approach standpoint, each has to be crafted to respond to those specific conditions, while at the same time, each has to be “of a family” of stations along a consistent route/line.
CTA 95th Dan Ryan Terminal Station
What are your guiding design principles?
As the leader of a team of creative problem-solvers, we collaborate across disciplines we focus on a few core principles:
You recognize the value of mentorship and continue to mentor through your teaching and involvement with the American Institute of Architects. Can you please share a bit more about that?
Indeed, I’ve had wonderful mentors throughout my academic and professional career. I was lucky to be invited to teach graduate design studio at the Illinois Institute of Technology for over 10 years, and that opportunity came directly through one of my professional mentors, who was simultaneously the design principal at the firm I was working at out of graduate school and also teaching studio at IIT. Observing that balance between professional work and teaching seemed incredibly challenging, but also like an ideal world to me.
Later, after I was invited to teach, I realized that it’s such a challenging, invigorating, rewarding experience and that I was getting as much out of it as my students were. Teaching truly had a profound impact on me in both my design sensibilities AND in the way that I collaborate and communicate with my team. Similarly, my involvement with the AIA Chicago Bridge Mentorship program wherein AIA Fellows are paired with younger architects, has been fun, rewarding and a continuation of me learning from my “mentees”. It’s such a great program that is finding its way into the programming of AIA Chapters throughout the country.
Last, do you have any tips for aspiring Architects?
Believe in and advocate for yourself. If you don’t believe, you can’t expect someone else to. Also, recognize that making architecture is a collaborative endeavor wherein everyone must “own” the design – and it really takes a team to make relevant places and spaces.
Washington Wabash Elevated CTA Station
St Louis International Airport Main Terminal Renovation
Research Center Atrium
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Charles Prevedel Federal Building Modernization
Geoff Wilkinson is a renowned Building Inspector with over 35 years of experience in the Construction Industry. He has worked in both Public and Private practice, across almost every sector and his company currently deals with over 600 projects a year. He has served on many industry working groups in the development of UK Standards and Regulations and is highly respected for his knowledge and practical application of the regulations. Geoff is sharing his professional journey and the expertise needed to be a construction consultant.
Can you tell us a bit about your professional journey? Where are you based?
My career in construction started as a child as my father was a contractor, and some of my early memories include coloring in superseded plans with crayons!
My first-holiday job was working for my father as a general laborer where I helped knocked things down and shift barrows of rubble from site to the skip during the school holidays.
I left school at 16 and joined the Greater London Council (The Municipal Authority for London) in 1983 where I commenced a trainee program to become a Building Inspector. I worked for several other municipal authorities prior to the privatization of the sector in the 1990s, and have since worked for commercial Building Inspectors prior to setting up a family business with my wife in 2009.
I am based in the UK and more specifically in Kent – The Garden of England
You are the Managing Director of Wilkinson Construction Consultant; can you please tell us the scope of expertise a construction consultant brings to a project?
Wilkinson Construction Consultants can offer a range of professional support services related to regulatory compliance in the UK along with Expert Witness services. Our core service is Approved Inspector services, and we are one of around 100 companies in the UK licensed to give Building Control Approvals. We are not just another consultant, we are the actual decision-makers and our certificates of approval are accepted by all the relevant Local Authorities, Conveyancers, and Financiers.
Can you tell us more about your involvement in developing the UK construction Standards and Regulations?
In addition to direct involvement in projects, I have also sat on a number of working parties and committees that assist the UK government in setting the relevant standards that need to met. These have included proposed changes to UK Fire Regulations and the provision of Access for people with disabilities.
What do you think are the biggest challenges and opportunities in your industry now?
The biggest issue we currently face is climate change and adapting traditional building techniques and designs to face this challenge, including the upskilling of the workforce. Whilst a lot of focus has been placed on fire safety in recent years, there are around 10x as many deaths from overheating in our buildings as there are from fire or smoke inhalation. As the climate continues to heat up providing a cool place of shelter and maintaining access to water will provide particular challenges.
Is the ongoing Covid-19 healthy crisis affecting your field of work?
Covid -19 has affected our field of work, and it’s clear that there has been a move away from the office to increased home working. This in itself provides challenges, as our homes are not typically designed to provide suitable and sufficient working environments, and the open plan living trends of recent years, are especially difficult when focused working space is required. We are seeing our city centers empty and in need of reimagination – we look forward to new place-making that enables home, work, and leisure activity in close proximity and less reliance on the commuter journey.
What are you working on at the moment, and do you have any upcoming projects or collaborations that you’re able to tell us about?
As a practice, we have the luxury of working across a range of sectors – from well-known high street brands to unique one-off homes. We also like to focus on “retro first” – the reuse and refurbishment of disused and even historic buildings to make them fit for a new millennia. Examples across our current/recent portfolio are shown over.
Last, aside from your passion for construction, what are you interested in?
I enjoy travel (at least I seem to remember that I enjoyed travel when it was permitted) Jazz, Fine Dining and Football (Soccer for the US audience) and am an avid follower of Arsenal football club.
Canterbury Cathedral Visitor Centre
Private Dwellings – Lakehouse
Scania UK Headquarters
Simpsons Wine Estate
Anna Grichting is an architect, urbanist, and musician at Bordermeetings Switzerland and graduated with a Doctor of Design in Urbanism from Harvard University. She is a specialist in sustainable Urbanism and border landscapes. Anna is sharing the professional journey that brought her around the world and her passion for music.
Could you tell us a little about yourself? Where are you from?
I was born in Geneva Switzerland and lived in England and Ireland as a child and young girl. My Swiss ancestors are from a mountain village in the Valais, and my mother was born in Berlin. I studied and practiced architecture in Geneva and went to Boston to undertake my Doctor of Design. After working for the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in Geneva, I taught architecture and urbanism in Qatar for seven years, and I am now back in Geneva working as a consultant, researcher, and designer on various projects. I like to sing, to ski, to swim (I swim all year round in Lake Geneva) and I am inspired by contemporary art and nature.
Why have you chosen to study Urbanism?
I never liked history as a young girl because I was not good at memorizing dates… but later, when I was studying architecture in Geneva, we had courses in Urbanism, which included the history of cities and the contemporary design of territories. I had great Italian professors who taught us to read the history of cities in plans and maps and also to understand the cultural and philosophical dimensions of urban settlements. During my studies, I visited my grandmother who had moved to Berlin in the last years of her life. It was my first visit to Berlin, and I was fascinated by the Wall and the divided city, the birthplace of my mother, a city that had been destroyed and torn in half. Two years later I returned to begin my diploma on the Berlin Wall and I was there when the Wall fell and since then I have worked on Border Urbanisms and Landscapes.
I was attracted to urbanism as it is an interdisciplinary field, and I like to work in connecting different systems, modes and layers of information. During my studies at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University, and through my research on borders and buffer zones, I became increasingly interested in landscape urbanism and realized the importance of landscape as a foundation for all urbanism and architecture. We also were introduced to landscape in my undergraduate studies, so I had a very broad training and outlook on the profession. The city is connected and made up of Open space… it is the glue between the buildings and the theatre where people collect and connect. Squares, Public spaces, parks, promenades, cemeteries, gardens, natural habitats … all of these link into the green and blue networks of the city.
In urbanism, there are many fields – from legislation to policy, geography, to design – and today with growing tendencies to “design with nature” and natural systems, coupled with the development of technology – the fields of ecology, biology, climatology, cyber,,, digital. There are also multiple scales of urbanism, historical scales, spatial scales, and I like to work on these various dimensions of urbanisms, from designing pocket parks – which I did with a local community in Boston – to creating visions for large border landscapes such as the Korean Demilitarized Zone and the Cyprus Buffer Zone. I have also connected art and music to my urban projects
Can you please take us through your professional journey?
After finishing my architecture diploma I worked as an architect in Geneva both in a private office and for the City of Geneva where I designed the public space and infrastructures for an annual music festival. At the same time, I was studying for my Masters and teaching at the University of Geneva, as well as singing in a Rhythm and Blues Band. My life has always been between Architecture and music, between practice and teaching. On returning from Boston, I worked with the Aga Khan Award for Architecture on an Education Initiative, and more recently I conducted on-site project reviews and interviews for the award-winning projects.
During my time as a professor, I have always maintained a close connection with the profession, presenting and chairing at conferences and traveling worldwide. This academia and industry connection has always been important to me as well as mentoring young women (and men too) and I took an important role in the professional training of students as part of their curriculum.
Today, I work as a researcher and consultant on various projects and continue to lecture and write articles and books as well as mentor young and aspiring architects, urbanists and researchers.
What are the challenges in developing sustainable Urbanism?
Challenges are at different levels. Individual, collective, global. We need to be ready to change our own habits and ways of living, and also to create the structures that will enable us to transition to more healthy environments and lifestyles that respect and regenerate nature
We have to be ready to work with more complexity, with many interconnected systems, and to be open to changing our way of living and doing. I believe it is also important to have a longer view of the impacts of what we do. The Native Americans always said you have to think of what impact your actions will have seven generations ahead. There is a lot of wisdom in indigenous communities that we have overlooked in our times, but there is a resurgence of these indigenous approaches which are very close to nature. We find them also in our own cultures if we listen to our elders.
We need to put the environment at the top of the value chain and transition from an ego-centered to an eco-centered society and economy, and to give more value to our natural environment, to work with nature and not against it, to create healthy cities, ecosystems, and promote human well-being…
Doha new Urban Green Belt Forestry by students in the Masters in Urban Planning and Design, Qatar University.
As a University Professor, do you mind sharing some of your research topics?
My long-standing research is on border landscapes, which began with the Berlin wall, expanding to the buffer zones of Cyprus and the Korean Demilitarized zone. In Qatar, I developed research on Blue Design in Drylands, looking at water – both sweet and salty – as a landscape and infrastructure for urban development. I also conducted research with my students on Public Art and Public Space, and with the upcoming World Cup in Qatar, the subject of Mega-Events and Urban legacies was a fundamental one for the city of Doha and Qatar. As Qatar has high food insecurity, I developed research and projects on Food urbanism, and on the nexus between food water, energy, and waste, to develop designs and scenarios to optimize these resources and to design better urban environments. The questions of soil and biodiversity are integrated into the research, looking at both natural and technological systems.
Doha Corniche, New Design for Climat changes by students in the Masters in Urban Planning and Design, Qatar University.
What is the most rewarding part about teaching/ research at University?
Firstly, the students. Without the enthusiasm and dedication of the students there would be little satisfaction. Working on important and exciting, creative projects with students, and seeing them evolve is very rewarding. Secondly, the opportunity to bring new pedagogical methods and projects which are developed to respond to the environment, as well as to the student’s needs and desires. There is often resistance in Institutions when one brings new ideas, but these challenges are also part of the rewards.
What are the advice and professional tips you give to your students?
1 – Go out of your comfort zone. That is where you learn the most and I speak from experience.
2 – Think big, and always look beyond your site to better integrate your project into the environment.
3 – Create designs that give back to the environment, that create great outdoor spaces, that contribute to public space, to biodiversity, to carbon capture.
4 – Always analyze the topography of a site you are working on – my students used to joke about my obsession with topography, but it is essential in working with the nature, with the natural flow of water, and the correct siting of structures and activities.
5 – Collaborate with the users to co-create the most appropriate designs for space or building.
Last, you are also an accomplished musician … where can we listen to you?
Since returning to Switzerland I have been playing with a Jazz Trio, Anna Jazz and Roses. You can listen to our music and watch our video here.
With my late husband Cheo Solder, we created Desert Bridges and performed in Qatar for the opening of the Swiss Embassy. You can watch the video here and listen to the CD.
Bordermeetings is a project which puts into music and words my work on borders.
Sufi Moon was a collaboration with Swiss alphorns and Qawwali musicians from Pakistan.
A selection of Dr. Anna Grichting Solder projects and urbanism works
Qatar Blue Tallin Vision Competition
Regenerative ecologies on the Baltic Sea. A Vision competition designed with students in the Masters in Urban Planning and Design, Qatar University.
Field Trip with students in Qatar
Cyprus borders.
Palimpsest Chess Board Cyprus Buffer Zone. The layers of history at the Paphos Gate.
Qatar Living Lab poster
