Lulu Series: Johanna Hurme
Johanna Hurme
Architecture Against Ambivalence
We live in a designed world, from the iPods we listen to, the shoes we walk in and the roads we cycle on, to the buildings we live in and the cities we call home. According to Johanna Hurme, founding partner of Winnipeg’s 5468796 architecture, we cannot afford to litter our world with mediocre and disposable architecture. We need to recognize that the difference between the good and the bad is long-term vision, intelligence and care—not the price tag. The task of communicating the value of architecture to every client is the responsibility of the design professional, and delivering that value is our best asset in changing the culture of ambivalence.
By presenting a series of case studies, projects and processes, Johanna will demonstrate how design can provide answers to problems far greater than the task at hand, and how by thinking beyond the ordinary we can all help create an undeniably better world.
Johanna Hurme established 5468796 Architecture with Sasa Radulovic in 2007. In recent years, the firm’s work has achieved national and international recognition including two Progressive Architecture Awards, two Awards for Emerging Architecture and a Future Project Award from the Architectural Review, two Governor General’s Medals in Architecture as well as an Award for an Emerging Practice and two Awards of Excellence from the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada. In 2012, the firm represented Canada at the Venice Biennale in Architecture and received the Professional Prix de Rome Award in Architecture for Canada in 2013.
More at 5468796.ca
This talk will be preceded by a performance by flamenco guitarist Baraa Safaa. Baraa grew up in Baghdad, where he began playing guitar at age 12. While attending the University of Technology there, he studied computers by day, and by night he performed with the White Sands Band playing Gipsy Kings music. He played professionally with them in Jordan for two years before moving to Canada in 2007 and has been performing for delighted audiences here ever since.