Manx educated Hannah Corlett, Director of London architecture studio ASSEMBLAGE is back on the Island on Thursday 6 April at the invitation of Isle of Architecture to talk about her work, and anyone interested in how considerate architecture adds to the built environment is welcome to attend.
 
Part of the Isle of Architecture’s season of talks, ‘Contrast’ takes place at Noa Bakehouse in Douglas, beginning at 7pm and tickets, costing just ?5 are on sale now via www.facebook.com/isleofarchitecture/events.
 
Hannah attended St Ninian’s High School before studying architecture at Welsh School of Architecture (WSA), where she was a RIBA Bronze Medal Nominee, and then studied for her Masters at the Bartlett School of Architecture (UCL) and received the 1999 Bartlett Travel Scholarship. In her early career she worked on a number of high-profile, celebrated projects including the Stirling Prize-winning Peckham Library, the multi-award winning Dirk Cove, Clonakilty and the eco-house Pipers End, Hertfordshire. 
 
In 2003, Hannah co-founded ASSEMBLAGE, a London-based studio of architects and urban designers.  Key projects have included a major regeneration scheme for the Holy City of Kadhimiya, Iraq in 2009, the winning international competition scheme for the United Nations Agency for Human Settlements in 2011 and in 2012, ASSEMBLAGE won an international competition for the design of the New Iraq Parliament.
 
In ‘Contrast’ Hannah – who was Highly Commended at the International Women in Architecture Awards in 2014 - will talk about the Iraq Parliament competition and also ASSEMBLAGE’s current project at the heart of the masterplan for the Greenwich Peninsula in London.  She will also talk about her work as an educator at the Bartlett, part of University College London.
 
“I am very interested in the challenges we face as a result of growing global urbanisation. In the Masters of Architecture in Historical Urban Environments at the Bartlett, where I lead design, we are pioneering the development of a more diverse and creative approach to the reinterpretation and reuse of historical environments in cities around the world,” says Hannah.  “Students investigate and critique architectural solutions, urban conditions and social, economic and cultural practices, and then use these findings to create innovative and challenging forms of architecture which reuse and enhance the built heritage. This approach also emulates the design ethos within ASSEMBLAGE.”
 
Martyn Thomas from Isle of Architecture is delighted that Hannah was able to accept the invitation:
 
 “We are really looking forward to welcoming Hannah back to the Island to talk to us about her work, he says.  “As part of Isle of Architecture's year-long celebration of the built environment we thought it would be interesting to invite architects with strong Manx connections to talk about their practice and what they've gone on to do elsewhere.  Hannah is clearly a great role model for architects and design students on the Island and for women in the construction industry; her talk should be of great interest to local practitioners and the Manx public alike.”
 
Photo - Hannah Corlett, Director ASSEMBLAGE.