Although we are only slightly more than a decade into the 21st century, it is already marked by an increasing emphasis on understanding complex systems and ecologies. This talk addresses a series of phenomena at an international level, which suggest that our economies are passing through a period of profound structural transformation. In the past ten years we have witnessed the growing integration of countries and regions into a global market whose principal characteristic is the flux of goods, services, investments, people, and knowledge, which are interchanged regardless of geographic, political, and linguistic constraints that have hindered such exchanges in the past.

Building a more Equitable City

The field of architecture now finds itself enjoying overwhelming media attention. Yet architects remain relatively irrelevant in world policy formulation. Urban-Think Tank has made a point of looking around the world, particularly at the Global South, for answers to how we can build a more equitable city.

This talk will feature work from our two latest SLUM Lab magazines (Sustainable Living Urban Model Laboratory), along with a U-TT film on Calcutta fish farms, and observations on Dharavi and other informal settlements around the world.

Alfredo Brillembourg was born in New York in 1961. He received his Bachelor of Art and Architecture in 1984 and his Master of Science in Architectural Design in 1986 from Columbia University. In 1992, he received a second architecture degree from the Central University of Venezuela and began his independent practice in architecture. In 1993 he founded Urban-Think Tank (U-TT) in Caracas, Venezuela. Since 1994 he has been a member of the Venezuelan Architects and Engineers Association and has been a guest professor at the University Jose Maria Vargas, the University Simon Bolivar, and the Central University of Venezuela.

Starting in 2007, Brillembourg has been a guest professor at the Graduate School of Architecture & Planning, Columbia University,

where he co-founded the Sustainable Living Urban Model Laboratory (S.L.U.M. Lab) with Hubert Klumpner. Along with Hubert Klumpner, Brillembourg holds the chair for Architecture and Urban Design at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, (ETH Zurich). As co-principle of U-TT, Brillembourg has received the 2010 Ralph Erskine Award, the 2011 Holcim Gold Award for Latin America and the 2012 Holcim Global Silver Award for innovative contributions to ecological and social design practices.

Brillembourg was part of the Golden Lion-winning team at the 13th International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale for the installation, “Torre David/ Gran Horizonte.” Urban-Think Tank’s most recent publication is the highly acclaimed book, Torre David: Informal Vertical Communities.

Prof. Alfredo BrillembourgDept. of Architecture, ETH Zuerich