UCLA AUD Winter 2026 Events: Kai-Uwe Bergmann (MArch '93), "Materialism"

Life adapted to our material environment. Until the moment we discovered tools, technology and architecture. Then we acquired the power to adapt our material environment to life. You can look at the evolution of human history as a tale shaped by the materials we have known how to harvest and process. As evidenced in how we name the epochs of human history – the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, the Iron Age – our capacity to manipulate matter is perhaps the greatest force driving the development of our culture. By reclaiming the term materialism from the realm of empty consumerism, we aim to bring it back to the practice of formulating our future through form and matter.

In this talk, we will go on an odyssey through the material world through the works of BIG starting with solid rock and ending with the flow of electrons.

Kai-Uwe Bergmann, FAIA (MArch '93) is a Partner at BIG who brings his architectural expertise to proposals around the globe, including work in North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Kai-Uwe heads up BIG's business development, which currently has the office working in over 40 different countries. He also oversees BIG's Urban Scales projects and supports BIG’s Landscape projects. He is registered as an architect in the USA (15 states) and Canada.

Kai-Uwe most recently contributed to the resiliency plan BIG U to protect 10 miles of Manhattan's coastline. First envisioned through the Rebuild by Design competition to develop proactive responses to Superstorm Sandy, it is now being constructed with a completion date in 2026. Further projects include Reimagining Brooklyn Bridge, Brooklyn Queens Park, Smithsonian Master Plan, Pittsburgh Master Plan and Miami Beach Square. He complements his professional work through previous teaching assignments at Georgia Tech, University of Pennsylvania, IE University in Madrid, and his alma mater the University of Virginia. Kai-Uwe formerly was on the Board of the Van Alen Institute, participates on numerous international juries, and lectures globally on the works of BIG.

All UCLA Architecture and Urban Design public lecture series events are free and open to the public. Please register here on Eventbrite to reserve your seat.

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