Public Lecture James Timberlake

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Public Lecture
James Timberlake / KieranTimberlake, Philidelphia

Thursday 5 May 2011, 6.30pm

DL Lecture Theatre, CPIT
Madras Street (entrance off the D Block Quad)

FREE
James Timberlake is a founding partner of the Philadelphia-based architecture firm KieranTimberlake, one of the most prominent architecture firms in the United States and internationally recognised for its beautifully crafted, thoughtfully made buildings that are holistically integrated to site, program and people. KieranTimberlake is noted for its fusion of research with architecture, receiving over one hundred design citations including the 2008 Architecture Firm Award from the American Institute of Architects, and the 2010 Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award for Architecture from the Smithsonian Institution.

James is currently involved in the design of the new Embassy of the United States of America, London, the Brockman Hall for Physics, Rice University, Texas, the Center City Building, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, the Revelle College Apartments, University of California at San Diego, and the Delaware River Master Plan, Philadelphia. Leaders in sustainable architecture, they were one of 13 architectural practices commissioned by Brad Pitt in 2007 to develop designs for affordable homes in New Orleans for his Make it Right Foundation.

Helping rehouse the victims of Hurricane Katrina is one of James’ greatest achievements. Homes, lives, communities, neighbourhoods and whole daily patterns of life had been irrevocably changed — much like what the Canterbury region has experienced as a result of a sequence of damaging and deadly earthquakes and associated aftershocks. When asked about reshaping the built environment after such a catastrophe James is clear to point out that although he only knows Christchurch from pictures and descriptions “ … perhaps the way to look at any disaster, after the loss and sadness, is to treat it as an opportunity. It begins with questions, or queries.”

James received a Bachelor of Environmental Science from the University of Detroit, and a Master of Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania. He is a recipient of the Rome Prize. In addition to his architectural practice, James teaches at the University of Pennsylvania, School of Design. He has held visiting professorships at the University of Washington, Yale University, the University of Michigan and the University of Texas at Austin, among other institutions. He lectures extensively in the United States and abroad.

James and his partner, Stephen Kieran, received the first Benjamin Latrobe Fellowship for architectural design research from the AIA College of Fellows in 2001. They have co-authored several books, including Manual: The Architecture of KieranTimberlake, refabricating Architecture, which examines how manufacturing methodologies are poised to transform building construction, and Loblolly House: Elements of a New Architecture, a case study of a single building which shows a way forward to quality, productivity and sustainability.

Don’t miss the chance to hear from this visionary architect on his New Zealand visit.

Thanks to the support of Altherm Window Systems, James Timberlake is in New Zealand as the international guest judge in HOME New Zealand magazine’s Home of the Year award.

James Timberlake's visit to Christchurch is supported by the NZIA Canterbury Branch and CPIT.

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