ENAC Seminar Series by N. Bredella
Event details
| Date | 29.04.2021 |
| Hour | 08:45 › 09:30 |
| Speaker | Nathalie Bredella |
| Location | Online |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
08:45 – 09:30 – Dr N. Bredella
Visiting Professor at Berlin University of the Arts, Germany
On the notion of environmental design and architectural ecologies
Focusing on notions of the environment that incorporated scientific knowledge about the interrelationship between humans and the environment into architecture during the digital turn, my lecture will revisit the H2Oexpo water pavilion created by the Dutch office NOX, and the ECO-TEC conferences, a series of events organized by New York’s Storefront Gallery in the early 90s that explored environmental issues related to building and urbanism. I will examine the approaches to natural and constructed ecologies in both projects, and the notions of interactivity they fostered, suggesting that they harbor spatial and political implications for the environmental issues of today. As a historical reference for an expanded understanding of the environment, I will refer to Richard Neutra’s Survival Through Design (1954), a work which encouraged sensual, physical, and cognitive ‘participation’ with the environment, and which I argue provides insights into both case studies. Neutra’s approach is useful for understanding H2Oexpo’s media-technical apparatus, which incorporated environmental systems with human experience by engaging the bodies and psyches of visitors. Meanwhile, Neutra’s call for a sense of cosmopolitan responsibility among designers when it comes to the environment is valuable when looking at the ECO-TEC conferences. I suggest that the expanded notion of the environment found in projects of the 90s offers a generative perspective on the current challenge of how we understand ecologies and architecture’s role in the wider environment.
Short bio:
Nathalie Bredella is an architectural historian whose work focuses on the history and theory of architecture, and on media history and technology studies. Her research centers around the interplay of the technical structures, theoretical models and social constellations in which architecture is created. She studied architecture at the TU Berlin and the Cooper Union New York and received a PhD on the subject of architecture and film. She was a visiting professor of architectural history with a focus on media and gender studies at the Berlin University of the Arts, where she led the DFG-funded project ‘Architecture and New Media’. She recently taught on the subject of Architecture and Digitalization at the ETH Zürich and is currently a senior research fellow at the DFG-funded Institute of Advanced Study on Media Cultures of Computer Simulation at Leuphana University, working on a project on ‘Ekistics: computers, simulations and planning processes’.
Visiting Professor at Berlin University of the Arts, Germany
On the notion of environmental design and architectural ecologies
Focusing on notions of the environment that incorporated scientific knowledge about the interrelationship between humans and the environment into architecture during the digital turn, my lecture will revisit the H2Oexpo water pavilion created by the Dutch office NOX, and the ECO-TEC conferences, a series of events organized by New York’s Storefront Gallery in the early 90s that explored environmental issues related to building and urbanism. I will examine the approaches to natural and constructed ecologies in both projects, and the notions of interactivity they fostered, suggesting that they harbor spatial and political implications for the environmental issues of today. As a historical reference for an expanded understanding of the environment, I will refer to Richard Neutra’s Survival Through Design (1954), a work which encouraged sensual, physical, and cognitive ‘participation’ with the environment, and which I argue provides insights into both case studies. Neutra’s approach is useful for understanding H2Oexpo’s media-technical apparatus, which incorporated environmental systems with human experience by engaging the bodies and psyches of visitors. Meanwhile, Neutra’s call for a sense of cosmopolitan responsibility among designers when it comes to the environment is valuable when looking at the ECO-TEC conferences. I suggest that the expanded notion of the environment found in projects of the 90s offers a generative perspective on the current challenge of how we understand ecologies and architecture’s role in the wider environment.
Short bio:
Nathalie Bredella is an architectural historian whose work focuses on the history and theory of architecture, and on media history and technology studies. Her research centers around the interplay of the technical structures, theoretical models and social constellations in which architecture is created. She studied architecture at the TU Berlin and the Cooper Union New York and received a PhD on the subject of architecture and film. She was a visiting professor of architectural history with a focus on media and gender studies at the Berlin University of the Arts, where she led the DFG-funded project ‘Architecture and New Media’. She recently taught on the subject of Architecture and Digitalization at the ETH Zürich and is currently a senior research fellow at the DFG-funded Institute of Advanced Study on Media Cultures of Computer Simulation at Leuphana University, working on a project on ‘Ekistics: computers, simulations and planning processes’.
Practical information
- General public
- Invitation required
- This event is internal
Organizer
- ENAC
Contact
- Cristina Perez