From the ARC

This week is the NAAB Accreditation Review Conference, where 41 reps from the collateral organizations and a host of other interests discuss changes to the Conditions of Accreditation. Everyone comes in to this conference with a slightly different understanding of the purposes of architectural education. And from the pages and pages of research and reasoning, it seems all have good reason for discussion. 

Our team is going in having reviewed, having parsed and debated a number of issues. NAAB has, too, releasing a framework for the conference that puts a number of important topics out for discussion.

 
We’ve shared before (here, too) what ACSA’s positions are for the conference. Accreditation should be leaner, allow programs more flexibility, and emphasize the skills that students can only learn in an architecture program. 

Comprehensive design, collaboration, performance, and professional practice are the pervasive topics, but we are also thinking about the cost of education and time to licensure that students face (see p. 5 & 22 of NCARB by the Numbers). Conditions should be flexible for schools to experiment with curricula that give students more direct paths into practice. 

Finally, we are going to emphasize that the paths to practice lead in many varied directions across schools in the United States and Canada. Assumptions about what students desire and what the professional market offers must be called out and examined in order to understand what forms of quality assurance best serve the profession and the public. 

Follow what people are doing on Twitter: #ARC13

Norman Millar



 

Download the ACSA/ARC Position Paper


University of Houston

Three Interior Architecture studio projects from the Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture, University of Houston, have been selected by curators of the Center for Visual Arts Gallery in Greensboro, NC for their forthcoming furniture exhibition.  The exhibition is sponsored by Phillips Collection, a notable and high-end High Point, NC-based contemporary furniture manufacturer.  The winner of the competition itself has the potential for fabrication and mass production by Phillips Collection, as well as inclusion in the Fall Furniture Market:

Joseph Echavarria & Roni Kop, project: TopoCouture
Francesca Sosa & Jessica Garrett, project: Tesselated Language
Cecilia Mejia & Joshua Hollie, project: Flowerfields

Center for Visual Arts Gallery & Phillips Collection Exhibition & Competition
Greensboro, NC
September 6 – October 4, 2013

Auburn University

Fourth year interior architecture students Jeffrey Bak, Chloe Schultz and Sean Flaharty won the Innovator’s Jury Award in the 2013 American Institute of Architecture Students’ Reinventing HOME© Student Design Competition. Their design, “Sun and Stone: A Case for Spatial Sequencing through Thermal Variation,” addressed the challenge of designing innovative homes and workplaces for those who live and work in long-term care settings. Christian Dagg, interior architecture program chair in the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture, was the team advisor.

Professor Behzad Nakhjavan , chair of the architecture program at the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture has been granted a visiting artist Fellowship at the American Academy in Rome this July, 2013.  Professor Nakhjavan plans to catalogue a series of Roman architectural urban contexts from the Classical to Baroque period during the visit. 

The Cahaba Blueway Project was inaugurated recently with an announcement for the first recreational site planned for development.  The “Moon River” canoe launch, on land provided by the Freshwater Land Trust, will be located on between Irondale and Leeds, AL on US Hwy 78. The Cahaba Blueway Project is a team effort between Alabama Innovation Engine, the Cahaba River Society and the Nature Conservancy.  Alabama Innovation Engine is a design-based community and economic development initiative, jointly funded by Auburn University and the University of Alabama.

Iowa State University

The Wrigley Building … the Chicago Tribune Tower … the Merchandise Mart … the Rookery. These are among the landmark Chicago skyscrapers that defined the city and inspired a nation during an era of prosperity and progress.

In the years between Chicago’s Great Fire of 1871 and the country’s Great Depression, Chicago was an epicenter for architecture’s modernization and urbanization. And it was a political hotbed of corruption, muckraking, unions and reform.

Those worlds intersect in a new book by Thomas Leslie, Pickard Chilton Professor in Architecture at Iowa State University. “Chicago Skyscrapers, 1871-1934” weaves together the daily struggles, technical breakthroughs and negotiations that produced Chicago’s magnificent buildings. The book will be published June 20 by University of Illinois Press and available from online booksellers.

An architectural gumshoe

For Leslie, researching the book over a 10-year period was akin to unraveling a whodunit.

He inspected old engineering journals and technical publications. He pored over original construction drawings of 19th century buildings. He examined manufactured parts like cast- and wrought-iron panels and shop drawings for terra cotta panels in the Chicago History Museum archives. He shadowed architects and builders through newspaper stories and photographs. He deciphered the building codes of the day.

“When you see all that, you get such a better understanding of how all these pieces fit together,” Leslie said.

“I’ve tried to look at these buildings as a really complex set of negotiations between economics, technology, politics and codes, which all came together to create a city,” Leslie said.

“And it turned out there were amazing stories,” he added.

Materials of style or economy?

For example, the Chicago Style was distinguished by the use of steel and plate glass. Steel was used for its ability to help buildings resist wind.  But it was also popular, Leslie said, because it shut out strike-prone bricklayers from much of a building’s construction. The bricklayers’ unions eventually struck back, using their political power to manipulate the city’s building code in their favor.

Leslie also uncovered a new motivation for the popularity of plate glass, which was manufactured in Pittsburgh at the time.

“During Chicago’s post-fire reconstruction boom, entrepreneurs moved the plate glass industry to central Indiana,” said Leslie, who visited the ruins of the factory and researched it in the local library. “For 10 years, the world center of plate glass production was in Kokomo where it fed Chicago directly.”

Because Chicago’s plate glass windows were the prototype for the modern skyscraper’s glass curtain wall, historians have maintained that the Chicago architects used plate glass intentionally as an expression of the modern.

“In reality, it was just that the glass was cheap because it was manufactured nearby. And, it was the easiest way to light the interiors of these buildings,” he said.

The Methodists versus the Chicago Tribune

Leslie also relates the story of a fight between a Methodist congregation and the Chicago Tribune that occurred during a mayoral election and changed the city’s building code.

The Tribune and the Methodists were both constructing buildings downtown in 1921. The congregation’s building was significantly higher than the code’s height limit. The Methodists argued they could do so because ‘we’re a church and the building has a spire. 

“But actually, the building has a sanctuary topped by 20 floors of commercial space and a spire,” Leslie said. “The Chicago Tribune looked across the river and cried foul, saying ‘that’s not a church, it’s a commercial tower.'”

The clash became a big controversy. The mayor — who was running for re-election at the time — courted the Methodist vote and “let some things slide.” The city’s 30-year-old building-height restriction was removed. And Chicago’s buildings grew taller.

“All because there was one savvy congregation that realized they could make a lot of money from their site. It was a very calculating, political and economic game,” Leslie said.

“The Chicago skyscraper story has been told by lots of people, but what’s amazing is how much hasn’t been fully understood,” Leslie said. “I feel like I ‘ve uncovered some new things.”

Leslie is also the author of Country Comes to Town: The Iowa State Fair (2007), Design-Tech: Building Science for Architects (with Jason Alread, 2006) and Louis I. Kahn: Building Art, Building Science (2005). Prior to joining Iowa State’s faculty in 2000, he was an architect with Sir Norman Foster and Partners, London and San Francisco.

In April, the American Academy in Rome named Leslie recipient of the 2012-14 Booth Family Rome Prize in Historic Preservation. He will spend six months at the academy researching and visiting the buildings of postwar Italian architect and engineer Pier Nervi, the subject of his next book.

ACSA Launches New Research Initiative

ACSA is pleased to welcome Lian Chang as its new Director of Research and Information. Chang received her M.Arch at Harvard and her PhD at McGill University. She has written for ArchitectureBoston, Archinect, and AZURE Magazine. August 1st was her first day with ACSA and here she shares with us her plans for the new position.

So much information flows by and through us at every moment–but most of it is either not available or not legible to us. Whether you’re a prospective student considering an education in architecture, an administrator assessing your school’s academic offerings, or a graduate navigating possible career paths, you need to understand the relevant data and the stories they tell.

With this in mind, the ACSA has launched a new position, Director of Research and Information–and I am excited to say that as of yesterday, I am filling this role. My task is to gather, analyze, and communicate information in support of the ACSA’s mission of encouraging dialogue, facilitating teaching and research, and fostering public awareness about architectural education.

In the coming months, I hope to share with you my efforts in renewing the ACSA’s Guide to Architecture Schools and the ACSA Atlas Project, and in generating new case studies and statistical reports. My goal is not just to create more data, but rather, to help you find the information you need. Some of the issues we’ve been discussing include:

  • diversity in students, faculty/staff, and in practice
  • student applications and enrollment, tuition/financial aid/debt
  • teaching and measurable student outcomes, design scholarship, faculty tenure
  • starting salaries, licensure, alternative career paths
  • societal and environmental impacts of architects and architectural education

    These are complex issues, and I will need some time and a great deal of help from you. In the coming months, I’ll be reaching out to member schools to ask for help in gathering the data that we collectively hold. You can also get in touch with me anytime: What are the challenges you’re facing and what information would you like to see? What data, ideas, and strategies do you have to share?

    I look forward to working with you.

    Lian Chang, M.Arch., Ph.D.
    Director of Research + Information
    Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture
    lchang@acsa-arch.org or 1-202-785-2324

    Summer Updates

    Barbara Opar and Barret Havens, column editors

    What I did on my summer vacation by….

    We’re sure many of you remember writing such pieces for class at the beginning of each fall in elementary school. So below is a report of how a number of architecture librarians spent their summer “vacation.” Since many academic libraries are less busy with reference work in the summer, it is an important time to complete projects aimed at improving service and collections. Here are some of the kinds of projects undertaken:

     

    Auburn University

    Renovation through Participatory Design
    Kasia Leousis
    Architecture and Art Libarian, Auburn University

    Auburn University’s Library of Architecture, Design and Construction recently underwent a complete renovation. Soliciting designs, ideas, and usage priorities from students and faculty was essential for its success. A participatory design charrette led by Industrial Design faculty and graduate students focused on identifying priorities to shape the final outcome. The College of Architecture, Design and Construction’s Student Council weighed in on the project at regular intervals. We installed a pin-up board in the library’s lobby and invited students to attach favorite furniture pieces and write comments. The Interior Architecture Thesis Research course visited the library and provided ideas and feedback on the renovation’s details. Our students asked us to highlight the floating staircase, natural concrete ceiling, and columns. Glassed-in offices provide visibility and transparency to services, while color and differentiated seating choices highlight the Brutalist style features. The library is now recognized as a “third place” for students to collaborate on projects, read, research, and study.

    NewSchool of Architecture and Design

    Renovating on a Shoestring Budget
    Lucy Campbell
    Librarian, NewSchool of Architecture and Design

    A short library survey back in April revealed that the one thing students at NewSchool were really dissatisfied with was study space.  Although the library has expanded twice in the last five years, it was clear that our space was not being utilized efficiently. With this in mind, we initiated a partial renovation which increased student seating in the library from 30 to 41, including additional study spaces and quiet, comfortable reading spots. Simultaneously, shelving was replaced, increasing the capacity of the stacks from 1200 to 1500 linear feet. Our renovation was remarkable in that all furniture and shelving was donated, and the installation work was completed by a team of students supervised by our Facilities Manager. This enabled us to complete the renovation on a minimal budget while providing summer jobs and a hands-on learning experience for our students. They are very proud of their work and we have received many positive comments from the campus community. The changes have even inspired the Materials Lab to create new signs for the circulation desk, and we will also be getting a fresh coat of paint. It is a wonderful demonstration for our architecture students of what can be achieved with a little creative thinking!


    reading nook

    Slide show of images of the renovation:  http://imgur.com/a/x6J0x#0

     

    Syracuse University 

    The Architecture Slide Digitization Project- 2013 update
    Barbara Opar,
    Architecture Librarian, Syracuse University

    The full report of the preliminary work done on digitizing parts of the analog architecture slide collection can be found at: http://online.vraweb.org/vrab/vol39/iss3/5/

    The summer of 2013 saw this major project moving forward toward completion!  After the Syracuse University Libraries discontinued and disbanded the slide collection, the School of Architecture accepted the transfer of the 100,000 plus architecture slides.  The slides are currently housed in Neumade cabinets in a small space near SOA faculty suites. Because of slides increasing irrelevance and inaccessibility to students and faculty, Architecture Reading Room student assistants have spent three years sorting, remounting and preparing the images for digitization in an effort to reduce the footprint and increase accessibility to students and staff for both learning and teaching purposes. Most of the modern architecture slides have been reviewed for digitization. Having finished sorting and remounting significant architects’ works and projects, the three summer students (two architecture students and one art photography major) recently began sorting through slides pertaining to individual countries. If all goes well, the entirety of the slides will be sorted and weeded out by the end of summer. Remounting and renaming will continue throughout the academic year, all the while with completed work being sent off to the Photo and Imaging Center. The finalized works, after having been reshot and burned to a DVD, will be available for distribution through library circulation in the Architecture Reading Room. As a next step, we are looking into making this material available to faculty on the SOA secure internal drive. If file browsing is permitted, students will be able to access the images via an external hard drive in the ARR in addition to the DVD option.

     

    Whitworth University

    Publication of Understanding Architecture: Its Elements, History, and Meaning, Revised Edition
    Amanda C. R. Clark
    Interim Associate Director of the Library at Whitworth University

    Amanda C.R. Clark, Interim Associate Director of the Library at Whitworth University, is pleased to announce the release of the revised edition of Understanding Architecture: Its Elements, History, and Meaning, a book that she co-authored with Leland M. Roth, Professor of Architectural History at the University of Oregon. Geographical coverage has been expanded in the revision and future directions for the discipline, including sustainability and green building have been discussed in greater detail.  The book is currently available through Amazon.com and other vendors.

    Woodbury University

    Over 1600 Architecture eBooks available via EBL’s Demand-driven Acquisitions Platform
    Barret Havens
    Asst. Professor and Outreach Librarian, Woodbury University

    Woodbury University has subscribed to the EBL eBooks platform and is currently customizing a list of titles that will be available to library users on a demand-driven basis starting this fall. For those not familiar with the demand-driven acquisitions model, it entails adding, to the library catalog, records for books that the library does not technically own. When library users encounter one of these records in the catalog, they are able to access the eBook for five minutes without triggering a purchase. At any time while previewing the item they are able to initiate a purchase by downloading the book, which will give them access for up to a week.  There are 1,649 titles in EBL’s architecture subject category that could be made available to the Woodbury Library community.

    University of Houston

    The Oak Forest Neighborhood Library in Houston, Texas was among six libraries to receive an AIA/ALA design award on July 2, 2013. The renovation and addition was designed by a collaboration of three small firms including UH CoA Associate Professor Donna Kacmar, FAIA, and her firm, Architect Works, Inc., along with Natalye Appel + Associates Architects and James Ray Architects. This is the 50th year of the joint program of the American Institute of Architects and the American Library Association. The design program, offered every two years, encourages excellence in the architectural design and planning of libraries, the AIA and the ALA created this award to distinguish accomplishments in library architecture. It is open to all library building projects designed by architects licensed in the United States and built anywhere in the world.

    Timber in the City competition: Design Students and Recent Grads Imagine a Mixed-Use Complex for Red Hook

    See the winning projects: www.acsa-arch.org/timber


    The competition focused on a site in the Brooklyn waterfront neighborhood of Red Hook, with a population of public housing residents and working artists and designers, and a number of new residential and commercial developments. With a focus on regenerating the urban manufacturing sector and addressing housing needs, entrants, working individually or in teams, were tasked with incorporating affordable housing units; a bike sharing and repair shop; as well as a vocational, manufacturing and distribution center for the innovative use of wood technology.

    “Today, timber is being used in new, innovative ways to help address the economic and environmental challenges of the build environment,” said Cees de Jager, executive director of BSLC. “This competition brought to life the way the design community is recognizing the benefits of wood – from reduced economic and environmental impact to enhanced aesthetic value and structural performance – to design buildings and communities of the future.”

    The projects will be on view at the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center at Parsons from October 24-31, and at the 2013 Greenbuild Conference in Philadelphia (November), the 2014 ACSA Annual Meeting in Miami (April) and the American Institute of Architects 2014 Convention in Chicago (June).

    “The winning submissions for the Timber in the City competition embraced advances in timber and building technologies to address the economic and environmental considerations of the challenge in remarkable ways,” said Andrew Bernheimer, director of the Master of Architecture program at Parsons. “By situating the competition in Brooklyn, our goal is to catalyze the design community and government agencies to better recognize the potential of larger-scale wood design and construction in cities.”

    Awards, totaling $30,000, were presented to teams of students and faculty and recent graduates for their unique celebrations of wood products.

    First Place: “Grow Your Own City” – the University of Oregon’s winning submission attracted the jurors with its use of cross-laminated timber (CLT) as a new building technology to create a cost-effective, environmentally friendly solution for the Red Hook community. The team addressed the community’s need for livable and recreational areas that support a wide range of daily activities for inhabitants.

    • Students: Benjamin Bye, Alex Kenton and Jason Rood from the University of Oregon
    • Faculty Sponsors: Judith Sheine, University of Oregon and Mikhail Gershfeld, Cal Poly Pomona, Civil Engineering Department

    Second Place: “Cultivating Timber” – the University of Texas at Austin also leveraged CLT as the primary building material for their design. In working to reduce greenhouse gasses and embodied energy accompanied with transporting materials, the team proposed to bring the manufacturing equipment to the site and develop the CLT panels locally. Overall, designing a community that demonstrated the use of timber in an urban environment and worked to provide residents with sustainable living options.

    • Student: Christopher Gardner, University of Texas at Austin
    • Faculty Sponsor: Ulrich Dangel, University of Texas at Austin

    Additionally, two student teams were selected as honorable mention winners:

    1. Swamp Machine – Students: Benjamin Ahearn, Kristin Karlsson and Carey Moran, University of Washington / Faculty Sponsors: Richard Mohler and Elizabeth Golden, University of Washington
    2. House of Wood – Student: Emily Hagen, Virginia Tech / Faculty Sponsor: Heinrich Schnoedt, Virginia Tech

    As well as two individual recent graduates were selected as honorable mention winners:

    1. Courtyard Cathedral – Timothy Olson, Jan 2012 graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    2. The Habitat @ Red Hook – Sam Pitnick, May 2010 graduate of University of Southern California

    The winning projects were chosen by a panel of distinguished jury members in the architecture community, including the following:

    • Mark Cruvellier, Cornell University
    • Michael Green, MGA | Michael Green Architecture, Vancouver
    • Abby Hamlin, Hamlin Venture
    • Alan Organschi, Yale University
    • Tricia Stuth, University of Tennesee, Knoxville
    • Andrew Waugh, Waugh Thistleton Architects, London

    “We are exceptionally pleased with the turnout for the competition which is in its first year,” said Norman Millar, ACSA President. “Both the jury members and the involvement of more than 1,000 students and recent graduates created a very engaging dynamic for the future of timber construction. These young designers were challenged to examine the benefits that wood can offer for urban design projects.”

    The competition ran from August 2012 through May 22, 2013 and included 1,082 student and recent graduate participants. The design jury met in July to select the winning projects and honorable mentions. For full details on the competition and the winning submissions visit https://www.acsa-arch.org/timber.

     

    Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture Founded in 1912 to advance the quality of architectural education, the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) represents all accredited programs and their faculty across the United States and Canada, as well as nonaccredited and international affiliate members around the world. ACSA, unique in its representative role for schools of architecture, provides a forum for ideas on the leading edge of architectural thought. Issues that will affect the architectural profession in the future are being examined today in ACSA member schools. The association maintains a variety of activities that influence, communicate, and record important issues. Such endeavors include scholarly meetings, workshops, publications, awards and competition programs, support for architectural research, policy development, and liaison with allied organizations. For more information, please visit www.acsa-arch.org.

    Binational Softwood Lumber Council The Binational Softwood Lumber Council (BSLC), a nonprofit organization, was established in 2006 by the Canadian and U.S. governments. The BSLC champions the use of softwood lumber products as part of the shift to a more environmentally responsible and economically viable building sector. Sustainably harvested wood products from North America create jobs in rural communities, reduce costs and can help reduce the overall environmental footprint of a home or building. For more information, visit www.softwoodlumber.org.

    Parsons The New School for Design Parsons The New School for Design is a global leader in design education, with programs that span the disciplines of design and the fine arts. Parsons prepares students to creatively and critically address the complex conditions of contemporary global society. Its curriculum is geared toward synthesizing rigorous craft with cutting-edge theory and research methods, and encourages collaborative and individual approaches that cut across a wide array of disciplines. The School of Constructed Environments at Parsons is the only integrated school of interior design, lighting design, product design and architecture in the country. For more information, please visit www.newschool.edu/parsons/sce.

    University at Buffalo

    Joyce Hwang was promoted to Associate Professor with Tenure.

    H+W Studio (Hiro Hata, Harry Warren and Mike Williams), part of the UB Regional Institute, have been hired to review the design of a new, $200 Million (US) university campus for the University of Trinidad and Tobago.

    Dennis Maher and Nerea Feliz conducted the 2013 Barcelona Study Abroad Program with 12 students from June-August. The group held seminars and studios in the gothic-vaulted workshop space of Catalan landscape architect Beth Gali. Maher also conducted the workshop “Drawing the Fargo House” with Buffalo-area teachers who were invited to Maher’s residence in order to undertake a series of house-drawing experiments. In addition, a book chapter by Maher entitled, “900 Miles to Paradise and Other Afterlives of Architecture” has been published in Architecture Post Mortem (Ashgate Press), a collection of essays edited by Donald Kunze, David Bertolini, and Simone Brott.  Architecture Post Mortem surveys architecture’s encounter with death, decline, and ruination following late capitalism. Maher has also produced a limited-edition print, commissioned by organizer’s of the Echo Art Fair.  The print depicts a study for Common Cosmos, a forthcoming installation by Maher that will be sited at Cornell University.

    Nick Bruscia and Chris Romano have been selected as a finalist in the TEX-FAB Skin Competition for their entry project 2XmT, a self-supporting sheet metal system that emerged out of their research collaboration with the Rigidized Metals Corporation.  They are 1 of 4 finalists moving onto the second round of the international competition and will be supported with a $1,250 stipend to develop a new physical prototype of their system which will be exhibited at the ACADIA Adaptive Architecture Conference at the University of Waterloo in October, 2013.  The winner will be announced at the conference and will build a full-scale prototype with fabrication sponsorship by Zahner Co. and exhibited in Austin, Texas for the TEX-FAB 5 event in early 2014.  http://tex-fab.net/skin-results/

    Elevator B, by Courtney Creenan, Kyle Mastalinski, Dan Nead, Scott Selin, and Lisa Stern, was published in the July 2013 issue of Architectural Record (both in print and online). Elevator B was the winning project of the Hive City Design Competition, organized by the Ecological Practices Research Group.

    Atlantic Cities (June 2013) published an interview with Andrew Perkins (M.Arch ’12), Stephen Zacks and Jerome Chou on the Flint Public Art Project. Perkins’ involvement with the Flint Public Art Project stems from his M. Arch thesis project conducted with Matthieu Bain, “Dwelling on Waste”: http://www.theatlanticcities.com/arts-and-lifestyle/2013/06/how-much-crazy-art-would-it-take-make-you-want-visit-flint-michigan/5920/

    Ariel Resnick (graduate) with Kim Dai, Danielle Krug and Kathryn Hobert are finalists in a recent competition held by Morpholio, with the final outcome to be heard after August 20th. The competition, entitled “Inside 2013,” was assembled as a means to publicly promote the research, exploration and investigation currently happening amongst today’s emerging talent. An article features some of the work of the finalists can be seen at http://www.bustler.net/index.php/article/inside_2013_competition_finalists/. The link to the morpholio home page is http://mymorpholio.com/site.php.

    Auburn University

    Charlene LeBleu, Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture, has been elected to the American Society of Landscape Architecture’s Council of Fellows, the highest honor that ASLA bestows upon its members. LeBleu, who joined the faculty of the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture in 2004, was nominated by Alabama ASLA chapter for her contribution of knowledge to the profession of landscape architecture and for her lifelong pursuit of research, education and leadership in storm water research, design, and implementation. She will be inducted into the Council of Fellows at the ASLA annual meeting in Boston on November 17, 2013. LeBleu is the third ASLA Fellow in the State of Alabama, and the first woman Fellow in Alabama since 1899.

    Ivan Vanchev and Doug Bacon, students in the Master of Integrated Design and Construction program, received an Honorable Mention  in the 2013 Leicester B. Holland Prize: A Single Sheet Measured Design Competition for their drawing, “Auburn Oaks and Toomer’s Corner.” Thier drawing will be put in the Library of Congress and will be available on the National Park Service website as part of the Historic America Buildings Survey (HABS) and the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER).  Vanchev and Bacon produced their entry as part of an independent study directed by Professor Rebecca Retzlaff.

    The School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture (APLA) was well represented  when winners were recently announced for the 2013 Birmingham AIA Design Awards competition. Many Honor and Merit Awards were awarded to alumni-led teams and firms. Williams Blackstock Architecture (Joel Blackstock ’80), Dungan Nequette Architects (Jeff Dungan  ’93 and Louis Nequette ’93), Live Design Group  (Aubrey Garrison III ’66, Craig Krawczyk ’97, Jeff Quinn ’78) and GA Studio (several Auburn alumni associates and interns) were among those represented in multiple award categories.

    APLA alumnus Samuel “Jack” Bassett (’08) is one of six young professionals chosen by the Design Futures Council as an Emerging Leader for 2013. Each honoree will receive  a scholarship to attend the 12th annual Leadership Summit on Sustainable Design to be held in Minneapolis, Minnesota in October. The annual summit brings together a delegation of 100 people from the world’s most influential design, engineering and construction firms to explore innovation in sustainable design. The scholarship is sponsored by DuPont Building Innovations as a way to invest in the young talent in the design and construction industry.