Come join us for the BioSalon roundtable exploring design methodologies operating at the intersection of biology, computation and urban ecologies, hosted by ADAPT-r Events / Ambika P3, at University of Westminster, 18:30 - 20:30, 30th November 2016. The speakers will be architects Ricardo De Ostos, Emmanouil Zaroukas and Marco Poletto, together with microbiologist Dr. Simon Park, and myself. Our discussion will be moderated by ADAPT-r fellow Claudia Pasquero, founder of ecoLogicStudio, and curator of the event. 

Extract from BioSalon's event listing:
​
"The conversation will stem from an attempt to gather a non-anthropocentric perspective, debating the blurred distinction between nature and artifice, landscape and city and ultimately the biosphere and the contemporary urbansphere.

Through the work of the invited guests we will look at the world from the renewed perspective of macro-scale satellite monitoring, revealing planetary infrastructures, as well as the micro-scale of fundamental cellular organization.

How can this trans-scalar journey provide an analogue model of the future bio-city? Can this form of analogy enable a re-interpretation of the contemporary urbanity? The BioSalon will be structured as a conversation between architects, artists, microbiologist and theorists."

Find more information at: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/adaptr-events-bio-salon-claudia-pasquero-tickets-28361858081

In interview for Forbes magazine, thanks to Whitney Johnson, author of the critically acclaimed Disrupt Yourself: Putting the Power of Disruptive Innovation to Work.

Read at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/whitneyjohnson/2016/11/28/this-entrepreneur-is-learning-from-nature-how-to-design-a-city/#3f2bba1f6372

Nobel prize winning chemist Arne Tiselius, as cited by Alvin Toffler, on the [then] coming "great future of industry... from biology" in Future Shock, published in 1970.

Jan Kaplický Drawings, on show until December 16th 2016 at University of Greenwich's School of Architecture & Landscape, makes for an unmissable journey into the works of one of the most influential architects of the past century. Curated by the university's head of architecture & landscape, Nic Clear, and hosted in association with Circa Press and support from the Czech Embassy, the exhibition harnesses print and digital media at a variety of scales. Perusing the assemblage of imagery, it will likely come as no surprise to those unfamiliar with Kaplický's life and works to hear he was the son of a botanical illustrator and a sculptor. What architectural wonders evolve from the mind of a man born and bred of both the arts and the sciences!  

Extract from University of Greenwich Galleries press release:

"This exhibition commemorates Jan Kaplický, who was one of the most gifted and visionary architects working at the end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st century. His death in 2009 at the age of 71 robbed the world of a designer whose virtuosity was only just coming to wider public attention, having been a benchmark in the world of architecture for nearly three decades.

His trademark ‘futuristic’ style was formed from the intersection of the bold elegance of Czech modernism, the sweeping lines of the Baroque and intricacy of the exploded technical diagram. His work moved beyond a simple categorisation as High Tech into a realm where technology was both a utopian image and absolute fact.

Kaplický always felt that drawings were the epitome of the ‘decisive creative act’ and the care and intricacy of his drawings show the workings of a man who was passionate in the pursuit of precision. Produced before the rise of computer aided drafting (CAD), the complexity of form and the delicacy of line are astonishing, and coupled with a wit and originality around programme and a genuine commitment to an ethical use of technology and materials Kaplický’s works represent a liberating and joyful approach to architecture."

Read more at: http://www.greenwichunigalleries.co.uk/jan-kaplicky-drawings/