Study Architecture 
ProPEL Posts
Washington University in St. Louis
John Hoal, associate professor and chair of the MUD program, delivered the presentation, Designing Aging: Urban Design for Healthy Lifelong & Age-Integrated Communities as part of the Conference on Older Adults in the Community: Capacities and Engagement for Aging-in-Place.WUSTL and the National University of Singapore organized the conference as part of the launch of the Next Age Institute.
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A video profile of John Hoal, associate professor and chair of the MUD program, and Derek Hoeferlin, assistant professor, is included in Navigating the Rivers: A Collection of Modern-Day Stories. Featured in conjunction with the exhibition Navigating the West: George Caleb Bingham & the River, this event offered a screening of five videos of St. Louisans whose lives are intertwined with the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, followed by an onstage conversation with many of those individuals. As part of I-CARES-funded research, Hoal and Hoerferlin have focused on the development of a Climate Adaptation Performance Model for fluvial zones along the Mississippi, Missouri, and Illinois Rivers.
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Railway Exchange Studio Featured on HEC-TV
Reporter Sharon Stevens highlighted the efforts of graduate architecture students to reimagine the Railway Exchange Building, working in partnership with Downtown STL, Inc., for HEC-TV’s all new Impact program. Students developed their ideas for the fall 2014 studio Metamorphic Cities: Sustainable Strategies for Adaptive Reuse, led by assistant professor Catalina Freixas.
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Cloud Talk: Urbanism
Eric Mumford, the Rebecca and John Voyles Professor of Architecture, delivered the talkUrbanism as part of IIT Architecture Chicago’s Cloud Studio. Sponsored by the PhD program, the studio brought together undergraduate and graduate students to work on projects related to the city of Chicago.
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Why Lina Bo [Bardi]?
Zeuler R. Lima, PhD, associate professor and author of the biography Lina Bo Bardi, reflected on why the Italian-born architect was ignored for such a long time, and emerged 20 years after her death at the center of the discourse about contemporary architecture. The lecture explored the genealogy of her work and life, and raised questions about the recovery of her memory, especially in her native country.
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SMALL BUILDINGS: built, unbuilt, unbuildable
Juried by dean of architecture Bruce Lindsey and professor of art Buzz Spector, this exhibition explores the craft of the architectural model, and includes work by several Sam Fox School faculty, students, and alumni. On View March 13-May 10.
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Lina Bo Bardi: Visionary Architect – Part 1
Associate professor Zeuler Lima participated in the first part of two panel discussions presented by AIA New York that will celebrate 100 years since the birth of architect Lina Bo Bardi. Lima presented his short documentary Lina Bo Bardi, curator, and also showed a timeline highlighting graphic productions that the Italian-Brazilian architect developed throughout her entire life, her thoughts about design, and the authenticity of her texts.
Associate professor Zeuler Lima, PhD, delivered a presentation about the life and work of one of the most important architects in Latin America, Lina Bo Bardi. Lima’s talk unveiled how considerations of ethics, politics, and social inclusiveness influenced the Italian-Brazilian architect’s intellectual engagement with modern architecture which resulted in her experimental, ephemeral, and iconic works of design.
In addition, Lima discussed Bo Bardi’s paradigmatic project SESC Pompeia leisure center at MoMA as part of the retrospective exhibition Latin America in Construction: Architecture 1955-1980.
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Activating Energy Capacity of Urban Vacant Land
Assistant professor Natalie Yates delivered a lecture titled Activating Energy Capacity of Urban Vacant Land at this year’s Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture conference. The talk reflected work undertaken by Yates, assistant professor Patty Heyda, and former assistant professor Christine Yogiaman.
Washington University in St. Louis
2014 URSA Grants Awarded
WUSTL’S Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research has announced the eight winners of the 2014 University Research Strategic Alliance grants, which provide one-year, $25,000 seed funding to full-time university faculty members. Recipients include Catalina Freixas, assistant professor of architecture, and Arye Nehorai, PhD, the Eugene & Martha Lohman Professor in the School of Engineering & Applied Science, for research titled “Quantifying Benefits of Vacant Land Utilization in Shrinking Cities.”
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Zeuler Lima
Built Works: Lina Bo Bardi
In this opening lecture, associate professor Zeuler Lima, PhD, will discussed Built Works: Lina Bo Bardi, which he curated. The exhibition, produced with the curatorial assistance of MArch students Marina Miers and Colby Perrine, presented a chronological analysis of the Italian-Brazilian architect’s oeuvre through a collection of digital renderings and photographs taken by Lima and Nelson Kon.
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Associate professor Zeuler Lima, PhD, delivered a presentation titled Lina Bo Bardi House: Betwixt and Between as part of a symposium on modern Latin American design hosted by the Americas Society’s Visual Arts program.
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Designing a Sustainable Future in a Divided City: Johannesburg and St. Louis
John Hoal, associate professor and chair of the MUD program, delivered the lecture, Designing a Sustainable Future in a Divided City: Johannesburg and St. Louis, as part of the 2015 MLA Saturday Lecture Series. His talk raised awareness about what he calls the greatest challenge facing the emergence of sustainable communities: social and environmental justice, and the related economic inequities.
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New Orleans Under Reconstruction
Martin C. Pederson‘s review of the book New Orleans Under Construction: The Crisis of Planning for Architectural Record includes a quote from an essay by associate professor Derek Hoeferlin. Titled “Architectural Activism through Multiple Scales, Programs, Venues and Collaborations,” Hoeferlin’s chapter of the book includes student work from WUSTL architecture studios.
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Race & Ethnicity: A Day of Discovery & Dialogue
The WUSTL community came together to explore the important issues of race and ethnicity at this university-wide event. Race & Ethnicity: A Day of Discovery and Dialogueincluded a series of panel conversations and open forums with scholars, students, and leaders, exploring challenges that the university community is facing, particularly in light of recent events in the St. Louis region and across the country.
Panelists from the Sam Fox School included associate professor Bob Hansman (opening event) and associate professor Denise Ward-Brown (The Social Construction of Race and Ethnicity).
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Public Lecture Series: Living Better Than Inhabiting
Javier Maroto, the Ruth and Norman Moore Visiting Professor of Architecture, will deliver a talk titled Living Better Than Inhabiting to kick off the spring 2015 Sam Fox School Public Lecture Series. Maroto and his partner, Alvaro Soto, co-founded the firms SOLID architecture and Maremoto Paisajes in 2001 to carry out projects of architecture, urbanism, and landscape in an holistic manner. Maroto’s lecture will focus on the construction of a paradox between living and inhabiting. The needs and the aspirations settled within the current frame of our lives should be squeezed and mingle to redefine a new contemporary space concept suitable to a better and more conscious lifestyle.
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LIMA featured in Journal of the Architecture Program at TUM, Germany
The January issue of the Journal of the Architecture Program at the Technical University of Munich features an interview with associate professor Zeuler Lima, in which he discusses his book Lina Bo Bardi and his collaboration on the centennial exhibition at the Munich Architecture Museum that celebrates the Italian-Brazilian architect.
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Assorted Holiday Paintings for the Modern Home
Centro Modern Furnishings presents an installation of recent work by professor Stephen Leet.
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DFA Panel Discussion: The Ethics of Human-Centered Design
Design for America, a network of student-led studios creating local and social impact through interdisciplinary design, will bring together the following panel of academic and professional experts to explore what it means to design physical, virtual, and systematic solutions for the complex challenges facing individuals and communities:
- Frank Bergh, BS08 Engineering, director of engineering operations, Socore Energy; co-founder, Engineers Without Borders at WUSTL
- Heather Corcoran, director, College & Graduate School of Art
- Bruce Lindsey, dean, College of Architecture and Graduate School of Architecture & Urban Design
De Andrea Nichols, BFA10, MSW14, director of creative changemaking, Catalysts by Design; community engagement manager, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis
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OneSTL Conference: Linking Research and Practice:
Equitable Economic Growth and Sustainable Water Infrastructure
Equitable Economic & Community Development and Water Infrastructure are the main focus of this year’s OneSTL Conference. The topics were chosen based on a survey that asked local government and non-profit representatives to identify priority areas for sustainability and where research could support local decision-making. Speakers with WUSTL ties include:
Assistant professor Patty Heyda and assistant professor Molly Metzger (Brown School), who are are panelists for Workshop I: Equitable Economic Development
Assistant professor Derek Hoeferlin, who is a panelist for Workshop II: Water Infrastructure.
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Assorted Holiday Paintings for the Modern Home
Centro Modern Furnishings presents an installation of recent work by professor Stephen Leet.
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Architecture Around the World Lecture Series: 79 Views of the Gateway Arch
Visiting assistant professor Justin Scherma discussed 79 Views of the Gateway Arch, a photographic and historical survey of the official neighborhoods of St. Louis as part of the Architecture Around the World Lecture Series. The series is sponsored by The Society of Architectural Historians St. Louis Chapter and Steedman Architectural Library.
University of Texas At San Antonio
A number of faculty at the University of Texas at San Antonio Department of Architecture have recently published books, curated exhibitions, engaged in leadership roles in professional organizations, led innovative graduate design studios, and received design awards for built work.
Dr. Antonio Petrov, Assistant Professor has published, New Geographies 5: The Mediterranean, (Harvard University Press, 2013) that recasts the region as a contemporary phenomenon; making spatial its formation as a larger geographic entity and challenging the conventional boundaries between cities and hinterlands. Dr. Angela Lombardi, Assistant Professor has coedited Lima, The Historic Center: Analysis and Restoration/ Centro Histórico. Conocimiento y restauración / Centro storico. Conoscenza e restauro, (Peru: Patrizia / Rome: Gangemi editore, 2012), that identifies and evaluates the endangered architectural heritage of Lima, Peru and was published in English, Spanish, and Italian. Edward Burian, Associate Professor has had his forthcoming book, The Architecture and Cities of Northern Mexico from Independence to Present, (University of Texas Press, 2015) that explores the undervalued architectural culture of Tamaulipas, Nuevo León, Coahuila, Chihuahua, Durango, Sonora, Sinaloa, and Baja California, accepted for publication and is currently in production.
Ian Caine, Assistant Professor had his research on urban morphology and sprawl, Traveling on Fredericksburg Road: 120 Years in 12 Miles, exhibited at the Institute for Texas Culture from September 19th-December 15th 2013 and was also discussed the exhibition on public radio. From the Dept. of Urban Planning, Dr. Maggie Valentine, Professor has published, John H. Kampmann, Master Builder: San Antonio’s German Influence in the 19th Century,” (Beaufort Books, 2014) that explores Kampmann’s architectural legacy that transformed 19th C. San Antonio, TX . A recent symposium and exhibit Walter Eugene George and the Cultural Legacy of the Rio Grande examined the work of retired UTSA faculty member Eugene George who recently passed away, that was held at the Institute for Texas Culture on Feb. 1st-28th 2014. George held the first San Antonio Conservation Society Endowed Professorship and during his career he generated some 500 drawings and 16,000 collected photographs focusing on the “Rio Grande Corridor” between Eagle Pass, TX and Brownsville, TX. William Dupont, FAIA, Professor and and Dr. Angela Lombardi, Assistant Professor recently participated in a program in Iraq to train historic conservationists sponsored by World Monuments Fund, the U.S. State Department, and the U.S. Embassy.
Kevin McClellan, Adjunct Professor, was featured in Texas Architect, (March/April 2014) for his innovative work with TEX-FAB, http://www.tex-fab.net/, a nonprofit organization that connects professionals, students, and the Architecture, Engineering and Construction industry to advance the discipline of architecture in its adoption of digital fabrication.
Noted Mexico City architect Javier Sánchez http://jsa.com.mx/ was the initial Dean’s Distinguished Visiting Critic for 2013. His graduate studio examined Col. Atlampa, the last remaining parcel of underutilized urban land in the central core of Mexico City, and the studio produced an urban design proposal and mixed use projects. Andrew Kudless of MATSYS in Oakland, CA http://matsysdesign.com/ will be the Dean’s Distinguished 2014 Visiting Critic, teaching a graduate studio focusing on digital fabrication.
Finally, Candid Rogers, AIA, Adjunct Professor, and Diane Hays, FAIA, Senior Lecturer and Interior Design Coordinator, won 2012 San Antonio AIA Design Awards. Rogers received a merit award for his “Dos Diez” residential extension to an 1872 stone cottage in San Antonio, TX; while Hays received an Honor Award for her two UTSA Dept. of Architecture design-build studio projects at Bexar County’s Raymond Russell Park in San Antonio, TX. For further information on these news items and other recent news see the UTSA Dept. of Architecture website at http://architecture.utsa.edu/academic-programs/department-of-architecture/.
University of Washington
Assistant Professor Kathrina Simonen and Liv Haselbach of Washington State University College of Engineering, in collaboration with University of Washington researchers Elaine Oneil of the College of the Environment and Joyce Cooper of the College of Engineering, submitted the Life Cycle Assessment and Buildings Research for Washington State (LCA for WA) report to the State Legislature on September 1st, 2012. This research to explore the potential of integrating LCA methods and data into the State Building Code was funded by Washington Senate Bill 5485. As part of this research, two stakeholder workshops were held which included presentations on topics such as: LCA fundamentals, LCA policy and LCA in Practice. This presentations were recorded and are posted online along with the final report report at http://courses.washington.edu/lcaforwa/wordpress/.
Assistant Professor Kathryn Rogers Merlino was awarded the 2012 Runstad Real Estate Center Fellowship and traveled to Istanbul, Turkey in March 2012. This fellowship, now in its second year, is a program that selects a diverse group of academics, professionals and students to pursue research questions related to design, building, development and their environmental and economic concerns. The 2012 Fellows consisted of two professors, Merlino and Carrie Sturts Dossick (Construction Management); professionals Jason Twill (Senior Project Manager, Sustainability, Vulcan Inc.) and Liz Dunn (Consulting Director of the Preservation Green Lab, Founder of Dunn and Hobbes, LLC) and students Natalie Gualy (M.Arch, MSRE 2012) and Ian Fishburn (MSRE, 2012). The fellows spent seven days in Istanbul, investigating the urban growth policies of this architecturally rich and dynamic “megacity”, and discussing its current trajectory with real estate professionals, government officials, designers, academics, activists and citizens. The findings provided a startling reminder that despite conjectures about post-consumer, post-carbon ‘creative culture’ cities, homogenized 20th century ambitions still largely determine the way in which the globe’s most architecturally and culturally unique cities are pursing growth in the 21st century. The Fellows will present their experiences on November 8 at 6pm in Architecture Hall at the University of Washington.
Professor Steve Badanes traveled to Australia in March for a lecture tour, and spoke at UTS in Sydney, UniSA in Adelaide, and UTas and Hobart AIA in Tasmania. The Neighborhood design/build Studio, which Badanes directs with Jake LaBarre, won 4 out of 7 Honor Awards at the 2012 AIA Pacific Region Student Awards for the Urban Farm Supershed. Badanes chaired the Louisiana AIA Awards jury, and traveled to Lafayette LA in September to present the awards, and to speak at the La AIA Convention and at the Tulane City Center. A recent film focused on the Seattle icon Fremont Troll, a project led by Badanes and his firm Jersey Devil, premiered this fall. The film, Hall of Giants ‘chronicles the creation and endurance of the much beloved Fremont Troll and explores the public art movement in Seattle and beyond. Through interviews and hundreds of rare photographs and archival footage, viewers will take an historical journey through Seattle’s earliest years and on up to the present, where art and artists still struggle to survive in an ever-changing city.’
Robert Hutchison was promoted to Affiliate Assistant Professor in the Department of Architecture, College of Built Environments, December 2011. His firm, Hutchison & Maul Architecture is a partner with the Uniontown Community Development Association on the Addition to the historic Artisan Barn project, which was one of 80 projects to be awarded a 2012 National Endowment for the Arts Our Town Grant. Robert Hutchison was one of eight featured Speakers at the 2012 AIA Arkansas State Convention, Little Rock AR, September 2012. Hutchison was an invited Speaker & Reviewer for the Kansas State University College of Architecture, Planning & Design, Manhattan KS, September 2012.
Professor Sharon Sutton published a Critical book essay of “Service-Learning in Design and Planning,” Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, 19, 1, in press for late October, early November.
The Department of Architecture at the University of Washington is working with aid organization Ayni Education International, the Janet W. Ketcham Foundation, architect Salim Rafik, and architect Bob Hull, founding partner of the Seattle based firm Miller Hull, to design the new Gohar Khaton Girls’ School in Mazar-i-sharif, Afghanistan. Bob Hull and Assistant professor Elizabeth Golden are leading a graduate architecture studio focused on developing culturally and environmentally responsive design solutions for the project, which is slated for construction in early 2013.
University of Oklahoma
The University of Oklahoma dedicated Gould Hall for the College of Architecture in a public ceremony on Wednesday, Sept. 14. It is the first time that students from all five disciplines – architecture, construction science, interior design, landscape architecture, and regional and city planning – are housed under one roof. The result, says College of Architecture Dean Charles Graham, will be greater opportunities for interdisciplinary study and a more rounded learning experience. The newly renovated building features a two-story, vaulted gallery – the Buskuhl Gallery – that allows for the flexibility of lighting and space necessary to adequately accommodate the students’ work in a professional manner, as well as a beautiful space in which to host receptions, symposia and traveling exhibits. Among the innovative features of the new building are a “Super Studio,” featuring two 40-inch plasma televisions and an interactive technology table, which allows six students to share their work with the professor and other students, and a full and mini “Learn Lab.” Learn Labs differ from traditional classrooms in that they have no typical “front”; rather, space is arranged in such a way as to encourage interaction among the students and professor. Three projectors allow students to share their work on one or all of the screens, and a ceiling-view document camera can be used to zoom in on an object and display it on one or more of the projector screens.
Oklahoma educator and urban designer Blair Humphreys was named Executive Director of the Institute for Quality Communities at the OU College of Architecture. The Institute for Quality Communities, founded in 2008, builds on OU’s success as an outstanding research university. Humphreys will guide the Institute in its work to build more vibrant, sustainable and equitable communities throughout Oklahoma and provide more research and educational opportunities for OU students. In spring 2011, Humphreys was the faculty adviser for a group of students from OU’s College of Architecture and Michael F. Price College of Business competing in a national urban design competition for The Urban Land Institute. The team placed in the top four, competing against 152 others from across the United States and Canada.
Ron Frantz, an architect who specializes in small-town design and preservation has joined the Institute for Quality Communities as the director of Small Town Studios. Frantz, who has done extensive work with both national and state Main Street programs, also has been named a Wick Carey Professor and will teach in the college’s Division of Architecture. Frantz will provide design and planning experience by pairing faculty and students to projects in small towns across the state.
University of Arizona
The Biosphere 2 Landscape Evolution Observatory (LEO) will consist of three massive landscapes constructed inside an environmentally controlled greenhouse facility. A scale-model built by Assistant Professor Susannah Dickinson and two third-year architecture students, David Kim and James Carrico, will be displayed for visitors at Biosphere 2. For more info visit: http://leo.b2science.org/node/
OF ARCH #118: International Magazine of Architecture and Design features the Tucson Zoo and Natatorium in Reid Park, by Burns Wald-Hopkins Shambach Architects with design consultation on fabric structures by Professor R. Larry Medlin.
Adjunct Lecturers Teresa Rosano and Luis Ibarra (Ibarra Rosano Design Architects, Inc.) have three projects featured in Contemporary Villas, Strahan, McMillan, and McMillan, eds. (Atglen, PA: Schiffer Pub Ltd, 2011).
University of New Mexico
Geoffrey C. Adams, Associate Professor, has been appointed the new Director of the Architecture Program in the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of New Mexico. He succeeds Mark C. Childs, Professor, in this position.
Matthew Gines, Lecturer and Director of the Fabrication Lab, launched CRAF+T: The Center for Research in Advanced Fabrication and Technology. The Center’s research focuses on four areas; digital fabrication, building technology + practices, generative design, and enhanced computational processes.
James and Claudia Horn, Lecturers, led the Global Studio, with the recipient of this year’s Marjorie Mead Hooker Visiting Professorship, Will Bruder. 13 students participated in this intensive summer studio program.
Geraldine Forbes-Isais, Professor and Dean, and Michaele Pride, Professor and Associate Dean for Public Outreach + Engagement, are planning for The Public Interest Design Institute® to provide training to architecture and other design professionals in public interest design with in-depth studies on methods of design related to critical issues faced by communities, September 2011.
Prof. Pride and Lecturer Garrett Smith, instructed and guided the summer travel program to Switzerland and Italy.
Noreen Richards has been appointed visiting assistant professor. She is actively creating connections between the architecture program and the University’s Sustainable Studies Program.
Roger Schluntz, professor and former dean at the University of New Mexico, was elected as the President Elect of the organization; he will then serve a two-year term as President effective 2013.
Kristina H. Yu, Assistant Professor, has presented at the conference, Suburbs and the 2010 Census, at George Mason University, School of Policy, two working papers. She participated in the National Housing Conference: Solutions for Sustainable Communities. These presentations and participation are related to her ongoing research and new seminar course titled ‘where is housing now?’.
The American Institute of Architects Students chapter on October 27-30, 2011 will host the regional West Quad Conference. The conference is titled, DEP: Dialogue Evolving Process. The conference questions, “How are architects evolving the standardization of the built environment?” Several workshops, tours and structured discussions and development curriculum are planned. The Keynote speakers are John Padilla (Vice-President AIA National), Eddie and Neal Jones (Jones Studio Inc) and Tom Wiscombe (Emergent Architecture).
University of Southern California
Visiting Professor Jennifer Siegal was awarded a Visions and Voices grant to produce the symposium Motopia: A New Age for Modular Construction to be held at USC on November, 2, 2011. Find out more at http://web-app.usc.edu/ws/eo2/calendar/113/event/893725.
Emily Gabel-Luddy, FASLA, instructor in the USC Master of Landscape Architecture program, was elected in April to a 4-year term as the newest member of the Burbank City Council. She will be serving as liaison to the Cultural Arts Commission and the Sustainable Commission in the City.
Paul Danna, AIA, has won the commission to design the new California State Superior Courthouse in Long Beach, with design partner Jose Palacios, AIA. He is also serving on the Executive Committee of AIA/Los Angeles, as Past President of the Chapter.
Christoph Kapeller will be presenting his research project “Chengdu Sp[eculative Mapping” at the Chengdu Biennale 2011 from September 29th until October 30th.
Kris Mun, designer and exhibitor for AAC’s Digital Futures exhibition in Shanghai August 2011, showed her work amongst other prominent practices, including Zaha Hadid Architects, Greg Lynn, UNStudio, that are engaging in computational and digital fabrication strategies in architecture.
M. Brian Tichenor, AIA, ASLA , is contributing a chapter for the upcoming Rizzolli publication ‘The California Casa’, and his work has been featured in the books ‘ Classic Homes of California’ and ‘At Home’, both published this year.
Linda C. Samuels, USC lecturer since the fall of 2010, has received a grant from UCLA’s Ralph and Goldy Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies in support of her research on failed projects for the 101 ‘trench’ site, a quarter mile stretch in downtown Los Angeles where the freeway descends below grade. This research is part of her dissertation focusing on urban infrastructure redevelopment projects.
Mark Gangi, AIA, NCARB, LEED-AP was featured on AIA National Podcast as the Citizen Architect on the Move for September 2011 http://idimultimedia.net/clients/aia_podcast/07152011/Mark_Gangi_711.mp3
Adjunct Professor Regula Campbell AIA authored a presentation in June at the International Federation of Landscape Architecture World Congress: “Scales of Nature”, Zurich, Switzerland on the topic: Biodiversity in the City: Enrichment for Urban Life and Work – “Making It Personal, Making It Real”.
Joe Sturges, Lecturer has completed WIldwood School campus as senior designer with Nancy Power & Associate in conjuction with Koning Eizenberg Architects. Other projects completed this year include Children’s Institute with KEA and Indian Paintbrush Productions with Barton Myers Associates Inc.
Victoria Turkel Behner, PhD, is designing the upcoming exhibition “In Wonderland: The Surrealist Adventures of Women Artists in Mexico and the United States” at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, opening January 2012.
Adjunct Professor Doug Campbell ASLA will be recognized by the Government of Hangzhou, China this October for his contribution to the region’s “Quality of Life” through his design of a recently completed sustainable new town re-visioning a former industrial site in the City’s northern district.
Dr. Ken Breisch has stepped down after twelve years as Director of Graduate Programs in Historic Preservation, a program which he founded in 1999. He will resume teaching and writing full-time in the School of Architecture.
Gary Paige’s architecture project, “Type Variant Houses” and artwork, “Ruled Surfaces” is the subject of an exhibition entitled “Other Works” at the School of Architecture at UC Berkeley, along with architects Wes Jones and IDEA Office partners Eric Kahn and Russell Thomsen.
Assistant Professor, Victor Jones and the Watts House Project were awarded a 2011 Graham Grant to complete work for the Watts House Project’s Platform fence, pocket park, and façade improvement.
Alvin Huang was appointed as a Tenure-Track Professor of Architecture at the University of Southern California School of Architecture, Los Angeles. He will be teaching graduate and thesis design studios focused on advanced digital design techniques, material performance, and digital fabrication. His office, Synthesis Design + Architecture, has also moved to Los Angeles from London.
Adjunct Associate Professor Michael Hricak, FAIA, and his Venice based design firm recently received city approval for an innovative hotel and conference center to be built in Redondo Beach, California which promises to set new standards for design and sustainability in this beachside community.
Scott Uriu, lecturer at USC, partner in the firm BplusU, was chosen as one of the finalists in the Silver Lake Sunset Junction Competition in June by the City of Silver Lake, also in June BplusU were chosen for the 2011 AIA Emerging Professional exhibit in Washington DC, BplusU’s work has been recently published in the book “Futuristic-Vision of future living”, and in August was featured in the LA Times LA Home section.
Assistant Professor Rachel Berney is presenting the paper “A New Spatial Fix: The Promise of Public Space in a Fragmented Buenos Aires” at the ACSP Conference in Salt Lake City, October 13-16, 2011. Students from USC’s MLA Program in the School of Architecture have work represented in the forthcoming book, “Representing Landscapes: A Visual Collection of Landscape Architectural Drawings” (Editor, Nadia Amoroso). Contributor for USC MLA, Rachel Berney.
USC Emeritus Professor Robert S. Harris, FAIA, ACSA Distinguished Professor and former ACSA President, concluded a 5-year appointment as Director of the USC Master of Landscape Architecture program. He was recognized as CELA Outstanding Educator for 2011, and will be awarded Honorary ASLA. membership at the ASLA Annual Meeting in October 2011.
Adjunct Assistant Professor Anna Neimark’s installation of an enormous extrusion of the Soviet hydraulic network in foam will open at the WUHO gallery in Hollywood on December 8th, accompanied by the publication, “The Infrastructural Monument: Stalin’s Water Works under Construction and in Representation,” in the forthcoming issue of Future Anterior. Research for this project has been supported by the USC Advancing Scholarship in the Humanities and Social Sciences (ASHSS) and the Harvard GSD Appleton Traveling Fellowship.
Erik Mar is working on two Los Angeles County Public Libraries, of 7200 sf and 16,000 sf. He also delivered a lecture on sustainability and environmental imperatives to the Public Library staff on their 2011 Staff Training Day.
Lecturer Mina M. Chow, AIA, NCARB, is shooting a pilot episode for web series on innovative architecture in Los Angeles with the City of Los Angeles Mayor’s Office, and the Getty Research Institute Wim de Witt and USC School of Architecture Professor Jim Steele as humanities advisors.
Christine Lampert whose firm is Lampert Dias Architect’s Inc. along with PDS West is working on a master plan to redesign a large portion of the Laguna Woods Village in Laguna Woods California. Laguna Woods is a community with a population of over 15,000 senior citizens in South Orange County. The project includes bringing the 1960’s designed community into the 21st century.
Professor Marc Schiler presented a new definition for Performative Facades at the Facade Tectonics Conference, July 30, and at a public lecture at USC on Wednesday, August 24, based on research done during his sabbatical on reflective facades from Odeillo, France to Berlin.
Adjunct Associate Professor Warren Techentin and his firm Warren Techentin Architecture (WTARCH) won First Prize in the STREET 2020 Vision Competition in conjunction with the inaugural Tallinn Architecture Biennale (TAB) for 2011. The international competition invited architects, landscape architects, and planners to focus on the hybrid issue of ‘Landscape Urbanism’ as applied to making a new street in Estonia’s capitol city. The competition sought design solutions to offset traffic concerns while improving the quality of urban life for pedestrians and cyclists.
Assistant Professor Karen M. Kensek organized the Fifth Annual Symposium on “Building Information Modeling: Extreme BIM” last July. Plans are already underway for the sixth conference to be held in Los Angeles in summer 2012.
Travis Longcore, Ph.D., of the USC Spatial Sciences Institute has become a guest critic and instructor in the Landscape Architecture program, bringing his expertise on urban ecology, restoration, conservation planning, and GIS to the curriculum.
Victor Regnier FAIA, Professor of Architecture and Gerontology will present a paper at the LeadingAge Conference in Washington DC on Dutch Service-hybrid Housing Models, as well as jury a competition for the Aging Means Business: Design for a New Age conference in Boston–both in the Fall.
“Structure and Design,” a book by Professor G. Goetz Schierle, is posted on over 30 international web sites.
Lauren Matchison, NCARB, is currently designing a sustainable beach bungalow in Orange County.
Rob Ley was recently won two separate competitions to design permanent installations in both Seattle, WA & Kansas City, MO and is recently included in Madeline Schwartzman’s new book ‘See Yourself Sensing: Redefining Human Perception’ and Rashida Ng’s upcoming book ‘INPUT_OUTPUT: Performative Materials in Architecture and Design’.
Eric Haas, AIA, Adjunct Assistant Professor, and his firm DSH had their project 2636 Residence featured in the exhibit “Tokyo/LA Houses” at July’s Little Tokyo Design Week in Los Angeles.
USC faculty Behrokh Khoshnevis (Engineering), Neil Leach (Architecture), Anders Carlson (Architecture) and Madhu Thangavelu (Astronautics) have won a NASA grant to explore the use of the robotic fabrication technology, Contour Crafting, for building structures on the Moon. The grant was one of 30 awarded to over 700 applicants by the NASA Innovation Advanced Concepts Program (NIAC). For further details see: http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/08/08/7306644-out-of-this-world-ideas-funded
Ric. Abramson (2nd year Studio Critic)/Workplays studio recently completed its latest project, Demitasse Coffee Bar Lounge, downtown Los Angeles in Little Tokyo.
JFAK Architects, the firm of Associate Professor and UG Chair Alice Kimm, FAIA, was awarded two AIA California Council Design Awards for projects completed at Caltech and in Santa Monica. JFAK’s downtown parking structure for the LAPD was featured in Architectural Record and named one of the “5 most beautiful parking garages in Los Angeles” by LA Weekly.
Assistant Prof. Dr. David Gerber will present design computation research ‘Building Skin Intelligence’ at the ACADIA 2011 conference, he will keynote the largest and leading Brazilian AEC venue on ‘Building Industry Innovation: An Evolution of Building Information Modeling and Computing in the AEC.’
Assistant Professor Gail Peter Borden was named Director of the Master of Architecture Program. His recently opened installation at the USC-URC, entitled Density Frames consists of a variably triangulated structure interlaced with a multistory pneumatic and coincided with the release of his 2nd book Matter: Material Processes in Architectural Production from Routledge.
Vinayak Bharne has authored a chapter titled “Saving the Qanat: The Dilemmas of Sustainability & Strategic Conservation in Yazd, Iran” in the forthcoming book “Aesthetics of Sustainable Architecture” (010 Publishers, Rotterdam, 2011)
Esther Margulies principal at ValleyCrest Design Group in Los Angeles has been working on the 2014 World Horticultural Exposition Exposition in Qingdao, China along with design build projects in Santa Monica and Malibu California.
Contact Associate Professor Douglas Noble, FAIA, Ph.D., (dnoble@usc.edu) for details on how to submit paper and session proposals on the subject of building envelopes for the 8th FACADE TECTONICS CONFERENCE scheduled for June, 2012, in Los Angeles.
Peter Simmonds has designed two LEED Platinum buildings so far and is working on number three.
Todd Gish, PhD, AIA, is contributing a chapter to an upcoming anthology on urban planning in Los Angeles; the essay joins a revisionist literature demonstrating a long history of plans for LA, created by prominent national planners who utilized the best professional practices of their day.
Founded in 1912 by 10 charter members, ACSA is an international association of architecture schools preparing future architects, designers, and change agents. Our membership includes all of the accredited professional degree programs in the United States and Canada, as well as international schools and 2- and 4-year programs. Together ACSA schools represent some 7,000 faculty educating more than 40,000 students.
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