Our People, Place, Planet programme showcases the diverse people behind great placemaking, and we continue our 2021 series with three leading experts in sustainable design.
This event focuses on climate literacy, education and upskilling architects at all stages of their careers to equip them with the knowledge and essential tools to address the climate crisis.
Judit Kimpian will present case studies and feedback on buildings in use, explain what it takes to get them to perform as expected, as well as the reasons why they often fail.
Sofie Pelsmakers will explain how to equip yourself with the tools to upskill and learn how to deliver sustainably projects and provides evidence on methods of training she has provided, and continues to support, as well as examples of successful collaborative projects.
Sumita Singha will outline the profession's collective role in combating the climate and biodiversity emergency. Regardless of whether within a small, medium or large practice, we all have a professional and personal responsibility to work in a more sustainable manner.
The panelists will discuss their work as educators, working for their respective universities in London and Finland. They will highlight how architects and students can upskill in climate literacy, how architectural education is adapting, and potential for the future of the profession.
Book preview: Energy / People / Buildings: Making sustainable architecture work - Judit Kimpian, Hattie Hartman and Sofie Pelsmakers
Hosted by RIBA Wessex chair Tom Bell.
Kindly sponsored by Ibstock Brick.
Supported by the RIBA Local Initiative Fund.
About our guests
Judit Kimpian is an architect and environmental policy expert based in London. After 20 years in practice, she currently teaches low-energy architecture and planning at University College London and chairs the Architects Council of Europe’s Sustainable Architecture Group, focusing on embedding feedback in design and construction to deliver a net zero built environment.
Sofie Pelsmakers is an environmental architect, educator, and researcher in sustainable housing design and architecture at Tampere University, Finland. She is the author of the Environmental Design Pocketbook (RIBA, 2015), and guest-editor of Everything Needs to Change – Architecture and the Climate Emergency (Design studio, RIBA, 2021).
Sumita Singha's design practice, Ecologic, has carried out a diverse portfolio of projects in the UK and abroad. She has taught architecture and technical design for 20 years. Sumita is one of the creators of Architects For Change, the equality forum at the Royal Institute of British Architects, and has been past Chair of Women in Architecture. At present, she sits on the RIBA Professional Standards Committee and its Ethics and Sustainable Development Commission.
