Public lecture by Felix Heisel on Alternative Building Materials at the Global Cross-Disciplinary Tournament on Friday July 28th, 2012. The international conference Global Cross-Disciplinary Tournament (GXT) 2012 brings together 20 delegates from four universities – NUS USP, the Australian National University, Peking University, and Oxford University – to discuss problems and propose catalysts for change related to this year’s theme, The Future of Cities. The delegates from these universities are meeting in teams over 10 days in July to propose a cross-disciplinary catalyst with the potential to change a specific issue related to the future of cities in 30 years.100

The Assistant Professorship Dirk E. Hebel is guest-editing the fall edition of Ethiopia’s leading construction magazine: ‘Construction Ahead’. The 80 page issue “Constructing Alternatives” proposes a variety of alternative modern, and sometimes transformed building materials and construction methods. Although tested in and derived from an African context, their application can also answer the rising needs of other developing territories and turn them from import-oriented systems into self-sustaining, knowledge exporting nations. As we are located in Singapore momentarily, an additional outlook “Learning from Singapore…” wants to initiate a debate on the development of a local, African architectural language, considering geographical, climatic,100

Preparing Food. Today. In 2052 there will be nine billion people living on earth, with the majority in cities. The recipe book Preparing Food. Today., and the ‘happening’ connected with its book-launch was a proposal for the Venice Biennale 2012. It introduces a change in attitude towards available recourses, as a possible solution to fill the prognosticated gap between production and demand. Diversification, here discussing the issues of ingredients and food preparation, will be an essential step towards sustainable, livable future cities. First: To secure three healthy, nutritious, filling meals per day for all seven billion inhabitants will be the100

Felix Heisel will be holding a lecture titled Disappearing Spaces at the FCL Lunch Talk Series on July 12th – 12:00 (noon) at the Future Cities Laboratory. Addis Ababa, unlike many other African cities, has a history and city fabric to learn from. Even if the physical conditions of the informal settlements are very poor, the social networks, as well as spatial and cultural values developed and embedded in these areas are worth the preservation and study. Due to the current redevelopments, these parts of the city will change for good within the next years. Hence, now is the right100

CoreSing invited Karsten Schlesier for a FCL Lunch Talk on July 5th at the Future Cities Laboratory in CREATE Tower. Proto-Typologies: bottles and bubbles Starting the design by the chosen material urges to think about structural principles and details matching the properties and being customized to the scale of design. Projects from the structural design education show solutions to a material oriented design approach of alternative construction materials. These prototype structures define typologies with a potential for further development.

Public lecture by Prof. Dirk E. Hebel at the Design Research Society Biennial International Conference in Bangkok on July 04, 2012. As urban populations grow so does the demand for materials and resources to support them. Where such resource demands were once satisfied by local and regional hinterlands, they are increasingly global in scale and reach. This phenomenon has generated materials flows that are trans-continental and planetary in scope, and has profound consequences for the sustainability, functioning, sense of ownership and identity of future cities. Seen from this perspective, the project for urban sustainability must be global in ambition, but100

Public lecture by Prof. Dirk E. Hebel at the Asia Green Youth Challenge in Singapore on July 2nd, 2012, a conference held as part of the WasteMET Asia Conference 2012 at Marina Bay Sands. The Asian Green Youth Challenge (AGYC) is an environmental initiative by youth for youth to imagine and realise sustainable and innovative projects. Having recognised the mounting environmental challenges that Asia faces, AGYC seeks to promote ground-up innovation that is financially and environmentally sustainable.