Professor Thomas Barrie was an invited speaker at a symposium entitled “Transcending Architecture” hosted by the School of Architecture, The Catholic University of America, October 6-8, 2011. His paper, “The Domestic and Numinous in Architecture,” focused on domestic symbolism often incorporated in sacred architecture.
The European Review has published Professor Thomas Barrie’s article “Sacred Space and the Mediating Roles of Architecture” (European Review, Vol. 20, No. 1, 79-94, 2012)
A review of Professor Thomas Barrie’s book The Sacred In-between: The Mediating Roles of Architecture (Routledge, 2010), appeared in the fall issue of Faith & Form magazine (Vol. XLIV, No. 2, 2011).
The Person Street Project, a community-based urban design project conducted at the College of Design’s Downtown Design studio fall semester 2011, concluded with a public exhibition on Friday, December 2nd. The exhibition, mounted in a storefront space on Person Street, featured urban design proposals and housing designs produced by twelve students in an ARC 401, Architectural Design Urban, studio led by Professor Thomas Barrie. Over 200 people attended the opening, and the project was featured in an article in the News and Observer. The project included research on contemporary urbanism, mixed-use development, and existing city studies and development plans for the project area; the urban and streetscape design for the Person Street neighborhood; and the design of a mixed-use, housing project for the development sites at the north end of Person Street.
The project partners were the Person Street Partnership and the City of Raleigh Urban Design Center. Project sponsors included the Person Street Partnership, the Society for the Preservation of Historic Oakwood and the School of Architecture.
Instructor Eric Peterson exhibited his material research and his students’ furniture designs at the Coral Gables Museum in Coral Gables, Florida. The exhibition is a retrospective of three years of research on upcycling shipping pallets into fine furniture and architectural building products. Wood from used shipping pallets is investigated for its potential as cladding, surface, structure, or spatial modulator. The exhibition reveals the hidden potential of an overlooked material and invites us to examine the ramifications of our participation in global material and product transportation networks. Research made possible with generous support of Whole Foods Market, South Florida Regional Distribution Center.
Associate Professor Gray Read’s book, Modern Architecture in Theater: The experiments of Art et action, will be published in January by Palgrave Press in their Pivot Series. The book examines Parisian architect Edouard Autant’s exploration of the art of architectural design through a series of modern theatrical performances presented by Art et action, a company he formed with actress Louise Lara. Together, they merged British director Edward Gordon Craig’s strategies for spatial set design with an approach to performance emphasizing multi-sensual simultaneity. In five types of modern theater, they created spaces and performances that anticipate the architecture and actions of an ideal, modern city.
The School of Architecture and Planning of The Catholic University of America proudly presents Professor Adèle Naudé Santos, Dean of the MIT School of Architecture and Planning in the Inaugural Lecture honoring George T. Marcou, FAICP Professor Emeritus, on Wednesday 10/26/11, 5:30pm at the Koubek Auditorium of the Crough Center for Architectural Studies, 620 Michigan Ave. NE, Washington, DC 20064.
Professor George Themistoclis Marcou taught at The Catholic University of America from 1962 to 2002. Born in Cairo, Egypt, he attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology earning a bachelor’s degree in Architecture in 1953, and a master’s degree in city planning in 1955. During those years, he met a fellow student and the woman who would become his beloved wife during 56 years, Margaret, who also graduated from MIT. Both raised five children, three golden retrievers, and later enjoyed their eleven grandchildren. Professor Marcou was widely known for his professionalism, wonderful sense of humor, and practical approach to problem solving. Traveling around the world with Margaret, whether it was for business or for pleasure, was a great passion where his fluency in Arabic, Greek and French came in handy. His career as an urban planner began in 1962, when he founded Marcou, O’Leary and Associates, a planning and urban development consulting firm. There he directed projects for numerous counties and cities both in the United States and abroad. The firm received urban design awards from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, including an award for its preservation plan and program for the Vieux Carré Historic District in New Orleans. Projects in the Washington area included Fiscal Impact Analyses for Montgomery County, a program for revitalization of downtown Frederick, Maryland, campus plans for George Washington University and the National Institutes of Health, planning studies for Fairfax County and a study of Washington’s skyline for the National Capital Planning Commission. The firm was acquired by Westinghouse in 1973. In 1977, Professor Marcou became the first manager of the Community Development Bureau of the Metropolitan Washington Board of Trade, developing policy and action programs for the business community dealing with public issues. Later in 1979, he was appointed Deputy Executive Director of the American Planning Association (APA) where he was responsible for its policy and lobbying program. He also served on the APA’s Political and Legislative Committee. In 1993, Governor Schaffer of Maryland awarded Professor Marcou the Governor’s Award for Professional Excellence and the following year appointed him to the State of Maryland Economic Growth, Resource Protection and Planning Commission on which he served for five years. He was often asked to be a guest lecturer at conferences and universities in the U.S. and abroad. These invitations took him to Denmark, Greece, Italy, and the Netherlands. He was a longstanding member of Lambda Alpha International, an honorary land economics society and the American Institute of Certified Planners.
Professor Emeritus George Marcou passed away on April 28, 2011 in Bethesda, Maryland.
Emily Gabel-Luddy, FASLA, instructor in the USC Master of Landscape Architecture program, was elected in April to a 4-year term as the newest member of the Burbank City Council. She will be serving as liaison to the Cultural Arts Commission and the Sustainable Commission in the City.
Paul Danna, AIA, has won the commission to design the new California State Superior Courthouse in Long Beach, with design partner Jose Palacios, AIA. He is also serving on the Executive Committee of AIA/Los Angeles, as Past President of the Chapter.
Christoph Kapeller will be presenting his research project “Chengdu Sp[eculative Mapping” at the Chengdu Biennale 2011 from September 29th until October 30th.
Kris Mun, designer and exhibitor for AAC’s Digital Futures exhibition in Shanghai August 2011, showed her work amongst other prominent practices, including Zaha Hadid Architects, Greg Lynn, UNStudio, that are engaging in computational and digital fabrication strategies in architecture.
M. Brian Tichenor, AIA, ASLA , is contributing a chapter for the upcoming Rizzolli publication ‘The California Casa’, and his work has been featured in the books ‘ Classic Homes of California’ and ‘At Home’, both published this year.
Linda C. Samuels, USC lecturer since the fall of 2010, has received a grant from UCLA’s Ralph and Goldy Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies in support of her research on failed projects for the 101 ‘trench’ site, a quarter mile stretch in downtown Los Angeles where the freeway descends below grade. This research is part of her dissertation focusing on urban infrastructure redevelopment projects.
Mark Gangi, AIA, NCARB, LEED-AP was featured on AIA National Podcast as the Citizen Architect on the Move for September 2011 http://idimultimedia.net/clients/aia_podcast/07152011/Mark_Gangi_711.mp3
Adjunct Professor Regula Campbell AIA authored a presentation in June at the International Federation of Landscape Architecture World Congress: “Scales of Nature”, Zurich, Switzerland on the topic: Biodiversity in the City: Enrichment for Urban Life and Work – “Making It Personal, Making It Real”.
Joe Sturges, Lecturer has completed WIldwood School campus as senior designer with Nancy Power & Associate in conjuction with Koning Eizenberg Architects. Other projects completed this year include Children’s Institute with KEA and Indian Paintbrush Productions with Barton Myers Associates Inc.
Victoria Turkel Behner, PhD, is designing the upcoming exhibition “In Wonderland: The Surrealist Adventures of Women Artists in Mexico and the United States” at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, opening January 2012.
Adjunct Professor Doug Campbell ASLA will be recognized by the Government of Hangzhou, China this October for his contribution to the region’s “Quality of Life” through his design of a recently completed sustainable new town re-visioning a former industrial site in the City’s northern district.
Dr. Ken Breisch has stepped down after twelve years as Director of Graduate Programs in Historic Preservation, a program which he founded in 1999. He will resume teaching and writing full-time in the School of Architecture.
Gary Paige’s architecture project, “Type Variant Houses” and artwork, “Ruled Surfaces” is the subject of an exhibition entitled “Other Works” at the School of Architecture at UC Berkeley, along with architects Wes Jones and IDEA Office partners Eric Kahn and Russell Thomsen.
Assistant Professor, Victor Jones and the Watts House Project were awarded a 2011 Graham Grant to complete work for the Watts House Project’s Platform fence, pocket park, and façade improvement.
Alvin Huang was appointed as a Tenure-Track Professor of Architecture at the University of Southern California School of Architecture, Los Angeles. He will be teaching graduate and thesis design studios focused on advanced digital design techniques, material performance, and digital fabrication. His office, Synthesis Design + Architecture, has also moved to Los Angeles from London.
Adjunct Associate Professor Michael Hricak, FAIA, and his Venice based design firm recently received city approval for an innovative hotel and conference center to be built in Redondo Beach, California which promises to set new standards for design and sustainability in this beachside community.
Scott Uriu, lecturer at USC, partner in the firm BplusU, was chosen as one of the finalists in the Silver Lake Sunset Junction Competition in June by the City of Silver Lake, also in June BplusU were chosen for the 2011 AIA Emerging Professional exhibit in Washington DC, BplusU’s work has been recently published in the book “Futuristic-Vision of future living”, and in August was featured in the LA Times LA Home section.
Assistant Professor Rachel Berney is presenting the paper “A New Spatial Fix: The Promise of Public Space in a Fragmented Buenos Aires” at the ACSP Conference in Salt Lake City, October 13-16, 2011. Students from USC’s MLA Program in the School of Architecture have work represented in the forthcoming book, “Representing Landscapes: A Visual Collection of Landscape Architectural Drawings” (Editor, Nadia Amoroso). Contributor for USC MLA, Rachel Berney.
USC Emeritus Professor Robert S. Harris, FAIA, ACSA Distinguished Professor and former ACSA President, concluded a 5-year appointment as Director of the USC Master of Landscape Architecture program. He was recognized as CELA Outstanding Educator for 2011, and will be awarded Honorary ASLA. membership at the ASLA Annual Meeting in October 2011.
Adjunct Assistant Professor Anna Neimark’s installation of an enormous extrusion of the Soviet hydraulic network in foam will open at the WUHO gallery in Hollywood on December 8th, accompanied by the publication, “The Infrastructural Monument: Stalin’s Water Works under Construction and in Representation,” in the forthcoming issue of Future Anterior. Research for this project has been supported by the USC Advancing Scholarship in the Humanities and Social Sciences (ASHSS) and the Harvard GSD Appleton Traveling Fellowship.
Erik Mar is working on two Los Angeles County Public Libraries, of 7200 sf and 16,000 sf. He also delivered a lecture on sustainability and environmental imperatives to the Public Library staff on their 2011 Staff Training Day.
Lecturer Mina M. Chow, AIA, NCARB, is shooting a pilot episode for web series on innovative architecture in Los Angeles with the City of Los Angeles Mayor’s Office, and the Getty Research Institute Wim de Witt and USC School of Architecture Professor Jim Steele as humanities advisors.
Christine Lampert whose firm is Lampert Dias Architect’s Inc. along with PDS West is working on a master plan to redesign a large portion of the Laguna Woods Village in Laguna Woods California. Laguna Woods is a community with a population of over 15,000 senior citizens in South Orange County. The project includes bringing the 1960’s designed community into the 21st century.
Professor Marc Schiler presented a new definition for Performative Facades at the Facade Tectonics Conference, July 30, and at a public lecture at USC on Wednesday, August 24, based on research done during his sabbatical on reflective facades from Odeillo, France to Berlin.
Adjunct Associate Professor Warren Techentin and his firm Warren Techentin Architecture (WTARCH) won First Prize in the STREET 2020 Vision Competition in conjunction with the inaugural Tallinn Architecture Biennale (TAB) for 2011. The international competition invited architects, landscape architects, and planners to focus on the hybrid issue of ‘Landscape Urbanism’ as applied to making a new street in Estonia’s capitol city. The competition sought design solutions to offset traffic concerns while improving the quality of urban life for pedestrians and cyclists.
Assistant Professor Karen M. Kensek organized the Fifth Annual Symposium on “Building Information Modeling: Extreme BIM” last July. Plans are already underway for the sixth conference to be held in Los Angeles in summer 2012.
Travis Longcore, Ph.D., of the USC Spatial Sciences Institute has become a guest critic and instructor in the Landscape Architecture program, bringing his expertise on urban ecology, restoration, conservation planning, and GIS to the curriculum.
Victor Regnier FAIA, Professor of Architecture and Gerontology will present a paper at the LeadingAge Conference in Washington DC on Dutch Service-hybrid Housing Models, as well as jury a competition for the Aging Means Business: Design for a New Age conference in Boston–both in the Fall.
“Structure and Design,” a book by Professor G. Goetz Schierle, is posted on over 30 international web sites.
Lauren Matchison, NCARB, is currently designing a sustainable beach bungalow in Orange County.
Rob Ley was recently won two separate competitions to design permanent installations in both Seattle, WA & Kansas City, MO and is recently included in Madeline Schwartzman’s new book ‘See Yourself Sensing: Redefining Human Perception’ and Rashida Ng’s upcoming book ‘INPUT_OUTPUT: Performative Materials in Architecture and Design’.
Eric Haas, AIA, Adjunct Assistant Professor, and his firm DSH had their project 2636 Residence featured in the exhibit “Tokyo/LA Houses” at July’s Little Tokyo Design Week in Los Angeles.
USC faculty Behrokh Khoshnevis (Engineering), Neil Leach (Architecture), Anders Carlson (Architecture) and Madhu Thangavelu (Astronautics) have won a NASA grant to explore the use of the robotic fabrication technology, Contour Crafting, for building structures on the Moon. The grant was one of 30 awarded to over 700 applicants by the NASA Innovation Advanced Concepts Program (NIAC). For further details see: http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/08/08/7306644-out-of-this-world-ideas-funded
Ric. Abramson (2nd year Studio Critic)/Workplays studio recently completed its latest project, Demitasse Coffee Bar Lounge, downtown Los Angeles in Little Tokyo.
JFAK Architects, the firm of Associate Professor and UG Chair Alice Kimm, FAIA, was awarded two AIA California Council Design Awards for projects completed at Caltech and in Santa Monica. JFAK’s downtown parking structure for the LAPD was featured in Architectural Record and named one of the “5 most beautiful parking garages in Los Angeles” by LA Weekly.
Assistant Prof. Dr. David Gerber will present design computation research ‘Building Skin Intelligence’ at the ACADIA 2011 conference, he will keynote the largest and leading Brazilian AEC venue on ‘Building Industry Innovation: An Evolution of Building Information Modeling and Computing in the AEC.’
Assistant Professor Gail Peter Borden was named Director of the Master of Architecture Program. His recently opened installation at the USC-URC, entitled Density Frames consists of a variably triangulated structure interlaced with a multistory pneumatic and coincided with the release of his 2nd book Matter: Material Processes in Architectural Production from Routledge.
Vinayak Bharne has authored a chapter titled “Saving the Qanat: The Dilemmas of Sustainability & Strategic Conservation in Yazd, Iran” in the forthcoming book “Aesthetics of Sustainable Architecture” (010 Publishers, Rotterdam, 2011)
Esther Margulies principal at ValleyCrest Design Group in Los Angeles has been working on the 2014 World Horticultural Exposition Exposition in Qingdao, China along with design build projects in Santa Monica and Malibu California.
Contact Associate Professor Douglas Noble, FAIA, Ph.D., (dnoble@usc.edu) for details on how to submit paper and session proposals on the subject of building envelopes for the 8th FACADE TECTONICS CONFERENCE scheduled for June, 2012, in Los Angeles.
Peter Simmonds has designed two LEED Platinum buildings so far and is working on number three.
Todd Gish, PhD, AIA, is contributing a chapter to an upcoming anthology on urban planning in Los Angeles; the essay joins a revisionist literature demonstrating a long history of plans for LA, created by prominent national planners who utilized the best professional practices of their day.
Interim Executive Editor Graham Livesey, University of Calgary Associate Editor (Design) Amy Kulper, University of Michigan Associate Editor (Reviews) Alexander Eisenschmidt, University of Illinois at Chicago Associate Editor (Media) Marc Neveu, Wentworth Institute of Technology
Design+
The JAE invites unpublished text-based (Scholarship of Design) and design-based (Design as Scholarship) submissions for publication in the Fall 2013 issue that explore contemporary architectural design and design pedagogy, within the following rubrics:
Design + Theory: What is the role of theory in contemporary design, or is theory dead? Are there emerging theories that need wider exposure? Are old design theories being revived?
Design + History: What are current issues in architectural history that impact on contemporary design? How should historical debates be framed in design discourses? Are historical precedents important in contemporary practice?
Design + Technology: What is the role of building science in design studio? Do architects need greater technical expertise? What are emerging technologies, materials, assemblies, and practices that are influencing contemporary design? Has technology replaced theory?
Design + Material Culture: How is material culture shaping, or being shaped, by design? Does architecture play a central role in material cultures?
Design + Representation: Are contemporary representational practices dominating design processes? Has there been a revolution in representation? Has architecture been reduced to representation? What are emerging representational approaches?
All unsolicited submissions will be subject to a blind peer review process. For further information refer to the Submit to JAE, Editorial Guidelines, and The JAE Process sections at www.acsa-arch.org/acsa-press/JAE.
The submission deadline for all manuscripts for the Fall 2013 issue (Volume 67:2) is March 15, 2013, 5 PM EST. All submissions received after this deadline will be eligible for publication in future issues.
Refer all inquires to: Graham Livesey Interim Executive Editor eeditor@acsa-arch.org
On February 23, 2013, the Town of Newbern celebrated the opening of the Newbern Town Hall, the second civic building planned for Newbern since Rural Studio began. Rural Studio student design team of Brett Bowers, David Frazier, Mallory Garrett, and Zane Morgan worked with the Town of Newbern, Mayor Woody Stokes, the Town Council, and the Newbern Volunteer Fire Department to design a civic campus. The Newbern Town Hall joins the Fire Station, designed and built by Rural Studio in 2005.
The School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture would like to congratulate the winners of the Alabama Council AIA 2013 State Design Awards for their contributions to architecture in Alabama. The design jury chose six winners, which included firms led by APLA alumni and faculty. The work was recognized as some of the “best and brightest in architecture” (www.aiaalabama.org). Alumni projects recognized in the design awards included: Spring House Restaurant by Dungan Nequette (Honor Award); AUM Wellness Center by Infinity Architecture (Merit Award); Silverock Thunderhouse by Dungan Nequette (Merit Award); Morgan Loft by Anderson Nikolich Design Initiative (Merit Award); Burkhalter Residence Krumdieck A+I Design (Honorable Mention). Auburn faculty work recognized included Rane Memorial Mausoleum by Behzad Nakhjavan Studio. Nakhjavan is professor and chair of the architecture program at APLA.
Asma Shaikh, a graduate student of the Master of Community Planning (MCP) program, has been selected for the Alabama Chapter of the American Planning Association (ALAPA) Individual Student Award by for the “Village Mall Parking Utilization Study.” Asma conducted the study as part of the Transportation and Mobility class led by Prof. Sweta Byahut during fall semester 2013. Bachelor of Architecture (BArch)/Master of Community Planning (MCP) dual degree students Nick Vansyoc and Joshua Vickers won the ALAPA Award for Distinguished Student Leadership. Nick and Josh are working together on a “joint” thesis project located in down town Montgomery, Alabama; led by Prof. Magdalena Garmaz (ARCH) and advisor Prof. John Pittari (MCP).
Students from Auburn University’s Masters of Real Estate Development program (MRED) are working with business owners in the Avondale area of Birmingham, Alabama to explore development possibilities. Led by Prof. Ben Farrow (McWhorter School of Building Science) and adjunct instructor Ben Wieseman (with the KPS Group in Birmingham), the students are looking at two sites in the neighborhood for potential investment. The students will focus on design and construction issues for their sites as well as the financial needs of their proposed development, while attempting to capitalize on the sites’ unique cultural and developmental history. (from “Auburn Takes Avondale”, Neighborhood News, Rev Birmingham)
The School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture (APLA) recently hosted a group of four students and two faculty from Hannam University (HNU) in Daejeon, Korea. The delegation, on a tour of the US came to Birmingham, Alabama to tour the Urban Studio, local sites of interest, and the professional design offices of Williams Blackstock, Davis Architects, Krumdieck A+I, and GA Studio.
Associate Professor Elizabeth Mueller and Assistant Professor Sarah Dooling have received the 2012 University Co-op Research Excellence Award for their paper titled “Sustainability and Vulnerability: Integrating Equity into Plans for Central City Redevelopment.” The honor is accompanied by a $5000 cash award.
Shortall Architectural Design based in Austin, Texas, was awarded first place in the GE Garages Making Things Competition for their design proposal, “Shadow Puppet.” Designed by Lecturer Clay Shortall, Arman Hadilu, and Chris Chang, “Shadow Puppet” reflects upon rapidly changing technological innovations by creating a responsive and interactive architectural installation. The first place winner(s) received $20,000 to make the installation.
Assistant Professor Danelle Briscoe [B.Arch. ’95] has received a 2012-2013 Big XII Faculty Fellowship. The program offers faculty the opportunity to travel to member institutions to exchange ideas and pursue research. Briscoe will be collaborating with Professor Dan Rockhill at the University of Kansas throughout the fall semester.
Lecturer Sarah Gamble [M.Arch. ’05] served on the Community Review Panel for the 29th Annual Governor’s Volunteer Awards. The awards allow the State of Texas to recognize some of the individuals, organizations, corporations, and public entities that truly embody the Texas tradition of community service.
Adjunct Instructor Peter Lichomski had a number of watercolor paintings accepted into juried exhibitions recently, including the 2011 Michigan Fine Art Competition (sponsored by the Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center), the Birmingham Community House “Our Town” art show, the Northville Art House “Outside In,” exhibit, and 1st Annual Donna A. Vogelheim Memorial “Healing Power of Art” exhibition.
Adjunct Instructors Christopher Schanck and Aaron Blendowski were featured in the show, “Cranbrook Design: Into the Network,” at Studio Couture in Detroit, September 24 -October 24, 2011. Cranbrook Design was conceived as a laboratory for design exploration and experiment for current students and recent alumni of Cranbrook’s Design and Architecture programs to contextualize their work as a product of the ‘the network society.’
Assistant Professor Steven Coy’s work as the “Hygienic Dress League” was featured in a photo exhibition at the Hamtramck, Michigan Public Pool gallery in October. Coy and his wife Dorota created the League – a faux company that exists as a real corporation – as a commentary on corporate advertising and branding.
Associate Professor Dale Allen Gyure presented a paper entitled “The crowning feature of our system”: Nineteenth-Century High Schools and American Middle Class Aspirations and Anxieties,” at the History of Education Society Annual Conference in Chicago. He also presented a public lecture, “Nature, Light, and Beauty: Minoru Yamasaki’s Design for the North Shore Congregation Israel” in Yamasaki’s sanctuary at North Shore in Glencoe, Illinois.
David Hinson, Head of the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture (APLA) was one of three faculty from Auburn University selected as SEC Academic Leadership Development Program (ALDP) fellows. The SEC Academic Leadership Development Program (ALDP) is a professional development program that seeks to identify, prepare and advance academic leaders for roles within SEC institutions and beyond. It has two components: a university-level development program designed by each institution for its own participants and two, three-day, SEC-wide workshops held on specified campuses for all program participants.
The School of Architecture, Planning, and Landscape Architecture (APLA) is one of three U.S. Universities to receive a 2012 NCARB Award from the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB for “Studio: Urban Healthcare,” a proposal developed by proposal, developed by Professor Christian Dagg and Professor Kevin Moore. “Studio: Urban Healthcare” was designed to support APLA faculty collaborations with practicing architects and other design professionals with specialized expertise in healthcare architecture while providing critique and direction to fourth year architecture students as they design a small urban hospital.
Cheryl Morgan, Professor of Architecture and Director of the Urban Studio, has been recognized as one of this year’s SMART Women at the inaugural SMART Party, hosted by The Women’s Fund of Greater Birmingham, on October 11, 2012 in Birmingham, Alabama. The award from the Women’s Fund recognizes Morgan, a well-known champion for underserved constituencies, and the efforts of the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture’s Urban Studio in Birmingham, Alabama for their work with small town communities across the State.
The U.S. Green Building Council named three alumni from the Auburn University School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture to the 2012 class of LEED Fellows: Carlie Bullock-Jones ’99 (Interior Design), Holley Henderson ‘93 (Interior Design), and Paula Vaughan ‘82 (Architecture) are among those named to the green building industry’s most prestigious professional designation.
The College of Architecture, Design and Construction honored its students, alumni, staff and friends on October 25, 2012. Several APLA students and faculty were honored. Outstanding Undergraduate award recipients were Allyson Klinner (Architecture), Nicholas Purcell (Interior Architecture), Marjorie Woodbury (Landscape Architecture), and Franchesca Taylor (Community Planning). APLA supporter Patrick Davis received an award for Distinguished Service, and Professor David Hill received the Outstanding Teaching Award. Three former faculty of the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture (APLA), Robert Faust, D.K. Ruth and Samuel Mockbee, were named Emeritus Professors at the CADC ceremony, and recognized for their long term and significant contributions to the architecture program, and to the School.
The Modern Language Association will award the Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize for Italian Studies to Michelangelo Sabatino for Pride in Modesty: Modernist Architecture and the Vernacular Tradition in Italy; Alessandro Polcri will receive honorable mention for Luigi Pulci e la Chimera: Studi sull’allegoria nel Morgante. Please click here to read the full press release.
Galveston residents won’t soon forget the wrath of Hurricane Ike. Surge tides flooded portions of the island, displacing thousands of homeowners, destroying businesses and leaving a lasting impact on the island’s coastline. As bad as Ike was, the damage could have been much worse.
Recently, researchers from the Severe Storm Prediction, Education and Evacuation from Disasters Center (SSPEED) proposed a levee system to protect downtown Galveston businesses and the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB). For now, community leaders are pondering this prospective storm barrier, but University of Houston architecture students are actively demonstrating how it can be a functional aspect of the city’s landscape.
This fall, 12 students at UH’s Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture developed designs and plans for urban amenities that can be incorporated into a Galveston levee. Parks, landscaping, parking lots, commercial spaces and other amenities are included in students’ physical and computer models. Students recently presented their ideas for a panel of industry professionals, and these plans soon will be shared with Galveston civic leaders. These projects were part of professor Thomas Colbert’s Advanced Design Studio class.
“As architects, we have the opportunity to shape the physical environment around us…to shape our cities, so they’re more sustainable and more resilient,” Colbert said. “This exercise allows us to show community leaders that a levee doesn’t have to be a concrete wall that disrupts a pleasant streetscape. It can actually enhance an entire district and make it a nicer place, while at the same time making it safe.”
Students visited Galveston earlier in the semester and explored the area in which a levee would be placed. They then focused their energies on integrating the levee with a visitors’ center for a prospective coastal recreational area (also proposed by SSPEED).
Fifth-year architecture student Mel Fuentes developed a plan that would create an urban park alongside the levee. He also had the envisioned the transformation of an rarely used rail line into a tourist-friendly light rail system.
“For this project, I looked at other cities with levees, particularly New Orleans,” Fuentes said. “I focused on the consequences of the failure of that levee system and how I could improve on that. Galveston basically has a flat topography and is less vulnerable than New Orleans, but it still needs a levee system of some sort.”
Cristhian Bisso, a fourth-year architecture student, conceptualized a plan to unite areas of Galveston along the levee through enhanced landscaping, a jogging trail and performance pavilion. His plans also include a bridge that joins parking areas and cruise terminals.
“People often think of levees as barriers, but I am using this one to connect two sides of the island,” Bisso said. “It’s an exciting project because community leaders will have a chance to look at our work and perhaps come away with some ideas,” he said.
Colbert is among the researchers participating in SSPEED. He contributed to a recent report that recommended the Galveston levee system, in addition to a hydraulic gate structure that would protect the Houston Ship Channel. The report also advocated the construction of a levee system along State Highway 146, which serves a major evacuation route during hurricanes. The entire report can be accessed at http://sspeed.rice.edu/sspeed/downloads/Final_Paper_2011.pdf.
SSPEED was founded in 2007 and is based at Rice University. Its mission is to advance research and disseminate information related to severe storm impacts and evacuation strategies in the Gulf Coast area. Participating researchers include professors from the University of Houston, Rice University, the University of Texas at Austin, Texas Southern University, Louisiana State University, University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas A&M University.
In addition to Colbert, UH contributors to SSPEED include Jim Granato, director of the Hobby Center for Public Policy and Hanadi Rifai, professor of civil and environmental engineering. To learn more about SSPEED, visit http://sspeed.rice.edu/sspeed/index.html.
“Some of the best images from this class will be included in future SSPEED presentations to community leaders in the Galveston area and possibly legislators and anyone who is interested in the future of the island,” Colbert said.
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