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University of Southern California

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John Dutton is editing GRIDS-blog: Speculations on Urbanism and the Built Environment.  It can be found at www.GRIDS-blog.com

Mia Lehrer , FASLA, was a featured speaker at the ASLA 2011 Annual Meeting and Expo in San Diego. She covered topics from Women in Landscape Architecture to Urban Agriculture, and hosted a field session at the Orange County Great Park. This month Mia appears in Latina Magazine’s Making Us Proud spotlight on influential women.

Rachel Berney, PhD, Interim Director of the MLA Program and assistant professor, gave a talk at Iowa State University on 11/10/2011 titled, “Visible Competency: Building Capital through Public Space in Latin America.”

Lecturer MIna M. Chow, AIA, NCARB has joined as Director of Development for the US Pavilion at the 2012 Venice Biennale for the Institute for Urban Design (IFUD).  The Institute for Urban Design won the U.S. Department of State RFP for their exhibition “Spontaneous Interventions:  Design Actions for the Common Good,” which documents projects initiated by American architects and designers aimed at bringing positive change to the public realm.  The U.S. Pavilion team includes Commissioner and Curators Cathy Lang Ho and Ned Cramer, and the Curatorial Advisory Team of MOMA NYC Senior Curator Paola Antonelli, IFUD Executive Director Anne Guiney, Chief Curator of the Art Institute of Chicago Zoe Ryan, and IFUD Chair Professor Michael Sorkin.  For additional information, please visit:  http://spontaneousinterventions.org or http:// ifud.org.

The ARCC 2010 James Haecker Award was presented to Professor Ralph Knowles on Novermber 12, 2011.  The James Haecker Distinguished Leadership Award for Architectural Research is presented by the ARCC (Architectural Research Centers Consortium) for outstanding contributions to the growth of the research culture of architecture and related fields.  Knowles, who has taught at USC for 40 years, is the author of seven books and more than 50 articles. He is a recipient of the American Institute of Architects’ Medal for Research. He has conducted research in Bratislava, Slovakia with the support of a Fulbright Teaching Fellowship. The National Endowment for the Arts honored him for his design research and his work on solar access was supported by the Endowment. He received the USC Associates Award for Teaching Excellence and his book, Sun Rhythm Form, won the Phi Kappa Phi Scholarly Book Award. He has most recently received the USC Distinguished Emeritus Award and the Passive Solar Pioneer Award from the American Solar Energy Society. The main body of is work has focused on design with nature for energy conservation and life quality. He is the creator of the Solar Envelope, a zoning strategy for urban solar access. In his latest book, Ritual House: Drawing on Natures’s Rhythms for Architecture and Urban Design, Knowles explores theories relating nature’s rhythms to life’s rituals as a basis for a new architectural aesthetic. http://www-rcf.usc.edu/~rknowles

Victor Regnier, professor of architecture and gerontology traveled to Japan to consult with a group of experts on the Toto company’s approach to research in universal design.  Later that month he delivered the Hong Kong Housing Society Distinguished Lecture on Sustainable Housing Development–Innovative Ideas from the Design of Housing for the Elderly in Northern Europe at the University of Hong Kong.  This month he presented a symposium at the American Association of Housing and Services for the Aging in Los Angeles on Danish housing models, and made a presentation at the New Aging Conference at the University of Pennsylvania about Dutch apartment for life projects.  Finally, he debated colleague Jon Pynoos Ph.D at the UCLA Technology and Aging conference on strategies for maintaining independence in the community.  In the Spring he will be presenting a symposium at the Madrid International Congress on Long Term Care and Quality of Life as well as making a presentation at the University of Virginia on Age-friendly communities. 

Assistant Professor Gail Peter Borden’s installation “Light Frames: a material prophecy” opened at Materials and Applications and will be up through mid-March. It consist of a two storey EMT double dome and a vinyl pneumatic chapel. Simultaneously opening, a show entitled “Shallow Spaces” at Galleri Urbane in Dallas, Texas curated a series of resin paintings. In October he lectured at the Houston Museum of Fine Arts as a speaker in the Rice Design Alliance lecture series “A Material World.” He is currently attending a Residency at the MacDowell Colony, the oldest residency program in the U.S. His second book Matter: Material Processes of Architectural Production is at press with Routledge and will be available spring 2011.

Professor Marc Schiler was a participant in the Xi Xi Li She (XXLS) sustainable design charrette, from August 25 through September 1, with a team of architects, engineers, faculty, and students from the U.S. who met on the site of a proposed sustainable development in the Yuhang district of Hangzhou, China.  The program includes a 25,000 square foot video production studio/main hall and a research and educational annex.  The resultant design utilizes environmentally responsive passive principles, a ground source heat pump, photovoltaics, a biogas reactor, and on site collection, storage and processing of rainwater, gray water and black water.  The provincial government and Sally Wu of Phoenix TV sponsored the design charrette and a special province forum where the XXLS design proposal was presented to 300 party officials, business representatives, developers, and investors from China and Hong Kong. Yung Ho Chang (MIT and Atelier FCJZ) delivered a keynote speech on sustainability in Architectur

Catholic University of America

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Joseph Barrick, a senior at The Catholic University of America’s School of Architecture, was awarded Honorable Mention for Community Programming in the Water Works competition sponsored by Gowanus by Design (www.gowanusbydesign.org/water_works).  The project was advised by CUArch Associate Professor Miriam Gusevich and Diane Reynolds as environmental Consultant. It addressed one of the most pressing contemporary environmental challenges of our time: how to redeem a toxic Superfund site in the path of Hurricane Sandy, while strengthening the fabrics of a growing urban node. 

University of Oregon

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Professor James Tice received a Digital Innovation Fellowship Award, “The GIS Forma Urbis Romae Project:  Creating a Layered History of Rome.”  This year long grant will focus on Rome and its cartographic representation from antiquity to contemporary satellite imaging using state of the art GIS methods. This collaborative project will involve colleagues in Rome (Allan Ceen, Director, Studium Urbis) and at Stanford University (Erik Steiner, Creative Director Spatial History Project). The granting agency is the American Council of Learned Societies.

Professor Emeritus John Reynolds was re-elected as Board President of the Energy Trust of Oregon at its March 7th meeting. He has served on this board since its inception in 2001. He also serves on the Board of the International Solar Energy Society, and will attend a strategic planning meeting in Freiburg, Germany in mid-March.

Architecture Schools Face Budget & Enrollment Changes

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Architecture programs budgets grew overall this year, but at many schools enrollments and applications are down. 

At the 2013 ACSA Annual Business Meeting, President Donna Robertson presented some preliminary results from the latest annual budget survey and analysis of multi-year data gathered by the National Architectural Accrediting Board.

Architecture program enrollment has dropped over the past five years. (Figures 1 and 2)

 

 

(FIG 1)

 

 

(FIG 2)

 

For 2012-13, enrollments and applications are down compared to the previous year at some schools, according to a September 2012 survey of ACSA member schools. (Figure 3)

 

 

(FIG 3)

 

Results show an even mix of growth and reduction in program enrollments across all programs. About 1/3 of schools overall had lower enrollment. Undergraduate programs had the highest percentage of programs with decreases over the previous year, while postprofessional degree programs had the highest percentage of schools seeing enrollment growth.

The story was similar for applications from last year this to this year.  (Figure 4)

(FIG 4)

 

Results show that more programs were seeing lower enrollments than last year, particularly at the undergraduate level. However, postprofessional degree programs saw greater increases. Nearly 2/3 of these programs reported an increase in applications, while 40% reported an increase in enrollment.

Full results from the budget survey will be published in coming weeks and posted on the ACSA website. Visit our Documents page to find past budget survey data.

University of Miami School of Architecture Dean Takes Key Role In the Rebuilding of Haitian Cathedral

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UM School of Architecture Dean Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, will serve as the lead juror of a six-juror panel of a competition to choose the winner of a design to rebuild the Notre Dame de l’Assomption Cathedral in Port Au Prince. The cathedral was destroyed during Haiti’s devastating January 12, 2010 earthquake.

The competition that has drawn 134 submissions was organized by the Archdiocese of Port Au Prince, with the support of UM’s School of Architecture and Faith and Form Magazine. Over 250 architects from throughout the world answered the invitation launched by the Archbishop of Port-au-Prince, Mgr Guire Poulard to help build a new Cathedral for the nation’s capital.

 The jurors will meet at UM’s School of Architecture during Monday, December 17 and Tuesday, December 18 to review the work of the finalists. The winner will be announced on December 20. The first place winner will receive $12,000, the second place will receive $8,000 and the third place will receive $5,000.

“While each juror will bring a unique perspective to the review of the entries, we will all be looking at the quality of the design and we will take into consideration liturgical goals as well as cultural appropriate,” said Plater-Zyberk.

In the rebuilding of the Roman Catholic cathedral, the goal is to build a structure that can again be a beacon of hope to an entire nation and can serve as a fitting memorial to thousands who perished in the earthquake, according to Yves Savain, consultant to the Archdiocese of Port Au Prince and coordinator of the design competition.

“We feel that the competition will draw a great deal of interest internationally,” said Savain. “The Cathedral is not only a religious symbol but it is a national monument. It has a place in history and in culture and its reconstruction can serve as a catalyst for the rebuilding of downtown Port Au Prince which was also destroyed during the earthquake.”

According to the website on the Cathedral’s rebuilding, www.ndapap.org, it is hoped that the building will be a technologically advanced structure that takes tradition into account.  This vital structure will put into application national and international building codes to ensure a safe center of worship.

A new structure on the same site will have to meet the most rigorous anti-seismic and anti-cyclonic norms. It should also be a “green building” and achieve the highest standards possible of positive environmental performance.  The new cathedral will represent the long held religious faith of the country. 

“It must honor the memory of the thousands who perished in Haiti on that tragic day of destruction,” said Archbishop of Port-au-Prince, Mgr.Poulard.

Plater-Zyberk has experience with Haitian rebuilding efforts. In March, 2010 the UM School of Architecture hosted a meeting of Haitian architects, planners and government officials who worked with UM faculty and students, and volunteers from throughout the U.S., on blueprints for the reconstruction of earthquake-ravaged Haiti. During the charette, design teams generated ideas that included the rebuilding of churches, medical clinics, community resource centers and housing.  

In the competition to rebuild the Cathedral, other jurors include Patrick Delatour, architect and former Minister of Tourism for Haiti, Michael Crosbie, architect and editor in chief of Faith and Form, Kia Miyamoto, structural engineer with Miyamoto International, Father Richard Vosko, a liturgical consultant and designer from Clifton Park, N.Y. and Edwidge Danticat, the Miami-based award winning Haitian American writer. 

Editor’s note: Members of the media wishing to speak to the jurors can do so on Tuesday, December 18, 2012 at 1 p.m. at the School of Architecture. Please contact Barbara Gutierrez at 305-284-5500 or at bgutierrez@miami.edu if you wish to cover the story. 

Woodbury University

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Woodbury University will be hosting the Drylands Design Conference, Burbank, CA, March 22-24, 2012.  Organized by Arid Lands Institute in collaboration with the AIA/California Council, the California Architectural Foundation, and US Dept. of Housing and Urban Development, the conference will showcase design and policy innovations that address water, energy, and the future of the western American city.

Adjunct Faculty Deborah Richmond participated in a group exhibition entitled Flagstop Alternative Art Event in August in Southern California.  Photographs of shipping containers and loading docks at the Ikea warehouse in Tejon Ranch, originally shot during research for the book Infrastructural City:  Networked Ecologies in Los Angeles, were included.  The event was based on an open call format for both curators and artists. http://www.flagstopart.com/

Annie Chu, Associate Professor in Interior Architecture, is serving as a juror for the 2012 AIA Institute Honor Awards in Architecture and the 2012 Twenty-Five Year Award.

Adjunct Faculty, Christoph Korner and his office GRAFT were announced winner of the European Prize for Architecture by The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies and The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design. http://www.europeanarch.eu/eur_arch_prize/index.html

Hadley + Peter Arnold, co-director’s of the Arid Lands Institute (ALI), delivered the keynote to a symposium held at the Land Heritage Institute in San Antonio, TX on September 3rd.  The symposium brought artists, architects, preservationists, archeologists, activists, and planners to explore the theme “Land as Lab.”  In addition, ALI”s GIS work in New Mexico’s Lower Embudo Valley was recently showcased in ‘The Edge,’ online magazine of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research.  “Gravity-Fed City,” a chapter documenting ALI’s work on rethinking western US infrastructures in the case-study city of Burbank, CA, will be included in Last Call at the Oasis (Public Affairs, 2012), companion volume to the forthcoming Participant Media film of the same name.

Adjunct Faculty Clark Stevens

and his company are featured in James Russell’s new book The Agile City:  Building Well-Being and Wealth in an Era of Climate Change, published by Island Press. In his call for a “New Land Ethos”, Russell praises Clark and his office, New West Land Company, for “being among the new breed of environmentalists, planners, developers and investors who cross the divide between traditional environmentalism and on-size-fits-all development to create profit-making projects that conserve and restore damaged landscapes”.

Jennifer Bonner, Professor of Practice, installed a solo exhibition titled WATERMARKS at the Woodbury University’s Hollywood Gallery in September. The installation simulated Venice’s Acqua Alta, documented resiliency across the American landscape, and suggested agency in water fluctuation. Three watershed geographies were examined, thirty-six flooded towns watermarked, and 2,000 gallons of water filled the gallery space. In addition, Jennifer and Adjunct Faculty David Freeland were selected as the “Top Ten to Watch by Ten Architects” in California Home and Design Magazine (September/October 2011 Issue).

Woodbury University Graduate Chair Ingalill Wahlroos-Ritter is working with Doris Sung (Assistant Professor at USC) and Matthew Melnyk on an installation at the M&A exhibition space in Silver Lake, California.  The project, ‘Bloom’, a 20′ high prickly hour-glass-like installation explores the possibilities of a thermally responsive metal surface which reacts to both the change in temperature and direct solar radiation. When the temperature of the metal is cool, the surface will appear as a solid object, once the afternoon heat penetrates the metal, the panels of custom woven bimetal will adjust and fan out to allow air flow and increase shade potential. The thermo-bimetal alloys used in the project expand the notion of surface and structure in architecture.  The project is scheduled to open in October.

Julius Shulman distinguished Professor of Practice Barbara Bestor and her office have been featured as an “Emerging Talent” in the August release of Martha Stewart magazine for the Nicks Residence in Santa Barbara.

Dr. Anthony Fontenot, Associate Professor, is co-curating the Gwangju Biennale in South Korea and has an exhibition opening, “Disappearing Landscapes: The American Delta in Distress“, at San Diego Mesa College Art Gallery.

Assistant Professor Maxi Spina’s housing Building in Argentina Jujuy Redux (co-designed with P-a-t-t-e-r-n-s) appeared in September in “Breaking Borders: New Latin American Architecture”, an exhibition organized by Latin Pratt and aimed to encourage awareness of the unique problems and solutions of a developing continent, like that of Latin America.

ACSA Seeks Nominations for ACSA Representative on NAAB Board of Directors

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CALL FOR NOMINATIONS
ACSA Representative on NAAB Board of Directors
Deadline: February 8, 2012

(originally posted on Jan. 4, 2012, reposted on Feb. 6, 2012)
The 2012-2013 National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB) will comprise thirteen members: three representing ACSA, three representing AIA, three representing NCARB, two representing AIAS, and two public members. Currently Keelan Kaiser of Judson University; Theodore Landsmark of Boston Architectural College; and Nathaniel Belcher of Pennsylvania State University, represent ACSA on the NAAB Board. With the expiration of Keelan Kaiser’s term in October 2012, the ACSA Board of Directors is considering candidates for his successor at its meeting this March in Boston, MA.

The appointment is for a three-year term (Oct. 2012 – Oct. 2015) and calls for a person willing and able to make a commitment to NAAB. While previous experience as an ACSA board member or administrator is helpful, it is not essential for nomination. Some experience on NAAB visiting teams should be considered necessary; otherwise the nominee might be unfamiliar with the highly complex series of deliberations involved with this position. Faculty and administrators are asked to nominate faculty from an ACSA member school with any or all the following qualifications:

    1. Tenured faculty status at an ACSA full member school;
    2. Significant experience with and knowledge of the accreditation process;
    3. Significant acquaintance with and knowledge of ACSA, its history, policy programs, and administrative structure;
    4. Personal acquaintance with the range of school and program types across North America.
    5. Willingness to represent the constituency of ACSA on accreditation related issues.
    6. Ability to work with the NAAB board and ACSA representatives to build consensus on accreditation related issues.

For consideration, please submit a concise letter of nomination along with a CV indicating experience under the above headings, and a letter indicating willingness to serve from the nominee, by February 8, 2012.

Nominations should be sent to:
Email (preferred): Eric Ellis, ACSA Director of Operations and Programs at eellis@acsa-arch.org
ACSA, Board Nominations
1735 New York Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20006

Southern California Institute of Architecture

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The Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) today announced it has acquired its campus located in the Arts District on the eastern edge of downtown Los Angeles. The sale agreement finalized on Thursday, April 21 between SCI-Arc and property seller Legendary Investors Group includes the approximately 90,000-sq. ft. original Santa Fe Freight Depot building, located on a 4.5-acre lot stretching along Santa Fe Avenue from 3rd to 4th Street—where the school is presently located.  

At 1,250 feet (381 m) in length, the unique freight depot building is so long, that if it were upended, it would be as tall as the Empire State Building.

“SCI-Arc has been a vagabond school for almost forty years,” said Director Eric Owen Moss. “We kept the game moving… SCI-Arc’s light. SCI-Arc’s quick. SCI-Arc’s dexterous. We are, and building or not, we’ll remain so. That’s how we’ll survive,” added Moss in a school-wide announcement.

The campus purchase is a significant goal realized for SCI-Arc, as the depot will be the school’s first permanent home in a 39-year history.  For downtown Los Angeles, the sale of the land and the Santa Fe Freight Depot building to SCI-Arc is a key moment in the economic stability of an underdeveloped area of the city—the eastern edge of downtown. By owning its campus, SCI-Arc becomes a permanent player with a significant stake and role in the long-term revitalization of the area—the third major redevelopment zone in downtown Los Angeles along with LA Live and Grand Avenue.

“The Trustees together with the leadership have worked hard to achieve this important milestone for the school,” said SCI-Arc Board of Trustees Chairman Jerry Neuman.  “This acquisition guarantees the stability of SCI-Arc without compromising its forward-thinking nature.”

SCI-Arc’s commitment to putting permanent roots and expanding in the emergent Cleantech Corridor will be a key driver in the renewal of the Eastside of Downtown. The scale of the property, and the purpose of the school, offer an advantage for rethinking a city for the 21st century, using the best and brightest minds to reinvent economically sound and culturally relevant urban solutions.

Founded in 1972 by a group of seven faculty members and approximately 40 students who left Cal Poly Pomona to create a “college without walls,” SCI-Arc has been a nomad school for almost 40 years, with previous locations in Santa Monica and Marina Del Rey.  Since SCI-Arc started renting the Santa Fe freight depot in 2001—transforming its concrete shell into a school—its students, faculty and staff have helped define and give shape to the local community, and encouraged others to activate and locate to this area on the outskirts of downtown Los Angeles. During the past 10 years, SCI-Arc has taken root in the neighborhood, bringing hundreds of young people into the once-abandoned area. Today, with the campus purchase, the school becomes a permanent part of the educational and cultural evolution of LA’s Arts District.

Designed by architect Harrison Albright, the depot was originally built in 1907 as two parallel 1,250-foot long twin structures stretching along Santa Fe Avenue. Albright used reinforced concrete for its turn-of-the-century design of the depot—its second use in Los Angeles. In the early 1990s, the western depot was demolished, leaving only one of the pair standing.  The renovation of the remaining structure took about 9 months to complete between fall 2000 and summer 2001, and was designed by SCI-Arc alumnus and then faculty member Gary Paige of GPS Studio, in collaboration with SCI-Arc faculty, alumni and students. The first classes were held in the depot in September 2001.

University of New Mexico

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Stephen Mora, Lecturer, with students, is recognized in suckerPUNCH with the installation project, “Intervention”.  This installation sits at the belly of the George Pearl Hall, designed by AIA Gold Medalist, Antoine Predock. The plaza level of Pearl Hall provides an open canvas for a spatial intervention of this scale, one that explores the manifestation of complex geometry through the techniques of CNC fabrication, tectonics, details and joinery. 
http://www.suckerpunchdaily.com/2012/09/12/intervention/

Roger Schluntz, FAIA and Professor, has been appointed as the Region III Representative of the Union Internationale des Architectes(International Union of Architects, or UIA ) to its Scientific Committee; charged with the program development for the next UIA World Congress of Architects.  The 2014 Congress will be held in Durban, South Africa, where the committee members also conducted their initial meeting in late June.  The UIA represents some 1,300,000 architects in more than 100 countries.  The UIA was founded in 1948 to unite the architects of all countries in a federation of their national organizations, which includes the AIA of the United States.  

University of Houston

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The Architecture Center Houston (ArCH) Foundation awarded $45,000 in grants to five Houston architecture related projects during its Spring 2011 grant cycle.  ArCH Foundation grants are awarded twice each year. 

 2 grants awarded in this cycle went to the Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture:

·         $7,500 to the University of Houston Summer Discovery Program, a six week program that educates high school students about architecture.

·         $2,500 to the University of Houston Materials Research Collaborative at the Gerald Hines School of Architecture, a resource for material discovery and research for students and the architecture community.

The Architecture Center Houston Foundation is a non-profit education organization designated by the IRS as a 501 (c)3 corporation that promotes awareness, understanding, and appreciation of the ways in which architecture and urban design influence the built environment and enhance the quality of life in the community.

Susan Rogers and Rafael Longoria have received a $25,000 NEA grant for their Collaborative Community Design Initiative 2. 

Patrick Peters and Cheryl Beckett (Graphic Communications Department) have received a Merit Award from the Society of Graphic Designers for their collaborative project: Dis(solve): The Japhet Creek Project. The student team is: Arantza Alvarado, Ramon Arciniega, Joanna Bonner, Lindsey Bowsher, Danny Carter, Hei Man, Alison Cheuk, Megan Conkin, Jose Alfredo Dehuma, Hai Phi Dinh , Miguel Farias Nunez, Amy Heidbreder, Marcia Hoang, Aike Jamaluddin, Zach Kimmel, Kyra Lancon, Jennie Macedo, Leah Macey, Jenny Ng, Jane Nghiem, Diana Ngo, ViVi Vu Nguyen, Rachel Outlaw, Ada Pedraza, Christopher Steven Pine, Anna Reyes, Jessica Rios, Josh Robbins, Haley Ross, R-Jay Ruiz, Hector Solis, Brad Sypniewski, Tam Truong, Erin Woltz.

Associate Professor Michelangelo Sabatino was named as a Fellow in Residency at The MacDowell Colony, Peterborough, New Hampshire, established in 1908, and providing crucial time and space to artists such as Leonard Bernstein, James Baldwin, Thornton Wilder, and Alice Walker. Michelangelo plans to begin his residency in December, 2011.

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