5th Apr 2014 9:45am-5:00pm
Sallis Benney Theatre
Building to thrive – exploring how we can flourish in the built environment – with keynote speaker Satish Kumar
Green Architecture Day, hosted by Brighton Permaculture Trust, showcases the UK’s most pioneering architects in sustainable design. The built environment is not just where we live, work and play. It affects how we do things, our well-being, and impacts upon our entire society. The priority to redefine our built environment and radically change our approach to the design, delivery and operation of our infrastructure, has never been more pressing.
The day starts with Duncan Baker-Brown, who has worked on some of the UK’s most high profile green developments such as The Greenwich Millennium Village, the RIBA's Futurehouse and The House That Kevin Built with Grand Design's Kevin McCloud. Duncan will also be giving tours of the nearby Brighton Waste House during the lunch break.
Two local speakers lead the theme of health and the environment. Abby Hone will provide a personal account of how she renovated a Victorian town house, with her talk on Eco-renovation using natural materials. Bryn Thomas follows with a talk on 'Community Orchards'and how they enliven grassy and unused urban spaces as well as bringing communities together.
Peter Halsall, Chair of the Good Homes Alliance, introduces the topic of 'Good homes healthy homes', by defining what a good home is, and highlight the aspects of good homes that contribute towards physical health. Christopher Day,anarchitect and sculptor, will share his knowledge on how to design buildings in accordance with ecological principles with his talk on Creating places of the soul. Christopher’s projects have won several awards, including a Prince of Wales award. He is the author of Places of the Soul and Spirit and Place and lectures on Architecture and Environmental Design.
The afternoon session starts with a double public lecture on ‘What opportunities and challenges might the government's support of Garden Cities now bring?' Led by Pooran Desai and Sue Riddlestone, co-founders of BioRegional, Sue and Pooran will share some of their experiences collected over 15 years of BioRegional's work with partners to build sustainable communities, as well as helping developers around the world conceive and construct their own One Planet Communities. Sue has also worked as an integral part of delivery of the North-West Bicester EcoTown being constructed by A2 Dominium.
The keynote speaker for the day is Satish Kumar, editor-in-chief of Resurgence & Ecologist magazine and internationally renowned speaker on ecological and spiritual issue. Satish will speak about Architecture for Health and explore how architecture connects with the land, benefiting health. He explains: "Architecture represents a culture, and culture is related to agriculture, as well as design, poetry, music and dance - everything from land to life. Architecture is a bridge, and culture can take place within it. In our society, most architecture is without culture. We need to seriously examine what kind of architecture we need to create for physical and mental health and, above all, the health of the land."
Susan Roaf, Professor of Architectural Engineering at Heriot Watt University, will round off the day with a talk on 'Designing for Resilience'. An award winning teacher, architect, solar pioneer, and author, Susan will share her experience in the sustainable design of housing, schools, hospitals and town planning. Susan will explore topics such as resilient design in adaption to climate change and Solar Cities.
Green Architecture Day offers a unique opportunity to learn about the cities of the future, why we should design for resilience, or simply an opportunity to hear inspirational talks from the UKs most pioneering innovators. In order to attend Green Architecture Day you simply need to register online.
And for further inspiration why not attend Eco Open Houses for Worthing and Steyning 12/13 April for Worthing. 27 April for Steyning.
· The talks by designers, practitioners and professionals are run in partnership with Low Carbon Trust and Resurgence & Ecologist Magazine.
Organised by the Brighton Permaculture Trust.
Press enquiries. Email: Alice Doyle. Tel: 07979 321998
