WEBINAR - LeBrun Grant Lecture - Architecture of the Arctic Circle - Amanda Aman

*This event is occurring as a live webinar. Registrants will be emailed a link to access the program; please continue to register.*

In this webinar, Amanda Aman, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, will present her 2018 Stewardson Keefe LeBrun Travel Grant research, "Fragile Fields of the Arctic Circle Periphery."

The perpetual global climate shift materializes within the Arctic Circle as a reaction to the pressures of petrochemical industrial output and unsustainable human practice. Arctic environments are among the first to experience the manifestations of this shift as the Arctic is warming at twice the rate of the rest of the globe. As a result, natural systems, wildlife migrations, and patterns of habitation will be severely altered, in addition to the dependence of indigenous people groups on these for cultural preservation and physical survival.

The architectural response plays a critical role in this shift through the lenses of resiliency and adaptability, as architects will be tasked with generating novel typologies that intimately interface with fluctuating natural systems. The coupled invisibility of the permafrost edge and the stark shift of boreal forest to tundra serves as an index along the edge of the Arctic Circle for documenting the gradient of fragile systems, infrastructure, and architecture soon to experience change.

Aman's project involved travel to critical environments along this edge, where resource extraction, environmental preservation, and materialized effects of climate change intersect. Aman will discuss the following environments throughout the webinar: the southwestern coast of Greenland, the northern and southern coasts of Iceland, and the western coast of Norway. Utilizing a narrative of maps and diagrams documenting existing architectural systems and responses to climate change along with a photographic essay, Aman will describe the architecture of the Arctic Circle and delineate how certain features can be applied to sustainable and green design projects globally.

Speaker:
Amanda Aman, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, Project Architect, Welch|Hall Architects; Adjunct Professor, College of Architecture, Planning and Public Affairs, University of Texas at Arlington

Amanda Aman is a project architect at Welch|Hall Architects. She also an adjunct assistant professor at the College of Architecture, Planning and Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Arlington. Aman received a M.Arch from the University of Texas at Austin and a B.Arch from the University of Virginia.