University of Westminster’s School of Architecture + Cities responds to climate change with inspiring event

The three-part event was in response to the London Festival of Architecture 2022’s call for action and aimed to encourage participants to see beyond carbon calculations as architecture’s response to climate change. The suggestion being, that we need to change cultural attitudes to the natural environment rather than focus solely on technological transformation. 

The first part was ‘The Conversation’, which was initiated by Sarah Ishioka, co-author of ‘Flourish: Design Paradigms for our Planetary Emergency’ (2021) and Elisa Iturbe, Editor of the journal Log 47, Overcoming Carbon Form (2019). This was followed by a response from Professor Jeremy Till from the University of the Arts, London. The conversation was facilitated by Professor Lindsay Bremner, Director of Research in the School of Architecture + Cities. Watch the session on YouTube.  

The second part was ‘A Tea Party’ for Elspeth McClelland, a suffragette and one of the first women to study Architecture at the Regents Street Polytechnic (now University of Westminster). In 1909 she posted herself as a human letter to the Prime Minister in an action designed to allow women’s voices to be heard. She was later given a tea service by Queen Alexandra in recognition of her services to women’s rights. The Tea Party coincided with the official naming of the terrace at the rear of the University’s Marylebone Campus building as the Elspeth McClelland Terrace by the Vice-Chancellor and President Dr Peter Bonfield. Clare Twomey, Professor of Ceramics at the University, also paid tribute by unveiling a proposal for a ceramic installation to commemorate Elspeth’s determination to be given and to give voice.

The final part ‘Postcards to our Planet’, was inspired by Elspeth’s action. Participants were invited to write postcards to different parts of the globe to show solidarity and voice their concerns about climate change. 

Dr Ro Spankie, Assistant Head of the School of Architecture + Cities and one of the organisers of the event, said: “What’s clear is the paradigm shift required to tackle the climate crisis involves a profound change of mindset in how we relate to the planet. We must re-learn how we understand the natural environment accepting it as a living organism with its own needs and rights rather than a resource to be owned and exploited. This event connected stories of agency from the University Archive to inspire our actions today.”

Diana Periton, Visiting Lecturer and another of the event’s organisers, said: “The theme of the 2022 London Festival of Architecture, ‘Act’, was a useful provocation to ask us to think about the many ways architecture acts on the environment. We were concerned to recognise that its actions are by no means just associated with carbon emissions – architecture embodies and articulates an entire way of life, and we wanted to recognise that we need to act with the environment, rather than try to dominate it.”   

Learn more about Architecture, Interiors and Urban Design courses at the University of Westminster.