Enigma restaurant featuring Neolith sintered stone by TheSize

Ceramic Collaborations

RIBA North is hosting Moulding Futures: Collaborative Explorations in Ceramics for Architecture symposium on Friday 8th December, a one-day event created by ECAlab and supported by Tile of Spain, the University of Liverpool and Leeds Beckett University. Through presentations and chaired discussions, leading global authorities will explore the value that ceramics can bring to architecture.

Enigma restaurant featuring Neolith sintered stone by TheSize
Enigma restaurant featuring Neolith sintered stone by TheSize
Eagle Place
Eagle Place (detail)

Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Cerámica (which runs until 10th February 2018, also at RIBA North), the symposium will present innovative trends in contemporary architectural ceramics production.  It is an ideal opportunity for architects, designers and anyone enthused by ceramics in building to explore issues with the most prominent national and international minds connected to design and engineering.

One Eagle Place by Arup
One Eagle Place in London has a 25-metre-long glazed earthenware façade and a multi-coloured cornice. © Paul Carstairs-Arup

Speakers from the UK will include Eric Parry of Eric Parry Architects, Maximiliano Arrocet of AL_A Architects and Alexis Harrison of Arup.  There will also be international experts including Martin Bechthold from Harvard University and Clara Vicedo from ASCER (Association of Spanish Ceramic Tile Manufacturers) and Antoni Cumella from Ceramica Cumella.

Pavilion by Harvard University explores 3D printing of ceramics
Pavilion by Harvard University explores 3D printing of ceramics

The presentations will explore a wide range of topics relating to ceramics architecture, such as:

  • the aesthetic, phenomenological and spatial effects of ceramics;
  • the environmental and technical performance of ceramics;
  • social and environmental sustainability;
  • digital fabrication technology, and innovative design methodologies and production processes;
  • digital and traditional crafts;
  • patterns, surface effects and new interpretations of ornament;
  • heritage, contextualism, local knowledge and cultural identity.
  • the re-consideration of clay and its renaissance as an innovative building material

Moulding FuturesMoulding Futures Symposium, RIBA North Gallery 2, 21 Mann Island, Liverpool Waterfront, Liverpool L3 1BP

architecture.com
ecalab.org

A new post by Joe Simpson, Diary of a Tile Addict, December 2017.

About ECAlab
Since its inception in 2011, ECAlab (Environmental Ceramics for Architecture Laboratory) has developed a number of research programmes which look to explore the possibilities of ceramics for sustainable technologies, while examining the role of emerging digital technologies alongside traditional ceramic craftsmanship skills.  ECAlab is founded and directed by Rosa Urbano Gutiérrez and Amanda Wanner, and is part of an international network sponsored by ASCER, which includes groups from various schools of architecture (see above).  In addition, ECAlab has developed its own collaborative process in the UK, bringing together a network of UK universities with a variety of industry partners, ceramicists and design professionals. www.ecalab.org

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