Asian Cities: Architecture, Theory, and Practice

Convened by Dr Gregory Bracken, who is a research fellow at IIAS, as well as assistant professor of architecture at TU Delft, the programme will consist of six presentations relating to architecture and urbanism in Asia. The presenters come from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds and represent both sides of the architectural discipline, i.e. both theory and practice, which should make for some interesting inter- and cross-disciplinary perspectives. Aside from architects practicing in Asia, the seminar will feature a number of academics with experience ranging from the recently graduated masters student, through PhD candidates, to assistant and associate professors.

One of the papers takes a look at the phenomenological dynamics currently underway in Asia’s cities; another examines the possibility of re-thinking Asia’s ‘architecture of the city’. Non-European regeneration methods now in use in China are also examined, as is European architecture’s role in Southeast Asia in the eighteenth century. Dissent in the public spaces of Kuala Lumpur is also examined; especially the role social media has played, and continues to play. And finally, there is an elegant mapping project which uses photography to visualise urban behaviour in Hong Kong’s streets and laneways.

Registration: Heleen van der Minne (H.M.van.der.Minne@iias.nl)

The Museum is five minutes walk from the railway station Leiden Centraal. The Pavilion is located hidden behind the museum building