Ryerson University


Andokope School K-8

Initiated by Orphans’ Heroes (www.orphansheroes.org) , a New York-based charity, the Andokope School is a collaborative, design-build project involving faculty and students from Ryerson University’s Department of Architectural Science (www.arch.ryerson.ca), the Toronto office of the award-winning design firm, Arup (www.arup.com), and the Accra, Ghana-based architecture, engineering, and project management firm, Spatial Dimension.

Situated on a relatively flat and treeless, one-and one-half-acre site located not far from the rural community of Andokope in the Volta region of eastern Ghana, the school project provides classrooms for some 300 students in grades K-8, as well as related amenities including a library, a sheltered lunch area that doubles as a performance space, various learning grounds, several hygienic, compost toilets, a clinic, and living accommodations for a half-dozen of the school’s teachers. Linked by a sheltering arcade, ten passively ventilated classrooms are arranged along the perimeter of a central courtyard. Envisioned to be “off the grid”, the facility features rainwater collection, groundwater recharging through percolation trenches, and solar heating for cooking purposes as well as for sterilizing utensils.

Andokope School is intended to serve as a community anchor, one that is premised on providing a safe, accessible, and inclusive educational experience for children. The design seeks to address three major quality of life concerns for people living in the wider area: the lack of educational facilities, the problem of unsafe drinking water, and the difficulty of accessing medical care.

Based on discussions with Orphans’ Heroes, the Ryerson team began by determining basic programmatic elements, using simple, colour-coded, scaled cut-outs to explore options for various functional and spatial layouts. Using this relatively straightforward technique, the team tested various layout options at a meeting with the client, who had traveled to Toronto from New York, as well as the project manager, who had traveled from Ghana. Ultimately, a preferred layout was arrived at, which was taken into schematic design and design development phases.

During all phases of the work, the Ryerson team collaborated fully with Arup according to the Integrated Design Process (IDP) model, in which all aspects of the design, from conception to plan, to section, to materials, to structure, to passive design strategies and systems were explored. The IDP process enhanced the creativity of all members of the collaborative, ensuring that the design and design development process was one of refinement rather than re-conception.

The Ryerson team then produced a considerably more detailed design, which was forwarded to the Arup contingent for adjustment and ratification. Subsequently, Arup Toronto’s entire office was invited to attend a presentation of the work. Following this, the penultimate design was sent to the client for approval. Once accepted, the design was sent to the project manager in Ghana for costing. Finally, a set of presentation images was prepared by the Ryerson team’s lead designer to confirm the design’s architectural merit – the set was then forwarded to the client to help launch the charity’s fundraising campaign.

The Andokope School K-8 project is currently in the fundraising stage, with phased construction anticipated to commence later in 2014.

For more information about the Andokope School project, please visit:

www.orphansheroes.org/Orphans_Heroes/Ghana__Andokope.html

The Andokope School Team:
 
Orphans’ Heroes
        Jennifer Millett-Barrett, President
 
Arup Toronto
        Jennifer McArthur 
       Paul Paquet
      Malcolm Wallace
      Ahmed Ghazi
      Taher Kamruddin
      Even Ma
      Dejan Srbulovic           

Ryerson University, Department of Architectural Science
               Dr. Ian MacBurnie
               David Campbell, Design Team Coordinator and Lead Designer

               Design Team Members:
               James Heusser-Kowell
               Sarah Ives
               Dami Lee
               Nicole Rutherford
               Helen (Yi-Fan) Xie
               Kara Green                
               Carrie Groskopf
               Tricia Arabian
               Andrea Vettoretti
 
Spatial Dimension
                Albert Agbemenu
                Eddie Yawson

Montana State University

The College of Art and Architecture at Montana State University sponsored the symposium “ A Critical Rediscovery of the Northern Rockies” this past October. It was a two-day interdisciplinary gathering.  Professor Vincent Canizaro, chair at UT San Antonio gave the keynote address “Regionalism and Realism” on Friday evening as an open public lecture.  The following day there were presentations by architects, geographers and historians, artists and musical performances and film presentations followed by a number of discussion sessions.

The topic sessions were  “Design and Landscape”, “Settlements and Rituals” and “Images and Sounds”.  There were also two exhibitions during the weekend “Wild Clay and Field Paper” and “Taking Stock: a Morphology”. Participants were both local and international and all sessions were well attended by students and faculty from a wide variety of disciplines and professions

Professor Ralph Johnson and Teaching Professor Barry Newton from the School of Architecture coordinated the symposium. The proceedings will be published digitally in February.  The 2nd Symposium, which will occur over a three-day period will be held in late Sept 2014. A call for participation will be issued early in 2014.

Assistant Professor Bradford Watson presented the following papers during 2013:
2013 – Watson, B. Burkholder, S.  “Soil and Surface-A place of Inhabitation through Reclamation“, ACSA Fall Conference
2013 – Burkholder, S. Watson, B.  “Beyond the Last Best Place”, Critical Rediscovery of the Northern Rockies
2013 – Watson, B.  “Infrastructure of Place” Collages, Critical Rediscovery of the Northern Rockies
2013 – Watson, B.  “Threshold of Place”, Lantern Journal, Volume II Issue 2
2013 – Watson, B.  “Unstable Ground”, On Site 29: geology
2013 – Watson, B.  Collages included in Group Exhibition, sketch. presented by d3

The faculty congratulates Zuzanna Karczewska on her promotion to Associate Professor. 

University of Tennessee-Knoxville

University of Tennessee
College of Architecture and Design
Open House

November 11, 2011

The University of Tennessee College of Architecture and Design is hosting its first college-wide Open House, Friday, November 11, in tandem with university-wide Open House, Saturday, November 12 (http://admissions.utk.edu/undergraduate/). Home to diverse and internationally recognized practitioners, scholars, and teachers, the college offers a wide array of programs: first-professional undergraduate degrees in architecture and interior design, first-professional graduate degrees in architecture and landscape architecture, and post-professional programs in architecture and landscape architecture (http://www.arch.utk.edu/Academic_Programs/academicprograms.shtml). The all-day event begins on the university’s Knoxville campus and includes presentations by faculty and students, tours of our award winning facility and multi-disciplinary design-build projects such as The New Norris House (http://www.thenewnorrishouse.com/) and the Living Light Solar Decathlon House (http://livinglightutk.com/), the historic Norris Dam, and the university gardens. The day will conclude with a talk by local historian and author Jack Neely, and a reception at the university’s Downtown Gallery of art. The event is free of charge but spaces are limited. Please contact Ms. Vanessa Arthur (varthur@utk.edu). For more information consult: http://www.arch.utk.edu/.

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Associate Professor Brian Schermer, Sherry Ahrentzen (University of Florida), and Carole Deprés (Université Laval) are pleased to announce the publication of their co-edited book: Building Bridges, Blurring Boundaries: The Milwaukee School in Environment-Behavior Studies. With 12 chapters authored by UWM graduates and other contributions, this book celebrates the nature, history and ongoing contributions of UW-Milwaukee’s PhD Program in Architecture. It also celebrates the program’s values —namely an understanding of architecture and built and natural settings as the locus of human endeavor and the conviction that research and design application can enhance the quality of people’s lives. View the book at Blurb: http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/3873453

Professor Mark Keane, President of www.NEXT.cc, and Prof. Linda Keane, SAIC, Director of www.NEXT.cc, are organizing a special session on K-12 design education at the upcoming ACSA National Conference in San Francisco. Please come to engage the panel of invited national organizations including the Vitruvius Program, Association of Architectural Organizations, Ace Mentor, San Francisco Builds, Kid MOB, and AIAS for discourse on STEM to STEAM, digital outreach to national high schools, marketing design fields to the next generation, project based learning, and design education as a means to integrate the traditional silos of K-12 education.  Session TH 3/21 3:30. Contact keane@uwm.edu

Assistant professor Karl Wallick recently won an AIA Cincinnati merit award for his County Line Barn project. This April, Prof. Wallick will be coordinating the symposium, Evolutionary Infrastructure, with Marion Weiss and Michael Manfredi as part of the 2013 Urban Edge Award. The symposium will include a multidisciplinary panel of innovators in the fields of architecture, infrastructure, art, landscape, ecology, and urban design. The UWM School of Architecture and Urban Planning introduced the biennial Urban Edge Award in 2006 to recognize excellence in urban design and the ability of individuals to create major, positive change within the public realm.

Associate Professor Chris Cornelius received the Richard B. Ferrier Prize for Best Physical Submission in the 2012 KRob Architectural Delineation Competition. The Ken Roberts Memorial delineation competition is the oldest architectural drawing competition in the world. Cornelius also had a second submission selected as a finalist in the Physical Submission category. Both drawings will be a part of an exhibit of all of the 2012 winners sponsored by AIA Dallas.

Associate Professor Manu Sobti’s photo exhibit titled “Silk Road Travels 1” is a collation of select images from his extensive travels across the vast expanses of Central Asia and China. While his images capture the silence, solitude, resonance of these landscapes, Sobti also views architecture and its urban/rural settings as the rich background that plays out complex human choreographies and everyday stories. He examines the multiplicity of times and traditions within his deliberate framing of the background, foreground and middle ground in each rendition, connected to his special way of telling his stories. The exhibition runs from January 23 – March 3rd at the Studio Lounge in Milwaukee.

 

University of Arizona

Associate Professor Martin Despang´s “Marienwerder community grocery center” has been recognized with a 2011/2012 Faculty Design ACSA Award. His typological diverse critical practice case studies: “Jibi community grocery center”, ”Headquarters Krogmann”, “Göttingen University Kindergarten” and “Farmhouse Voges” have been featured in the categories of : commercial, work ,education and dwelling in volume 2 of Braun Publishers bestseller, “1000 x European Architecture”.

Lecturers Christopher Trumble, Michael Kothke and Madeline Gradillas
will present “Block_Lofting and Deformation_Reformation”,  “Revealing our Connections to the World”, and “Reflective Reuse: Iterative Material to Reinforce the Iterative Process”, respectively, at the The National Conference on the Beginning Design Student 2012, the End of/in the Beginning: Realizing the Sustainable Imagination.

Adjunct Lecturer Bil Taylor, via his construction company Just Build, LLC, recently won a 2011 award from the Arizona Masonry Guild for Excellence in the Design and Construction of the Harris-Lebel Residence, Tucson, AZ.

Cal Poly College of Architecture & Environmental Design Appoints Interim Architecture Department Head

Cal Poly’s College of Architecture and Environmental Design has named James A. Doerfler, AIA, CSI, interim head of its Architecture Department.

Doerfler is a native of Connecticut. He earned a bachelor’s degree in art history with a concentration in architectural history from the University of Hartford and a Master of Architecture degree from Syracuse University. At Syracuse, he studied under distinguished educator Werner Seligman.

A member of the American Institute of Architects and president-elect of the Building Technology Educators Society, Doerfler has more than 25 years of international practice experience. He has maintained his own architecture practice in each of the cities he has lived. His work spans the globe including projects in Australia, China, Spain, Switzerland and the U.S. Doerfler is a registered architect in New York and New South Wales, Australia.

He has taught at Cal Poly since 2005. Doerfler is a leader in developing award-winning interdisciplinary design studios and using software to enhance interdisciplinary collaboration at Cal Poly. His work and research focus on connecting conceptual design to digital fabrication methods using digital tools to supplement the design process. He is the founding director of the college’s Digital Fabrication Laboratory, director of the Architecture Graduate Program, and coordinator of co-op programs that facilitate student placement in professional practices around the world.

“I am greatly honored to be chosen to lead at one of the finest architecture departments in the country,” Doerfler said. “Being a part of the faculty here has given me great insight into how special our program is. I look forward to guiding the program with our excellent faculty to advance our strengths as we prepare students to be architects in the 21st century.”

Doerfler succeeds outgoing department head Henri de Hahn, who accepted a position as provost at New School of Architecture + Design in San Diego. De Hahn’s leadership accomplishments include the development of the architecture core curriculum, advancing interdisciplinary design, and expanding off-campus programs.

University at Buffalo, SUNY

An article on Digital Journal reports Beth Tauke, professor of architecture, is part of a team of sisters who received the Gold Award from the Chicago Home Builder's Association and the Best Universal Designed Home from the National Association for Home Builders for a concept house they created in suburban Chicago. http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/589626. The home meets the physical needs and lifestyle of people of all ages. It has also been published at http://www.buffalo.edu/ubreporter/mail/EPZA7D 

Kenny Cupers gave a lecture at the University at Michigan on February 23: http://www.tcaup.umich.edu/news_and_events/events/?event=0000c0a8de11000007d2ce0100000134d6b7d0793204581b 

Beth Tauke was a jury member for the AIA 2012 Diversity and Inclusion Awards. She also gave a lecture at the Museum of Disability History on March 7 on "The Sensible House." 

Hadas Steiner presented a paper, "Architecture's Biological Legacy," in Scholars @ Hallwalls lectures sponsored by the UB Humanities Institute: http://www.buffalo.edu/ubreporter/mail/7KNZMX 

An article in Metropolis Magazine about the Wounded Warrior Project, which provides accessible housing to injured soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, reports the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research is funding a five-year, $4.75 million study by UB's Center for Inclusive Design and Environmental Access of the houses located in Virginia's Fort Belvoir. http://www.metropolismag.com/story/20120214/coming-home 

Laura Garófalo's project Buoyant was selected by an international jury to be featured at the 13th International Garden Festival of the Jardins de Métis/Redford Gardens in Quebec, Canada. The installation will be at the Jardin de Métis in the summer of 2012. 

In March Laura Garófalo participated in the jury of the d3 Housing for Tomorrow International Competition, in New York City as a co-director. She also presented the paper "Laminar Folds: Fabric Structure Molds to Jigs" at the ACSA 100th Anniversary National Convention in Boston, MA in the Advanced Composite Fabrication Technologies for Architecture session.

University of New Mexico

Geoffrey C. Adams, Associate Professor, has been appointed the new Director of the Architecture Program in the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of New Mexico.  He succeeds Mark C. Childs, Professor, in this position.

Matthew Gines, Lecturer and Director of the Fabrication Lab, launched CRAF+T: The Center for Research in Advanced Fabrication and Technology. The Center’s research focuses on four areas; digital fabrication, building technology + practices, generative design, and enhanced computational processes.

James and Claudia Horn, Lecturers, led the Global Studio, with the recipient of this year’s Marjorie Mead Hooker Visiting Professorship, Will Bruder.  13 students participated in this intensive summer studio program.

Geraldine Forbes-Isais, Professor and Dean,  and Michaele Pride, Professor and Associate Dean for Public Outreach + Engagement, are planning for The Public Interest Design Institute® to provide training to architecture and other design professionals in public interest design with in-depth studies on methods of design related to critical issues faced by communities, September 2011. 

Prof. Pride and Lecturer Garrett Smith, instructed and guided the summer travel program to Switzerland and Italy. 

Noreen Richards has been appointed visiting assistant professor. She is actively creating connections between the architecture program and the University’s Sustainable Studies Program.

Roger Schluntz, professor and former dean at the University of New Mexico, was elected as the President Elect of the organization; he will then serve a two-year term as President effective 2013.

Kristina H. Yu, Assistant Professor, has presented at the conference, Suburbs and the 2010 Census, at George Mason University, School of Policy, two working papers.  She participated in the National Housing Conference: Solutions for Sustainable Communities.  These presentations and participation are related to her ongoing research and new seminar course titled ‘where is housing now?’.

The American Institute of Architects Students chapter on October 27-30, 2011 will host the regional West Quad Conference. The conference is titled, DEP: Dialogue Evolving Process. The conference questions, “How are architects evolving the standardization of the built environment?” Several workshops, tours and structured discussions and development curriculum are planned. The Keynote speakers are John Padilla (Vice-President AIA National), Eddie and Neal Jones (Jones Studio Inc) and Tom Wiscombe (Emergent Architecture).

Boston Architectural College

Boston Architectural College Announces the Appointment of Three Design Heads

The Boston Architectural College announces the appointment of three new department Heads.

Maria Bellalta has been named Head of the BAC’s Landscape Architecture program. Her professional credentials include practice with Sasaki Associates, Copley Wolff Design, and Martha Swartz Partners. She has worked on planning and landscape projects throughout the United States and Western Europe, with an emphasis on urban sustainability. She graduated from the University of Notre Dame, and from the Landscape Architecture program at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. She has taught at Harvard, at the Pontifica Universidad Catolica de Chile, and at the Boston Architectural College. “Understanding the principles of urban ecology and landscape design is essential for designing and maintaining sustainable communities,” she has said. “I am very excited about joining forward-thinking design peers in enabling future designers to address the issues of building environmentally sustainable cities.”

Crandon Gustafson has been named Head of the BAC’s Interior Design program. He previously headed the Interior Design program at Harrington College of Design in Chicago, where he initiated their masters program. Trained as an architect at the University of Colorado, he worked for a number of years at the Chicago offices of Gensler, and Perkins + Will, and was managing architect for Chicago Public Schools. He is an ASID member, and was elected President of the Illinois chapter of the International Interior Design Association. He holds NCIDQ certification, and is LEED accredited. “Interior Designers have special expertise in space planning, lighting, ergonomics, health and wellness planning, addressing issues of aging, and evidence-based design. These skills contribute to our understanding of sustainability, and to the human factors engineering that is increasingly shaping our design decisions. It will be very stimulating to bring these specific perspectives to the education of architects and Landscape Architecture professionals, as well as to our emerging professional interior designers.”

Karen Nelson has been named Acting Head of the BAC’s Architecture program. Educated at M.I.T. and Columbia, she has taught at RISD and at the BAC for over a decade where she has directed advanced studio education. A much revered teacher and mentor, she oversaw the College’s Solar Decathlon studios, is managing the BAC’s spring 2012 architecture re-accreditation process, and continues to recruit and manage adjunct architecture faculty. She has brought to the BAC many noted outside speakers including Snohetta, Steven Benisch, Hollwich Kushner, and Howeler Yoon to assist students in understanding the work of the most innovative designers working today. “We have enjoyed working across our disciplines in the past,” she reports, “and the need for interdisciplinary research and practice is greater than ever before. Our graduates will create career paths unthought-of just a few years ago. As educators we will need to be increasingly creative in preparing students to enter fields that require open-mindedness and professional agility.”

“These accomplished educators bring a wealth of experience to the BAC’s programs of practice-based design education,” according to President Ted Landsmark. “As we diversify our programs to better anticipate the requirements of professional design practice, the need has grown for program leaders who collaborate across the disciplines of architecture, interior design, and landscape architecture. Integrated design practice, virtual modeling of work over great distances, increased management expectations, and new career opportunities are transforming the design professions toward greater collaboration among clearly defined bodies of knowledge. These new program Heads have demonstrated leadership in their respective fields, and have shown the ability to grow student expertise through multidisciplinary work. They bring professional skills and foresight to the BAC and to the design professions globally.”

BAC Provost Julia Halevy adds, “We’re thrilled to have assembled this group of thoughtful and collaborative designers. We are developing a new Foundation curriculum with their input, and we anticipate that our graduates will not only understand their responsibilities within the traditional design disciplines, but will also be highly innovative in shaping design practices into the future.”  

For further information contact Janet Oberto, Director of External and Government Relations, at 617-585-0266, or Janet.oberto@the-bac.edu.