This video shows a lecture by Dr. Catherine Mohr who is the Director of Medical Research at Intuitive Surgical, a high technology surgical robotics company that makes the da Vinci surgical robot. In addition, she is a Consulting Assistant Professor in the department of Surgery at Stanford School of Medicine. Dr. Mohr received her BS and MS in mechanical engineering from MIT, and has been involved with numerous startup companies in the areas of alternative energy transportation, computer aided design software, and medical devices. She is the author of numerous scientific publications, and the recipient of multiple design awards. Nevertheless, in this lecture Mohr disregards her profession and speaks about completely different topic. In a short, funny, data-packed talk she walks through all the geeky decisions she made when building a green new house – looking at real energy numbers, not hype. What choices matter most? Not the ones you think.
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This video shows a lecture by Fiyel Levent on the occasion of TEDxCooperUnion. Levent holds a Bachelor in Architecture from The Cooper Union, and a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and Literature from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. She began her professional practice at Anik Pearson Architect, where she managed various architectural projects ranging from ground-up buildings to apartment renovations. In 2007, Levent was awarded the Deborah J. Norden Travel Grant to Andalucia, Spain through The Architectural League. In 2009, she launched her own studio, exhibiting work at various galleries that drew inspiration from her interest in Central Asian and Islamic Architecture. Levent aims to design and build custom architectural installations which achieve something close to the sublime in their relationship to light. In 2010, she was awarded the Stewardson Keefe LeBrun Travel Grant from The Center for Architecture. Levent has given lectures at The Urban Center for Architecture, The Cooper Union, Parsons and RPI. During this lecture, she talks about her journeys, work and her fascination with other cultures that she uses in her architectural practice.
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This video shows a lecture by George Saumarez Smith and Francis Terry on TEDx at London Business School. The first lecturer was educated at Winchester College and Edinburgh University. His work includes both new buildings and alterations, extensions and repairs to historic properties, and he has also been involved in design consultancy and urban master-planning on several projects. He has received various awards for his work including the overall winner of the 2006 RIBA Ibstock Downland Prize. In 2011 George was one of six shortlisted architects for the Young Architect of the Year Award. The second lecturer was educated at Stowe School and Cambridge University. He is a son of a world renowned architect Quinlan Terry. He regularly exhibits architectural drawings at the Royal Academy and was the winner of the Worshipful Company of Architects Prize for Architectural Drawing. During the lecture, architects present six frequently asked questions about classical architecture.
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This video shows a lecture by Architecture student Magnus Larsson on TED. He wants to turn some of the most deserted and harsh landscapes on the planet into habitable structures. How? By turning loose sand dunes into solid architecture using bacteria. A team at UC Davis has been looking at the microorganism bacillus pasteurii to solidify the ground in earthquake-prone areas. As Larsson puts it, “All I did was to deliberately misapply their technology … and to pump up the scale, and turn it into a 6,000-km-long wall that’s made of sand and protects against sand.”
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This video shows a lecture by Rachel Armstrong, she is a sustainability innovator who creates new materials that possess some of the properties of living systems, and can be manipulated to “grow” architecture. She uses advanced new technologies such us, Synthetic Biology – the rational engineering of living systems – and smart chemistry. Her research prompts a reevaluation of how we think about our homes and cities and raises questions about sustainable development of the built environment. She creates open innovation platforms for academia and industry to address environmental challenges such as carbon capture & recycling, smart ‘living’ materials and sustainable design. Her award winning research underpins her bold approach to the way that she challenges perceptions, presumptions and established principles related to scientific concepts and the building blocks of life and society. She embodies and promotes new transferrable ways of thinking ‘outside of the box’ and enables others to also develop innovative environmental solutions.
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This video shows a lecture by a Dutch Architect Alfa Hugelmann who specializes in the complexity of the interior of public buildings in relationship to public space. She worked on master plans for historical university campuses, award winning highly sustainable buildings and architectural exhibitions in Europe and South America, including the International Biennale of Architecture in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Living for eight years in the tropics in two different cultures (Seychelles, Africa and Chiang Mai, Thailand in Asia) she explored different functions and use of architecture and public space. With her talk “A Plea for Public Space”, she reminded us of the importance of public space and that creative ideas and community involvement that can lead to an improved quality of life in cities.
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This video shows a lecture by Koen Olthuis at TEDxWarwick. Koen Olthuis studied Architecture and Industrial Design at the Delft University of Technology. He is founder of the Dutch architectural firm Waterstudio.NL that specializes in floating structures to counter concerns of floods, which are both a local concern (since one-third of the Netherlands is reclaimed land) as well as a global one, due to the possible effects of climate change. In 2007, he was chosen as number 122 on TIME Magazine’s list of the most influential people in the world due to the worldwide interest in water developments. In his vision, today’s designers are an essential part of the climate change generation. New and expected climate effects, together with the pressure on space through urbanization, will push our design targets beyond the waterfront. This involves not only developing architectural concepts and typologies, but also a new sustainable way of dealing with water as well as a dynamic approach to city planning. During the lecture, Olthuis shares the idea about using water to combat global challenges.
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