How can architecture be a force for good in our ever-changing world?
During Future Fest, we asked some of the world’s best architects, each one an A+Award-winning designer, for their answers to this question and more. Over three weeks this past September, these renowned speakers offered insights on the future of architecture at every scale: From the design of cities and environments to buildings of all typologies to the material details that bring architecture to life.
The schedule being as packed as it was, attending every single talk was a challenging feat — especially given the global nature of Architizer’s audience, meaning that many were in different timezones. For this reason and more, we’re delighted to share an archive of recordings of every single talk from this year’s event, 100% free for anyone interested in watching.
Interested in joining an illustrious panel of architects from around the world in the 2023 rendition of Future Fest? Enter the 11th Annual A+Awards to be considered as a future speaker:
Week 1: The Future of Cities
Special Guest: Andre Brumfield, Global Cities + Urban Design Leader, Gensler
Lack of affordable housing, gentrification, climate change: Our cities are facing huge challenges on a multitude of fronts. Through the lens of urban design, master planning and architecture, Andre’s session focuses on how we are addressing these issues to create a better, more balanced city.
Day 2 | Innovation at Every Scale: Creating More Livable Cities
Special Guest: Rob Rogers, Principal, Rogers Partners Architects
How can architects create public places for both environmental protection and social prosperity? Rob Rogers reveals the principles behind the design of the A+Award-winning St. Pete’s Pier, demonstrating how macro-scale design moves can help make our cities more resilient.
Day 3 | Blending Ancient and Modern in the Public Realm
Special Guest: Mikkel Frost, Architect & Founding Partner, CEBRA
How can public architecture leave a positive impact and encourage positive change? How can cultural heritage and contemporary design be woven together in bold yet sensitive ways? CEBRA’s A+Award-winning Al Hosn Masterplan forms a key case study for this session on blending old and new.
Day 4 | Organizing Chaos: Dwelling Design in Desert Cities
11am ET, Thursday September 15th
Special Guest: Hend Almatrouk, CEO & Partner, Studio Toggle
Studio Toggle scooped the title of “Best Young Architecture Fiirm” in the recent A+Awards. During her presentation, CEO Hend Almatrouk explores how architectural innovations are addressing housing challenges in the Middle East and how those lessons can be applied elsewhere in the world.
Day 5 | How Cultural Architecture Can Connect Communities
Special Guest: Sanjay Puri, Cofounder & Principal, Sanjay Puri Architects
What role can contemporary architecture play in strengthening the culture of a local community? Renowned Indian architect Sanjay Puri presents his ideas for how architecture can act as a cultural catalyst, using A+Award-winning projects from unexpected typologies as his guiding examples.
Week 2: The Future of Architecture
Special Guest: Michael Green, Founder and Principal of MGA | Michael Green Architecture
Presenting projects that harness Michael’s specialist knowledge of cross-laminated timber in construction, this session explores how the mission of an architectural firm can extend to its practice and beyond, making a profound impact on society as a whole.
Day 7 | Community Is Now
Special Guest: Michel Rojkind, Founder, Rojkind Arquitectos
What are we doing with all the information we are receiving in our day to day? What happened during the pandemic and how does it affect the way we show up in the world? What are we focusing on? What’s our purpose? Award-winning Mexican architect Michel Rojkind lays out the case for creating a positive impact in the community by challenging the program, reformulating the questions and creating added value for all through innovative architecture.
Day 8 | Places For All
Special Guest: Fokke Moerel, Architect & Partner, MVRDV
MVRDV’s Fokke Moerel talks about how we can add value to the urgencies we all have to face and deal with. There are plenty of opportunities to make our environment a better place to live, stay, work, engage. During her presentation, Moerel uses iconic MVRDV projects such as Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen, Radio Tower & Hotel and Tainan Spring as examples of her vision of ‘’Places for all’’.
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Day 9 | Can Technology Transform Construction?
Special Guest: Shajay Booshan, Associate Director, Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA)
Exploring ways in which we can create more compact, human scale, and pedestrian friendly cities, Shajay Booshan showcases two pilot projects that highlight the firm’s collaborative efforts to align maturing technologies with engaging and responsible design: The A+Award-winning Striatus 3D Printed Bridge and the Roatán Próspera Residences in Honduras.
Day 10 | Reimagining Landscape Architecture
Special Guest: Isabel Castilla, Principal, James Corner Field Operations
As cities grow, the demand for parks and open spaces increases; however, available “land” to do so is scarce. This session explores how the field of landscape architecture is shifting focus to transform challenging, infrastructural sites into lush, sustainable and community-focused public spaces.
Week 3: The Future of Materials
Special Guest: Koichi Takada, Founder & Principal of Koichi Takada Architects
How can architects learn from nature, with inspiration in function, form and new materials? How can the future of urban environments be led by biomimetic architecture? This session explores how designing biomimetic buildings can empower architects to influence the reversal of climate change.
Day 12 | Materials for the Future of Social Housing
Special Guests: Ken Johnson and Micah Land, Michael Hsu Office of Architecture, and Erin Lindsay, Project Manager, EQUITONE
The Community First! Tiny Victories Village is a 51-acre master planned community, providing affordable, permanent housing and a supportive community for men and women coming out of chronic homelessness in central Texas. Architects Ken Johnson and Micah Land presented the creative process behind this remarkable project, reflecting on how, by harnessing the right materials, architects can help to produce innovative social housing that truly serves its community.
Day 13 | Unlogging Material Narratives in Architecture
Special Guest: Leslie Lok, Co-founder, HANNAH
Through HANNAH’s recent work on robotic timber fabrication and concrete 3D printing, Leslie Lok shares how digital fabrication technologies facilitate new material methods, tectonic articulations, environmental practices, technological affordances, and architecturally expressive forms of construction.
Day 14 | Urban Sequoia: Absorbing Carbon Through New Materials and Technologies
Special Guest: Yasemin Kologlu, Principal, Skidmore Owings & Merrill, Sustainable Design & Climate Action Leader
Imagine if new buildings could help heal the planet. SOM has developed a prototype—the first step to achieving this goal—that can be built today. Taking inspiration from natural processes and ecosystems, Urban Sequoia envisions forests of buildings that create a new carbon-removal economy.
Day 15 | 10 Predictions for the Future of Architecture
Special Guests: Wandile Mthiyane, CEO, Ubuntu Design Group & The Anti-Racist Hotdog
How cities might evolve over the next 50 years to combat mounting global challenges? How do individual buildings set new benchmarks for the wider profession? How will conventional construction materials be replaced by a new range of more sustainable, energy-efficient and resilient alternatives?
On the final day of Future Fest, Architizer’s Editor in Chief Paul Keskeys was joined by special guests to assess what comes next for the built environment — at every scale.
The latest edition of “Architizer: The World’s Best Architecture” — a stunning, hardbound book celebrating the most inspiring contemporary architecture from around the globe — is now available. Order your copy today.