Tom Coward

London Society Saturday Schools: Why design in the 21st Century?, a talk by Tom Coward.

Architecture and Urbanism MA and Cass Cities present

Join Tom Coward (AOC Architecture Ltd.) as he explores the question Why Design in the 21st Century?

The way we make space in twenty-first century London is shaped through global consumption. The city is less a place to innovate your industry – more a place to hold your assets. In a metropolis that is full, your back yard is in demand – banked as speculation, bartered for a return and borrowed in the meantime to have a purpose. Everyone can feel powerless against this well-oiled machine of change.

Construction has been managed into a foregone conclusion – such-and-such at a certain rate defines the quantum. An architect’s service has been streamlined to manage the gestural implications of each crucial, yet crude balance struck between the developer and the city politician. As predicted 30 years ago, the semiotic skin slips onto a frame that could hold any number of pepper-potted tenure-blind ever-less-affordable uses.

It’s a place where appearances matter – and the new breed of place-makers work hard tidying up the edges and the in-betweens of the main property prize – making a new type of conversation with the many local voices, less profitable needs and bottom-up opportunities of the city.

You can book the events individually, or save money by booking every event in the Architecture Saturday School: Block Booking

Cass staff and students get a discounted booking rate, email j.clossick@londonmet.ac.uk for your discount code.