Public Space for All by Claire Weisz (WXY architecture)

Public Space for All by Claire Weisz (WXY architecture)

Thursday, September 10, 2020 @19:00 JST

SUMMARY:
In the first two decades of the 21st Century, a changing urban context both locally and globally has brought into high relief the dilemma of designing for a single project.  In this lecture and through a number of case studies from the recent work of WXY; the idea of public space being essential to all architectural projects, will be discussed and analyzed.  Today public health, safety and wellness has put our built environments under scrutiny and is bringing new attention to important aspects of spatial organization of cities and the space that is shared through public systems and spaces.  This moment is important for the reevaluation of priorities in design and planning.  Examples will be shown elaborating on the benefits of urban design as key to a design approach for all building types in a variety of circumstances.  Our digital age has created incredible challenges and opportunities at every scale of the built environment.  This has pushed a new generation of designers to move beyond singular works of sculptural architecture into a more systems-thinking approach to urban regeneration.  This lecture will explore these approaches through visual presentation of completed projects that deal with the challenges of social impact, resiliency and climate adaptation that affect the health, safety and welfare of inhabitants.

Claire Weisz FAIA is a founding partner of WXY, known for their innovative approach to community, public space, structures, and cities. Claire was awarded the Medal of Honor from AIANY in 2018 and was honored with the Women in Architecture Award by Architectural Record in 2019. WXY is globally recognized for its place-based approach to architecture, urban design, and planning, and has played a vital role in design thinking around resiliency. In 2019 Fast Company named WXY one of the World’s Most Innovative Architecture Firms.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

1. Define the relation of public space to architecture and the relevance to different scales of projects.
2. Identify the vulnerability of current economic centers and characteristics of resilient design in public spaces that enhance the health, safety and welfare of inhabitants.
3. Understand the potential of designing for resilience at all scales using a combination of design-thinking and systems-thinking.
4. Evaluate the status of existing infrastructure and value of new infrastructure, through examples, to create an understanding of urban assets as infrastructure and infrastructure as urban assets.
5. Define resilient design, by examining completed projects, to integrate such approaches and features to their own work.