EDUCATOR, historian, architect, designer and curator Edson G. Cabalfin, PhD, examines the concept of materiality in architecture in a free public lecture on Thursday, July 18, 2024.
Organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design (MCAD) of the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde (DLS-CSB), the discussion investigates how architecture manifests beyond the physical form, with themes such as the dematerial, immaterial, and the transmaterial.
“Materials form part and parcel of how architecture and the built environment are constructed and generated,” Cabalfin says. “Materiality as a concept in architecture is connected not only to the actual materials and physical objects that constitute buildings but also includes the varying modes of how architecture is experienced and imagined.”
The talk is inspired by the works of Heidi Bucher, a groundbreaking Swiss artist of the international neo-avant-garde, and her exploration and interrogation of materials.
Cabalfin is the inaugural associate dean for Faculty Affairs in the School of Architecture at Tulane University in New Orleans, USA. He concurrently serves as director of the Social Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship Program and associate professor (tenured).
Cabalfin was the inaugural associate dean for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion from 2021 to 2024. He was the curator of the Philippine Pavilion at the 16th Venice Architecture Biennale in 2018. In the past, he taught in various capacities at the University of Cincinnati, Cornell University, and the University of the Philippines, among others.
In the last two decades, he researched on the transdisciplinary intersections of architecture history and theory, cultural studies, gender and sexuality studies, postcolonial theory, Southeast Asian studies, spatial justice, public interest design, and heritage conservation.
He is the author of several books, including “What Kids Should Know About Filipino Architecture” (Adarna House, 2015/2022) and “Shifting Sands: Visions, Propositions, Reimaginations” (Barchan + Architecture, 2024).
He edited “The City Who Had Two Navels: Catalogue of the Philippine Pavilion” at the 16th Venice Architecture Biennale 2018 (National Commission for Culture and the Arts, 2018).
As a licensed and registered architect in the Philippines, he also heads his multi-disciplinary empathy-centered design consultancy Talyer Kayumanggi/Brown Workshop based in New Orleans and Manila. They have engaged with projects in architecture, interior design, set design, costume design, fashion design, exhibition design, graphic design, and design strategy in North America, Southeast Asia, Europe, and the Middle East in the last 25 years.
Cabalfin received his PhD in History of Architecture and Urban Development from Cornell University in 2012. Under a Fulbright Fellowship, he obtained his Master of Science in Architecture degree from the University of Cincinnati in 2003. Prior to the US, he received his professional Bachelor of Science in Architecture and Master of Architecture degrees from the University of the Philippines in 1996 and 2001, respectively.
The talk, which is free and open to the public, will be held on Thursday, July 18, 2024, 3 p.m. It will be conducted at the 8th Floor Learning Commons of the Benilde Design + Arts Campus, 950 Pablo Ocampo Street, Malate, Manila. Register at tinyurl.com/Materiality-in-Architecture. For more information, visit facebook.com/MCADManila or mcadmanila.org.ph/.
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