B.Arch M.Urb.Des. MPIA
Architects for Peace president and founder
Beatriz was born in Santiago, Chile and she left for Australia in the mid eighties due to the political situation in her country. Beatriz completed her architectural degree at RMIT, Australia in 1992 and a Masters of Urban Design at the University of Melbourne where she is currently a PhD candidate focusing on architectural education. She has lectured at RMIT Public Art, guest lecturer at RMIT University and The University of Melbourne where she also tutors.
She has worked with the Overseas Project Corporation of Victoria, Australian Volunteers International (AVI), the Ministry of Housing (Victoria) and the City of Darebin. Between 1994 and 1996, she worked in Nicaragua lecturing in architecture at the National University of Engineering and assisting Habitat for Humanity. In 2001, as part of a multi-disciplinary team, she visited Baucau, Timor Leste to support in the establishment of a planning framework. Her architectural work includes childcare centres, maternal and child health, sport pavilions, residential and urban design projects.
In February 2003, in the weeks preceding the bombing of Iraq, Beatriz founded Architects for Peace (arch-peace) a humanitarian, not for profit organisation aiming to provide an alternative discussion forum on issues concerning the built environment. Beatriz is the initiator of the intentCITY street forum (2004), Under-Construction Workshop (2005), Transported (2007), words@bld50 (monthly seminars), arch-peace’s editorial, and most recently the pro-bono architectural service. Pro-bono service acts as a bridge between community groups, non profit agencies and charitable organisations that need architectural services but cannot afford them. An important feature of the pro bono approach is that it works in collaboration with local professionals and communities.
The organisation’s focus is on providing a network for architects, planners and engineers sharing similar concerns about ‘global’ development, ecology, social and urban equity. Beatriz believes that a focus on professional ethics and social responsibility is paramount to tackle social problems and climate change and that architects are can widen their knowledge so to assist to challenge prevailing perceptions of progress in developing countries—there is much too learn from the rest of the world.
Locally, Beatriz has focused on a critical issue for Melbourne—public transport. As she expressed recently in her presentation to the Sustainable Living Festival, “public transport is not a traffic issue it is an urban issue, one with far reaching social and environmental implications”.
Lectures and presentations:
‘Eco-activism and the urban environment’, (March 18, 2008). Guest Lecturer, Environmental Design, University of Melbourne, Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning.
‘Complex-City: ideas about public space’, (March 11, 2008). Guest Lecturer, Master of Public Art Program, RMIT University.
‘Going Underground’, Architects for Peace (March 6, 2008)
'Sustainable Transport – Visions for Victoria in 2010' (the Edge, Melbourne, February 2008)
‘Other Contextualisms: Cities for People and other beasts’, (April 23, 2007). Guest Lecturer, Design Methods, University of Melbourne, Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning.
'Arqueologias do futuro' (Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brasil, 2007)
Arc Biennial (Brisbane, 2005)
'The Politics of Space in the Age of Terrorism', RMIT University (Melbourne, 2004)
PLEA Conference (Santiago, Chile 2003)
intentCITY and Under-Construction (Melbourne, 2004-2005)
ABC Radio National – Perspective (2003).
|
PO Box 1446. 186 Smith St Collingwood, Vic 3065 Australia |
email |Copyright©architectsforpeace 2003-