ENAC Seminar Series by Prof. S. Nichols
Event details
| Date | 05.11.2020 |
| Hour | 17:30 › 18:15 |
| Speaker | Prof. Sarah Nichols |
| Location |
Zoom
Online
|
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
17:30 – 18:15 – Prof. Sarah Nichols
Assistant Professor of Architecture at Rice University, Houston, USA
Title:
Material Environments: Sections and Intersections
Abstract:
What is embedded in material or, respectively, architecture? Addressing this question reveals the entanglements that bring architecture into being—organizations and knowledge, energy and labor, and extraction and emission—situating architecture within a larger constructive culture. By taking up this lens, building can be thought of as a long process of formation that happens through both material and immaterial means, neither beginning nor ending with the construction site but rather stretched across territories and through time, intimately linking seemingly disparate agencies together.
Such networked thinking is inherently environmental and, in this talk, I will argue that an expanded notion of material provides a way of understanding architecture as a producer of environment. In doing so, material operates as a framework for both historical and projective concerns—one that can both denaturalize contemporary attitudes towards materials while also opening possibilities for new material futures.
Short bio:
Sarah Nichols is an Assistant Professor of Architecture at Rice University. Her work focuses on building materials, particularly concrete, with the aim of reframing the context and impact of architectural practice. She is currently working on a history of concrete in Switzerland that untangles the systemic relations between the development and production of the material and its widespread architectural use. Sarah is the editor of Rematerializing Construction: 22 Propositions and, together with Marc Angélil, Reform! Essays on the Political Economy of Urban Form. Her essays have been published in gta papers, San Rocco, and Grey Room. Approaching architecture primarily through research, Sarah maintains a pluralistic practice that includes independent work on buildings and urban-scale projects that complements and informs her scholarly pursuits. Sarah holds a Doctor of Sciences from ETH Zurich, an Advanced Master of Architecture from the Berlage Institute in Rotterdam, and a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Her dissertation has been nominated for the ETH medal.
Assistant Professor of Architecture at Rice University, Houston, USA
Title:
Material Environments: Sections and Intersections
Abstract:
What is embedded in material or, respectively, architecture? Addressing this question reveals the entanglements that bring architecture into being—organizations and knowledge, energy and labor, and extraction and emission—situating architecture within a larger constructive culture. By taking up this lens, building can be thought of as a long process of formation that happens through both material and immaterial means, neither beginning nor ending with the construction site but rather stretched across territories and through time, intimately linking seemingly disparate agencies together.
Such networked thinking is inherently environmental and, in this talk, I will argue that an expanded notion of material provides a way of understanding architecture as a producer of environment. In doing so, material operates as a framework for both historical and projective concerns—one that can both denaturalize contemporary attitudes towards materials while also opening possibilities for new material futures.
Short bio:
Sarah Nichols is an Assistant Professor of Architecture at Rice University. Her work focuses on building materials, particularly concrete, with the aim of reframing the context and impact of architectural practice. She is currently working on a history of concrete in Switzerland that untangles the systemic relations between the development and production of the material and its widespread architectural use. Sarah is the editor of Rematerializing Construction: 22 Propositions and, together with Marc Angélil, Reform! Essays on the Political Economy of Urban Form. Her essays have been published in gta papers, San Rocco, and Grey Room. Approaching architecture primarily through research, Sarah maintains a pluralistic practice that includes independent work on buildings and urban-scale projects that complements and informs her scholarly pursuits. Sarah holds a Doctor of Sciences from ETH Zurich, an Advanced Master of Architecture from the Berlage Institute in Rotterdam, and a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Her dissertation has been nominated for the ETH medal.
Practical information
- General public
- Invitation required
- This event is internal
Organizer
- ENAC
Contact
- Joanna Jermini-Howard / Cristina Perez