RIBA+VitrA Talks - Challenge: Rethink Housing

The 2024 RIBA + VitrA talks invite leading and emerging architects to explore architecture as a catalyst for positive urban and social change. As Britain undergoes its continuing housing crisis, this discussion will address how can architects collectively rethink their approach to housing to meet society’s needs, but ensure it enhances wellbeing and quality of life.

Chaired by Professor Ola Uduku, this panel talk will feature Joseph Zeal-Henry - designer, urbanist and curator; Cany Ash, founding director of Ash Sakula; Studio MUTT; and Paul Karakusevic, founder of Karakusevic Carson, who come together to share insights into how we can address one of the most urgent issues of our time.

Ola Uduku is the Roscoe Chair and Head of the Liverpool School of Architecture at the University of Liverpool. Prior to that, she was a Research Professor in Architecture at the Manchester School of Architecture (2017–2021). From 2011 to 2017, she has been Reader in Architecture and Dean for Africa at Edinburgh University. Her research specialisms are in modern architecture in West Africa, the history of educational architecture in Africa, and contemporary issues related to social infrastructure provision for minority communities in the "West" and "South." She is an advocate of equity in all its forms in the workplace, particularly in the architectural profession. She promotes the documentation and recording of modernist buildings and landscapes (DOMOCOMO) in Africa, and is President of the African Studies Association UK.   

Cany Ash 

Cany Ash founded Ash Sakula Architects with Robert Sakula, in 1994. The practice was Supreme Winner in the 2016 Housing Design Award for the Malings, a riverside neighbourhood in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. In 2017 its 475 home Wickside project was Overall Winner in the New London Architecture Awards. Currently designing 700 homes using the concept of ‘deliberate communities’ along the river in Lewes for developers Human Nature and inventing post pandemic uses for two old department stores in the town of Bedford and city of Peterborough. 

 Alongside its architectural work, Ash Sakula has pursued ‘constructive propaganda’ through a series of projects captured in short films and websites. Collective Custom Build, Adaptable Neighbourhoods, the Lightbox House and the Meanwhile London Caravanserai all champion people and their livelihoods against a backdrop of thoughtless land assembly for development, and demolition of worthwhile structures.  

Paul Karakusevic 

Paul Karakusevic founded Karakusevic Carson Architects to raise the architectural design standards and ambitions for the quality of the UK’s social and public housing.

Over the past 20 + years, he has worked alongside residents and local government to improve the design and delivery of affordable homes and neighbourhoods which reflect the needs of real communities; designing and crafting dwellings that give residents dignity and help to improve quality of life and chances for future generations.

To date, the studio has completed 10 major London Council housing projects. Multi-award winning schemes which have provided exemplary homes and are advancing a new era of Council housing. The practice is currently working on some of the most challenging housing estate projects in the UK for a collection of pioneering local government and council client groups who are at the vanguard of direct delivery and social development.

The focus of the practice has always been focused on working for Local government, City Halls and Local neighbourhood community-led housing charities. At present and uniquely the whole studio is engaged in public work.

Projects have won numerous RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects), UK Housing Design, New London Architecture (NLA) and Civic Trust Awards. The practice has been named ‘Housing Architect of the Year’ several times and its work has been published regularly by leading national and international architectural press alongside features in the Guardian, Observer, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal.

In 2017, Paul co-authored the book Social Housing – Definitions and Design Exemplars. London, RIBA, 2017 and then co-authored Public Housing Works. London, Lund Humphries 2022; a book charting the last two decades of public housing design in the UK, told through the studio’s housing and masterplanning projects.

Paul has been invited to speak on housing design and the practice’s work at the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), the American Institute of Architects, AIA in New York and Los Angeles, the Australian Institute of Architects in Sydney, The Architecture Foundation at the Barbican, and leading universities, institutions and architecture conferences in the UK, Europe, USA, Canada, and Australia.

Over the past 10 years Paul has lent his experience to advise the Mayor of London, Homes England, numerous London Councils and cities around the world on approaches to the refurbishment and transformation of their public housing estates.

Studio MUTT

Studio MUTT is an energetic architecture and design studio. Their work is public-facing - from sustainable town centre regeneration, through immersive exhibition design, to the precise retrofit of our existing buildings to improve performance and functionality for future lifespans. The Studio’s ambition is to create joyful projects to make everyday life better.

Joseph Zeal-Henry

Joseph Henry is a designer, urbanist and curator whose practice advocates for a more equitable built environment through policy and cultural production. His unique multi-disciplinary practice works to develop public infrastructure through public service and culture. He has written for Tank Magazine Dezeen, Casabella, and the Architectural Review. Joseph is currently the 2024 ArtLab Loeb Fellow at Harvard University.
In 2022, the British Council selected Joseph to co-curate the British Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2023 alongside Jayden Ali, Meneesha Kellay and Sumitra Upham. Their pavilion, 'Dancing Before the Moon,' explores the need for architecture to look beyond buildings and economic structures and towards everyday social practices, customs and traditions to meaningfully reflect how people use and occupy space.
Joseph worked for the Mayor of London in the Culture & Creative Industries Unit, delivering new cultural infrastructure for London. Joseph worked on the New London Museum, East Bank and the Thames Estuary Production Corridor. He co-founded the social enterprise platform Sound Advice alongside Pooja Agrawal to explore new forms of spatial practice through music. In 2020 they published the book NOW YOU KNOW.
He is a trustee of UD Music, a charity that empowers and harnesses opportunities for young people through Black music culture. He also hold positions as a board member of the Russell Maliphant Dance Company and an associate lecturer on the MArch course and Central Saint Martins. and an advisor to Theatrum Mundi.

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Please join us for a drink during the welcome networking reception from 6:00-6:30pm. One drink is included in your ticket. A selection of alcoholic and non-alcoholic options will be available.

Lead image: Helping Hands, Studio MUTT

This RIBA + VitrA event is part of the 'Challenge: Rethink' talks series in partnership with VitrA Bathrooms.

This partnership reflects a shared commitment to add social, economic and cultural value to society, and VitrA Bathrooms are proud to be supporting such an inspiring programme.

With innovation at its core, a global reach and a tradition of collaborating with celebrated architects and designers, the VitrA bathroom brand has become a world leader, synonymous with contemporary sophistication since the mid-1900s.

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Event Venue & Nearby Stays

RIBA North, 21 Mann Island, Liverpool, United Kingdom