UNS Talks

Host Liva Sadovska sits down with our colleagues Marianthi Tatari and Sugandha Gupta do discuss how they experience design in the world, from early on in the bid process to seeing a design become reality.

In this episode, they also get into how UNStudio takes a human-centric approach to its designs and the importance of representation in architecture.

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Cristóbal Burgos (Architect) sits down with Arjan Dingsté (Partner / Senior Architect) to discuss UNStudio’s latest software development that's transforming the way our architects and designers approach their projects —the Carbon Builder. This tool allows our teams to analyse and compare numerous design options, guiding them towards choices that significantly minimise the carbon footprint of their projects.

As the urgency of addressing the climate crisis intensifies, the need for sustainable practices within the built environment has never been more crucial. The Carbon Builder was developed to offer a faster, more precise design solutions that architects and designers can utilitse in their projects.

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To start off the new year we sat down with Frans van Vuure , a Director at UNStudio and Benjamin Davey, a researcher and consultant for the UNS Futures team. In this episode they discuss this missing layer of cognitive experience design in architecture projects, and future applications of this research - enjoy! Host. Lucie Pressl Filmed and Edited. Thomas Jones Produced. Thomas Jones and Alexis Traussi Follow us on: LinkedIn - linkedin.com/company/unstudio/ Instagram - @unstudio_architecture Facebook - facebook.com/UNStudioArchitecture/ Twitter - @UNStudio_Arch

In this very special episode, Machteld Kors, Director Strategic Development, is sitting down with UNStudio founder and principal architect, Ben van Berkel to discuss what has happened at the studio over this past year and what observations he has made regarding architecture and design and the profession in general.

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UNStudio's Director Strategic Development, Machteld Kors, sat down with the team leads of our offices in Shanghai, Hongo Kong, Dubai, Frankfurt, and Melbourne.

Together they discussed they are making change in their specific markets; exploring certain challenges that they face; and understanding how we keep our United Network truly united.  
Thank you Garett Hwang, Arjan Pit, Clarissa Alfrink and Sander Versluis for sharing your insight with us!

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Welcome to our recent episode of 'Designing Social Cities'. Join us as we delve into the fascinating realm of urban design and its impact on creating socially vibrant cities. In this episode, we are thrilled to have esteemed guests from the renowned architecture practice, UNStudio, sharing their insights and expertise on the art of designing social cities. Episode guests: Valentina Amaya (left) - Landscape Architect @UNStudio Olga Kotta (right) - Urban Designer @UNStudio Episode Highlights: - Gain a deeper understanding of the fundamental principles that guide urban designers in shaping our cities to foster social interaction and well-being. - Discover the innovative strategies and approaches UNStudio employs to create inclusive public spaces that encourage community engagement. - Learn about some of the most iconic projects UNStudio has undertaken, where design and social dynamics harmoniously intersect. UNStudio's Vision: UNStudio is globally recognized for its visionary approach to architecture and urbanism. With a portfolio spanning diverse landscapes, they've mastered the art of blending functionality, aesthetics, and sociability in urban environments. Join the Conversation: Tune in to this episode to gain valuable insights into the world of urban design, and learn how UNStudio is transforming our cities into vibrant, people-centric spaces. Whether you're an architecture enthusiast, a city planner, or simply curious about the impact of design on our daily lives, this episode is a must-listen. Relevant Links: UNStudio Official Website: https://www.unstudio.com/ Follow UNStudio on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unstudio_architecture/ Follow UNSurban on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/uns.urban/ Follow Lucie Pressl on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/luciepre71/ #UrbanDesign #Architecture #CityPlanning #SocialCities #UNStudio #PodcastEpisode #DesignInspiration

Have you ever wondered what it's like inside an architecture modelspace? In this episode of UNS Talks, our host Lucie Pressl spoke to Stijn and Jack from UNStudio's modelspace, the lively epicenter of our studio in Amsterdam. They talk about current projects, how modelmaking projects are organised within the studio, modelmaking sustainability and much more. Watch, listen and enjoy! Filmed and Edited by Thomas Jones Hosted by Lucie Pressl Produced by Alexis Traussi, Lucie Pressl and Thomas Jones Follow us on: LinkedIn - linkedin.com/company/unstudio/ Instagram - @unstudio_architecture Facebook - facebook.com/UNStudioArchitecture/ Twitter - @UNStudio_Arch

The world of work is changing.  It's clear that we need to re-imagine the workplace to become flexible and future-focused, but also reconsider how the role of the architect will develop over the coming years...

Framed by these questions, we hosted a discussion between UNStudio architects Ben van Berkel, Marianthi Tatari and Harlen Miller.

What is a circular construction strategy?

How can digital solutions help the transition to a circular economy?

What does a circular city really look like?

For this podcast, we were very happy to host Joke Duformont and Ben Kubbinga from the Cities and Built Environment Programmes of Circle Economy: an Amsterdam based social enterprise that accelerates circular economic initiatives. The Cities Programme has develop roadmaps with cities like Amsterdam, Glasgow, Bilbao and the province of Noord Holland that help them make the circular leap. The Built Environment Programme works to create a ‘living’ system in which building materials and products are optimally used and reused— a system that operates within the boundaries of our planet, preserves the value of resources, and ensures the wellbeing of inhabitants.

As part of our ongoing research into playgrounds, we were very happy to host Denisa Kollarova, author of Aldo van Eyck: Seventeen Playgrounds, at the UNStudio office in Amsterdam, to discuss the contents of her study.

Of Aldo van Eyck's original 700 playgrounds built across Amsterdam, only 17 remain. What can we learn from van Eyck about designing for social cohesion and imagination?

Every few months we like to host a breakfast open to everyone in our office to discuss the issue of Gender in design in an informal way. This time around, we invited Afaina de Jong to join us.

Afaina is an architect, an academic and a cultural entrepreneur who works on the boundary of art and architecture.  Having taught in both TU Delft and the Sandberg Institute, Afaina founded AFARAI in 2005: an Amsterdam based architectural agency that specializes in spatial design, taking an intersectional and interdisciplinary approach to design. In her talk, Afaina discusses her architectural practice, her work, her thoughts and her research, as related to otherness, gender and design.

MX3D are a groundbreaking 3D printing company based in Amsterdam, who develop robotic additive manufacturing technology to 3D print a large variety of metal alloys in virtually any size and shape.

In part two of this two part podcast, we ask Gijs van der Velden, CEO of MX3D, our most burning questions about the future of city building, automated & autonomous production, AI, machine learning, and the next 10 years of creating the built environment.

MX3D are a groundbreaking 3D printing company based in Amsterdam, who develop robotic additive manufacturing technology to 3D print a large variety of metal alloys in virtually any size and shape.

In part one of this two part podcast, we join Gijs van der Velden to discuss the future of city building, automated & autonomous production, AI, machine learning, and the next 10 years of creating the built environment.

For our fourth podcast, we asked Robert Rowland Smith to join us in Amsterdam for our annual UNStudio Summer Conference, held in Mediamatic. Robert is a British author and philosopher, whose books include Derrida and Autobiography, Breakfast with Socrates: The philosophy of everyday life, and AutoBioPhilosophy: An intimate story of what it means to be human.

For our summer conference on the theme of Ownership, Robert stepped away from architecture and design, and studied the theme from a philosophical perspective… Throughout his talk he asks two big questions. First: What would remain of our identity once everything we own is taken away from us? And second: Could ownership be seen as a radical form of openness and hospitality? He looks at the history of ownership and its roots in medieval Europe, the concept of ownership as related to self-identity, Marx, Freud, Derrida and Heidegger, and ownership in the modern world, in the context of Big Data.

For our third podcast, we were very happy to host Nicolay Boyadjiev, who spoke at our annual UNStudio Summer Conference in Amsterdam. Nicolai is a Design Tutor at the Strelka Institute, which is a non-governmental education institutions based in Moscow, that has an experimental approach to studying architecture and design, offering a famously multidisciplinary academic program.

For our summer conference on the theme of Ownership, we asked Nicolai the following question: “In the future, will we all be jobless?”. Throughout his talk, Nicolai looked at the gig economy, co-working, platformization and the relationship between space and labor. He primarily takes from the example of We work,  arguing that beyond its intention of becoming a “Capitalist Kibbutz”, We-Work could even be viewed as a speculative design project.

Will we be jobless in the future? Is there a role for designers in re-imagining public services? How can we get the most out of machines whilst unleashing human potential? How can we democratize city-making?

Enter Indy Johar.

Indy is a London-based architect and co-founder of Architecture00, focusing on the role of design in complex system change and social investment. As well as this, he is Senior Innovation Associate with the Young Foundation and Visiting Professor at the University of Sheffield. Most of Indy’s day-to-day is occupied with Dark Matter Labs, which he founded a few years ago to apply complex systems science to urban & regional renewal, turning what is generally perceived as a threat of our time – spill-over effects across borders, boundaries and silos – into a resource to solve the wicked challenges society faces in the 21st century. Dark Matter Laboratories utilizes an experimentation method typical of a fieldwork scientific laboratory, undertaking real-world research and prototyping in order to seed the next generation of institutional infrastructure. The studio is currently working on a series of initiatives from developing a new class of System Change – Impact Funds, Town Halls for Social Innovation, a new generation of Polytechnics, and the transformation of numerous existing institutions.