Kim Förster (University of Manchester) – "Commodity Cement: A Global History" – Neighbours Lectures on History and Theory of Architecture Vol. 1

Kim Förster's teaching and research focuses on environmental histories of architecture in the 19th and 20th centuries involving the humanities. He combines approaches in architectural history with those in energy and materials history that underlie processes of industrialization, modernization, and urbanization. He is currently working on a history of cement in global perspective. The goal is a revision of modern architectural history, and a repositioning of architectural humanities for decarbonization in the 21st century. Förster has contributed essays and texts to Überbau (TU Berlin, 2021), Beyond Concrete (Triest, 2022), and the "Klimapositiv" issue of Werk, Bau + Wohnen (May 2022). Other topics include the emergence of ecological thinking and design in European architecture, exemplified by the solar projects in Milton Keynes, the green projects of the International Building Exhibition IBA 84/87 Berlin, and the ETH / University of Zurich exhibition "Umdenken Umschwenken". Förster is the editor of the series "Environmental Histories of Architecture," which emerged from the Canadian Centre for Architecture's Multidisciplinary research project "Architecture and/for the Environment," funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and published through Library Stack. As a member of the architecture group common room, he co-curated the exhibition "Disquitude. Architecture in Portugal" and co-edited its subsequent publication. His monograph on the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies is forthcoming. His research has been supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation and Canadian Centre for Architecture. He is currently a Lecturer at the University of Manchester and member of MARG (Manchester Architecture Research Group).