Starting in 2022, SAUL hosted ‘Where do Materials Come From?’, a lecture series that took construction materials as the starting point for investigating architecture’s role in shaping the world we inhabit. Delivered mainly online by architects, historians and engineers, these lectures were shared with the other Schools of Architecture.
Materials are taken for granted. They are often hidden from sight, concealed behind paint, wallpaper, fabric and cladding (though finishes, too, are made with something). Yet materials are at the beginning of architecture. They are there long before architects formulate intentions and design a project. But few materials are used in their natural state. Most are transformed before they reach the building site.
- Irénée Scalbert Introduction – ‘Where do Materials Come From?’ 27th Sep 2022
- John Goodall – Brick 11th Oct 2022
- Richard Plant – Stone 18th Oct 2022
- Laila Seewang and Irina Davidovici – Timber 18th Oct 2022
- Barnabas Calder – Concrete 25th Oct 2022
- David Watson – Steel 1st Nov 2022
- Guan Lee – Material Setting 8th Nov 2022
- Jonathan Foote – Material Imagination 10th November 2022 (poster attached)
- Pamela Voigt – Plastics 14th Mar 2023
- Émélie Desrochers–Turgeon – Glass 3rd Oct 2023
