Education of an Architect in the Age of Global Warming: For an Architecture of Degrowth

You are cordially invited to attend the research seminar by Jae Hyun Lim:

Date: Wednesday, August 28th 2024

Time: 2:30 PM – 3:30 PM

Venue: SDE3 Level 4 LT 423

Education of an Architect in the Age of Global Warming: For an Architecture of Degrowth

Today, the Modernist approach to architecture increasingly mirrors the capitalist pursuit of perpetual economic growth through the limitless extraction and monetization of resources, encompassing living organisms and non-living materials. However, this relentless pursuit has led to global warming, highlighting the urgent need for a new comprehensive approach to tackle the intricate environmental challenges within architectural practice and education.

We need a new pedagogical framework that reconceives the architect’s role as a detective-healer, dedicated to restructuring and revitalizing prevailing social, cultural, and architectural contexts to foster a sustainable future. This paradigm shift emphasizes moving beyond the mere construction of new buildings as a final design form.

In alignment with the principles of the Architecture of Degrowth, this presentation aims to explore diverse project modalities, stimulating discourse on integrating teaching, practice, research, and design within the Research by Design (RxD) cluster, providing a potential roadmap for innovative and interdisciplinary pedagogy while infusing added layer of social impact.

Jae Hyun Lim is an architect and researcher working in Asia. His work spans various mediums, including exhibitions, curation, symposia, film, and architectural projects, actively engaging the field of architectural education and cultural exchange within the region. Born in Korea and having spent his formative years in Japan, he studied fine art, fashion, graphic design, and architecture before graduating from the Cooper Union in New York.

He has held teaching posts at many universities in Asia, such as Wenzhou-Kean University, where he founded a new research institute, the Centre For Advanced Studies in Architecture, Culture and Societies (CASACS). Previously, he taught at the University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and has lectured and collaborated with many other institutions and organizations in Asia.

As founding director of JHL Lab, Lim’s design has won the Good Design Award in Japan (2023). He represented the Hong Kong Pavilion at the 16th Architecture Venice Biennale in 2018. Lim is currently a doctoral candidate at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. In addition, his documentary film Green Water and Blue Mountain (緑水青山) has won numerous awards.