reSITE Day at Dezeen's Virtual Design Festival

We are excited to join Dezeen and their efforts to create a virtual space celebrating the culture and commerce of our industry and exploring its capacity to adapt and respond to these extraordinary circumstances. Virtual Design Festival is a digital event bringing the design and architecture community together during the unprecedented challenges that have come with a global pandemic and quarantine.

Below are five talks from reSITE Day at Dezeen's Virtual Design Festival.

In the new reality shaped and defined by the COVID-19 outbreak, there is a whole new level of urgency to rethink our urban environments and public spaces. reSITE will present the thoughts and work of five guests who met in Prague to share their thoughts on both the rebirth of cities and the generations of people living within. Talks and discussions that feel as relevant as ever as this global pandemic has a stranglehold on our cities.

11 am (GMT+1)

In one of the key presentations of reSITE REGENERATE, Ravi Naidoo, founder of Design Indaba, speaks to, and questions the noble purposes of design. He believes that design is an ultimate toolkit to reimagine the 21st century, capable of enhancing democracy, elevating cultural identity, improving the quality of life and being of service to people. Hear how the South African think-tank, do-tank brings about the idea of a better world through creativity by finding uncanny solutions to foster affordable housing, safer cities, and environmental, social and economic change.

Ravi is a South African pioneer design practitioner. He is best known for founding Design Indaba, which has become recognized as one of the world’s leading design institutions, along with many other non-profit such as Interactive Africa aimed at rebuilding and regenerating Africa through intentional design and creativity.

1 pm (GMT+1)

Marianthi Tatari believes that technology still can be an ally in humanity’s struggle against the most pressing issues of today. Her talk at reSITE REGENERATE features the projects of smart neighborhoods in which technology plays a key role across all scales in order to create a living environment that is continuously adapting to the needs of its dwellers.

Marianthi is an Associate Director and Senior Architect at UNStudio, a knowledge-driven architecture and design practice with offices in Europe and Asia. She is currently involved in designing the new headquarters for Booking.com in Amsterdam.

3 pm (GMT+1)

Chris Precht believes that architecture has always been driven by fictional stories that subsequently have had a detrimental effect on the natural environment. His own projects seek to synthesize the two biggest polluting industries—architecture and agriculture—in order to create a type of sustainable building that would bring the sense of nature back to our cities. He imagines a world where cities are designed to give back space to nature and reconnect our lives back to our sources of vitality.

Chris is a co-founder of Studio Precht. Together with his wife Fei, they now work on commissions for green architecture. Their projects utilize natural materials with a low carbon footprint and aimed at reconnecting cities to agriculture. Studio Precht has won numerous national and international awards, including the Emerging Firm of the Year Award from Architizer.

2 pm (GMT+1)

When corporations are beginning to sound a lot like governments, it is a critical time to rebuild, empower and trust our institutions in order to keep the roles straight. Bianca Wylie, who some are calling the Jane Jacobs of smart cities, has made waves in the urban design world for speaking out against digital surveillance in public space. She cast a spotlight on the implications of data mining by private companies and the commoditization of the data gathered from citizens in public spaces. According to Bianca, it is specifically city institutions that should be the bulwarks of democratic resistance to hegemonies of both national governments and big corporations.

Bianca is an open government advocate with a dual background in technology and public engagement. She was among the early critics to raise concerns about privacy issues of Sidewalk Lab’s controversial project of the smart neighborhood on Toronto’s waterfront land. She is also the co-founder of Tech Reset Canada and a Senior Fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation.

7 pm (GMT+1)

reSITE invited Yoko Choy, the editor of Wallpaper* China, to discuss recent regenerative developments with London-based studio WallaceLiu and curator Beatrice Leanza. They cover the differences between working in western countries and China and the challenges it brings. How should we build and design for the next generation? And what values are being changed in the process of regeneration? Drawing on the simple premise of our times - that it is not economic to keep on building - this discussion brings together a myriad of perspectives from architects, a curator and a journalist who work on both sides of the world.

Yoko Choy, a design journalist currently serving as editor of Wallapaper* China and consultant with her own agency Collective Contemporist, moderates the East Meets West panel at reSITE REGENERATE. She speaks with Beatrice Leanza, executive director of Lisbon’s MAAT Museum and previously she curated for Beijing Design Week, B/Side Design and the Global School, all based in China. Joining them is the young and energetic, UK-based architecture studio WallaceLiu founders, Jamie Wallace and Jee Liu who are currently working on numerous large scale projects in central China.

Where Can You Watch?

Head over to Dezeen's Virtual Design Festival. All talks will be premiered and streamed on Dezeen's platform. Or, sign up for our newsletter and we will send it straight to your inbox.