LECTURE
Diego Ceresuela and Alexis Kalagas / Urban-Think Tank / VE and CH
10th International Architecture Festival CANactions / #CANactionsfestival2017
Mystetskyi Arsenal, Kyiv, Ukraine. June 3, 2017.
About
Urban-Think Tank (U-TT) is an interdisciplinary design practice dedicated to high-level research and design on a variety of subjects, concerned with contemporary architecture and urbanism. The philosophy of U-TT is to deliver innovative yet practical solutions through the combined skills of architects, civil engineers, environmental planners, landscape architects, and communication specialists. In 1998, Alfredo Brillembourg and Hubert Klumpner founded U-TT in Caracas, Venezuela. Since 2007, Brillembourg and Klumpner have taught at Columbia University, where they founded the Sustainable Living Urban Model Laboratory (S.L.U.M. Lab), and since July 2010, they hold the chair for Architecture and Urban Design at the Swiss Institute of Technology, ETH in Zurich. Their work concerns both theoretical and practical applications within architecture and urban planning. Working in global contexts by creating bridges between first world industry and third world, informal urban areas, they focus on the education and development of a new generation of professionals, who will transform cities in the 21st century. They have been awarded the 2010 Ralph Erskine Award, the 2011 Holcim Gold Award for Latin America, the 2012 Holcim Global Silver Award for innovative contributions to ecological and social design practices, and the 2012 Venice Biennale of Architecture Golden Lion.
Alexis Kalagas
Urban-Think Tank/ETH Zürich, CH
Alexis Kalagas is an interdisciplinary writer and researcher focused on cities and urban development. Born in Sydney, he completed graduate studies in political science and public policy in Geneva and Boston, where his research centered on the spatial dimensions of urban violence. In addition, he holds honors degrees in arts and law from the University of Melbourne. With previous experience as a foreign policy advisor in Australia’s Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, and as the editor of a media start-up, since joining Urban-Think Tank in 2013 he has managed a number of projects, including co-editing the recent book Reactivate Athens: 101 Ideas (Ruby Press, 2017), and guest editing three editions of SLUM Lab magazine.
Diego Ceresuela-Wiesmann
Urban-Think Tank/ETH Zürich, CH
Diego Ceresuela-Wiesmann is a Swiss-Spanish architect and researcher. Born in Madrid, where he graduated with honors from the Polytechnic School of Architecture (ETSAM), he has worked in Berlin, New York, and Zürich, and since 2006 has been a member of the internationally awarded architecture collective Leon11. His work is focused on iterative design, integrated infrastructure to support equitable cities, and drivers for an innovative urban landscape. Among others, he has lectured at Columbia University, the Rhode Island School of Design, and ETH Zürich, and received a number of awards, including from the Emerging New York Architects (ENYA-AIA). Since joining Urban-Think Tank in 2014, he has led an integrated research project in collaboration with the Swiss government (SECO) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to build a replicable prototype of an arts school in Colombia. In 2016, the project received an International Architecture Award from the Chicago Athenaeum.
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