The Department of Architecture and Design of the American University of Beirut cordially invites you to a public lecture entitled “The Engineering of Attitude” given by Hanif Kara [Co-Founder, Design Director, AKTII] on Monday May 14th, 2012 at 6.00 pm, at the ALH (Architecture Lecture Hall), Dar Al-Handassah Architecture Building, AUB, Beirut.
Synopsis
The traditional boundaries and borders of architecture and engineering (based on linear and hierarchical correspondence between the two) are being challenged by new technologies. However, education and institutionalised practice of both disciplines are not keeping pace with this. Hanif Kara will explain the particular nuances of Design Engineering that have shaped the work which AKT have produced in this climate. Their aim has been to be driven by quality and innovation but with a propensity for getting projects built. This has required a change and changing of attitudes to develop projects; seen in the architect's terms but with the eyes and mind of an engineer. The lecture will attempt to develop a critical content beyond, not instead of, illustrated award winning projects.
Hanif Kara [BSc (Hons), FIStructE, (Hon FRIBA, FRSA,FICE), CEng] is a practising Structural Engineer, the Pierce Anderson Lecturer in Creative Engineering at Harvard School of Design and Visiting Professor for Architectural Technology at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden since 2008. His constructed work is recognised as being linked with the research and education areas of design. He has been teaching at various architectural schools in Britain, Europe and the USA since 1996. He co-tutored a Diploma Unit at the Architectural Association in London from 2000 to 2004, acted as a consultant for the Design Research Lab (DRL) for a number of years and was an external examiner from 2005 to 2008.
As Design Director and co-founder of AKTII (est. 1996, http://www.akt-uk.com), his particular ‘design-led’ approach and interest in innovative form, material uses, prefabrication, sustainable construction, complex analysis methods have allowed him to work on award-winning, pioneering and unique projects. His career extends beyond the structural engineering disciplines and led to his appointment as a commissioner for CABE (Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment); the first engineer to hold this post for the government watchdog that monitors the quality of design throughout the United Kingdom.
Hanif was selected for the Master Jury for the 2004 cycle of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture and served as a project reviewer in 2007 and 2010. He is also on the board or trustees of the Architecture Foundation and has been an advisor to the Aga Khan Development Network. In 2007, Hanif was appointed as one of 15 members of the Design for London Advisory Group to the Mayor of London. He was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 2007. Hanif will be the first Engineer to be a judge for the annual coveted RIBA Stirling Prize 2011.
