UIA - Architecture’s contribution to the UN 17 Sustainable Development Goals
Star Homes photo: Ingvartsen Architects
Speakers
Natalie Mossin, co-chair, UIA Commission on Sustainable Development
Ishtiaque Zahir Titas, co-chair, UIA Commission on Sustainable Development
Thomas Vonier, UIA President
Thomas Chevalier Bøjstrup, PhD student, Royal Danish Academy
Michael Li, Project Director, Architectural Services Department, Hong Kong
CES: 1.0 LU/ HSW for AIA Members
Event Description
The UN 17 Sustainable Development Goals represent the commitment of the people of the United Nations to a more sustainable future. Architecture interacts with each and every one of the Goals and has an obligation as well as a potential to contribute to more sustainable solutions. In this session the UIA Commission on Sustainable Development discuss architecture’s impact on both humane and environmental sustainability, and dive into two realized architectural projects delivering an impact.
Hong Kong Wetland Park
Speaker Bios
photo: Nana Reimers
Natalie Mossin, co-chair, UIA Commission on Sustainable Development
Natalie Mossin is Head of Institute at the Royal Danish Academy - Institute of Architecture and Technology. She is a specialist of sustainable development in the built environment and innovation in construction. Natalie Mossin is serving on the Council of the International Union of Architects (UIA) and as a co-chair of the UIA Commission on Sustainable Development. Natalie is President of Congress for the World Congress of Architects 2023 and a past President of the Danish Association of Architects (2008-2018). She has served in numerous honorary offices and as an architectural editor, curator and juror. She has been a Fullbright Scholar at Columbia University, New York, and a curator of the Danish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale.
Ishtiaque Zahir Titas, co-chair, UIA Commission on Sustainable Development
Ishtiaque Zahir Titas, Hon. FAIA, is the Co-founder of VITTI, an architecture & urban design practice in Bangladesh. In the past 3 decades the practice has won national and international recognition for various projects. His interests include designing sustainability through participatory processes and designing public spaces. He believes that sustainability should be the core of all development works and architecture should focus more on research and innovation. He was the Chair of the ARCASIA Committee on Professional Practice. Presently he is the Vice president of IAB, the Council member of UIA Region IV and Co-Director of UIA SDG Commission and Co chair of PCG Professionals, World Urban Campaign, an initiative of UN Habitat.
Thomas Vonier, UIA President
Architect Thomas Vonier, FAIA, RIBA works from Paris and Washington DC for clients in Africa, East Asia, Europe, North America and the Middle East. He is currently president of the International Union of Architects (UIA), the global organisation representing the world’s 3.2 million architects, and previously served as president of the 95,000-member American Institute of Architects. Thomas appears regularly in television and radio interviews and speaks on architecture and urban design. He studied architecture at Washington University and at the University of Wisconsin. He was a research affiliate with the Laboratory of Architecture and Planning at MIT.
Thomas Chevalier Bøjstrup, PhD student, Royal Danish Academy
Thomas Chevalier Bøjstrup is an architect and a PhD student in the Royal Danish Academy. Thomas has a background in practice and teaching, and since 2016 he has been exploring the question of architecture and sustainable development through a range of activities, including co-authoring An Architecture Guide to the UN17 Sustainable Development Goals. Currently he is conducting studies in the area of architecture and public health, through the project ‘Star Homes: better health through better housing’ - a project focusing on malaria and housing in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Michael Li, Project Director, Architectural Services Department, Hong Kong
Michael Li is an architect by profession and studied at the Bartlett School of Architecture in London. He is currently Project Director at the Architectural Services Department in Hong Kong with disciplinary services projects portfolio. Before that, he also worked at the Development Bureau as a Senior Place Making Manager at the Energizing Kowloon East Office in facilitating the transformation of Kowloon East area into another premier Central Business District of Hong Kong. He has extensive professional experience and handled a number of projects including the Hong Kong Children’s Hospital, Heung Yuen Wai Boundary Control Point Complex, Kowloon East Regional Police Operation Base, disciplinary staff quarters adopting modular integrated construction, Quarantine Camps to combat against COVID-19 with about 4000 quarantine units at various locations of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Wetland Park, the Improvement to Victoria Park, the Diamond Hill Columbarium and Crematorium and the City Gallery. Some of these projects have received various local and overseas architectural and design awards/ recognitions including HKIA Medal of the Year and Global Award of Urban Land Institute for the Hong Kong Wetland Park project.
