Archinect - News

A new grant will support Indigenous students and curriculum development at the University of Calgary's design school

2023-03-31T15:55:00-04:00

A new grant meant to encourage Indigenous students’ participation in the architectural field has been announced by the University of Calgary.

The $120,000 CAD ($88,600 USD) grant is being funded by the Alberta Real Estate Foundation (AREF) and will help the university’s School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape (SAPL) further develop its existing Indigenous Pathways Program while integrating Indigenous knowledge and subject matter into the brand-new Bachelor of Design in City Innovation (BDCI) degree.

The school shares that the BDCI is also its first-ever undergraduate degree offering. Sessional instructors and staff from the Indigenous community will also be recruited as a result of the funding, which helps to underscore the central mission and principles of the institution. Currently, the SAPL is the province’s only accredited architectural degree program.

“This project elevates real estate leadership in our province through inclusion, representation, and professional standa...

Can designers intervene in borders? The University of Calgary's CBDX: BORDERLANDS competition encourages 'bold, strategic thinking about global challenges'

2021-09-13T12:54:00-04:00

On September 8, the University of Calgary’s School of Architecture, Planning, and Landscape (SAPL) announced the three prize winners, honorable mentions, and finalists of its international design competition, CBDX: BORDERLANDS. The goal of the challenge was to develop proposals that "displayed a concern for healing the natural world and diminishing class differences by promoting equity." The competition received entries from a total of 69 cities across 22 countries. It successfully sparked global interest inquiring how the role of designers can "play in borders — whether geopolitical, environmental, or urban — and the spaces around them."

SAPL dean John Brown explained: “As a design school, we are constantly thinking about how to equip this next generation of architects, landscape architects, and urban planners to design in a way that disrupts the status quo to bring about positive change.” He continued that "international design competitions are a great way for us to broaden the co...

International design competition launched to intervene in borders

2021-06-04T13:16:00-04:00

This post is brought to you by the University of Calgary School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, an Archinect Partner School

CBDX: BORDERLANDS brings political, geological, social and other boundaries into sharp focus

The School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape (SAPL) at the University of Calgary has launched its second international design ideas competition, asking: How can designers intervene in borders?

Borders are spaces of transition. Whether political and imposed through human agency, or natural and made manifest through geographical features, borders are associated with civilization’s greatest challenges. How we choose to choreograph and intersect these transitional spaces will reveal much about our priorities.

The competition offers $6,000 in prizes and the deadline for submissions is June 21, 2021. The international, interdisciplinary jury will announce the winning entries on September 8, 2021.

The competition asks entrants to consider the opportunities, cha...

International design competition launched to intervene in borders

2021-03-30T09:00:00-04:00

This post is brought to you by the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape (SAPL) at the University of Calgary, an Archinect Partner School

CBDX: BORDERLANDS brings political, geological, social and other boundaries into sharp focus.

The School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape (SAPL) at the University of Calgary has launched its second international design ideas competition, asking: How can designers intervene in borders?

The competition asks entrants to consider the opportunities, challenges and complexities latent within borders and propose new paradigms. Participants can choose any type of border, define a friction that presents a programmatic opportun...

The CBDX: Cities for All competition recognizes how architects and designers 'might address underrepresented and marginalized voices'

2021-02-15T13:38:00-05:00

A design competition hosted by the School of Architecture, Planning, and Landscape (SAPL) at the University of Calgary asked participants, "how might matters of equity and activism, ecology and environment, and health and wellness converge, and unfold, within our future cities?" Launched in October 2020, the CBDX: CITIES FOR ALL competition is an initiative led by the school to tackle larger issues within the design community and foster innovative changes for the future of city building.

Assistant professor Alberto de Salvatierra, inaugural faculty lead and jury chair explained, "Cities—which often ossify systemic inequities through the built environment — have become the fulcrum upon which movements for equity and justice have found increasing leverage. Solutions must come from, and be for, everyone. This competition provides a platform to highlight how architects and designers might address underrepresented and marginalized voices."

The result of the competition led to 145 design...

The University of Calgary School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape is proud to announce the “CBDX: CITIES FOR ALL” competition

2020-11-07T09:00:00-05:00

This post is brought to you by the University of Calgary School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape

This international design ideas competition—the first in the CBDX series—asks, What does a city for all look like? How does it operate and function? How can it come into being? What place, structure, thing, system, process, or relationship must be forged to engender a more just and equitable ‘city for all’? And in particular—this is perhaps the most crucial question—the competition asks, How are these aims navigated by, through, and with the current uncertainty wrought by the ongoing global pandemic and the long-term existential threats of environmental degradation and climate change?

This is the year a wide-ranging set of inequities—that have always been there—have been brought to bear. The only difference is that now a significantly larger percentage of the public, and wider society, has become aware of how urgent addressing these issues are. As various movements have demonstra...

Get Lectured: University of Calgary, 2018-19

2018-09-19T13:41:00-04:00

Archinect's Architecture School Lecture Guide for Fall 2018

With a new school year upon us, it's time for Archinect's latest Get Lectured, an ongoing series where we feature a school's lecture series—and their snazzy posters—for the current term. Check back regularly to keep track of any upcoming lectures you don't want to miss.

Want to share your school's lecture series? Send us your school's lecture series poster and details to connect@archinect.com.

The University of Calgary Faculty of Environmental Design begins their 2018-19 lecture series today with architect brothers Mark Anderson and Peter Anderson. Speakers later this semester include Pooya Baktash, Amy Whitesides, and Borja Ferrater. Winter 2019 presents lectures from Sierra Bainbridge, Dora Epstein-Jones, Julie Larsen, Florian Idenburg, and last but definitely not least, David Adjaye.

Check out previous posters on the Get Lectured Pinterest page!

Want another way to share your school's events? Send them to Bustler! Simpl...

John Brown named Dean of University of Calgary's Faculty of Environmental Design

2018-03-28T15:26:00-04:00

The University of Calgary has announced the appointment of Dr. John L. Brown as the Dean of the Faculty of Environmental Design [...] John holds a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from the University of Manitoba (1980), a Master of Architecture from the University of Texas (1983), a Master of Science in Building Design from Columbia University (1984), and a PhD from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (2017) [...].

In a statement, the freshly appointed Dean Brown said: "I am humbled to be named Dean of a Faculty committed to entrepreneurial thinking in the built environment. Our cities are facing big challenges, and we need out-of-the-box solutions to build a better future. This philosophy has a natural fit with Calgary, which is often cited as Canada’s most enterprising city. Our researchers and students are working with industry and government partners to explore new ways of disrupting the status quo in the design and construction industries, and dramatically improve the quality of the built and natural environments. In 2021, the Faculty of Environmental Design celebrates its 50th anniversary. I commit that, by that date, we will have extended and expanded our reputation as the global hub for entrepreneurial design thinking in the built environment."

Get Lectured: University of Calgary, 2017-18

2017-09-19T13:11:00-04:00

Archinect's Architecture School Lecture Guide for Fall 2017

Ready or not, it's the start of a new school year. Back for Fall 2017 is Archinect's Get Lectured, an ongoing series where we feature a school's lecture series—and their snazzy posters—for the current term. Check back regularly to keep track of any upcoming lectures you don't want to miss.

Want to share your school's lecture series? Send us your school's lecture series poster and details to connect@archinect.com.

Check out the Fall '17 + Winter '18 Design Matters Lecture Series, happening now at the University of Calgary Faculty of Environmental Design (EVDS) in Alberta, Canada.

FALL '17

Sept 6
Calgary: Changing City Urban Panel

Oct 11
Clare Lyster / CLUAA Urbanism and Architecture

Nov 1
Juliane Wolf / Studio Gang

Nov 29
Martha Schwartz / Martha Schwartz Partners

WINTER '18

Jan 3
Somerville Visiting Lectureship

Feb 21
Dana Cupkova / Carnegie Mellon University & Epiphyte Lab

Mar 7
Susan Fainstein / Senior Research Fellow, Harvard G...

University of Calgary pays $16K to recover data held hostage by ransomware attackers

2016-06-08T13:05:00-04:00

Canada's University of Calgary paid almost $16,000 ($20,000 Canadian, ~£10,800) to recover crucial data that has been held hostage for more than a week by crypto ransomware attackers. The ransom was disclosed on Wednesday morning in a statement issued by University of Calgary officials. It said university IT personnel had made progress in isolating the unnamed ransomware infection and restoring affected parts of the university network.

"It went on to warn that there's no guarantee paying the controversial ransom will lead to the lost data being recovered."

Attacks with ransomware have become increasingly frequent. As the name suggests, ransomware allows hackers to take computers hostage until the user pays up. The increasing prevalence of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies has facilitated the rise in such attacks.

As the University of Calgary's Vice President stated, ""We are conducting world class research daily and we don’t know what we don’t know in terms of who’s been impacted and the last thing we want to do is lose someone’s life’s work."

For more on that state of privacy in our digital era, check out these links: