Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU) Architecture Faculty, Department of Interior Architecture continues with its International Webinar series. The guest of the second event, held on Friday, January 8, 2021, was Prof. Graeme Brooker, Head of the Interior Architecture Department of the Royal College of Art (RCA).
The first of the EMU Interior Architecture Department's Webinar series was held on 14 December 2020 with the participation of Sally Stone, director of the Manchester School of Architecture, College of Continuity in Architecture. Sally Stone discussed one of the biggest challenges for a twenty-first century society in her seminar entitled 'UnDoing Buildings'. In the content of the seminar, the problem of "what to do with the huge stock of existing buildings that surpass the function they were built for" was discussed. The importance of retaining structures which its values are well known has been discussed for a long time and what to do with these buildings has been emphasized.
The second event of the international webinar series organized took place by EMU Interior Architecture Department academic staff member Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hacer Başarır. In the event, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hacer Başarır and Prof. Graeme Brooker discussed the experiences of their work with the students of the Interior Reuse platform at RCA, under the title of “50 Words for Reuse”, and the specific languages used in the reworking of existing buildings. The webinar series attracted great attention from students and faculty members, and a consensus was reached in principle to continue these collaborations in the next period.
Prof. Graeme Brooker is a Professor of Interior Architecture and Head of Department at RCA. He has exemplary leadership experience in higher education at institutions such as Cardiff, Manchester, Brighton, Middlesex and the Royal College of Art. In 2015-2016, he was awarded one of the Higher Education Authority (HEA) National Teaching Scholarships awarded only 55 per year, and the Head Scholarship of the Higher Education Academy in 2019, as acknowledged for his work. He has published extensively on many aspects of interior space and particularly on the reuse of existing buildings. His most recent publications includes: Key Interiors Between 1900 (Laurence King 2013), Adaptations (Bloomsbury 2016) and Brinkworth: So Good So Far (Lund Humphreys 2019). He is co-author of eight books on interiors with Sally Stone, including the highly acclaimed Rereading's (RIBA 2005, Volume 2 - 2018) and has edited several volumes. He is a member of the editorial advisory board of Interiors: Design: Architecture: Culture (Bloomsbury) and IDEA journals. He was the founder and director for over a decade of the charity Interior Educators (IE), the national subject association for all interior courses in the UK. He is currently working on his latest book, The Story of the Interior (Phaidon 2021).
Webinar seminars can be viewed on EMU Interior Architecture Department's YouTube Page