Open Mic volume 4
15/10/2026
Open Mic volume 4
Thursday 15 October 2026 at 6:30pm – 7:45pm
doors open at 6pm for 6:30pm start
BDP Clerkenwell, 16 Brewhouse Yard, London EC1V 4LJ
Join us for this autumn instalment of short talks from early-career researchers, including: Laura Mark exploring the unintended details of Peter Salter's Walmer Yard; November Tan reimagining Portsmouth Central Library; Joe Mathieson examining retrofit at Hampstead Garden Suburb; and sculptor Jack Handscombe discussing his artwork and late classicism.
Details:
Upgrading Utopia by Joe Mathieson
The talk is about retrofitting the twentieth century utopian community of Hampstead Garden Suburb.
Joe Mathieson is an architectural adviser at the Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust.
Reimagining Portsmouth Central Library by November Tan
November Tan is a PhD researcher in Architecture at the University of Portsmouth. Her work forms part of an AHRC-funded collaborative doctoral partnership with the Portsmouth City Council. This focuses on the architectural history of the Portsmouth Central Library, as well as participatory heritage and design. Trained in geography and architectural conservation, November has worked as an urban planner, designer and heritage professional for over 15 years. Originally from Singapore, she is also a community organiser, facilitator and learning designer who brings together traditional and digital art forms with play, storytelling and experiential learning.
My work and late classicism by Jack Handscombe
A short presentation on the sources and inspiration for Jack’s work as a sculptor and architectural designer that elide and collapse different times, themes and styles.
Jack Handscombe is a sculptor, designer, and architectural stone carver. His recent work includes the stone carving for the Royal Regiment of Scotland’s 20th Anniversary monument in Edinburgh’s West Princes Street Gardens, unveiled by His Majesty King Charles III in July 2026, and an ongoing programme of architecturally integrated sculpture for a Longniddry South housing development in East Lothian, Scotland. His interest lies in the persistence of historic forms late into the twentieth century. His own practice draws on this latent continuity and attempts to actively speak in its many voices through exercises design and sculpture, to exercise the forms in a hope to develop the language.
Peter Salter's Walmer Yard by Laura Mark
Laura Mark will discuss her PhD research at Walmer Yard. Walmer Yard is a development of four houses which sit around a courtyard in Notting Hill, designed by the acclaimed architect Peter Salter. Once completed back in 2018, it was turned into a house museum and Laura was appointed as its Keeper. While there she made a series of casts of parts of interior walls where the texture isn’t quite as the architects would have intended. Many visiting the building might not notice these or alternatively might see them as intended details. Some of them became intentional as the architect acted to disrupt the notion of an imperfection or mistake by bringing them to the fore, extending them and spreading the initially unintended finish to other areas of the walls. The casts and a series of accompanying poetic words explore what is significant about these unintended moments within the interior spaces of Walmer Yard. They also present opportunities to carry out a close reading of the building and its fabric, and as a way to retrieve and create memories – akin to a talisman. In her presentation Laura will explore how the casting of the building and the words placed aside these casts can act to record the interiors of the spaces and the moments and stories contained within the walls of Walmer Yard.
Laura Mark is Head of Casework at the C20 Society. She is an award-winning architecture critic, curator, editor and researcher. Before joining the C20, Laura co-led the undergraduate first year at Sheffield School of Architecture. She has previously taught at the Bartlett School of Architecture, University of Greenwich and the Birmingham School of Architecture and Design and Sweden’s UMEA University. Trained as an architect, Laura worked in architectural practice before joining the editorial team of the Architects’ Journal. She has also held a curatorial position at the Royal Academy of Arts.
Hosted by Carlos Finlay.
All tickets are £5
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The Twentieth Century Society is an IHBC (Institute of Historic Building conservation) recognised CPD provider and is a registered charity, no 1110244
Image above: Laura Mark's research of Walmer Yard. Photos by Jim Stephenson, collage by Lukas Novotny
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