The Architectural League – NY

Young Architects Forum: Lecture
Xu Tiantian, DnA_Design and Architecture, Issaquah, WA & Beijing, Geoffrey Thün & Kathy Velikov, RVTR, Toronto

Thursday, May 8 – 7:00 p.m.
The Urban Center – 457 Madison Avenue

Xu Tiantian is founding principal of DnA _Design and Architecture, an interdisciplinary practice of city planning, urban design, and architectural design based in Beijing and Issaquah, WA. The office’s projects address “new relationships between architecture and urbanism in contemporary culture” particularly in the “interaction of program and context.” Recent projects include the Ordos Art Museum, Inner Mongolia; Xiaopu Culture Center, Beijing; Songzhuang Art Centre; Jinhua Architecture Park Public Toilet; public activity centers in Baixi Resort, Changbai Mountain; and private residences in Tokyo and Seattle.
Xu received her B.Arch from Tsinghua University in Beijing and her MAUD from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design. She has taught at the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) School of Architecture in Beijing and has been a guest critic at numerous schools including Peking University and Tokyo Chiba Institute of Technology.

In 2005, Kathy Velikov and Geoffrey Thün formed RVTR, a new research based design, architecture, and urbanism practice in Toronto, with partners Colin Ripley and Paul Raff. The firm’s approach is shaped by the idea that “the manner in which we develop our landscapes and build our cities is critical to the future of the world.” Current work includes urban design projects along the Yitong River in Changchun, China; a series of Villas in Buenos Aires, Argentina; cultural mapping for a new arts festival in Philadelphia; a collaborative project on solar housing; and an ongoing set of explorations involving experimental glazing techniques.

Geoffrey Thün received a B.A. in sociology from the University of Western Ontario, a B.Arch from the University of Waterloo, School of Architecture, and a M.U.D. from the University of Toronto. He is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Waterloo, School of Architecture. Kathy Velikov received her B.E.S. and B.Arch from the University of Waterloo and her M.A. from the University of Toronto. She is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Waterloo, School of Architecture and in 2006-7 was the Oberdick Fellow at the A. Alfred Taubman School of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Michigan.

Admission is free for League members and $10 for non-members. League members may make reservations by emailing rsvp@archleague.org. For further information, please call 212-753-1722.

Top image: Visitor Center, Changbai Mountain. Courtesy of DnA _Design and Architecture. Bottom image: Inignia Caeli, Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. Courtesy of Velikov + Thün / RVTR.