After a couple of interesting days in Berlin, last week – which for now I’m not going to talk about in detail, maybe another time – I’ve come across to the UK. This is my first trip since the UK formally left the EU, even if it’s still part of the customs union for the remainder of the year. I feel very strongly that this is a bad thing for the country – and for the world – but there you go. There’s nothing to be gained by dwelling on it.
Yesterday morning I headed to Battersea to visit the offices of Foster + Partners, where I had the great pleasure of meeting members of the BIM and Applied Research and Development teams. It was my first time to their offices, and a really fantastic opportunity to connect with a group of such smart and enthusiastic people. Many thanks to Lola Carbajal Moro for organising the visit, and to Han, Francis, Adam, Decio, Paul, Boleslaw and Antonio for making the time to meet with me!
After this I headed back across the water to Aldgate Tower, where I met with members of the architecture team at AECOM. It was another interesting meeting, held in a room on the 16th floor with a stunning view across London.
Today I’m in the Soho office, meeting with colleagues from Autodesk Research. I was second to arrive at just after 8:30am (apart from the new receptionist, Stephanie, who only joined Autodesk yesterday – welcome, Stephanie! :-). The benefits of having a hotel around the corner, rather than having to deal with the London commute.
While in London, it seems a good opportunity to remind people that the call for proposals is open for AU London 2020, which is being held from June 23-24 at ExCeL London. From what I understand, while it was a fantastic venue Tobacco Dock was no longer big enough to host this event. I’m looking forward to seeing how this new venue works out.
I’ve been chatting with my friend Lorenzo Villaggi about possibly teaming up to present, once again. Hopefully that will work out – as it’s always fun to work with Lorenzo – but one way or another I hope/expect to get there. If you’re interested in presenting, please do submit a class proposal. It’s a great opportunity to showcase your work and connect with industry colleagues. You have until March 2nd to do so.
