Shifting from an exploitative to a restorative and circular design ideology is fundamental in changing architecture and the built environment to become more sustainable. We look at strategies for a new resourcefulness in architecture and discuss how to bring the built environment back inside the planetary boundaries.
This session is a keynote dialogue moderated by Connie Hedegaard. The UIA World Congress of Architects 2023 keynote dialogues are designed as a series of dialogues between trailblazing architects and experts from science, business and politics. All keynote dialogues are moderated by Connie Hedegaard.
Moderator – Connie Hedegaard
With two decades of experience in international and domestic executive policy making, Ms. Connie Hedegaard today assumes several key positions in support of a low-carbon and green economy. These include Chair of the Board for the EU Commissions Mission Board on Adaptation to Climate Change, Chair of OECD’s Round Table for Sustainable Development, and membership of the Sustainability Council of Volkswagen AG. Connie Hedegaard has had climate action as a centrepiece of her political effort since she was appointed Minister of Environment to Denmark in 2004. Her political career she initiated in 1984 when she was elected to the Danish parliament as the youngest ever to exercise the mandate. In 1990 she decided to leave parliament and focus on a career in journalism, achieving 14 years in the print press, as TV anchor and as head of Danish Radio News (DR), respectively. Hence, she has a very elaborate engagement in issues concerning the interplay between media, the public and democracy. Connie Hedegaard was the European Commissioner for Climate Action from 2010 to 2014, during which she led the negotiations towards the adoption of the EU 2030 Climate and Energy Framework. As EU Commissioner, she was also responsible for the 2050 Roadmap for moving to a low carbon economy and represented the EU in the international climate negotiations.
Francis Kéré, Founder & Principal, Kéré Architecture, 2022 Pritzker Prize winner
Francis Kéré is an internationally renowned Burkinabè architect and the 2022 Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize. Mr. Kéré is recognized for his pioneering approach to design and sustainable modes of construction. His vocation to become an architect comes from a personal commitment to serve the community he grew up in, and a belief in the transformative potential of beauty. In 2004, his very first building – the Gando Primary School, which he designed, raised funds for and realised in collaboration with the residents of his hometown while still a student at the Technical University of Berlin – was awarded the prestigious Aga Khan Award for Architecture, garnering him critical acclaim from the outset of his career. In 2005 he founded his architectural practice, Kéré Architecture GmbH, as well as the Kéré Foundation e.V., a non-profit organisation that pursues projects in Gando. Since then, Kéré has gone on to become one of the world’s most distinguished contemporary architects, with a vision that is at once utopian and pragmatic. Inspired by the particularities of each project’s locality and its social tapestry, he and his team work on projects across four continents. These include his designs for the Burkina Faso National Assembly, the Lycée Schorge Secondary School, the Léo Surgical Clinic and Health Centre, the 2017 Serpentine Pavilion and Xylem, the recently opened pavilion for the Tippet Rise Art Centre.
Minik Rosing, Professor of Geology, University of Copenhagen
Minik Rosing is a Professor of Geology at the University of Copenhagen. His research focuses on the impact of life on the geological evolution of Earth. When and how did life emerge on Earth? When did photosynthesis evolve? Can we stimulate life to mitigate global changes in the chemistry of the atmosphere and oceans and limit the resulting changes in climate?
These are the (very) big questions which Minik and his team are exploring. In his keynote dialogue with Francis Kéré, Minik will explain how millions of years of evolution have shaped our thinking about Earth’s resources and the way we consume them, and how we collectively can move toward a more sustainable resource paradigm.
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