Across the School of Re-construction there were 11 themes, each with their own Team Leaders. Below are the short biographies for each Team and a link to their pitch made prior to joining the programme.
Meet the Teams:
Group A: RAW 1
Group A Pitch available here
Dr Ryan Woodard , Senior Research Fellow, Environment & Technology, University of Brighton.
Ryan has a PhD in waste management and has been undertaking research, consultancy, and teaching in waste since the mid-1990s. He has completed over 50 projects – most of which have been applied: identifying challenges and developing solutions. This has included trialing different collection systems and behaviour change programmes and evaluating impact. He has been working in South Africa for over a decade and supervised PhD/MPhil students on waste in Bangladesh, China, Nigeria and Ghana. He is course leader for MSc Environmental Assessment and Management and Environmental Practitioner Degree Apprenticeship, and serves on the editorial panel of the Institution of Civil Engineers journal ‘Waste and Resource Management.
Nick Gant, Principal Lecturer, Arts, University of Brighton.
Nick is an award winning sustainable designer and published researcher whose consultancy and research impacts on global, industrial companies, international NGOs as well as governing bodies and civic communities in the UK and overseas. He has collaborated with, or designed fir international industrial brands an GGOs including PUMA, New Balance, The BBC, Vivienne Westwood, Interface, Tesco, The Beatles and apple Corps, Vision Aid Overseas, The Marine Conservation Society, The NHS, The British Council, The V&A and Natural History Museum, Ellen MacArthur Foundation and The Design Council. He disseminates research internationally on subjects including design for circular economies, the prevention of waste, material innovation, health and well-being and sustainable development across areas of fashion, product and industrial design and the built environment.
Group B – USELESS 1
Group B Pitch available here
Jonny Pugh , Architect, Lecturer, and collaborator at Flores & Prats Architects.
His work is focused on public design engagement processes, rehabilitation and reuse. He has taught / lectured at universities in the UK, Portugal and Switzerland. In practice, he has been a collaborator with Barcelona based practice Flores & Prats since 2005. Work includes process / post occupancy archiving using film such as that of the adaptive reuse project ‘Sala Beckett’. He was an associate of the London based practice AOC from 2010-2016 where he led the process of the award-winning low energy community centre ‘The Green’.
Eddie Blake, Architect & Lecturer at Central St, Martin’s UAL
He trained at the Mackintosh School of Architecture and the Architectural Association. He teaches architecture at Central St. Martin’s. He previously taught at the Royal College of Art, and the Bartlett (UCL). Blake has worked as an architect and designer at renowned international practices: Sauerbruch Hutton, Sam Jacob Studio and Studio Weave. He writes about architecture and culture for the Guardian Review and Vice among other publications.
Group C – BYPRODUCT
Group C Pitch available here
Michael Howe, Senior Lecturer, Architecture Engineering & Technology(AET), University of Brighton.
Michael comes to academia from Architectural practice, where he has over 28 years experience, working for highly regarded Architectural Practices such as Zaha Hadid Architects, Patel Taylor Architects, Matthew Lloyd Architects. In 2001 he co-founded Mae Architects with Alex Ely, as a Housing design Specialist Practice. Projects ranged in size from small arts and domestic projects (under 100msq), to Urban-scale regeneration and Hosing Design. Other activities included writing for the Architectural Press, Client training, Policy development, Exhibitions and teaching. Originally trained as a Fine Artist at Central School of Art, Michael has been a fully qualified Architect for 21 years.
James McAdam, Designer What’s in the Box, Lecturer University of Brighton
James McAdam is a Designer with a wide knowledge of the “digital toolbox” available to designers, makers and architects. Including 2D CAD, BIM, 3D modelling, animation, CAM and presentation. James studied MA Design Products at the RCA in 2002 and has since designed commercially for exhibitions, retail VM, architectural scale art installations, publishing, pyrotechnic products. Over the last 17 years he has mixed teaching offering “real world” experience to degree students. He is currently focusing on his “DigiSkills” teaching within Architecture at the University of Brighton and Design/Craft BA. He has just been granted a worldwide patent one of his designs for a pyrotechnic ignition system, and enjoys spending time at the workbench as much as at the keyboard and mouse.
Group D – HYBRID
Group D Pitch available here
Anthony Roberts, Senior Lecturer, AET, University of Brighton.
Anthony is an architect and academic who describes himself as follows: “as a single person practice, all of my architectural / building work is small / mid-scale, quiet in material choice, and intimate in detailing. At the same time I have nearly always found the opportunity to produce “event-surprises”; those material and formal “twists and turns” that punctuate standard spatial configurations. I have allowed my architectural life to be ‘interrupted’ by extended periods of work in other fields; film, painting, graphics, design, photography, and making exhibitions. I don’t see this work as “outside” or “other than” architecture – it’s more like ‘an-other’ architecture” . He has worked with major artists, including Christo, Jan Jelle Stroosma, David Fox. His exhibitions include “Talking to the Brick Wall” (1986) and “Shadow Dancers” (1990) on homelessness and the Gulf War (1993). Since1998 he has been teaching: running parallel with small architecture as a studio tutor of both undergraduate and Masters programmes at the School of Architecture and Design (University of Brighton). He is a peripatetic, non-specialist teacher in design, technology, and humanities. He has a great sense of humour and is a wonderful story teller (ed..)
Katarzyna Soltysiak, MSc Architecture, Researcher and Designer.
Having graduated from the University of Brighton and TU Delft, Katarzyna enjoys working on fringes of architecture. Currently, she is an active architect and part of Team SUM researching circular transformation of social housing in the Netherlands emphasising its impact on communities. Her initial acquaintance with material reuse took place on the building site of the Waste House. Later she pursued the topic alongside Rotor (BE), ArchitectuurMaken (NL) and One Architecture (NL/US). Her interest in materials has led to founding Project Demeter – actively employing social media for education on the topic.
Group E – OFFCUT
Group E pitch available here
Michaël Ghyoot, Project Manager Rotor DC Brussels and Sophie Boone, Architect, Rotor DC Brussels.
Founded in 2005, Rotor is a non-profit association that investigates the organisation of the material environment. Rotor develops critical positions through research and design. Besides projects in architecture and interior design, Rotor also produces exhibitions, books, economic models and policy proposals. The workshop will be animated by Sophie Boone and Michaël Ghyoot. Both are project managers at Rotor and active in a wide range of activities: research, design, assistance to building owners and exhibitions making
Group F – MATERIAL FLOWS (Superlocal)
Group F pitch available here
Mark Oldengarm, City Council member Zwolle, staff Stichting Kringloop Zwolle and Noggus&Noggus.
Mark is educated in history and history of arts. From 2008 until march 2021 he worked at the Royal Institute of Dutch Architects. In 2017 he became their first program manager sustainability and initiated its circular manifesto. He is also a city council member in Zwolle, a fast developing city of 130.000 inhabitants, with a big challenge on doing so sustainably. Amongst others he is the spokesman on circular economy and an advocate of the idea that the municipality has to set the example of doing good.
Nicole Maurer, Creative Director of Maurer United Architects.
Nicole Maurer-Lemmens is a European architect and urbanist. She grew up in the Netherlands, studied architecture at the Antwerpen Royal Academy of Fine Arts and graduated cum laude as Master of Science in the field of architecture and urbanism at the Eindhoven University of Technology. She co-founded ‘Maurer United Architects’ in 1998. This creative interdisciplinary agency received several grants and awards for its identity strategies and innovative designs on various scales. Based in the international Maas-Rhine agglomeration around Maastricht, she feels challenged to work across the borders. Since 2019, she is also active as researcher at the faculty of Urban Design of the Aachen RWTH University.
Group G – HOUSING
Group G Pitch available here
Filipa Oliveira, Architect & Coordinator, Architects Climate Action Network (ACAN), London
Filipa is a London-based architect, who advocates for the circularity within the industry and is passionate about mitigating the impacts of construction on the natural environment. She promotes regenerative design and a holistic and multidisciplinary approach to tackle the complex environmental and social issues that we are currently facing. She graduated with a master’s degree in Architecture & Urban Planning in Portugal, where she developed an avid interest in research, circular cities and activism. Her interests lie in the re-use of materials, vernacular architecture and urban regeneration within its culture, time and space. Filipa is a Steering Group Member for the Architects Climate Action Network (ACAN) in the UK and Portugal, where she coordinates and helps research on circular economy.
Taleen Josefsson, ACAN Coordinator & Thrive Project Manager Chetwoods Architects, London.
Taleen is an American-registered architect and Passive House Consultant who applies a holistic approach to tackling the built environment’s role in the twin climate and biodiversity crises. She is particularly focused on the specification of resources and materials in construction utilising circular economy principles, including assessing materials’ life cycles, chemical content, embodied carbon, and reuse potential. Taleen works as a Thrive Project Leader at Chetwoods, advising on sustainable and circular practice and implementation both within the firm and for external clients. Outside of the office, she is a coordinator of the ACAN Circular Economy group.
Group I – RAW 2
Group I Pitch available here
Scott McAulay, Director of Anthropocene Projects C.I.C
Scott is a climate justice activist, climate literacy educator, and founded the Anthropocene Architecture School – an agile, climate emergency, architectural education platform, in 2019.
Sam Turner, Director of Anthropocene Projects C.I.C
Sam is an architect, educator and activist, he has worked for several award-winning practices focusing on cross-disciplinary working, technical excellence and care through design.
Scott and Sam have joined forces to form Anthropocene Projects C.I.C. a vehicle to promote understanding of the climate crisis and ecological emergency to those working within the built environment, to highlight their personal and professional impact, and facilitate behavioural changes that will help prevent environmental degradation.
Group J – USELESS 2
Group J Pitch available here
Professor Andre Viljoen, Architecture, University of Brighton
Andre is an architect and academic who since the 1990ies has been researching the role that urban agriculture and more generally urban food systems can play in shaping cities to be more sustainable and resilient. With Katrin Bohn he developed the concept of Continuous Productive Urban Landscapes (CPULs) which advocates the coherent introduction of urban agriculture into cities. Significant publications include Bohn & Viljoen’s book CPULs Continuous Productive Urban Landscapes: designing urban agriculture for sustainable cities (2005) and its sequel, Second Nature Urban Agriculture: designing productive cities (2014). He has been chair of the Association of European Schools of Planning (AESOP) Food Planning Group and in 2015, Bohn & Viljoen’s CPUL work won the RIBA President’s Award for Outstanding University Located Research.
Inês Neto dos Santos, Freelance artist, educator and cook.
Inês Neto dos Santos is a multi-disciplinary artist, working with food, people and spaces as metaphors for symbiotic relationships to our surroundings. Her practice moves between performance, installation and social sculpture, investigating the socio-political implications of what we eat and how we come to eat it – creating contexts through which to explore and discuss ecology, collaboration and togetherness. Recently, her research has taken her into the study of beans and their soil regeneration qualities, investigating their relationship to supported sustenance and care. Inês teaches, writes and cooks, having been a guest lecturer at Kingston University and Westminster University. Since March 2021, alongside artist Nora Silva, she co-leads the online course Food Cosmogonies.
Group K – RAW 3
Group K Pitch available here
Professor Graeme Brooker, Head of Interior Design, Royal College of Art.
Graeme Brooker is Professor and Head of Interiors at The Royal College of Art, London. He has published numerous books on many aspects of the interior and building reuse including the recent publications Brinkworth: So Good So Far (Lund Humphreys 2019) Adaptations (Bloomsbury 2016) and Key Interiors Since 1900 (Laurence King 2013). He has co-authored/edited ten books on the interior including the highly acclaimed Rereading’s, (RIBA 2005, Volume 2-2018). In 2021 he will publish 50|50 Words for Reuse (Canalside Press).
Hugo Topalov, Project Coordinator, Bellastock, France.
Hugo Topalov is an architect and engineer working within Bellastock, a cooperative organization developing experimental architecture since 2006. Hugo is working on the topic of circular economy in architecture, and more specifically deconstruction and reuse of building materials. His activities are divided between assisting architects and other professional actors of the construction sectors, participating in research projects, training and raining awareness among various professional audiences. Hugo has been an assistant teacher at the Belleville Paris School of Architecture since 2020.
Louis Destombes, Project Coordinator Bellastock.
Louis Destombes is a French graduated architect and Doctor (Ph.D.) in architecture. His professional practice within the coop Bellastock embraces applied research, expertise and project coordination in the fields of circular economy and transitory urbanism. Associate Teacher at ENS d’Architecture Paris-La Villette and Researcher at AHTTEP, his academic works and teaching focuses on the history of construction theory in architecture and the mutations of architects’ constructive culture along with the environmental turn of building practices.
Group L – USELESS 3
Group L Pitch available here
Folke Koebbeling, Artist, professor and head of the Institute for Architectural-related Art Technical University Braunschweig.
Folke Köbberling is professor and head of the Institute for Architecture-related Art at the TU Braunschweig. In her artistic work she formulates forms of resistance against our usurpation by the excesses of the ruling neoliberal economic order, such as the compulsion to consume, the destruction of cities, landscapes, public spaces, resources and people. In addition to an engagement with pure market interests and the radical urban transformation which Berlin has undergone since reunification, her focus centres on automobile individual transport as a hegemonic guiding culture, which they comment on using artistic means as well as ironically subverting and pointing out its limits and alternatives. With Martin Kaltwasser she has built the Jellyfish Theatre in 2011 in London, that was nominated for the Mies van der Rohe Award and got the First Prize in Architects´ Journal Small Buildings Sustainability Award.
Alexa Kreissl, Research Associate at the Institute for Architectural-related Art Technical University Braunschweig, Germany.
Alexa Kreissl, studied sculpture in Paris and Düsseldorf. As an architecture-related artist, she investigates urban space, its dynamics in constant transition, its niches, wastelands, opportunities and resources. Her modular adaptive structures are suggestions for use that respond to situational circumstances and needs, which imply transformation and re-purposing. She has made research trips and residencies in Paris, Japan, California and New York. Alexa Kreissl, Artist and PhD Candidate, is a Researcher at the Institute of Architecture Related Art, Department of Architecture of the Technical University Braunschweig (Germany). Research Associate at the Leibniz Science Campus – Postdigital Participation– Braunschweig’ (LSC PDP) in the project „People, Digital Intelligence and Recycling – Designing Urban Life together“. Refuse resources, art, architecture, design and aesthetic transformation are the starting point for the interdisciplinary and experimental work.
