11-05-2022
UNStudio and Ben van Berkel, guests of The Architects Series

The twenty-third event in The Architects Series takes place on May 19, live streamed from the London flagship store of the Iris Ceramica Group, featuring international architectural studio UNStudio, founded in 1988 by Ben van Berkel and Caroline Bos. The Architects Series is an exhibition format presented by The Plan magazine for the Iris Ceramica Group taking viewers behind the scenes at some of the world’s most important architectural studios to find out how the architects work and what projects they have been working on recently.
On the basis of the well-established formula shared by all the events, viewers may register on the Iris Ceramica Group’s digital platform to watch the docufilm made in UNStudio’s offices and a live-streamed lecture on “Value Design - The Expansion of the Profession” by architect Ben van Berkel
The name UNStudio stands for United Network Studio, a clear reference to the collaborative nature of the team and the network set up in more than thirty years working in architecture, with over 140 projects already completed in Asia, Europe and North America and others in progress in China, South Korea, Australia, Germany and the United Arab Emirates.
Designing resilient structures responding to today’s challenges and those of the future in view of central issues such as climate change and social and socio-economic inequality is the mission of the studio, which recently published a sustainability report. In this study, the architects investigate how to find the right balance for a holistic approach to sustainable design, identifying the challenges inherent in the construction of buildings of this type, which must be healthy environments for the people who use them without neglecting aesthetic quality, and how to choose the best certification system for the results to be achieved. The studio has addressed this ongoing commitment to research in materials and structural solutions by setting up a specific team: a Sustainability Engineering Group. UNStudio considers it essential to combine an engineering approach with parametric design, without forgetting that the architect’s role is precisely that of combining the knowledge and skills of all the parties involved in a holistic, integrated form of design serving both the environment and users.
(Agnese Bifulco)
Images courtesy of UNStudio & The Plan
01
"The Architects Series – A documentary on: UNStudio" image and video: courtesy of THE PLAN
02-03
Images courtesy of UNStudio, credit © Flying Architecture
Project Name: Belsenpark Tower in Dusseldorf
04-06
Images courtesy of UNStudio, credit © plomp
Project Name: Yeosu Gyeongdo Island Masterplan, South Korea
07-09
Images courtesy of UNStudio, photos by ©Aaron&Rex
Project Name: Shanghai Jiuguang Center
WEBINAR:
Thursday, May 19, 2022
7 p.m. (CEST) / 6 p.m. (UK BST) / 1 p.m. (US EDT) – Welcome and screening of The Architects Series – A documentary on: UNStudio
7:30 p.m. Lecture “Value Design - The Expansion of the Profession” by Ben van Berkel
To participate in the webinar The Architects Series – A documentary on: UNStudio, register via the following link: https://webcast.irisceramicagroup.com/mod/page/view.php?id=221