Productive Urban Landscapes

Research and practice around the CPUL design concept

Image: Church Street CPUL Bridge Hotel by Wilson Ng (source: Wilson Ng 2023)

Productive urban landscape projects amongst the winners

Last Friday, the end of year show of the Architecture and Design courses at the University of Brighton closed with the student award ceremony followed by a big party. Amongst the winners of the much coveted, more than 15 different prizes was Wilson Ng, architecture student in Andre Viljoen’s MArch studio, who won the runner-up…

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INVITE: End of Year Show at the University of Brighton

Please come along and join the Architecture and Design courses at the University of Brighton at their annual End of Year Show. Included in the exhibition will be work from: BA(Hons) Architecture, MArch Architecture, BA(Hons) Interior Architecture, BSc(Hons) Product Design, MA Interior Design, MA Sustainable Design and the Architecture and Design Integrated Foundation. After it…

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Jasmine Cook's urban farm proposal grows cauliflower on a tiered step structure. (source: Jasmine Cook 2022)

First year architecture students show food-productive designs

This coming Friday, our Architecture & Design Summer Show starts at the School of Architecture and Design, Mithras House, University of Brighton. It will be open to the public on 18-19 June, from 11am – 5pm. The show will include work from first year architecture students who have just completed their design module Design, technology…

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Co-Living in the Countryside by Charles Holland Architects with Quality of Life Foundation, Verity-Jane Keefe, Joseph Zeal-Henry (source: The Davidson Prize / Charles Holland Architects 2022)

A Productive Landscape features in architectural competition shortlist

Congratulations! Our colleague at the University of Brighton, Prof Charles Holland, heads a team that has just been shortlisted for this year’s Davidson Prize which aims to reward transformative architecture of the home. Charles Holland Architects’ proposal, created in conjunction with the Quality of Life Foundation, Verity-Jane Keefe, and Joseph Zeal-Henry, is titled Co-Living in…

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Haworth Tompkins Green Away Day on 12th November 2021 held at Cecil Sharp House, London (source: Diana Dina 2021)

CPULs at Haworth Tompkins Green Away Day

Last week, Andre Viljoen was invited to present the CPUL concept at Haworth Tompkins Architects’ Green Away Day. This event provided the practice with their first post-lockdown occasion to meet in person and continue discussions about how to address the challenges of the climate crisis. Haworth Tompkins are one of the original UK practices to…

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Student’s proposal for an urban farm and banqueting hall integrated into the U4 Centre in Vienna. The drawing shows from which redundant buildings materials have been sourced for use in this proposal. (source: Natalia Hryszko 2021)

Farming and banqueting in useless buildings: Part Two

As the summer School of Re-construction comes to an end, the participating students walk us through their design for the reconstruction of Vienna’s U4 office building to incorporate an urban farm and banqueting hall. ‘Even though we started our journey with a different building each, we chose to work collectively on the U4 centre in…

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Ingredients catalogue sample documenting resources within an office building (source: Ugne Neveckaite 2021)

Farming and banqueting in useless buildings

All of last week, Andre has been co-leading a design studio in the UoB Summer School of Re-construction, part of the EU-funded Interreg program Facilitating the circulation of reclaimed building elements in North-Western Europe. Working with students from Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania and Morocco and the multi-disciplinary artist Inês Neto dos Santos, we are looking at…

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Cover of the new book Food Urbanism by Craig Verzone (source: Birkhäuser www 2021)

From CPUL to Food Urbanism

The beginning of July saw the publication of Food Urbanism, a book edited by Craig Verzone and published by Birkhäuser. Subtitled Typologies, Strategies, Case Studies, the book ‘introduces typologies, tools, evaluation methods and strategies [of urban food production] and shows the practical applications of the methods’. Multiple projects illustrate solutions that augment quality of nutrition…

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Since 2009, (some of) the buildings and airfield of decomissioned Tempelhof Airport are being used for public events and as outdoor space. (source: Transformation Haus und Feld www 2021)

New initiative to support a LebensMittelPunkt at Tempelhof, Berlin

On the 12th of May, newly founded initiative Transformation Haus und Feld (TH&F) invited interested Berliners to its (online) kick-off meeting aimed at continuing civic efforts for a LebensMittelPunkt at the German capital’s decommissioned inner-city airport. The concept LebensMittelPunkt has been introduced to the City of Berlin in 2016 by the AG Stadt & Ernährung…

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Madeira Terrace's location between the sea and the city (source: Max Martin 2019)

Design a place for food growing, preparing and eating on Madeira Terrace, Brighton!

This academic year, Katrin and André are involved in the studio teaching of Year 1 architecture students at the University of Brighton, André as a design tutor and Katrin – starting last week – as a visiting lecturer and critic. For their main design project, students are being asked to design both, ‘a new space…

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Grassroots climate activism across UK universities (source: Ben Holland (2021) Grassroots activism will give power to climate action, in: RIBA Journal, 8th January 2021)

Your education is failing you!

The RIBA Journal‘s January edition features ‘a rallying cry’ by Ben Holland ‘to unite with the activism of students and young professionals across the UK and really act on the climate emergency’ . Starting with the tagline of the Climate Curriculum Campaign – Calling all architecture students, graduates, professionals. Your education is failing you! -,…

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One of Markthalle Neun's entrances (on Eisenbahnstraße 42/43) during Covid-19 (source: Markthalle 9Neun www 2020)

INVITE: Markthalle Neun Berlin: We are open! For everything.

Adapted in its organisation to Berlin’s re-tightened Covid-19 regulations, Markthalle Neun invites to an Open Sunday this coming Sunday 20th December from 1 to 7 pm. Markthalle Neun is one of the few remaining original 19th-century market halls in the German capital having reopened in 2011 after many years of local campaigning and negotiating its…

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A small-scale circularity exists with this 'shop of trust' in the area of future Landwirtschaftspark Heidelberg. (source: Katrin Bohn 2016)

The Circular City: Rethinking architecture and engineering

Katrin Bohn presented her work and thoughts on the Circular City concept on invitation by the University of Brighton. The presentation and conversation with co-presenter Dr. Yan Wang happened on Wednesday 4th November as part of the open conversation series Unlikely Partners curated and organised by the university. Initially intended for a local audience, the…

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The RIBA Journal’s contents page included the statement: 'Sustainability defined; air-con bad, urban farms good'. (source: Andre Viljoen 2020)

Sustainability defined; air-con bad, urban farms good

In September 2020, the editor of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Journal asked readers to respond to the question ‘How best do you define ‘sustainability’, that very elastic word?’ We were pleased to see that ours was one of three letters to be published in the October edition of the RIBAJ as response…

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Cultivative Design: First phase of use: Sowing the Seed (source: Casey Parsons www 2020)

Cultivating Architecture at Uni Brighton’s end-of-year show

After a turbulent (online) pre-view night (with live music!) on Friday 3rd July, the School of Architecture and Design’s end-of-year show is now open. We were both not teaching this year but would like to share the Master’s of Architecture project of Casey Parsons who, this year, has been taught by our colleague Charles Holland….

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The Brighton Waste House, 'Europe’s first permanent building made of materials other people discarded'. Its concept and building was coordinated by Duncan Baker-Brown. (source: University of Brighton www 2020)

INVITE: School of Re-construction at the University of Brighton

A team of our colleagues at the University of Brighton’s School of Architecture & Design will be hosting a five-day International Summer School from 17-21 August 2020. Aimed at students from the worlds of design, architecture, construction and engineering, the School of Re-construction will demonstrate ways to re-use materials from local construction sites. It is…

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Within the Playing/Field project, the Dorfplatz, a deck / bench / planting bed, was designed and built by TU Berlin students with help from resident-gardeners. (source: Tobias Birkefeld, Carlo Costabel, Peter Müller, Joshua Obliers 2014)

The Village Green at Playing/Field Marzahn is badly missed.

Yesterday, the first gardeners’ association meeting of the year happened at the community garden Spiel/Feld Marzahn [Playing/Field Marzahn] in Berlin, Germany. About 15 people came to discuss how best to prepare the new gardening season, what to plant, build and repair, how to engage with the neighbourhood and when to come together and celebrate. One…

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The Breast Milk of the Volcano by Unknown Fields, panellists with Smout Allen and Katrin Bohn (source: Unkown Fields www 2016-8)

INVITE: “Designing from a depleted world” at the Royal Academy of Arts in London

On Monday 27th January 2020, 6.30 — 8pm, the second public panel discussion accompanying the RA’s Eco-Visionaries exhibition will take place at the Benjamin West Lecture Theatre, Burlington Gardens at the Royal Academy of Arts in London. The panellists, including Katrin Bohn, reflect on the impact of human action on Earth’s depleting resources and discuss…

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Proposal for an “urban agriculture path” and public gathering space passing through part of Mr Shiraishi’s farm in Nerima City, Tokyo. (source: Andre Viljoen 2019)

A CPUL design for Tokyo

Early December 2019, Andre Viljoen returned from his second visit to Tokyo at the invitation of Nerima City’s Mayor.  As part of this trip, he was invited to develop a CPUL proposal for an urban farm belonging to Mr Shiraishi, who, with his family, is one of several farmers cultivating land in Nerima for many…

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The Skip Garden (source: Global Generation www 2019)

Visit of the Skip Garden in London

Today, we are lucky to have our Japanese academic visitor Akane Bessho here to jointly visit several community-based urban agriculture projects in Central London and discussed the commonalities and differences of urban agriculture between London, China and Tokyo. We would like to introduce a lovely community garden named Skip Garden, run by the charity Global…

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