The School of Architecture and Planning is pleased to announce that the first annual Urban Practice Distinguished Critic will be Tim McDonald of the Philadelphia-based Onion Flats. The intention of the Distinguished Critic program is to engage exemplary urban practitioners who can bring their perspective, methods and work to the students both informally and formally.  The Urban Practice concentration, one of four concentrations in the Master of Architecture program, focuses on architecture that weaves the small and large scales with historical, cultural, social and conceptual contexts. For more information, please see our website: http://urbanpracticeatcuarch.wordpress.com/

Professor Terrance R. Williams, FAIA, and Associate Professor Adnan Morshed, PhD, will be at the Urban Affairs Association conference in San Francisco next April to present their paper, “Mid-Sized Cities: A New American Urban Frontier?” The paper focuses on the decades of urban depopulation—especially in mid-sized cities–and the vast surplus of under-utilized infrastructure that literally offers a subsidy to the re-densification our urban communities of all sizes.

Associate Professor Adnan Morshed, PhD, published his book “Oculus: A Decade of Insights into Bangladeshi Affairs.” The book was presented at the Hay Festival 2012, Bangla Academy last November 15th, and at the Baatighar Press Club, Chittagong last December 29th. Dr. Morshed was also an invited panelist at the University of Texas Austin’s Harry Ransom Center last November during the Tenth Biennial Fleur Cowles Flair Symposium “I Have Seen the Future: Norman Bel Geddes Designs America”. In addition, Dr, Morshed will be speaking at the School of Architecture, the University of Utah, as part of the Spring Lecture Series in March 2013.

Associate Professor Eric J. Jenkins, AIA, published his book “Drawn to Design: Analyzing Architecture through Freehand Drawing” (Birkhäuser, 2012).  Beginning with the underlying concepts of freehand sketching, the book’s main component is a series of “design acts” that a student might perform in design and analysis. The book contains over 400 drawings exploring the role and the methods of freehand analytical sketching in architectural education.  Jenkins has also been appointed to the Board of Directors of the District of Columbia Chapter of the AIA. In this position he will work to develop links between academia and practice as well as work on initiatives such as mentoring and A.R.E. preparation and completion.

Assistant Professor Carlos Reimers, PhD, will be presenting a paper at the Cultures of the Suburbs Symposium to be held at Hofstra University, NY this year on June.  The paper is entitled “Informal Suburbia” and it addresses research into the growth of extralegal settlements on the outskirts of cities throughout the United States, and the environmental and political forces that fuel this growth.

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During the Summer 2012, four architecture students at CUA, Peter Miles, Joey Barrick, Nina Tatic, and Filipe Pereira, worked under the direction of Associate Professor Miriam Gusevich to create a design proposal for development of the McMillan Reservoir site. This proposal, which was created in response to a plan created by Envision McMillan Partners, was presented at a July HPRB hearing. The project, which has also been presented to various community groups and other interested parties, has received very positive press from The National Trust for Historic Preservation and other groups.