An evening of talks and provocations looking at the way we practice architecture, both now and in the future.

Practice, Practise seeks to explore current conditions of practice for architects and those working with/for the built environment. Through a process of unlearning and building anew, we look to generate speculative proposals for future practice addressing its values, systems, modes of operation and types of work.

In the first of two discussions, Roundtable 1: Unlearning Architecture (looking in) explores the methods, ethics, culture and structures of practice, and how the profession operates with a view to reimagining a future form of practice.

How do the ingrained cultural norms and methods of working stifle progression in the industry? Are professional bodies doing enough to support their members and lobby change? Is the profession underselling its skills and value to the construction industry, at the expense of the workers? Has the profession actively changed to promote diversity and encourage individuals from marginalised backgrounds to advance and excel in their field? Is the desire for change generational, or do we continue to see the same barriers, reluctance and resistance time and time again?

We will be inviting three panellists to prepare short provocations, for how we might unlearn the entrenched rituals of Architecture Practice and move towards a new progressive future. This will be followed by facilitated discussion between the contributors and the audience.

Confirmed panellists:

FAME Collective  / Tumpa Husna Yasmin Fellows | Female Architects of Minority Ethnic Collective is a research based collective founded to support women of diverse backgrounds and ethnicities in Architecture and the built environment. Their aim is to raise awareness of the barriers, inequality and lack of diversity in architecture and demand change.

Tumpa Husna Yasmin Fellows is an award-winning British architect and founder of Fame Collective. She also co-founded the interdisciplinary practice Our Building Design, the charity Mannan Foundation Trust & the Asian Architect's Association which (in addition to FAME) promotes and supports architects from the ethnic minority in the UK. She is a Senior Lecturer in architecture at the University of Westminster where her teaching draws on her research methodologies on interdisciplinary approach to design. Tumpa was awarded the RIBA-J Rising Star Award in 2017, and a commendation for the RIBA President’s Award for Research in 2019.
IG: @fame_collective
T: @collective_fame

Jos Boys | Jos originally trained in architecture and has worked in feminist and community-based design practices, as well as a researcher, educator, and journalist. She is currently working at the Bartlett UCL. She has published extensively, about learning spaces in Higher Education, feminist approaches to architecture and interrelationships between disability and the built environment.

Jos has had many year’s experience of design activism, exploring alternative critical and creative ways of designing for inclusion. She co-founded the feminist design and research practice Matrix Feminist Design Co-operative in the 1980s, and more recently co-founded and is director of The DisOrdinary Architecture Project, a platform led by disabled artists.
W: Disordinaryarchitecture.co.uk
T: @disordinaryarch

UVW-SAW | United Voices of the World – Section of Architectural Workers (UVW-SAW), is a newly-formed grassroots trade union for architectural workers in the U.K. SAW collectively take action and fight against the negative impacts of architectural work on workers, communities, and the environment.

Members of SAW organise both in their workplaces and across the sector around overwork, under-pay, unstable employment, a toxic workplace and university culture, discrimination and unethical practice.
IG: @uvw_saw
T: @UVW_SAW

Christina Gaiger | President of the RIAS | Christina is the youngest-ever President of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland, and only the second women to be elected to the role. Christina is committed to the creative reuse of buildings and the construction of a supportive network for the profession, to give traction to the value of good design. Following graduation, Christina has worked on a wide variety of projects, including universities, education facilities, museum design and domestic architecture, for design-led practices Renzo Piano Building Workshop in Paris and TsAO & McKOWN Architects in New York.

Christina returned to Edinburgh and joined Helen Lucas Architects Ltd at the end of 2014, being particularly interested in the practice's attention to detail and work in architectural conservation.
T: @christinagaiger

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Security & Accessibility
This event is being hosted live on Zoom and is being recorded for later public access. The Architecture Fringe takes the online safety and security of our guests and audience members seriously. Following best practice, upon registration, you will be sent a Zoom link where the event will commence at the allotted event time. This link is for registrants only. Thank you for your support and for joining us!

This event will feature automated closed captioning which will appear either within the call itself or in a separate window which will sit alongside Zoom. We have requested all contributors to speak slowly and clearly to allow for the captioning to be as accurate as possible. We will also review the closed captioning to ensure it accurately reflects the event when the recording is shared on our YouTube/social media channels.