SAPL Block Week Lectures

February 12, 2024

Gillmor Lecture

The Gillmor Lecture is named in honour of Douglas Gillmor (1930–2019). As the founding director of our architecture program and a pivotal member of SAPL (formerly the Faculty of Environmental Design), Professor Gillmor was a compassionate and thoughtful studio teacher who shaped generations of Calgary practitioners.

Speaker: Ana de Brea

Ana de Brea is an architecture professor, practitioner, artist, and critical observer of modern architecture, design, and culture. In parallel to her academic and professional efforts in Argentina, Ana worked for more than fifteen years as columnist and chief editor of the architecture and design weekly supplement in two of the most important international-newspapers in the Spanish language until 2001. She was an architecture professor in South America for fifteen years and joined Ball State University first as Invited Visiting Scholar (2001-2002) and a year later she became a faculty member, and granted tenure in 2007. Ana’s teaching, artwork, and research are focused on understanding better the interpretation of geometrical bodies in architecture, discussing the meanings of 'physicality' in today's digital geography, and the genuine significance of ‘materiality’ and ‘identity’ in the contemporary, modern design predominantly in Latin America. In addition to her most recent book -her first volume in the English language, ‘Total Latin American Architecture – Libretto of Modern Reflections and Contemporary Works’ by ACTAR Publishers Barcelona & New York 2016, Ana is the author of "10x50: Terreno de Arquitectura" (2001), and the co-author in 1999 of "Señores Arquitectos... - Diálogos con Mario Roberto Alvarez y Clorindo Testa" -both books published in the Spanish language, and launched and exhibited at the Buenos Aires Museum of Modern Art MAMba, Argentina. Invited professor, international speaker and exhibitor mainly in Europe and the three Americas -Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Ecuador, France, Germany, Holland, Hong Kong, Italy, Korea, Spain, United States, Uruguay, and Venezuela among others; Ana created the 'BSU CAP Americano Sur Study Abroad Program on Latin American Art, Architecture & Culture' that since 2004 has connected students from Ball State University to professional offices, universi0es, and ins0tu0ons of the La0n geography in the Americas as well as in Europe.

No Labels/Design is a Tool of Action/Architecture is a Verb is a broad and effervescent speculative reservoir designated to undertake ventures related to modern reflections and contemporary works of spatial and cultural matters. The comprehension of envisaging the design discipline (architecture included) as a vigorous energy intends to spotlight the value of ‘construction’ -the tangible and/or the intellectual. That vigorous energy looks for projects like processes of thinking and making, as well as it questions how those processes work in the global scenario of today.

The Taylor Lecture is named in honour of Dale Taylor. Professor Taylor served as head of SAPL’s architecture and industrial design programs and remains an emeritus professor. He has been a registered architect since 1972, and is a mentor and advisor to many Calgary practices.

Isabel Ochoa is an architectural designer, researcher, and adjunct faculty member at the University of Waterloo School of Architecture where she currently teaches Design Studio, Digital Fabrication, and Visual and Digital Media courses. Isabel is also a co-founder of OCH Works – an architectural design and research collaborative that operates at the intersection of architecture, material computation, and fine craft. The practice investigates how contemporary building methods can be challenged by attuning emerging technologies to material behaviour. OCH Works' current research explores how computational tools can generate materially responsive engagements between ceramics and light.

The lecture will explore the synthesis of traditional craftsmanship and emergent technologies in shaping the landscape of contemporary ceramic craft. Through the lens of design collaborative OCH Works, and their perspective as both architectural designers and ceramicists, the discussion will extend to the intricacies and constraints involved in developing digital tools tailored for precise interaction with light and ceramic materials. The talk will delve into the distinctive challenges and innovations associated with 3D printing high-fired clays.

Date: Monday February 12, 2024
Time: 5:00 - 8:00 p.m. (MT)
Location: City Building Design Lab, 616 Macleod Trail SE, Calgary