Working outside the box

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Architect@Work returns to a physical format at the Truman Brewery in London for 2022; the event on 13-14 April is themed around design for outside space as well as buildings themselves, with the focus on health and wellness

Visitors are invited to attend Architect@Work in the flesh this year, and meet 72 companies showing their innovations to the architecture and specifier markets, as well as enjoy the “stellar line-up of talks” which the organisers have promised.

They have decided that the theme for the 2022 edition is Air & Architecture, “which allows the talks programme to explore a range of different projects, places and experiences.” Different sessions will “touch upon how we breathe and what that means for our wellbeing, as well as the lungs of cities themselves,” said the show organisers.

Show highlights

A key highlight of the talks programme will be a session on health and wellbeing that takes a look at air, space, materials and biophilia; “considering how they are key to comfortable experiences that encourage better interactions within workspaces.” This talk will feature Morris + Company director Joe Morris, alongside Francesca Brady of AirRated, “rising star” Anouska Anquetil (who runs design studio Aterre), and Rachel Edwards of Lendlease.

The organisers commented: “With climate change now making a bigger impression on every design project, it’s clear that the relationship between architecture and landscape can play a huge role in making the built environment more inhabitable and kinder to the environment.” Methods of “retrofitting our cities” to achieve this will be discussed by Eleanor Brough of Sarah Wigglesworth Architects, Katherine Erne from HTA, Joanna Simpson of Simpson Studio and Sanaa Shaikh from Native Studio.

Je Ahn from Studio Weave and Adam Scott of Freestate will focus on “public space projects,” and how good design is used to “enliven places, creating character and a focus for activity.” Under discussion will be the opportunity to “reconsider what we want cities to look like, with a greater emphasis on greenery, accessibility and inclusivity.”

With many innovations in architecture being found in the design for sports and leisure – ranging from the recent Olympics, to climbing centres in skyscrapers, and running tracks that weave through new developments. Peter Karn of MET Studio, Guy Hollaway from Hollaway Studio and Zoe Adeline-Lindop of AHMM will discuss how design can be used to promote exercise to counter the advances in digital technologies that cause us to be more sedentary.

Join the presenters of Open City’s smash-hit podcast ‘the Londown’ for a live recording of their topical show, which covers breaking stories in London’s architecture and built environment. The Londown is produced by Open City and the London Society in partnership with the Architects’ Journal.

Lastly, while architecture offers many opportunities for enclosure, the organisers have posed the question “why aren’t we better utilising the air space on top of buildings to create new homes and landscapes?” Emily Erlam of Erlam Studio, Nile Bridgeman from Gatti Routh Rhodes and Julia Barfield of Marks Barfield will give their answers, and look at how designers are using sophisticated engineering and new materials to “take in our surroundings like never before.”

Architects can register to attend the show free via architect-at-work.co.uk using code 1640