China - an international perspective

The fastest-developing country in the world is a magnet for international practices. How do architects meet the need for rapid and substantial growth without losing sights of an equal need for good quality design and a sense of identity?

Speaker: CJ Lim - Professor of Architecture, Bartlett School, UCL (UK)

Respondents: Professor Wang Lu - Editor-in-Chief, World Architecture (China); Kenneth Poon - Partner, Davis Langdon (Hong Kong); Michael Kwok - Director, Arup Hong Kong & Arup China (China)

Chair: Paul Finch - Editor, The Architectural Review (UK)

Height - the urban context

Tall buildings are very particular examples of the interaction between architecture and engineering, both structural and environmental. This session examines that relationship and the constructive outcomes that derive from rigorous design analysis.

Speaker: Graham Stirk - Principal, Rogers, Stirk, Harbour & Partners (UK)

Respondent: David Glover - Director, Arup (UK)

Chair: Jeremy Melvin - Royal Academy of Arts (UK)

Energy & sustainability - lessons learned 1

Sustainable architecture has moved from the realm of theoretical design to very real considerations of energy consumption and carbon reduction. John Denton talks about how his designs have taken into consideration this environmental necessity.

Speaker: : John Denton - Founding Director, Denton Corker Marshall (Australia)

Chair: Paul Finch - Editor, The Architectural Review (UK)

2008 and 2012 - the Olympics in context

The recent Beijing games and plans for the 2012 Olympics in London point the way in which major sporting or cultural events can act as catalysts for regeneration or renewal. What lessons can we take from recent history?

Speakers:

Megan Ashfield, Associate Principal, HOK Sport Architecture (UK); Chris Bosse - Director, LAVA laboratory for visionary architecture, South Pacific (Australia)

Chair: Paul Finch - Editor, The Architectural Review (UK)

Height - the global context

What key issues do architects face in today's environment? This session will consider the the many factors facing designers, including the relationship between cost and value, as they respond to increasing demand across the world.

Speaker: Lee Polisano - Global President, Kohn Pedersen Fox (USA)

Respondent: Helen Gray - CBRE Research, CBRE (UK)

Chair: Jeremy Melvin - Royal Academy of Arts (UK)

Does global architecture exist?

An international panel debate

Reference is often made to the globalisation of architecture. Does this mean anything and if so what? If architecture is globalised, how does it manifest itself in design outcomes?

Panelists:

Michel Rojkind - Principal, Rojkind Arquitectos (Mexico); Massimiliano Fuksas, Principal, M Fuksas Architetto (Italy); Suha Ozkan - Architect (Turkey); Robert Adam - Principal, Robert Adam Architects (UK); Martin Gordon - Principal, Davis Langdon (USA)

Chair: Professor David Dunster - Liverpool University (UK)

Keynote address: 40 years in practice

Wolf D. Prix and his practice Coop Himmelb(l)au are celebrating their 40th anniversary this year. He reflects on the work of the practice over that period and the changes in the attitudes to architecture on the part of clients and architects themselves.

Introduction: Akihito Hamada, Principal, Nikken Sekkei

Speaker: Wolf D.Prix - Principal, Coop Himmelb(l)au (Austria)

Chair:Sir Peter Cook - Architect (UK)

Local identity - the icon dilemma

If every town is full of architectural 'icons', what has happened to specific local identity? Is it possible to be responsive to local or regional culture where it is possible to see everything from everywhere all the time?

Speaker: Stefan Behnisch - Partner, Behnisch Architekten (Germany)

Respondents: Sheila O'Donnell - Partner, O'Donnell and Tuomey Architects (Ireland); Margrét Harðardóttir - Principal, Studio Granda (Iceland); Richard Baldwin - Partner, Davis Langdon (UK);

Chair:

Paul Finch - Editor, The Architectural Review (UK)

Height - the engineering/public space context

Tall buildings often inspire controversy because of their size and scale in relation to local contexts. How do good architects reconcile the big with the small and universal building type with familiar historical surroundings?

Speaker: Christoph Ingenhoven - Principal, Ingenhoven Architekten (Germany)

Respondent: Tony McLaughlin - Principal, Buro Happold (UK)

Chair: Jeremy Melvin - Royal Academy of Arts (UK)

Are city peripheries a lost cause?

The inevitable growth of cities across the globe has brought with it the phenomenon of the periphery, the sometimes quasi-legal consequence of social and economic inequity. Can architecture address the problem of the periphery and what exactly is the problem?

Speakers: Marcelo Ferraz - Principal, Brasil Arquitetura (Brazil)

Respondent: Clifford Pearson -Deputy Editor, Architectural Record (USA)

Chair: Paul Finch - Editor, The Architectural Review (UK)

Place is the client

Given the frequently competing interests of landowners, planning authorities and the public, how can architects best approach urban design programmes and the buildings that result from them? This session suggests that the real client in these circumstances is the place itself, and that starting from this proposition stimulates true urbanism.

Speaker: Sir Terry Farrell - Principal, Sir Terry Farrell and Partners (UK)

Chair: Paul Finch - Editor, The Architectural Review (UK)

Height - the socio economic context

The phenomenon of tall buildings is not confined to the developed world or the biggest developing countries. This session considers how considerations of climate, construction and density can create the case for tall buildings in unexpected locations.

Speaker: Paul Monaghan - Principal, Allford Hall Monaghan Morris (UK)

Respondent: Albert Taylor - Principal, Adams Kara Taylor (UK)

Chair: Jeremy Melvin - Royal Academy of Arts (UK)

Energy & sustainability - lessons learned 2

Energy conscious design has often involved contemporary architects relearning lessons from vernacular traditions and translating them into new contexts. This session examines what it is that we mean by environmental design and how it has been adopted in tropical climates.

Speakers: Wong Mun Summ - Principal, Woha (Singapore);

Richard Hassell - Founding Director, Woha (Singapore)

Respondent: Eva Jiricna - Principal, Eva Jiricna Architects (UK); Mark Beattie - Partner, Davis Langdon (Australia)

Chair: Paul Finch - Editor, The Architectural Review (UK)

Keynote address: Architecture and the global condition (panel discussion)

The international nature of the World Architecture Festival is the occasion for a discussion on the implications of a globalised economy and culture on the condition of architecture, and the way in which individual practitioners approach the design of buildings. What are the challenges and opportunities in our current condition, and what are the pitfalls which may lie ahead?

Introduction: Akihito Hamada, Principal, Nikken Sekkei (Japan)

Panellists:

Lord (Norman) Foster - Principal, Foster + Partners (UK); Charles Jencks - Critic (USA); Paul Finch - Editor, The Architectural Review (UK)

Architects and clients

The relationship between client and architect can range from cooperative creativity to (at worst) hostility and misunderstanding. This session will discuss the relationship, and the way we think about the collaborative process of creating any building, with other consultants and contractors.

Speaker: Roger Zogolovitch - Managing Director, Lake Estates (UK);

Respondent: Akihiko Hamada - Principal, Nikken Sekkei (Japan)

Chair: John Walsh, Editor, Architecture NZ (New Zealand)

Architects and communities

The conventional way of thinking about clients is as single individuals. But what happens where the client is a group, or series of groups, who may have different or competing ideas about what they want from their architect? Architects who have worked closely with community clients discuss their experiences.

Speaker: Renato Benedetti - Principal, McDowell and Benedetti (UK);

Respondent: Deborah Saunt - Director, DSDHA (UK)

Chair: Peter Kudryavtsev - Editor, Building ARX (Russia)

Architects and context

Most architects have at least one project in their office which involves dealing with an existing building or group. This session hears from a group of practitioners whose work has been generated by serious thinking about the nature of the past, and the appropriate architectural response to it.

Speaker: Will Alsop - Principal, SMC Alsop (UK)

Respondent: Tony Fretton - Principal, Tony Fretton Architects (UK)

Chair: Kieran Long - Editor, The Architects' Journal (UK)

Architects and landscape

Many architectural programmes can be considered as landscape propositions into which buildings are inserted, rather than building projects which require landscape design to fill the gaps. This session explores the nature of landscape architecture in a contemporary context.

Speaker: Jason Prior - President, EDAW (UK)

Respondent: Robert Schaefer - Editor, Topos (Germany)

Chair: Justine Clark - Editor, Architecture Australia (Australia)

Energy & sustainability - lessons learned 3

Attitudes to environmentally conscious design are far from universal, with some regarding the idea of sustainability as straightjacket. This session examines how decisions related to energy and economy in use can lay a positive part in stimulating creative design.

Speaker: Meinhard von Gerkan - Senior Partner, GMP Architekten (Germany)

Respondents: Kim Neilsen - Principal, 3XN (Denmark);

Paul Hyett - Principal, HKS International (UK)

Chair: Martin Keiding - Editor-in-Chief, Arkitektur DK (Denmark)

Architects and education

The eternal debate about the proper purpose of architectural education shows no sign of diminishing. This panel will compare experiences of teaching and practice, and reflect on the implications of globalisation for schools of architecture, what they teach, and whether practice expectations are being (or should be) met.

Speaker: Simon Allford - Principal, Allford Hall Monaghan Morris (UK);

Respondent: Mark Dytham - Principal, Klein Dytham (Japan)

Chair: Fatih Rifki, Professor and Dean, School of Architecture and Design, American University of Sharjah (UAE)

Keynote address: Living with Le Corbusier

The Le Corbusier exhibition travelling around Europe, and a spate of books on the 20th century’s most influential architect, are the context for a discussion about the ongoing influence of this extraordinary cultural figure on architects across the world.

Introduction: Akihito Hamada, Principal, Nikken Sekkei (Japan)

Speaker: William J. R. Curtis, Critic (UK)

Respondent: Raj Rewal - Principal, Raj Rewal Associates (India)

Chair: Charles Knevitt - Director, RIBA Trust (UK)