Expanded Territories Colloquium, 5 July 2012

2010 World Cup Stadium, Soccer City, Johannesburg. Courtesy Lindsay Bremner

During the British Council’s International Design Showcase (29 June – 15 July 2012), Expanded Territories hosted a colloquium, inviting architects, designers, researchers and teachers to engage in a dialogue between participants of the Ambika P3 International Architecture and Design Showcase around questions of architecture’s role in (de)colonization, social (re)construction, national identity formation, human development and global (dis)integration in their countries. Participants were asked to address the questions:

How is architecture contributing (or not) to the reconstruction and development of your country?

What issues are vital to cities and communities in your country?

Is national identity important to your country’s architectural culture or do you see yourselves as part of global architectural culture or both?

How do encounters such as this expand your conception of architectural practice in your own country?

Participants included John Allsopp of Amonle Studio Workshop, Barbados; Bryan Bullen of Caribbean Office of Co-operative Architecture, Grenada; Kevin Talma of Talma Mills Studio, Barbados; Phillip Luhl of the University of Namibia and  Zahira Asmal of Designing _South Africa. The event was chaired by Professors Lindsay Bremner and Kate Heron of the University of Westminster.