Events 03 Nov, MVRDV Rotterdam talk, Scottish Lecture

Events 03 Nov Edinburgh Architecture

Winy Maas : Dutch architect delivers RIAS Annual Lecture

Edinburgh Events Nov 2003 : Buildings

MVRDV, Holland – Event
Opportunity to hear one of Europe’s most prolific and original architects talk about his work.

Winy Maas of MVRDV architects delivers this year’s Scotbuild lecture. Experience one of Europe’s most innovative architects talk about his work.

RIAS Exhibition
24 Nov – 5 Dec
Generalism Enacted II, an exhibition by Fergus Purdie Architect, Perth
Solo exhibition by individual practitioner Fergus Purdie, Architect. The practice ethos belongs firmly to the Scottish tradition established by Professor Patrick Geddes in terms of principles, approaches and working methods.

In doing so, the exhibition’s work in the form of drawings, models and text, seeks to interpret the interface between practice, research and teaching. The outcome is an evolutionary process redefining our professional identity within contemporary practice.

Contact RIAS Events Co-ordinator for more information.
0131 229 7545

RIAS OPEN LECTURE SERIES 2003-04

The RIAS Open Lecture Series, now in its fifth year, has become an eagerly anticipated feature on the architectural events calendar. Aiming to entertain as well as inform, the series is open to everyone, architects and non-architects alike.

Tickets cost £4 each, or £20 for the series of 7 lectures. To book tickets, please contact the RIAS Events team.

3 Dec, 7pm
Professor Charles McKean
The History of Scottish Architectural Competitions – from the New Town to the Scottish Parliament Building

In the early ’80s, architectural competitions were seen by the RIAS as a principal way of rejuvenating architecture in Scotland. But there were questions: did the winner break the rules? Do competitions interfere with normal commissioning? Is what was built related to the winning design?

So, consider the words of the Japanese philosopher Kojin Karatini: ‘Nothing is more irrelevant to architecture than the notion it is the realisation of a design qua idea. Far more dominant factors are the dialogue with, and persuasion of, the client, and collaboration with other staff. The design as initially conceived is destined to be transformed by the course of its execution.’ If that is so, why are competitions valued? What are they for?

Charles McKean is Professor of Scottish Architectural History, University of Dundee.

20 Nov, 7pm
Professor Murdo MacDonald
Patrick Geddes, Art and Social Reform: Edinburgh in the 1880’s

This early phase of Geddes’s work began in earnest with the founding of the Edinburgh Social Union in 1884, an organisation which rapidly became not only an urban social housing organisation but a commissioning body for mural art in a civic context.

Geddes’s political standpoint becomes evident at this time, not least through the analogies he draws between the Presbyterianism of his own background and anarchist thinking. Geddes saw art as a crucial part of wider social reform and he was closely involved in the Arts and Crafts Congress in Edinburgh in 1889.

Murdo MacDonald is Professor of History of Scottish Art, University of Dundee,

MVRDV

Greenside Place

picture from the architect

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