Internationally renowned architects Aberdeen bound as part of lecture series

Each year student society 57˚10, which has been running for almost three decades, invites guest lecturers to the Scott Sutherland School of Architecture and Built Environment to talk about the ideas and projects explored by their practices.

The students have worked alongside the Festival of Architecture, which comes to Aberdeen this month, and the Aberdeen Society of Architects to produce this semester’s lecture series.

Among those delivering presentations this semester are Turner Prize award winners Assemble Studio, who along with visual artist Simon Terrill, are also headlining this year’s Look Again Visual Art & Design Festival with their series of interactive sculptures inspired by Britain’s post-war brutalist designed playgrounds.

The talk will take place on Thursday, April 28, from 6pm at the Belmont Filmhouse.

Also set to present at the university is Chilean art and architecture studio Pezo von Ellrichshausen on April 8 at 7pm; Portuguese architecture studio Brito.Rodriguez on April 15 at 7pm; up-and-coming London architect Amin Taha who featured in last month’s New Architecture Magazine, on April 22 at 7pm; Norwegian firm Rieulf Ramstad on May 5 at 5pm; and Swiss architect Andrea Deplazes on June 18 at 4pm.

Sixth year students Daniel Kemp and James Coe have led the organisation of this year’s lecture series and said they are delighted by the calibre of speakers they have managed to secure, particularly given 2016 is Scotland’s Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design.

Daniel said: “We have been working closely with the Festival of Architecture and the Aberdeen Society of Architects in order to pull together the exciting series of lectures this April. We decided that although the Festival of Architecture is purely about celebrating Scotland’s built environment, we needed to include an international feel to the programme.

“I am looking forward to the Pezo von Ellrichshausen lecture as it could be a once in a life time opportunity to hear them speak about their work. They are travelling all the way from Chile, a country that is becoming more prominent in the architecture world, to speak at the School. On a personal level we feel that their residential work resembles the typical Scottish castle; with their monumentality set in the rolling landscape.”

James added: “Scotland is a diverse country with many nationalities and the architects we are welcoming will create an interesting discourse within the profession in Scotland. We wanted to raise the profile of the society and make it more accessible as the Festival is about raising awareness of architecture in Scotland to the wider public.

“Among those we are hosting are Assemble Studio and Simon Terrill who will be speaking about their art installation ‘The Brutalist Playground’. Assemble Studio are the recent winners of the Turner prize, for their Granby Four Streets project, the first architecture studio to do so. They take on a collaborative approach to their projects across many disciplines with an emphasis on community engagement, a growing topic of discussion within architecture, and we are very excited to welcome them to Aberdeen.”

Professor David McClean, head of the Scott Sutherland School, said: “Dan and James, the organisers of the 57˚10 lecture series, have excelled themselves through their ambitions for this year’s lecture series. They have shown great aspiration as well as tenacity in securing such a high calibre international line up.

“The quality and range of architects included in the series is outstanding, and cannot fail to stimulate and inspire our students and the wider public.”

He added: “The series aims to provide lectures that will inspire our future architects, perhaps on topics out-with the discourse of the school, but are open to everyone with an interest in the subject to attend.

“We are very excited to welcome to the School such well-established and innovative names within the profession.”

Aberdeen’s architecture festival is part of a Scotland-wide Festival of Architecture 2016 organised by the Royal Incorporation of Architects Scotland (RIAS) in line with Scotland’s Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design.

Catherine McKeown, president of the Aberdeen Society of Architecture, said: “Attracting such well-respected architects to speak as part of Aberdeen’s Festival of Architecture is just fantastic. We enjoy working closely with the Scott Sutherland School and are delighted to be liaising with 57˚10 on their April lecture series.

“The students at RGU have arranged a fascinating programme of talks. The festival itself is off to a great start and we hope it will encourage people to really appreciate some of world-class buildings that we have in the region.”

For more information on the lectures, visit www.5710.scot.

For more information about the Festival of Architecture, visit: www.foa2016.aberdeenarchitects.org