Hey, US architecture graduate: Why donÕt you get a job (in Europe)?

Thomas Vonier FAIA, 2016 President-Elect, American Institute of Architects 

As part of my ongoing commitment to secure new opportunities for US architects, I have been working on jobs overseas for recent graduates.  In contrast to what seems to be a common perception, US graduates who wish to work or to complete internships outside of the United States have great opportunities to do so. 

Such stints can offer unparalleled enrichment, of course, even if they are relatively short-term, and a track record abroad can be a great calling card for onward employment.  The experience of a young US architecture graduate, now working in France, is a case in point. 

“France has visas available for young professionals, ages 18-35, who wish to obtain new skills they cannot acquire in their home countries,” he found.  “I had an interview with [a French architecture firm] in April 2014, before I graduated.  They offered me a position in May, and I found a visa program through Cultural Vistas (http://culturalvistas.org/) in the US.” 

The French firm, which has links to an office in the US, was required to complete several forms and return them to the applicant, along with a description of the work he would be doing.  The applicant then completed his portion of the forms, and returned the complete application to the firm for final validation.

The firm filed the forms with the French immigration authority in early July, along with a 72€ fee, and the applicant received authorization to work a month later.  “This allowed me to apply for my visa at a French consulate in the US,” he says.  “Then I had an interview at the consulate in Atlanta, at the end of August, received my visa one week later, and left for France at the beginning of September.” 

The advantage of this type of visa over a full-blown work visa—at least in France—is that it doesn’t entail much cost or legal procedure on the part of the employer, or the applicant.  On the other hand, one usually qualifies for this type of visa only once, and then only for a fixed, short term.  The steps for obtaining a “young professional” visa in France are here: 
http://www.immigration-
professionnelle.gouv.fr/proc%C3%A9dures/fiche/jeunes-professionnels 

Foreign language ability is always an advantage, of course, but it is not an absolute necessity. Says the graduate in France:  “I now have a BS degree in architecture, and I had studied in France while I was in school, but I didn’t have a very advanced level of French by the time I started working.”  His level of French has naturally advanced on the job. 

In addition to the Cultural Vistas organization, a number of other groups can help explore opportunities abroad: 
http://culturalvistas.org/programs-for-students-and-professionals http://www.iaesteunitedstates.org/intl.html 
http://www.iaesteunitedstates.org/intl.html 

Working outside of the US is not for everyone, but architecture is an increasingly “global” profession, and visa programs of this type offer an effective way for recent graduates and students to engage with the world.

ACSA Update 10.23.15

ACSA Update

 
October 23, 2015

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Preservation as Provocation

The 2015-16 Preservation as Provocation, International Student Design Competition challenges students and multi-disciplinary teams in architecture, preservation, landscape architecture, planning, engineering, sustainable design and other cross-disciplines, to create a new Visitor Center and approach experience for the iconic Farnsworth House by Mies van der Rohe in Plano, Illinois. Register by March 30, 2016.

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COTE Top Ten for Students

The program challenges students to submit projects that use a thoroughly integrated approach to architecture, natural systems, and technology to provide architectural solutions that protect and enhance the environment. The competition will recognize ten exceptional studio projects that seamlessly integrate innovative, regenerative strategies within their broader design concepts. Register by December 9, 2015.

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Timber in the City

The second Timber in the City Competition challenges participants to design a mid-rise, mixed-use complex with affordable housing units, a NYC outpost of the The Andy Warhol Museum, and a new and expanded home for the historic Essex Street Market. Register by March 30, 2016.

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Steel Design Competition

The 2015-2016 Steel Design Student Competition offers architecture students the opportunity to compete in two separate categories: Tall Buildings and an Open program. Register by March 30, 2016.

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American University of Sharjah

The Department of Architecture, College of Architecture, Art and Design at the American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates is pleased to announce the following faculty appointments commencing Fall 2015.

Daniel Chavez has been appointed as an Assistant Professor. With over eleven years in the architectural profession working with RMKM Architecture and at the office of Antoine Predock Architect he has completed many built projects in New Mexico as well as contributing to international projects in Winnipeg, Shanghai and Chengdu. He also worked with Gensler Architecture on the Virgin Galactic Space Port competition team and with Gould-Evens Architecture on CNM Westside Phase III. A passionate furniture designer and maker, Chavez strives for simplicity in his work believing inherent qualities of a material inform design. His courses in material fabrication employ traditional wood working techniques to exhibit structural and architectural principals. Previously a Visiting Assistant Professor at AUS, in spring 2015 Chavez introduced full-scale, project-based learning to the Interior Design program at AUS. His efforts in leading the Senior Project design/build initiative will continue indefinitely.

Marcus Farr has been appointed as an Assistant Professor. Farr has 10 years of experience working in architecture, urban design & site specific landscape architecture throughout the United States, Europe, Middle East and Asia. This includes collaborations with the offices of James Burnett, SOM, Gensler, Carlos Jimenez Studio, HOK, Robert A.M. Stern, PDR and HKS. Relative publications include Landscape Architecture Magazine, Texas Architect, Architectural Record, Architect, Cite Magazine, The New York Times, and World Architecture Magazine. Marcus received a post-professional M.Arch from Rice University, as well as a Professional Degree in Architecture (B.Arch) and a B.A. in Studio Art from Drury University with further studies at the AA. His teaching will focus on performative & sustainable building methods, professional practice & digital design/fabrication.

Gregory Thomas Spaw has been appointed as an Assistant Professor. He is an educator, designer, scholar and entrepreneur. Concurrent with his academic engagement, Spaw is a principal of SHO, a design collaborative that straddles the territories of teaching, research and practice. He has previous held the Ann Kalla Assistant Professorship at Carnegie Mellon University, served as a visiting professor at the Cracow University of Technology, and taught undergraduate and graduate studios, seminars, and electives at the University of Tennessee. His previous professional experience includes work with the award winning offices of Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, Preston Scott Cohen Inc., and Asymptote. He also contributed toward Independent Architecture’s entry for the PS1 Young Architects Program Competition in Queens, New York and worked on location in Seoul, Athens, and Brussels with LASSA on a series of diverse projects. Gregory holds a Bachelor of Architecture from Kansas State University and a Master in Architecture from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design.

Igor Peraza has been appointed as a Visiting Assistant Professor. A native of Caracas, Venezuela, Peraza holds a BSc of Architecture from the Universidad Central de Venezuela, received a scholarship to do his Master of Architecture at Hokkaido University in Sapporo, and obtained his Ph.D at the University of Kumamoto, Kyushu, Japan. Professionally, he worked for five years at the Atelier of Arata Isozaki and led the Domus (Museum of Mankind) project on-site in La Coruña, Spain. In 2000 he relocated to Barcelona to work with Miralles Tagliabue as Director of the Santa Caterina Market project. Peraza went on to serve as Director of EMBT’s Shanghai office were he led numerous projects including the Spanish Pavilion at the 2010 World Expo, the New Campus of Fudan University in Shanghai, and the Museum for the Chinese painter Zhang Daqian. He has previously taught at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, the European Institute of Design, Tongji University, and served as a visiting professor at the Lebanese American University from 2013 to 2015. 

Matthew A. Trimble has been appointed as a Visiting Assistant Professor. Trimble founded Radlab in 2008. He has a diverse range of experience working and consulting in the field of architecture for firms that include Neil M. Denari Architects, Behnisch Behnisch and Partner, Preston Scott Cohen, Inc, and dECOi Architects. Trimble has taught seminars, workshops, and studios internationally for both graduate and undergraduate students at the Boston Architectural College, the Wentworth Institute of Technology, the Universidad Francisco Marroquín in Guatemala City, and the Rhode Island School of Design. Trimble studied architecture at The University of Memphis (BFA), where he received the Frances F. Austin Scholarship, and holds a Master’s Degree in Architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he was awarded the Avalon Travel Fellowship.

ACSA Update 10.16.16

ACSA Update

 
October 16, 2015

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JAE Call for Submissions: Discursive Images

Deadline: November 6, 2015

In a persistent quest to answer the question, “What do architects make?,” the JAE Design Committee has posited one possible answer: Discursive Images. Given the overwhelming response to our open call, the forthcoming issue, 70:1 (March 2016), will be dedicated exclusively to Design as Scholarship. We are soliciting images from both students and faculty at ACSA member schools to feature on our website and, for first-place winners, in the print issue.

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Call for Projects: ACSA 104

For the ACSA Annual Meeting, the co-chairs invite project submissions under the 8 thematic session topics and an additional open session. Authors may submit only one project per topic. The same project may not be submitted to multiple topics. Deadline: November 18, 2015.

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Bylaws Change

The ACSA Board of Directors is proposing to extend the term of the President-Elect to two years, and to combine the position of Secretary and Treasurer. The board also chose to propose combining the Secretary and Treasurer positions in order to maintain the size of the 14-person board. The proposal must be approved by the ACSA membership as an amendment to the Bylaws by November 21, 2015.

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Call for Abstracts: 2016 International Conference

The 2016 ACSA International Conference will focus on emerging disglobal narratives in the academic and design communities throughout the Americas through seven topics and one open category. Authors are invited to submit 500 word abstracts, in English or Spanish, and a maximum of 5 images. Deadline: January 15, 2016.

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Auburn University

The Architecture Fall Lecture Series began on October 12 with David Heymann, the Harwell Hamilton Harris Regents Professor in Architecture and Teaching Professor at the University of Texas Austin.  Subsequent lectures will be given by Guy Nordenson, professor of architecture and structural engineering in the School of Architecture at Princeton University; Mariana Ibanez, Associate Professor of Architecture at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design; Linnea Tillett, Founder/Principal—Tillett Lighting Design Associates.  The School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture (APLA) lecture series is supported by practicing architects, planners and landscape architects in the State of Alabama.  For lecture dates, please visit the APLA Events calendar.

On October 30, APLA will host its 27th annual Pumpkin Carve at the newly renovated School of Architecture’s Dudley Courtyard.  After day-long pumpkin carving, the pumpkins will be lit on display at sunset, and are available for sale at the end of the evening.

Charlene LeBleu, Associate Professor and Chair of the Master of Landscape Architecture Program in the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture(APLA), and Grayson Parker, a graduate student in the dual degree Master of Landscape Architecture and Master of Community Planning programs, have won leadership awards from the Alabama Chapter of the American Planning Association. LeBleu will receive the “Kenneth J. Groves Distinguished Leadership Award for a Professional Planner,” and Parker will receive the “Distinguished Leadership Award for a Planning Student.” For more, read here.

Michael Robinson, Professor of Architecture and Landscape Architecture and Director of the Master of Real Estate Development Program, is one of the featured artists in the Auburn University Telfair Peet Theatre’s first gallery exhibit this fall. His painting, Memory Plays, was one of seven commissioned by the Auburn University Theatre and also graced the cover the Auburn University Theatre’s 2015–2016 season brochure. For more, read here.

Seab A. Tuck III, FAIA, a 1975 Auburn architecture graduate, received the 2015 AIA Tennessee William Strickland Award for Life time Achievement at the AIA Tennessee State Convention in July. This award is the highest honor that AIA Tennessee can bestow on an individual who has exhibited a lasting influence on the theory and practice of architecture. Tuck is a principal in Tuck-Hinton Architects in Nashville, Tennessee, whose diverse portfolio of work has been recognized with more than 150 awards and featured in numerous publications.  Read more here.

 

University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Mohamed Boubekri, Associate Professor, most recent book Daylighting Design: Planning Strategies and Best Practice Solutions was published by Birkhaüser Verlag. This is a follow-up book to his previous book: Daylighting, Architecture and Health published by the Architectural Press/Elsevier.  

 

Associate Professor Erik M Hemingway‘s creative design/preservation and research work on his Urbana Modernist residence was featured in the December/January 2015 Dwell Issue in an article entitled “Buy A Piece of American Modernism with these 8 For Sale Homes”. It was the first of eight featured with other homes designed by Phillip Johnson, Paul Rudolph, and Frank Lloyd Wright.

 

The Urbana Modernist residence was also featured again in Curbed with an article “Oh Look, Someone already restored this 1967 Home For You”. Erik is currently designing a Pre-Fab addition to an A. Quincy Jones designed Eichler in Los Angeles, based on this previous work and his continued research on flat pack/ fabrication.

 

The School of Architecture is pleased to announce that Thérèse F. Tierney was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure. She is also a Faculty Affiliate of the Illinois Informatics Institute where her research focuses on networked urbanism.

 

Associate Professor of Architecture Thérèse F Tierney was invited to exhibit “ZIPBox Housing:  a transit-oriented development” at MIT Disrupting Mobilities: A Global Summit Investigating Sustainable Futures, November 11-13, Cambridge, MA, co-convened by Ryan Chin, City Science Initiative, MIT media lab and Susan Shaheen, TSRC, University of California Berkeley.  The Disruptive Mobility Summit brings together leaders from academia, industry, and government to discuss the role of current innovations within mobility networks.

The UIUC advisory board unanimously approved Tierney’s joint appointment with the Unit for Criticism & Interpretive Theory.   Faculty are appointed to the Unit in recognition of the relevance of their research and teaching to theoretically informed interdisciplinary work. Tierney’s transdisciplinary research on 21st c. urbanism, “Point clouds, locative media, and digitizing the image of the city” is featured in a multimedia exhibition titled “Now/There: Scenes from a Post Geographical City” in Los Angeles from Sept -24 -Oct 29.  In December, the exhibition travels to Shenzhen, China as part of the Shenzhen Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism + Architecture, curated by Aaron Betsky, Alfredo Brillembourg & Hubert Klumpner, ETH Zurich, and Doreen Heng Liu. 

http://www.biennialfoundation.org/biennials/shenzhen-hong-kong-bi-city-biennale-of-urbanism-architecture/









 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 


 

Texas A&M University

A multi-PI team at TAMU, Drs. Xuemei Zhu (Department of Architecture), Chanam Lee (Department of Landscape and Urban Planning), and Marcia Ory (School of Public Health), recently received a NIH grant of $2,684,000 to develop a longitudinal study on the health impacts of an activity-friendly community, Mueller in Austin, TX, on residents’ physical activity and health. This project is based on the team’s pilot project in the community supported by grants from AIA and Johns Hopkins University. 

This project addresses the growing problem of obesity in the US, exploring innovative environmental/policy approaches to reduce major risk factors such as physical inactivity at the population level. Within a 5-year study period, it will examine how an activity friendly community can increase residents’ levels of physical activity and influence when and where they are physically active. It will also provide insights into why environmental and psychosocial factors influence physical activity, and how place impacts lifestyle behaviors related to the burden of obesity.

Clemson University

We are saddened to share the news of the passing of Assistant Professor of Architecture, Armando Montilla Navarro. Professor Montilla was killed in a car accident on Friday, October 2, 2015.  He received his Ph.D. and M.A. in Urban Geography from Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, his M.Arch from Pratt Institute, and B.Arch from Universite de Montreal.  He joined the faculty at Clemson in 2009.  Condolences can be sent to nbrown4@clemson.edu and will passed along to his colleagues at Clemson and his family in Venezuela.

University of Southern California

Assistant Professor David Gerber has been invited to return to give a keynote lecture to Brazil’s SindusCON an event that combines the leading Architecture, Engineering, and Construction communities on the Future of BIM and Design Technology. He has also been invited to co-organize a special session at the upcoming ACSA conference in Seattle on Data and Architecture. Dr. Gerber has been re-appointed to the Board of Directors for the Association of Computer Aided Design in Architecture. 

Gail Peter Borden was elevated to the AIA College of Fellows. He was also recognized with the USC Associates Award for Artistic expression (the highest honor the University bestows for creative achievement) as well as being awarded the USC Mellon Mentoring Award. 

Dr. Joon-Ho Choi organized and ran a seminar, entitled “Human-Building Integration: Thermal Comfort Control for an Individual Setting”, during the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Summer Conference held in Atlanta, GA. He also presented one of his research themes, “Human-Building Integration As a Proactive Environmental Control Strategy “. In July he was a speaker at the Healthy Building 2015 Conference, “Development of an Automatic Thermal Control System Using Human Facial Skin Temperature.”  Dr. Choi has been recently invited as a scientific committee to the 2016 PLEA Conference the 2016 International Conference on Indoor Air Quality Ventilation & Energy Conservation In Building.

Alexander Robinson was selected to present a paper at the UNESCO Conference: Water, Megacities, and Global Change in Paris this December, alongside the international UN Climate Conference. He is also presenting this work in the University of Leuven Landscape Architecture Lecture Series in Belgium. 

Prof. G. Goetz Schierle updated his computer program SDG: Structure Design Graph to design diverse structures for gravity and lateral wind and seismic loads

http://uscarch.com/structures/SDG/SDG%20tutorial-p.pdf

http://uscarch.com/structures/Arch499/index.html

Dr. Travis Longcore (Landscape Architecture Program) was an invited instructor for the National Park Service at their Sustainable Outdoor Lighting Training Workshop in Fort Collins, Colorado in August.  He published a book chapter on lessons learned from 20 years of butterfly conservation work in California, titled “Butterflies are not grizzly bears: Lepidoptera conservation in practice” (in Butterfly conservation in North America: Efforts to help save our charismatic microfauna, Springer).  Dr. Longcore has also recently been certified as a licensed Geographic Information Science Professional (GISP) by the GIS Certification Institute.   

Victor Regnier has a book contract with Wiley to look at housing design and service solutions for the oldest-old–that is–people in the 85+ and 100+ age cohorts.  These age groups are the faster growing ones in the US population.  Regnier will also keynote the Canadian Seniors Housing Summit in Toronto on November 4th.

Geoffrey von Oeyen was recently featured in the August 2015 issue of Architect Magazine. In “Next Progressives: Geoffrey von Oeyen Design,” Architect published a firm profile and images of von Oeyen’s current professional work, as well as a photograph of his Sailing Architecture exhibition at the USC School of Architecture. The piece concluded that by “looking at the way naval design leverages environmental forces like wind and water to deal with external forces– human occupation, space, and mechanical systems– while also creating elegant structures that are smarter, lighter, and stronger, von Oeyen is able to create innovative designs that have the potential to steer architecture through uncharted waters.”

USC will co-host the Passive and Low Energy Architecture conference in Los Angeles from July 11-13.  Professor Marc Schiler is the Scientific (Review) Committee Chair.  PLEA2015 was held in Bologna, Italy, with representation from 42 countries.  This will be the first time that PLEA has been held in the USA, since its founding in 1981.  It has been hosted in 30 cities across the globe.  The conference will deal wit Regenerative Environments at the scale of Cities, Buildings, People.  See PLEA2016.org.

Alice Kimm presented a TEDx talk entitled “What Architecture Can Do For You (if you take the time to ask),” at The Broad stage in Santa Monica, CA. Alice is also Chair of the upcoming 2015 Monterey Design Conference, to take place in Monterey, CA over the weekend of October 16-18. Her firm, John Friedman Alice Kimm Architects, was awarded a 2015 AIACC Residential Design Honor Award for its Field House, as well as an AIACC Design Merit Award for its Resnick Sustainability Institute / Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis at Caltech.

Vinayak Bharne was appointed as the urban design and planning adviser to the Government of Karnataka Directorate of Urban Land Transport, India, to help craft strategic mobility plans for four cities in the state. He was nominated to the Editorial Board of the Journal of Architecture and Urbanism in London. He was invited as one of seven international architects and planners to the “Chandigarh Rethink” symposium in India, to opine on planning directions for the future of the city of Chandigarh, originally designed by Le Corbusier in the 1950s. He was recently interviewed by Monocle 24 Radio, UK, in the program, The Globalist. The interview focused on the City of Los Angeles’ Mobility Plan 2035, that lays the policy foundations for making Los Angeles a multi-modal, bicycle-friendly city. 

The LA River Public Art Project, co-founded by Esther Margulies ASLA, will hold the inaugural 10 FEET event in Frogtown on the LA River on October 10th.  The event is a temporary installation of site specific pieces calling attention to the value of curated arts and culture along the river, and the newly created 10 foot wide river friendly zone along the 32 miles in the City of LA.  

Assistant Professor Alvin Huang has been selected as one of four “Emerging Voices” to speak at the upcoming 2015 Monterey Design Conference hosted by the AIA California Council in Asilomar, California. Additionally, he recently lectured on his design research as part of the Forum Lecture Series for Ottawa Architecture Week in Ottawa, Canada hosted by the Azrieli School of Architecture at Carleton University. 

Michael Ellars was an exhibitor for DLR Group at the TASA/TASB Conference in Austin, Texas, on October 2nd and 3rd. DLR Group’s K-12 Sector sponsored the “Student Innovation Challenge” at the conference, which brought teams from three high schools and two middle schools across the state to Austin for the weekend with the challenge to develop solutions to significant problems, including how to eliminate the national debt. Ellars crewed the exhibit hall booth to demonstrate the use of Virtual Reality technology for architectural visualization of projects at various stages of design, which is an on-going result of my DLR Group “Personal Development Grant” that he was awarded in January.

 

ACSA Update 10.9.15

ACSA Update

 
October 9, 2015

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Call for Nominations: ACSA Board of Directors

Deadline: December 7, 2015

This year’s nominations process differs from previous years because the organization has proposed creating a Second Vice President position and combining the Secretary and Treasurer positions. Read about the proposed Bylaws amendments here. Voting will taking place via each full-member schools Faculty Councilor November 1–21.

The ACSA invites nominations for open positions on the 2016-17 Board of Directors. Those positions are First Vice President/President-Elect, Second Vice President, West Region Director, and East Central Region Director. Terms of office begin July 1, 2016.

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Did You Attend the Online Caucuses?

If you missed the virtual caucuses this week, you can still attend the last one next Wednesday, October 14, from 3–4pm ET. ACSA regional directors are hosting these online caucuses to meet with faculty councilors and administrators. Please visit the Faculty Councilor page for login information.

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NAAB Events in San Juan

The NAAB will offer a full slate of programs at the Administrators Conference November 12-14 in San Juan:

Team Training, Nov. 12, 2:30-5:00 p.m.
NAAB 101, Nov. 13 10:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m.
Team Room Prep, Nov. 14, 12:00-2:00 p.m.

In addition, the NAAB will record new videos for team room preparation and nonvoting team members, which will be available prior to the conference.

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Send the AIA College of Fellows Feedback on Their Support for Architecture Research

The AIA College of Fellows is reviewing its programs and has asked for input from the ACSA membership on The Latrobe Prize and the The Upjohn Research Initiative. We invite ACSA members to respond via email, at feedback@acsa-arch.org, to one or more of the questions posted here by October 9.

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