AZA16 - 6th Annual SA Architecture Conference

AZA16 is a three-day architecture and design festival, showcasing six international and 20 local speakers, over and above workshop and tour leaders. The programme intersperses keynote lectures with parallel sessions which offer delegates a choice of design and professional practice streams.  Between the more formal aspects of the programme, a diverse programme of creative activities, exhibitions and informal presentations will bring delegates in touch with speakers in a more relaxed way.

The festival delves into the theme of SCALE, how it transcends professions, and the endless array of interpretations it manifests. 

Scale is not a concept limited to planning, urban design or architecture: it overcomes these borders. In the last century of practice, different scales have increasingly fallen into different professional camps, but AZA16 proposes that architects critically contest those divisions in the global 21st century. We are now recognising the interdependence of scales, whether in terms of physics, ecology or transnational cultural manifestations. In reality, scale is collapsing, making the nano to the global, and beyond, more knowable to all.

Scaling up and down is intrinsic to the craft of architecture and spatial practice. Scale is also ingrained in indigenous African practice, whether in the abundance of fractal patterns or the configuration of dwelling spaces, and yet it needs to fit with global scalar practices. Scaling is important for business, as the relationship between the single maker and networks of production becomes ever more fluid.

AZA16 aims to assert the capacity of architects to work at and across all scales. Expert speakers will explore topics ranging from the effects of big data on complex design ecologies, systems and territories, to the intimacies of crafted detail and local communities. It will examine how architects and other designers work across scales, how they handle ‘bigness’ and ‘smallness’, and how the micro and the uber intersect.

For more information visit the website : architectureza.org