Kerstin is Founding Principal and Design Director of Kerstin Thompson Architects (KTA) in Melbourne. She is an Adjunct Professor at RMIT and Monash Universities and Professor of Practice at Bond University. Kerstin is a Life Fellow of the Australian Institute of Architects, a Member of the Order of Australia (AM), an Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, and was awarded the Gold Medal, the Australian Institute of Architects’ highest honour. KTA’s portfolio includes Bundanon Art Museum & Bridge, the Melbourne Holocaust Museum, and Broadmeadows Town Hall, along with a considerable body of housing for the ‘missing middle’. She is currently leading the Housing Atlas for Australia initiative at Monash University’s Urban Lab.

In her talk, Kerstin will present a selection of projects that explore the urban imperative of KTA’s architecture. Some of these are in highly urbanised settings, others within remote, natural landscapes. Regardless,  they exploit the architectural project to yield urban consequences: to make connections, hold disparate elements together, and forge vital ensembles that integrate buildings, landscape, infrastructure, and ecology.

Space is limited so we ask that you please request an invitation through our contact form.

Dr. Irina Davidovici is the Director of the gta Archives (Institute for the History and Theory of Architecture at ETH Zurich). She is a trained architect and historian. Irina’s research straddles housing studies, the history of housing cooperatives, and the history and criticism of Swiss architecture. She is the author of Forms of Practice. German-Swiss Architecture 1980–2000 (2012, 2nd expanded edition 2018) and editor of Colquhounery. Alan Colquhoun from Bricolage to Myth (2015).

In her talk, ‘Design by Riot and Committee - The Story of Zurich Coops’, Irina will discuss the Zurich tradition and evolution of cooperative housing.

Space is limited so we ask that you please request an invitation through our contact form.

Toronto-based Shim-Sutcliffe Architects has realised public and private projects in North America, Asia, and Europe. In 2021, the duo was awarded the Gold Medal from the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, the country’s highest honour in recognition of their relentless pursuit of design excellence. They have made a significant and lasting contribution to Canadian architecture, with theirwork recognised for its poetic quality and dedication to material expression. In 2013, both Shim and Sutcliffe were presented with the Order of Canada for ‘designing sophisticated structures that represent the best of Canadian design to the world.’ Brigitte Shim is a full professor at the University of Toronto, where she has taught since 1988, and has been an invited visiting professor at Yale University, EPFL Lausanne, University of Auckland, GSD Harvard, and The Cooper Union.

In their talk ‘Crafting Place’, Brigitte and Howard will share their commitment and passion for craft, tectonics, site, and ecology in their built projects. They will present a series of pressing issues and probing questions that have defined their architectural practice, including their multi-scalar approach to design that engages architecture, landscape architecture, interiors, furniture, hardware, and fittings, helping to shape meaningful spaces and places.

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Jonathan is a founding partner of Sergison Bates Architects in London and, since 2012, Sergison Bates Architecten in Zurich. He is particularly interested in urban questions and the role that housing plays in the changing conditions of the contemporary European city. In 2008, Jonathan was appointed Full Professor at the Accademia di Architettura, Mendrisio, where he established the Institute of Urban and Landscape Studies (ISUP) Mendrisio in 2019, and has served as director since its inception.

In his talk '20 Themes', Jonathan will present a collection of interests that influence his activities in practice and in teaching. 

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David Kohn founded the London-based studio David Kohn Architects in 2007 which works internationally on cultural, educational, and residential projects. These include a new campus for New College, Oxford, the expansion of the contemporary art gallery SMAK in Ghent, Belgium, and the 2022 RIBA House of the Year, Red House. He has been teaching architecture since 2003 and will be the 2027 Visiting Professor of Classical Architecture at Yale University.

In his talk, 'Towards an Open Architecture,' David will discuss the ideas behind the decade-long Gradel Quadrangles project for New College in Oxford.

Space is limited so we ask that you please request an invitation through our contact form.

Daniel Elsea is a Partner at Allies and Morrison, an urbanist, and a design journalist. Previously co-chair of the Council of the Van Alen Institute in New York, he sits on the Sustainable Urban Development Advisory Committee at The University of Oxford and is the co-author of Complex City: London's Changing Character, published by RIBA in partnership with Historic England. 

In his talk, 'Learning from the Barbican', Daniel will discuss how Allies and Morrison’s Barbican Renewal project, which he is co-leading, is grounded in the process of 'learning from' to uncover and celebrate the original architectural vision of the Brutalist island in London to provide new opportunities for a diverse community of partners, artists, and audiences.  

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Tura and Shane are Founding Principals of the Studio of Contemporary Architecture (SOCA), a Toronto-based architecture and urban design studio dedicated to inclusive city building and the creation of beautiful spaces. The studio was the recipient of the Canada Council for the Arts 2023 Professional Prix de Rome in Architecture, a contributor representing Canada at the 2023 Venice Biennale of Architecture, and was awarded the 2023 Emerging Architectural Practice Award from the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada. In their talk, 'Crafting Memory', Shane and Tura will discuss their approaches to memory as a tool in exploring questions and narratives of cultural representation, heritage, community care, and sustainability. They will share their studio’s process in designing community and cultural spaces, public memorials, and speculative visions.

Space is limited so we ask that you please request an invitation through our contact form.

Simon Henley is a principal of London-based architecture practice Henley Halebrown, twice shortlisted for the RIBA Stirling Prize in 2018 and 2022. He is a university lecturer and chair of the RIBA Awards Group. He is the author of The Architecture of Parking (2007) and Redefining Brutalism (2017). Simon's talk, 'Association + Attunement', will explore the impact of climate and culture on how we design, build, dwell in, and react to our built environment.

Space is limited so we ask that you please request an invitation through our contact form.

Alfredo is a partner at Allies and Morrison in London where he works across a range of projects, from conceptual stages through to completion.

In his talk 'Passeggiattas, Pasticcios, and Capriccios: On designing large pieces of cities', Alfredo asks 'What is a masterplan? Can large areas of cities be designed (and built) in one go? What strategies can be used for projects that will be measured in decades rather than years?'.

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Haike Apelt is a partner at hama architecten in Antwerp and a university lecturer

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Marsha Ramroop is founder and director of Unheard Voice, and a Global Award-winning strategist in organisational inclusion. She is author of the forthcoming Building Inclusion, EDI in Architecture (Routledge, August 2024).

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Like Bijlsma is an architect, geographer and researcher. She is the co-founder of SUBoffice (SUB office).

Like will talk about 1970s experimental housing schemes in the Netherlands. What is their value for present-day housing and neighbourhood design?

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Neal Shasore is bringing a radical new approach to architecture education. Through his role as Head of School and CEO at the London School of Architecture, he is re-defining the terms of the traditional Parts 1-3, and expanding its reach through his Part 0 and Part 4 initiatives.

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Duncan Gibbs is a landscape architect based in the small town of Murwillumbah in Northern New South Wales, and an international footprint on Instagram. He will be speaking about the intersection of practice, interest and social media

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Lisa van der Slot of de Zwarte Hond will highlight housing projects in the Netherlands as well as the residential floor plan, the theme of the publication Out There #4.

Space is limited so we ask that you please request an invitation through our contact form.