Compass
stage

The Compass Stage will be dedicated to forward-looking building strategies that support human well-being and environmental responsibility. Rather than broadly addressing the climate crisis or sustainability, the conference’s speakers and discussions will open up a conversation centring on seven key industry challenges phrased around the following opening questions:

  • Are our buildings sufficiently flexible to adapt to change? Does quality of design matter? Can buildings help regenerate the environment? Can buildings support our personal health and wellbeing? Can buildings help strengthen communities? How does contemporary building design support local, cultural contexts? Do our buildings help make everyday life affordable for ordinary people?

  • Compass Stage keynote speakers will address these seven important questions in a variety of ways, while also offering their insight into and ideas for possible solutions on how we can work together to ensure a better, more sustainable future.

    The goal for the Compass Stage is to encourage a positive dialogue and a forward-thinking discussion of how buildings can help connect people and the planet.

Compass Toolbox 1L With Text Rgb 1

Meet the Moderators

The Compass stage will be moderated by Ane Cortzen from the main stage in Copenhagen. Ane is an architect, graphic designer, entrepreneur, and award-winning TV presenter. Ane will be joined by the following co-hosts: Marcus Fairs, Editor-in-Chief of Dezeen, will broadcast live from Dezeen’s studios in London. Pernille Berg, Head of the Science Programme at BLOXHUB (Nordic hub for sustainable urbanization), will moderate a session from BLOXHUB. Christina Yao, editor of Dezeen China, will host a Shanghai panel.

  • Ana Cortzen

    Ane Cortzen

    Ane Cortzen is an architect, graphic designer, entrepreneur, and award-winning TV presenter. Born in 1974, Ane graduated from Denmark’s Royal Academy, School of Architecture before beginning her career as an art director for Bodum Design Group in Switzerland.

  • Marcus Fairs Resized

    Marcus Fairs

    Marcus Fairs is founder and editor-in-chief of Dezeen. He is the first digital journalist to be awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Institute of British Architects. The honour, for "the enormous contribution he has made to architecture," was bestowed in January 2017.

  • Pernille Berg Moderator

    Pernille Berg

    Pernille Berg, Dr. Fil., is a passionate scientific innovator who facilitates academic knowledge to create new, cross-disciplinary solutions within the built environment. Heading the Science Programme at the Nordic hub for sustainable urbanization, BLOXHUB, Pernille aids a holistic approach, bridging the newest scientific insights, commercial opportunities with policy influence. 

  • Christina Yao

    Christina Yao

    With over ten years of design journalism experience, Christina Yao is the China editor of Dezeen, responsible for all of Dezeen’s Chinese-language content. She previously lived in London for over six years as foreign correspondent where she produced a series of exclusive interviews with world-renowned architects and designers, before moving back to China in late 2019.

Programme

Compass Stage

Each of the two main stages of the Build for Life Conference will have a dedicated moderator to help facilitate the digital event experience.

Ds Conference Programme Mockup
Compass Programme A4.pdf
Compass Programme Desktop (1)
Compass Mobile (2)

Compass themes

The Compass model is a system developed by VELUX, MOE and EFFEKT architects over the past two years. It serves as a strategic tool that outlines seven points of relevance to guide the process. Together, the seven relevance drivers enable collaborators across sectors to discuss an easy framework development of homes for the future that benefit both people and the planet.

Speakers

Compass Stage

View all speakers
  • Dana Behrman Resized
    • Compass
    • Quality

    Dana Behrman

    Senior Urban Designer, Associate Director UNStudio

    Dana Behrman is a Senior Urban Designer, Associate Director at UNStudio and leads UNS_Urban.
    Dana received an MA with distinction from the Centre for Research Architecture at Goldsmiths College, University of London in 2010.

  • Marilyne Andersen Resized
    • Compass
    • Affordability
    • Pecha Kucha

    Marilyne Andersen

    Full Professor EPFL

    Marilyne Andersen is Full Professor at EPFL and Head of the LIPID Laboratory. With a background in physics, she conducts research on performance as a driver for design, with an emphasis on daylight and a focus on questions of comfort, perception and health.

  • Chris Trott Resized
    • Compass
    • Community

    Christopher Trott

    Head of Sustainability Foster + Partners

    Christopher graduated from the University of Wales with a first-class honors degree in engineering and went on to gain an MSc in Building Services Engineering from the University of Glasgow.

  • Zakaria Djebbarra
    • Compass
    • Healthy

    Zakaria Djebbara

    Postdoc at CREATE Aalborg University

    Dr. Zakaria Djebbara, postdoc at CREATE, Aalborg University
    As architecture has an extensive impact on health and well-being, it is crucial that design decisions are evidence-based. We need to know how space impacts us and our mental well-being.

  • Lidia Morawska Resized
    • Compass
    • Healthy

    Lidia Morawska

    Physicist, Distinguished Professor Queensland University

    Lidia Morawska, a physicist, is a Distinguished Professor at the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia, and the Director of the International Laboratory for Air Quality and Health at QUT, which is a Collaborating Centre of the World Health Organization.

  • Mary Parsonsimg Resized
    • Compass
    • Quality

    Mary Parsons

    National Regeneration & Partnerships Director; Commissioner Lovell Partnerships; Building Better Building Beautiful

    Mary has over 25 years experience of in planning and delivering complex large scale new developments and urban regeneration. She is National Regeneration & Partnerships Director at Lovell Partnerships; part of Morgan Sindall Group plc.

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