D&A Forum: OdNowa – to the sources of vitality

The D&A Design and Architecture Forum is a unique, two-day (January 31-February 1, 2024) platform for exchanging experiences for both architects and designers. Outstanding figures - world-famous architects and designers will present their professional achievements, experience, the process of creating, building and managing their brand, as well as tips for beginner designers. The Design and Architecture Forum is addressed mainly to designers, interior designers, reliable architects, producers of finishing and construction materials, freelancers, as well as vloggers, bloggers and other influencers related to architecture. D&A is a unique event during which lectures, debates and a special zone for young architects will create a unique synergy between the worlds of art and business.

Water in the presentations, debates and lectures of special guests will appear both literally - as the potential of riverside boulevards and streams hidden under the urban floor or the basis of green and blue infrastructure, and in a broader sense: as a node for local cultural heritage and a chance for continuity in urban planning. By looking at good examples of design for water in the city, the organizers of the D&A Forum also hope for a lively discussion with the audience about the real opportunities that open up for water-inspired sustainable architecture and construction.

Streams and green corridors

Orderly, sewered, hidden underground. Rivers in Polish cities have long been subject to civilizational pressure. Climate change causes some areas to experience periodic water shortages. Another time - the river suddenly turns into a raging torrent flooding the city. Rivers, streams and streams as well as their adjacent green corridors need restoration. This is required by EU directives. But how should it proceed? Is it enough to just unconcrete the banks and replace them with stones under the mesh? This is certainly not enough. Landscape architects, biologists and researchers will talk about how to discover canalized rivers, approach river ecosystems, urban wetlands and create an urban green-blue network during the D&A Forum.

Discussion participants will also learn which changes are the easiest to implement and which are the most difficult. What is a greater obstacle: terrain and urban conditions, or law, regulations and system solutions.

Turning cities towards rivers

The Design and Architecture Forum will once again be a space for presenting the most interesting projects from recent years. Outstanding architectural experts will appear on the D&A Forum stage. D&A Forum guests will discuss more and less spectacular examples of revitalization of riverside areas. They will look for rivers and reservoirs that could be exposed and thus restore the urban community of species. Does everything in such projects work out as initially expected? Not necessarily! During the debate “Why isn't it going so smoothly? About the institutional conditions of riverside projects and ways to overcome them. among people creating urban policies and initiating revitalization projects, D&A Forum participants will talk about the conditions that inhibit a faster and stronger turn of cities towards rivers. Forms of breaking conventions will also be discussed, e.g. with the help of artists and urban activists.

Special guest

The special guest of the second day of the D&A Forum will be Yuki Ikeguchi, executive vice president and partner of Kengo Kuma and Associates. Yuki Ikeguchi joined Kengo Kuma and Associates in 2002. In 2012, she became partner and executive vice president of KKAA Paris. She has played a key role in leading many major projects abroad, with particular emphasis on public and cultural projects in Europe.

Projects she has managed include: The Opposite House in Beijing, The Exchange Market and Library in Sydney, Truffer Headquarter Office in Vals, Switzerland, Odunpazari Museum of Modern Art in Turkey, HC Andersen Museum in Odense, Denmark. Her current projects include the Water Culture House in Copenhagen and the Welcome Terrazze Verdi mixed-use office complex in Milan.

Participation in the Forum is free of charge for: ARCHITECTS, DESIGNERS, DESIGNERS, URBAN LANNERS and STUDENTS.
The ticket will be sent after registration.