A few words about my trip to Lisbon.

It has been a few weeks since I got back from my trip to Portugal and I am already designing and conducting a whole new usability study  so, before I forget all about my vacation I wanted to post some pics. I attended the EAAE/ARCC Conference in Lisbon and presented my paper about the"Forest School".

The conference was held at the Faculty of Architecture and the University of Lisbon, which is located just north of the suburb of Belem, in a beautiful area on the outskirts of the city. The site is high enough on the hill to get a view of the River and at some points, the City of Lisbon itself.

The conference focused on the theme of “Architectural Research Addressing Societal Challenges”. I enjoyed the diverse keynotes, but I really connected with Galen Cranz' presentation called "Re naturalizing the City". It was about the history of urban parks in the United States and the impact of the design of the "chair" on human health. Fascinating. It kind of made you never want to sit in a regular chair again.

I also enjoyed Jan Masschelein's talk - "Addressing societal challenges: Reclaiming and designing (in)´school/ university´". It was a philosophical look at education. He explained a course he taught in Athens where he had students walk along arbitrary lines in the city and record various observations on a map. He talked about the process as a metaphor for learning, how students become knowledgeable through a systematic, facilitated process of careful observation discovery and collaboration.

Just a few of the many wonderful talks I attended:

• Helena Machín, Jorge Almazán A study on the architectural evolution of art museums in japan since the second world war JAPAN
• Deirdre Hennebury Architecture and Pedagogy in the Gallery Context USA
• Milia Lorraine Khoury Architecture “with the Other 90%” an African Story SOUTH AFRICA
• Madlen Simon Future Studio: preparing students for practice in the global context USA
• V. Kaps, C. Martinez, J. Walsche, J. Soolep New Schools of Thought An inductive investigation on tendencies in architectural... LIECHTENSTEIN 
• Maria Beltran Rodriguez, Madlen Simon The people’s park: a study of the relationship between design and conviviality in Superkilen USA 
• Azza Kamal Re-naturalizing Urban Campuses: An Integrated design and Policy Framework USA 

In Lisbon, I didn't get enough time to really explore, but I loved the amazing vibe of the city. I enjoyed the fish, the climate, the culture...and of course the pastries!! After the conference I did get to go on a short trip to the Algarves and had a lovely time there by the beach. The last pics blow are from that part of my trip.