VCUQatar Presents Architecture & the Loss of Craft

Sara Shafiei’s lecture discusses the relationship of new architectural interventions in order to produce a contemporary style rich in textures, patterns and layers. The lecture will also include a presentation of her work that harnesses the use of modern technology and her interest in excess baroque ornamentation to create an ornamental theatre influenced by magic and illusion.

An architect, lecturer, and author, Shafiei graduated from the Bartlett school of Architecture (UCL) with distinction and was the recipient of the Sir Banister Fletcher Bronze Medal, 3D REID prize, and the Hamilton Associates prize for excellence in design process. She has been able to travel to research her interests in new architectural interventions further through receiving the KPF/ Architecture Foundation Public Space Travel Award in 2008.

In 2008 she also received TECU Architecture Award for her innovative use of copper cladding for her project entitled ‘Theatre for Magicians’ where saw exploited her interests in excess baroque ornamentation. Her work has been exhibited internationally including exhibitions at the Royal Academy of Art Summer show 2008, 2009 and 2010, where she was awarded the Royal Academy of Arts drawing prize, The Museum of Art and Design (MAD), New York and 2010 Venice Architecture Biennale.

Shafiei has also been published in Bartlett Design: Speculating with Architecture, Slash: Paper Under the Knife, AD-Protoarchitecture, Wallpaper Magazine, London Interiors Magazine, Icon Magazine, BD and The Architects Journal. In 2009 she co-authored “Digital Architecture: Passages Through Hinterlands”- a book celebrating provocative projects from a young generation of digitally enabled designers. In 2007 Sara co-founded saraben-studio with Ben Cowd. The studio is also a member of Horhizon, a network of young designers who collaborate on design projects and academic workshops across Europe.

Shafiei is senior lecturer in Architecture at The Leicester School of Architecture and visiting lecturer at Ecole Spéciale d’Architecture – Paris. She is a visiting critic at The Architecture Association (AA), Bartlett School of Architecture, Westminster University, Oxford Brookes, London South Bank University, Cardiff University and has run workshops at the AA, and Brighton University.

‘Architecture and The Loss of Craft’ is held on 10 April, 2011 at the atrium at VCUQatar and starts at 6:00 PM. The lecture is open to the public. For more information please call +974 44020555 or visit www.qatar.vcu.edu.