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UNKNOWN: Strategies and Solutions in Shaping the Built Environment

Co-curated by Melodie Leung, Senior Associate at Zaha Hadid Architects and the Museum of Architecture as part of the London Festival of Architecture 2019. Last year’s theme unpacked the notion of crossing into the unknown in design, architecture, art and science, discussing the boundaries and cultural borders created and traversed through drawing and communication, memory and imagination and collaboration. In forging a new and previously unknown horizon of possibilities, how can we create relevant means of communication and ways of envisioning boundaries which are productive rather than limiting? How does memory affect the ability to respond to an unknown future? How can new strategies be fostered within the built environment when designing across scales, cultures and differences? We ran a roundtable workshop before the main conference with Anne Beate Hovind on the topic of Cathedral Thinking. This was an invite only event for 20 leading women in the visual arts, architecture and design. The conference was supported by Finsa UK.

PANEL OF SPEAKERS

Collaboration
Jane Wernick (engineersHRW)
Hayfa Matar (Diplomat)
Marina Otero Verzier (Het Nieuwe Instituut)
Rona Meyuchas-Koblenz (Kukka Studio)
moderated by Ellie Stathaki (Wallpaper*)

Memory and Imagination
Anne Beate Hovind (Future Library)
in conversation with A K Dolven (Artist)

Drawing and Communication
Kate Davies (Unknown Fields, Liquid Factory)
Yara Sharif (Ng Architects, Palestine Regeneration Team)
Yuge Zhou (Video Artist)
moderated by Vicky Richardson (Architectural writer and curator)
“Unknown was one of those rare things – a conference that leaves plenty of space for the unexpected. We didn’t just hear from architects, designers and engineers; we heard from a diplomat, an artist, and people with very different perspectives. We didn’t just discuss the built environment; we discussed world conflict, planting trees, and books written for future generations. It got us thinking about curiosity and trust, about the nature of time, and about why and how we draw. And if ‘cathedral thinking’ emerged as my theme of the day, I was having my mind stretched right here, right now.”
- Juliette Mitchell, Architypal
“I was struck by the diversity of attendees and speakers at the conference and the thoughtful topics for discussion and presentation. The more intimate breakfast setting really helped to set the pace for the day, and I felt overall it provided a great lens into the future and zeitgeist of architecture globally, as well as a platform for networking and connection across design, art, tech and beyond - a great experience and very powerful to have so many brilliant women in the room.”
- Suhair Khan, Google Arts and Culture
“It was a dream to come together and celebrate crossdisciplinary thinking, as I believe in the solutions that lie in the inbetween and happen as a result of these kinds of events, I felt very priviledged to have taken part.”
- Anne Beate Hovind, Chair of the Future Library Trust
Underground Circuit (2017), video still © Yuge Zhou
The Glass Notebooks © Kate DaviesUnknown:
Future Library (2014-2114), © Katie Paterson – photo by Rio Gandara / Helsingin SanomatFuture Library is commissioned and produced by Bjørvika Utvikling, and managed by the Future Library Trust. Supported by the City of Oslo, Agency for Cultural Affairs and Agency for Urban Environment.
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