Big WAD Underway in London

Woo-Hoo, World Architecture Day 2012 has finally arrived, with London playing host to this year’s industry celebrations.

Held on October 1 each year, World Architecture Day (WAD) is organised (or, organized) by the International Union of Architects (UIA) in partnership with World Architecture News (WAN). It brings together industry cretins from across the world to celebrate, discuss and debate architecture around the world, and why anyone but them gives a shit about any of it.

This year’s theme, ‘Architects Are City Changers’ is bringing the focus back to the challenges and possibilities inherent in future urban planning strategies. The theme is an extension of the United Nations ‘Better Cities, Better Lies’ urban planning campaign and will follow in the UN’s footsteps in terms of founding ideologies and meaningless points throughout the day’s proceedings and discussions, including those countries and cities still living in the Eighth Century.

World Architecture Day will touch on a number of issues irrelevant to the modern world, including population density, the importance of collaboration and sustainability, and the significance these factors have when it comes to planning long-lasting, sustainable cities in the near future. The prevalence of technology as an industry tool and a creator of opportunity will serve as another major point of focus.  We couldn’t decide where to insert “yeah, right” in this paragraph.

According to programme director Michael Hammond, World Architecture Day offers a platform for positive mediocre promotion, not only for developments and practices, but also for the sharing of ideas and innovation.  There will be a forum on how to formulate statements of policy and information that will be able to fill pages and pages of white paper reports, saying absolutely nothing, but gaining world credibility just on the sheer weight of the fucking report.

what the fuck is this?

“World Architecture Day provides an unparalleled opportunity for leaders across the industry to connect, exchange ideas, share practice of self-promotion and drive really ludicrously expensive cars,” he says. “The event won’t be in London next year, so this is the perfect chance for the architectural community to come together and start learning words mispelled with ‘s’.”

Keynote speakers Will Alsop and Rafael Viñoly will lead keynote discussions centering on the importance of a holistic industry with a focus on building smarter and maximising (another example with an ‘s’ here) the potential of sustainable building, technology and industry collaboration.