In conversation with Ben van Berkel from UNStudio
B117 Theatre, Glyn Davis Building, the University of Melbourne
About this event
Since its inception, UNStudio has been known as a speculative practice, producing real world projects through the means of research, experimentation, testing, and conceptual frameworks.
Co-Director Ben van Berkel will join us in person to discuss UNStudio’s focus on these strategies and agendas – as evidenced by several seminal projects of the last 30 years.
In this lecture, Ben will discuss the strategies that have allowed UNStudio to remain progressive, speculative and impactful into the first quarter of the 21st Century.
About the speaker
Ben van Berkel studied architecture at the Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam and at the Architectural Association in London, receiving the AA Diploma with Honours in 1987. In 1988 he and Caroline Bos set up UNStudio, an architectural practice in Amsterdam.
Current UNStudio projects include the Southbank mixed-use development in Melbourne, ‘Four’ a large-scale mixed-use project in Frankfurt, and the Wasl Tower in Dubai.
With UNStudio he realised amongst others the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart, Arnhem central Station in the Netherlands, the Raffles City mixed-use development in Hangzhou, the Canaletto Tower in London, a private villa up-state New York and the Singapore University of Technology and Design.
In 2018 Ben van Berkel founded UNSense, an Arch Tech company that designs and integrates humancentric tech solutions for the built environment. Ben van Berkel has lectured and taught at many architectural schools around the world.
From 2011 to 2018 he held the Kenzo Tange Visiting Professor’s Chair at Harvard University Graduate School of Design, where he led a studio on health and architecture.
In 2017, Ben van Berkel also gave a TEDx presentation about health and architecture. In addition, he is a member of the Taskforce Team / Advisory Board Construction Industry for the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs.
Image by Els Zweerink.