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University of Minnesota

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Both Renee Cheng, head of the School of Architecture, and Tom Fisher, dean of the College of Design, were listed among the top 25 most admired design educators by Design Intelligence. Fisher has been writing about design in the Huffington Post, has recently published a piece “The Death and Life of Great Architecture Criticism for Places,” and continues to write every other month for Architect magazine about past P/A Award winning projects. He also lectured at Yale and Auburn on topics related to creating more resilient communities, the subject of his next book.

Auburn University

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In the fall of 2010, the Elmore County Economic Development Authority approached the School of Architecture, Planning, and Landscape Architecture for help envisioning design options for a new interpretive center at the site of a five-mile wide meteor impact crater in Wetumpka, Alabama.  Today the remains of this crater create one of the only accessible ocean impact craters in the world, and the ECEDA hopes the facility will one day become part of a “trail” of science and space related attractions that would begin the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

Sixty second-year architecture students, under the direction of Professors Justin Miller, Ryan Salvas, Bob Faust, and Robert Sproull developed design proposals for the facility as part of an annual competition sponsored by the Alabama Forestry Association and the City of Wetumpka.  The students’ designs were judged by a panel of architects and special guests from Elmore County who included Wetumpka Mayor Jerry Willis.  The winning model, belonging to student Ryan Zimmerman, was unveiled at a press conference and reception at the City of Wetumpka Administration Building on August 23.

The City of Wetumpka and ECEDA are currently working with Auburn University Montgomery’s Center for Government to complete various grant applications for the project and hope to break ground on the crater center by January 1, 2015.

_Andrew Freear, Wiatt Professor in the School of Architecture, Planning, and Landscape Architecture and Director of the Rural Studio, was included in the Oxford American’s ”The Most Creative Teachers in the South” (August 2011, Issue 74).

One of thirteen educators chosen from throughout the region, Freear was included among “Influential educators admired by their students and colleagues, whose classrooms serve as forums for social change, whose homes become their classroom, and in some cases, whose assignments become homes.”

Professor Christian Dagg, Associate Professor and Program Chair of the Interior Architecture program, has been named Acting Head of the School of Architecture, Planning, and Landscape Architecture while Professor David Hinson completes a sabbatical leave.

Penn State University

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Ron Henderson, a landscape architect and educator with broad international experience, is the new head of the Department of Landscape Architecture and chair of Integrative Design in the H. Campbell and Eleanor R. Stuckeman School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, Penn State College of Arts and Architecture, effective September 1.

Henderson came to Penn State from Tsinghua University in Beijing, China, where he served for six years on the inaugural faculty in its Department of Landscape Architecture, attracted by the opportunity to build a new program at China’s oldest school of architecture. A licensed architect and landscape architect, he is the founder of L + A Landscape Architecture, an award-winning design practice with projects in North America, Europe and Asia.

Henderson’s international experience helped him to obtain a 2012 Creative Artists Exchange Fellowship, sponsored by the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission and administered by the National Endowment for the Arts. He was one of five artists selected from more than 200 applicants and the first landscape architect chosen since the fellowship was initiated in 1978. In spring 2012, he will travel and study cultural landscapes in Japan as an extension of his previous research.

Henderson previously taught at Rhode Island School of Design and Roger Williams University. He holds master of architecture and master of landscape architecture degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and a bachelor of architecture degree from the University of Notre Dame. His teaching experience spans theory, ecology, landscape planning, hydrology, graduate theses and a decade of design studios.

“Ron’s interdisciplinary background and experience in collaborative work make him an ideal choice to lead the Department of Landscape Architecture, especially at a time when working across disciplines and professional boundaries is increasingly important,” said Barbara O. Korner, dean of the College of Arts and Architecture. “We are thrilled to have someone of Ron’s stature here in the College of Arts and Architecture. 

Henderson has completed professional works in both Japan and China, including the China Pavilion roof garden, Jiuzhou Qingyan, at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo. He was design consultant for the Beijing Olympic Forest Park (2008) that was recognized in 2009 by an American Society of Landscape Architects Honor Award for Design and the international Torsanlorenzo Prize for Landscape Architecture. He developed that project while completing work on his forthcoming book, The Garden of Suzhou, to be published in 2012 by the prestigious University of Pennsylvania Press and supported by the J. Paul Getty Trust. Among his current projects is a garden for the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.

Laurie Olin, who had recruited Henderson to Tsinghua University, described him as “a bit of a wonder … as a scholar, a designer and a teacher. He is also a marvelous individual best characterized as the salt of the earth.”

Henderson said his goals include raising the profile of the Department of Landscape Architecture by guiding faculty toward publishing their research in academic journals, books and other media for audiences both inside and outside the profession, increasing the internationalization of the landscape architecture profession, and working with the faculty to advance the department’s graduate programs.

Architecture in the Mediated Environment of Contemporary Culture; A New Forum for Research and Communication

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Graham James with Rachel Isaac-Menard (about AMPS – Ravensbourne University College; Florida State University)

ARCHITECTURE_MEDIA_POLITICS_SOCIETY is a new online forum and academic resource repository and fully peer-reviewed, open access academic journal.  ISSN 2050-9006

It is a forum for the analysis of architecture in the mediated environment of contemporary culture. It seeks to expand an understanding of architecture and its relationship with media, politics and society in its broadest sense. It is a unique project that combines the work of information specialists and academics.

The origins of the journal were in a collaboration between the two current editors on an Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funding bid. Although that particular bid was not successful, they developed the project further and it is now hosted on the web site. It is called Architecture as Political Image and investigates the use of architecture in political campaign imagery in the United States and the United Kingdom.

Identifying not only a lack of material on this particular subject research area, but on the sometimes direct relationships between politics and architecture in general, Dr Graham Cairns and Rachel Isaac Menard developed the project into the forum / journal ARCHITECTURE MEDIA POLITICS SOCIETY. The journal has now been running since September 2012 and intends to fill a subject void in current academic publishing.

Beyond this however, the project attempts to develop a closer and more dynamic relationship between academics, researchers and information specialists in a number of ways. The intention is to run a resource repository that has five specific functions.

The first of these functions is to offer a discussion forum and networking venue for information specialists in the areas of interest for the journal. A double blind peer reviewed paper, written by a librarian, will be published every two months. It will set the theme of a discussion forum between members of the Information Services Committee and external participants. Dedicated exclusively to librarians, it is hoped that informative discussions can take place and that networking can be instigated between users of the site.

The second and third functions of the repository are related to the journal’s overall themes. They are the AMPS Critical Review section which will be updated monthly and a Current Events section to be updated on a rolling basis. The critical reviews will be double blind peer reviewed and can be written by any contributor to AMPS. It is expected that the reviews will be primarily of books but can also include films, documentaries or any other relevant events or publications. The aim of the Current Events section is to offer a wider range of shorter reviews, conference postings and calls for papers etc. This listing will include publically available brief descriptions.

The fourth and fifth functions of the repository are more specifically related to the hosted project. They are a Websites Index – Archive and a Research Guide. The Websites Index lists sites currently active and dealing with political communication and / or the relationship between architecture and politics in terms of direct policy or image. The Research Guide lists printed and audio-visual materials on the same themes.  The intention is to make the Websites Index an internationally accessible research source and eventually create an archive that will be presented for collection to a relevant institution such as the Library of Congress, the British Library and / or the Canadian Centre for Architecture.  The Research Guide will be an extensive and specialised bibliography categorised into materials relevant to political communication, architecture as contemporary symbolism and media studies.  At the end of the “Architecture as Political Image” project, both a website index and bibliography will be set up based on the next hosted project.

The editors are also seeking to combine the skills and knowledge of researchers and information specialists through the medium of academic conferences. They are currently engaged in conversations with a number of international institutions about hosting a conference on the journal’s themes which will produce photographic and written materials for eventual archiving. This would include papers but also extended bibliographic lists and source indexes.

These innovative features are embedded in the standard structure of an academic journal. Here too however, a number of particular characteristics distinguish the project. Its theme is more explicit in its political slant than is normal and, in addition, it is explicit about its treatment of architecture a cultural phenomenon that cannot be divorced from other disciplines.

It publishes one article online each month and has the intention of publishing a printed book every two years. This book will contain more developed selected texts, and thus uses the electronic print option as a basis for more substantial printed publications. The electronic format also allows for reader and peer feedback and it is hoped that this can help authors develop their work and possibly function as a point of reference in itself.

The journal thus aims to move the academic printing and publication model in slightly new ways and, importantly, set up a more established and detailed collaboration between research and information than currently exists in academia or academic publishing generally.

www.architecturemps.com

Currently, Dr Graham Cairns is a Visiting Professor at Ravensbourne (University College), London, UK and Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, US. He will also be taking up a fellowship at California Institute of the Arts. gc@architecturemps.com Rachel Isaac-Menard teaches information literacy at Concordia University, Montreal, Canada. ris@architecturemps.com

They run ARCHITECTURE_MEDIA_POLITICS_SOCIETY as an independent project that is not exclusively associated with any single University. Rather, it is run in affiliation with a variety of international institutions. This too is an unusual, although not unique, characteristic of the journal that tries to ensure a wide range of participants and allow the project and journal to respond to different interests and factors that cross geographical and specific institutional concerns.

In all of these ways, the journal is seeking to tread new ground while aligning itself with some established practices and models. Thus far, its multi institutional basis has led to the publication of papers written in the US, the UK and Mexico. It is seeking to develop conferences in Canada and in Europe and, crucially, it brings together aspects of the typical institutional set up that remain too divorced; academia, research and information studies. It is hoped that this combination of academics and information services specialists will lead to both an interesting journal and a highly useful data resource.

 

Auburn University

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Magdalena Garmaz, Associate Professor in the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture, will serve as the Interim Program Chair for the college-wide Bachelors of Environmental Design major. Her two-year term appointment is effective on August 16, 2012.

Auburn University Architecture Thesis student work was recently featured in an exhibition during the first annual ‘Montgomery Street Fair’ on April 21, 2012. The event was produced by Helicity Montgomery, a local non-profit that seeks to be a catalyst for the continued cultural and social development of the City of Montgomery and surrounding areas through arts and community engagement. For several years, Auburn architecture has cultivated a thesis studio that explores the possibilities of the urban revitalization of downtown Montgomery; with each passing year the projects have become more and more relevant to the conversation about how to improve Montgomery’s urban landscape. By working with the City of Montgomery Department of Development and local architects, professors Behzad Nakhjavan and Magdalena Garmaz have immersed their students in tangible issues, shaping the would be hypothetical explorations into increasingly applicable design solutions for Montgomery.   Several Projects have been selected to be showcased further at Department of Development at a reception in early June.

Brandon Block, a May 2012 graduate of the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture, was one of two top winners in the “Live.Work.Learn” student architecture contest announced at the 2012 AIA National Convention in Washington, DC. Sponsored by Boral Bricks, the contest was planned in collaboration with the American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS) and required students to design a live/work building using brick for 70 percent of the exterior siding. Entries were judged on their excellence in live/work design and creative use of bricks by a panel representing industry leadership in the architecture, brick, and building industries. Block’s winning design was part of his undergraduate comprehensive thesis project developed under the direction of Professor Behzad Nakhjavan.

Dr. Rod Barnett, Chair of the Master of Landscape Architecture program in the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture, and Dr. Paul Cullen, A Fulbright Scholar visiting from AUT University, Auckland, New Zealand, have collaborated to produce an exhibition entitled “Contingency” on display in the College of Architecture, Design and Construction Gallery. This collaborative project has involved an investigation of a range of urban sites in Auburn and Birmingham, AL and speculations on their possible development and regeneration. Dr. Barnett and Dr. Cullen have used photographs, models, and drawings to present their speculative responses to these sites.

Dean’s Executive Board member, Patrick B. Davis, Jr., FAIA, has been appointed by Governor Robert Bentley to the Alabama Board of Architects.  Davis, member of The College of Fellows of The American Institute of Architects, has nearly four decades of experience as an architect specializing in all aspects of healthcare planning and design. He is employed with CMH Architects, Inc., in Birmingham, AL, as Vice President of Healthcare Services.

Donald C. Brown, FAIA, from AIA Montgomery, was elected 2013-14 AIA Vice President. A 1971 graduate of the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture, Brown is owner and lead principal of Brown Studio Architecture in Montgomery.

University of Calgary

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Professor Jim Love was co-applicant for a successful $5 million award granted by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, to establish a “Smart Net Zero Energy Buildings Research Network.” The Ralph Klein Environmental Education Centre in Calgary won a 2011 Sustainable Architecture and Building Magazine award. Adjunct Professor Chris Roberts was project architect, while Jim Love was the LEED coordinator and energy and commissioning consultant.

Dr. Brian R. Sinclair, FRAIC, had his new book entitled “Campus Design + Planning: Culture, Context and the Pursuit of Sustainability” published by the Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC). He recently completed a lecture tour in the Middle East, including the Inaugural Address in the “Sustainability Lecture Series” sponsored by the Responsible Urbanism Research Laboratory (RURL) at Zayed University (Abu Dhabi). In 2010 Dr. Sinclair received the President’s Medal of Distinguished Achievement by the International Institute for Advanced Studies in Systems Research and Cybernetics in Germany. 

David Monteyne published his book, Fallout Shelter: Designing for Defense in the Cold War, with the University of Minnesota Press.

Graham Livesey has published the following contributions to books in the last year: “Assemblage,” “Fold + Architecture,” “Rhizome + Architecture,” and “Space + Architecture,” in A. Parr, ed., The Deleuze Dictionary (Edinburgh University Press); “Event Theory and Creative Agency,” in Faber, Krips, and Pettus, eds., Event and Decision: Ontology and Politics in Badiou, Deleuze and Whitehead (Cambridge Scholars Publishing); and, “Ecologies, Assemblages and the Patchwork City,” in A. Parr, and M. Zaretsky, eds. New Directions in Sustainable Design (Routledge).

The Architecture Program recently hosted the ACADIA 2011 Annual Conference (Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture). This international event was organized by faculty members Jason Johnson, Josh Taron, Vera Parlac, and Branko Kolarevic.

In 2011, the program has hosted the following distinguished scholars in our short course series: the William Lyon Somerville design charrette in January was taught by architect Adam Caruso of London; the Taylor Visiting Lecturer in February was Drura Parrish of the University of Kentucky; and the Gillmor Theory Seminar in October was taught by Dr. Jane Rendell of the Bartlett School of Architecture, London.

University of Texas at Austin

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Vincent Snyder Architects‘ project, Urban Reserve 22, was selected for a Grand Award in the Green Development category from the newly combined Builder’s Choice and the Custom Home Design awards programs which received over 630 submissions.

Alterstudio Architecture‘s Parkside: three buildings on Old 19th Street was selected for the Project of the Year Award from the newly combined Builder’s Choice and the Custom Home Design awards. The houses were designed by Professor Kevin Alter and partners Ernesto Cragnolino [B.Arc.h ’97, BSAE ’97, BA Plan II ’97], Timothy Whitehill [B.Arch. ’02], and senior associate Matthew Slusarek [M.Arch. ’05]. It is featured on the cover of the October 2013 issue of Builder magazine print and online publications.

Anthony Alofsin, Roland Roessner Centennial Professor of Architecture, lectured on “Frank Lloyd Wright and His Taliesin Letters” for the Avery Friends and the Friends of the Columbia University Libraries, New York City, on October 8, and on “Frank Lloyd Wright: Research Initiatives for Scholars and Practitioners,” Buell Center for American Architecture, also at Columbia University, on October 18, 2013.

On October 4, Professor Juan Miró gave a lecture about the work of Miró Rivera Architects (MRA), titled “Construyendo Ideas” (“Building Ideas”), at the Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico City Campus. Several projects from Miró Rivera Architects were featured in recent publications. In the October edition of Architectural Record, MRA’s Circuit of the Americas project is spotlighted in an article titled “Formula for Success.” Two other MRA projects, the Pedestrian Bridge on Lake Austin and the Town Lake Trail Restroom, were featured in the digital publication Arch Daily. In addition, the MRA-designed LifeWorks building—only the fourth commercial project in Austin to earn Austin Energy’s 5-Star Green Building rating—appears in the September/October issue of Texas Architect among the 2013 TSA Design Award Winners.

Associate Professor Fernando Lara was on a rampant lecture series this fall—first in Monterrey, Mexico, at Universidad Autonoma Nuevo Leon on September 4; then in Bogota and Medellín, Colombia, at Pontificia Universidad Bolivariana on September 25-26; and finally at the University of Maryland on October 5. In each of the lectures, Lara spoke about the production of public spaces in the Americas, with a special focus on the protests that took over Brazilian cities last summer. In addition, a new paper published at the Journal of Urban Design (Vol. 18, No. 4, September 2013), titled “Favela upgrade in Brazil: a reverse of participatory processes,” aims to explain the rationale behind such protests.

Assistant Professor Danelle Briscoe has contributed a chapter, titled “Reconfiguring Frit,” in Unconventional Computing: Design Methods for Adaptive Architecture, edited by Simone Ferracina and Rachel Armstrong, to be published by Riverside Architectural Press on the occasion of the ACADIA 2013 Adaptive Architecture Conference, Cambridge, Canada.

Assistant Professor Matt Fajkus, along with James Timberake (of Kieran Timberlake) and Mell Lawrence, was selected to be a juror for the 2013 Fort Worth AIA Awards. The jurors selected winning entries and provided commentary on the merit of each project at the Forth Worth Modern Museum on October 15th.

Senior Lecturer and Conservation Scientist Fran Gale served as a juror for the Washington D.C. Chapter of the American Institute of Architects 2013 Design Awards. Fellow jurors for the Historic Resources category were Robert Loversidge, Jr., FAIA and Don Swofford, FAIA. The Historic Resources category includes preservation or restoration projects, adaptive reuse of existing structures whose overall architectural character is maintained, sympathetic additions to historic structures, and replication or reconstruction of damaged or destroyed structures or elements.

Professor Christopher Long‘s newest book, Paul T. Frankl: Autobiography, was just published by Doppelhouse Press in Los Angeles. Aurora McClain [M.Arch. ’11], master’s candidate in architectural history, co-edited the book with Professor Long. Noted Viennese graphic design Peter Duniecki designed the book.

Professor Long’s two recent books, Paul T. Frankl and Modern American Design and Josef Frank: Schriften/Josef Frank: Writings (2 vols., co-editor, with Tano Bojankin and Iris Meder), have received some nice publicity in the Austrian press. Die Presse, one of Vienna’s leading newspapers, chose the Frank book as one of the five most important architecture or design works of the past year; and Profil, the largest circulation magazine in Austria, just published a three-page feature review of the Frankl book, with quotes from Long.

On October 11 and 12, Assistant Professor Benjamin Ibarra Sevilla taught a workshop on “Thin Tile Vaulting Techniques” at the Architecture Preservation Technology Conference in New York City.

Dean Fritz Steiner was a keynote speaker at the Geodesign International Conference, held October 28•29, 2013, in Beijing, China. The conference is a joint effort of Peking University and ESRI.

Senior Lecturer Rachael Rawlins has published an article, titled “Planning For Fracking on the Barnett Shale: Urban Air Pollution, Improving Health Based Regulation, and the Role of Local Governments,” in the Virginia Environmental Law Journal (Vol. 31, Issue 2).

Assistant Professor Clay Odom made a presentation titled “Patterning (and) the Interior Design Studio” at the IFI (International Federation of Interior Designers/Interior Architects) Global Interior Educators Open Forum in Sydney/New South Wales University, held October 3–4. 

University of Oregon

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The Department of Architecture welcomes international Fulbright Foreign Student Scholars from Lebanon and Pakistan along with Visiting Professor Ralf Weber, professor of architecture and dean of Academic Affairs at Dresden University of Technology in Dresden, Germany and 2012-2013 Margo Grant Walsh Professor in Interior Design Jody Pene IIDA, LEED AP, interior designer at GBD Architects in Portland, Oregon.

Architecture Associate Professor Ihab Elzeyadi won the Research Excellence Award in the International Research Project of the Year category at the World Congress for Design and Health Academy Awards 2012 for his paper, “The Health Impacts of Daylighting in the Workplace.” His findings were published in World Health Design Journal in July 2012 (pp. 60-67). Elzeyadi was also appointed by the Board to the Congress Scientific committee during the congress, held in in Kuala Lumpur.

Associate Professor Nico Larco is on a Fulbright in Spain this year, working with the University of Navarra in Pamplona and the Polytechnic University of Catalunya in Barcelona.  He is teaching classes and conducting research on sustainable urbanism–specifically on recent development patterns in these and other Spanish cities.  

The Sustainable Cities Initiative (SCI), an organization leading multidisciplinary sustainability related research and teaching and founded and run by Prof. Larco and Prof. Marc Schlossberg from the Department of Planning, Public Policy, and Management, is a finalist for the FT/CITI Ingenuity Awards.  As part of this, SCI was recently featured in an article in the Financial Times of London.  

Department Head Christine Theodoropoulos, AIA, left the University of Oregon at the end of August to become Dean at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.  Judith Sheine, ACSA Distinguished Professor and Professor and Chair of Architecture at Cal Poly Pomona, will join us winter term as our new department head.  Former Department Head Michael Fifield, FAIA, will serve as Interim Department Head during this transition.

American University of Sharjah

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The Department of Architecture welcomes Assistant Professor Jason Ward to the faculty.  Jason joins the faculty following a year as a visiting assistant professor and he will be coordinating the 3rd year Design Studio as well as teaching courses in materials, technology and structures.  Jason holds an M.Arch from Harvard University and a B.Arch from the University of Arkansas.  In 2004 he was a visiting scholar at the American Academy in Rome.  He has practiced architecture in New England, Canada and the southwestern US with such high profile firms as MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects and Marlon Blackwell Architect.  He has previously taught at the University of New Mexico and co-taught a design studio at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia with Brian MacKay-Lyons.

In addition, the Department of Architecture welcomes new visiting faculty members Joe Collistra, George Newlands, and Faysal Tabbarah.

Joe Collistra joins the faculty as a visiting assistant professor and is teaching in the 4th year Design Studio.  He received his M.Arch from the University of Colorado and has a Bachelor of Environmental Design from Miami University in Ohio.  He has previously taught at the University of Colorado in Denver where he has been Principal Architect at ISD Architecture since 2002.  His firm specializes in environmentally and socially responsible design.  

George Newlands joins the school as a visiting assistant professor this year.  He holds both a BFA and an M.Arch from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque where he has lived and worked for over 25 years.  George was a project architect in the office of Antoine Predock Architect, and since 2006 he has maintained his own architectural practice.  He has previously taught at the University of New Mexico.

Faysal Tabbarah holds a B.Arch from the American University of Sharjah and an M.Arch from the Architectural Association in London.  He is the first alum of AUS to return to the school as a full-time faculty member and thus marks a new milestone for the Department.  While in London Faysal worked in the Design Research Laboratory, a collaborative and research based program that focuses on exploring analogue and digital forms of computation to generate scenario and time-based systemic design applications.

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