Associate Professor Markus Breitschmid, Ph.D., S.I.A., Chair of the Core Professional Bachelor of Architecture Program, has edited the text for the book publication “Olgiati”. The volume is published by Birkhäuser Publishers in Basel in 2012. Besides the English edition, there are editions in French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Japanese. Breitschmid was also invited to moderate the event “Architettare: Tradition & I”, a discussion on architecture among internationally active architects, by the Organizzazione Studenti Accademia of the Accademia di Architecttura at the Universita della Svizzera Italiana, held on May 31, 2012.
Assistant Professor Aki Ishida has been awarded Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership Education Grant to design an interactive installation reinterpreting Japanese lantern festivals for the AIA Blue Ridge chapter’s design award exhibit on September 14, 2012. The project is designed in collaboration with the Institute for Creativity, Arts and Technology at Virginia Tech.
The School of Architecture & Planning at the Catholic University of America, Spain Arts & Culture, and the District Architectural Center are co-sponsoring the lecture by Spanish architect Iñaqui Carnicero on “Second Hand Spaces.” Iñaqui Carnicero has been an Associate Professor of design at the School of Architecture, Polytechnic University of Madrid for 13 years and is currently a Visiting Critic at Cornell University. He is also the director of “Symmetries” an architecture platform that relates Roman and contemporary strategies in the city. His work has been widely recognized in multiple occasions by publications, exhibitions, and prestigious awards. Carnicero´s lecture will explore the relationship between architecture and the economical context through some of his projects, and the opportunities that these constrains can offer in the design process. The lecture is on Thursday 10/24 at 6:00pm, at the District Architectural Center located at 421 7th Street Northwest Washington, DC 20004 and entry is free for all public. Registration is required at http://aiadac.com/calendar/event/architecture-week-lecture-iñaqui-carcinero Photo: hangar-16-matadero-madrid by Symmetries.
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.
Assistant Professor Burak Erdim, has joined the faculty at College of Design School of Architecture at North Carolina State University.
Burak Erdim is a registered architect and he is currently finalizing his dissertation in Architectural History titled, “Modernism and Revolution: Architectural Education, Development, and the Cold War Middle East, 1950-62,” under the direction of Professor Sheila Crane at the University of Virginia.
His research focuses on post-colonial encounters across the globe, particularly in the Mediterranean and the Middle East. He presented his work in a number of conferences and invited lectures nationally and internationally, and published a component of his master’s work on Bruno Taut’s encounter with Turkey in an essay titled, “From Germany, to Japan, and Turkey: Modernity, Locality, and Bruno Taut’s Transnational Details from 1933-38.” The essay was included in Lunch (2007), an academic journal published by the University of Virginia School of Architecture.
As a Ph.D. candidate, Burak has spent a year as a Fulbright Research Grantee (2007-08) and as a Dumas Malone Research Fellow (summer 2008) in Turkey.
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A team consisting of Architecture graduate students K. Matt Teti and L. Katy Kiang and Architecture undergraduate students Stacy Goodman and Elizabeth Gutierrez led by Assistant Professor Dana Gulling won first place at the national NCMA Unit Design Competition. The competition is sponsored by the National Concrete Masonry Association’s Education and Research Foundation.
The School of Architecture’s ARC 232 Structures and Materials course has been participating in the annual competition for over 15 years. In recent years, NC State has been placing at the national level including last year’s third place finish after Georgia Tech and University of Southern California. This year, NC State was able to dethrone Georgia Tech who won previously for three years in a row.
Prior to joining the Architecture faculty in 2012, Professor Gulling was at the University of New Mexico and Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). She has over seven years of teaching experience and research in the area of building technology and design.
Gulling says, “I am very proud of the students and all of their hard work. The students submitted a wonderful design proposal and gave an excellent presentation at the NCMA conference. Also, I would like to thank (Professor of Architecture) Pat Rand and Frank Werner (local sponsor with Adams an Oldcastle company) for the feedback that they gave to the students during the design process.”
As in the previous four years, the School of Architecture & Planning at The Catholic University of America had a world-renown architect teaching a studio and lecturing at CUArch as part of our Walton Critic Program. Previous Walton Critics included Antoine Predock (2009), Craig Hartman (2010), and Juhani Pallasmaa (2011).
This year the Walton Critic and Professor in Residence was architect Alberto Campo Baeza. Campo Baeza is a Spanish architect internationally known for his luminous, simple yet nuanced, and always provocative architecture. His work is the result of a long, continuous, and disciplined investigation into the miracle of light in space. He has received extensive global recognition, including the Buenos Aires Biennial International Critic Prize (2009), the Eduardo Torroja Award (2005), the Venice Biennial (2000), and the Miami Gold Biennial Gold Medal (2000). Campo Baeza was also a selected candidate for The American Academy of Arts and Letters 2010 Architecture Award and a finalist in the 2011 Premio de Arquitectura Española. His built work, drawings, and ideas have been widely published in Spanish, English, Italian, French and Japanese. Campo Baeza has been a faculty member at the ETSAM-UPM in Madrid since 1976. On 09/12/12, Campo Baeza presented the lecture “Ineffable Architecture: Buliding Poetry by Thinking with Your Hands” at the Crough Center for Architectural Studies of The Catholic University of America. Additionally, on 09/19/12 7:00pm, Alberto Campo Baeza gave a lecture on his current work and reflections at the District Architecture Center (DAC) in downtown DC as part of the event “Architecture Week 2012” organized by the DAC. Please contact Director of the Sacred Spaces concentration Professor Julio Bermudez for more information.
The 2012 Summer Institute for Architecture (SIA) included several successful new initiatives including an Architectural Design Studio led by Ben Gilmartin (Diller Scofidio + Renfro); a Traveling Studio to NYC with Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, and Boston with Stoss LU; and a Design-Build Studio in Hopewell, Ohio. The Summer Institute also hosted a successful speaker series with Steve Vogel (University of Detroit Mercy); June Williamson (City College of New York); Billie Tsien (Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects); and Ben Gilmartin (Diller Scofidio + Renfro). A publication is currently in development with an anticipated January 2013 release date.
Each summer, the Catholic University of America School of Architecture and Planning conducts the Summer Institute for Architecture featuring numerous undergraduate and graduate level courses. Among these are design studios and elective courses, including history of architecture, graphics, furniture design, theory, and computer-aided design/fabrication. Plans for the 2013 SIA include the NADAAA Design Studio (directed by Nader Tehrani) and a traveling studio to Los Angeles, CA. Please contact SIA Director Professor Julie Kim for more information.
Associate Professor Julio Bermudez received a grant to complete the second phase of his interdisciplinary neuroscience research of architecturally induced contemplation (done in collaboration with several researchers and departments of the University of Utah). Bermudez will be presenting two papers this Fall. The first work coauthored with Brandon Ro is entitled “Extraordinary Architectural Experiences: Comparative Study of Three Paradigmatic Cases of Sacred Space (The Pantheon, The Chartres Cathedral and the Chapel of Ronchamp) at the 2nd International Congress on Ambiances (Montreal, Canada). The second work “fMRI Study of Architecturally-Induced Contemplative States” will be presented at the Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture (ANFA) 2012 Annual Conference (La Jolla, CA). In addition, professor Bermudez will travel this November to the University of San Juan in Argentina invited by the Facultad de Arquitectura y Urbanismo to give a lecture entitled “Lo Cotidiano y lo Sagrado: Reflexiones desde el Arte y la Arquitectura” and teach the course “Philosophy in/of Architecture.”
As part of the AIA National Convention in Washington this past May, Associate Professor Eric J. Jenkins participated in the AIA Los Angeles and Broadcaster’s multimedia guide to Washington, DC architecture. This smartphone application helps guide listeners to architectural sites accompanied by commentary from local architects and educators.
Assistant Professor Hollee Hitchcock Becker presented a paper in the Smart and Sustainable Building Environments Conference in Sao Paolo, Brazil last June 2012. She also won a SASBE 2012 “Highly Commended Paper Award” for her work entitled “Sustainable, Affordable Housing using Locally-grown Bamboo”.
Assistant Professor Carlos Reimers was invited to be part of the Network Session “The Search for Multi-Story Incremental Housing” organized by the MIT’s Special Interest Group in Urban Studies SIGUS and presented in the Sixth Session of the United Nations World Urban Forum in Naples, Italy in September 2012. Professor Reimers also presented a paper on alternatives for the manufactured housing industry entitled “Beyond the Trailer: Rethinking Affordable Manufactured Housing in the U.S.” in the ACSA Fall 2012 Conference in Philadelphia “Off Site”.
The Catholic University of America is pleased to announce four new faculty members:
Assistant Professor Patricia Andrasik has been teaching both studios and sustainability courses at the CUArch Master of Sustainable Design Program since 2004, while practicing at an international architectural firm, She teaches LEED(ing) Green; Sustainable Synergies in Building Assessment, and recently developed a course called LEED EB: O&M on the Crough Architectural Center at CUA tracking and metering utility consumption to improve sustainability. Patricia will be launching two new courses in lighting and environmental analytics next year.
Assistant Professor Dr. Charles Hostovsky joined the Catholic University of America to teach in the Master of City and Regional Planning program. “Chuck” is a Registered Professional Planner in Canada, and taught for 15 years at the University of Toronto. He has published widely and won two teaching awards, including the 2011 Government of Canada award for teaching sustainability. In professional practice for 25 years and with an extensive portfolio of planning projects, he was one of the Project Managers that won the Canadian Institute of Planners award for planning excellence in Transportation and Infrastructure in 2011.
Assistant Professor of Practice John Nahra, is the owner and Principal of Nahra Architects. John has been an architect in the design and construction industry of the greater Washington, DC area for the past 10 years. He received his dual degrees in Architecture and Civil Engineering at the Catholic University of America and is a member of the AIA, NCARB and the USGBC. John will be exploring the added value of architectural design in the real estate development process as well as serving as advisor in the Thesis program.
Visiting Assistant Professor David Dewane is an architect with Gensler. In 2010 he founded Librii with seed funding from the World Bank Institute. The project aims to construct a network of digital libraries along Africa’s expanding fiber optic infrastructure. David trained at the Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems in Austin, TX under renowned Pliny Fisk III and has a Master of Architecture from Rice University. He has held leadership positions on three teams in the U.S. DOE’s Solar Decathlon competition.
In the summer of 2009, the Catholic University of America Design Collaborative (CUAdc) was approached by the Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land with the special request to design four Hermitages on the Monastery grounds in Washington DC. A design studio led by CUAdc Director William Jelen AIA began work analyzing the site and the unique challenges and opportunities of the task. On the following Fall, two graduate studios led by professor George Martin and professor Lou Boza examined both the spiritual opportunities and the tectonic opportunities of a hermitage building. Finally in the Spring of 2010 as part of Catholic University’s Comprehensive Design Studio, DirectorJelen led a 12 architecture student studio towards a singular design. This group known as Studio 12, designed what became the concept of the first Hermitage to be built.The design concept centered on the interplay and blending of the sacred and profane worlds as they pertain to an individual’s daily patterns, routines, and needs. The idea that each moment of ordinary daily life can be an opportunity for sacred appreciation and meditation, guided everything from the choice of natural materials and textures to the orientation of the unit itself facing East towards Jerusalem.The hermitage contains a sleeping area, kitchenette, and bathroom in approximately 350sf. The design incorporated sustainable site considerations, electrical, plumbing and mechanical systems including the use of natural ventilation. Through the choice of materials the design was meant to integrate into the existing historic campus. The first Hermitage is ADA compliant as well. The design for the project was awarded the 2010 AIA Unbuilt Award from the DC chapter of the American Institute of Architects. Work of the CUAdc has continued through the completion of construction on the interior design for the Hermitage including designing and fabricating a custom made chair, bed and desk for the Hermitage. For more information contact CUAdc Director William Jelen.
A new program offered through the College of Architecture and Urban Studies’ Washington-Alexandria Architecture Center (http://www.waac.vt.edu/#!home/c1kho) integrates the disciplines of architecture, landscape architecture, and urban planning to create a master’s-level concentration in urban design (http://www.waac.vt.edu/#!ud/cool). The program, which is in its final stages of governance approval, will open its door to its first cohort of students for fall semester 2014. The Urban Design concentration within the School of Architecture + Design (http://www.archdesign.vt.edu)’s existing Master of Science in Architecture (http://archdesign.vt.edu/architecture/ms-arch) degree program will leverage existing excellence in faculty and curriculum, including the graduate architecture and landscape architecture programs as well as courses within the Urban Affairs and Planning (http://spia.vt.edu/uap) program focused on topics such as historic preservation, public process, land-use law, and sustainability. “It’s a program for a generalist; for someone interested in the bigger issues in a city. It’s the perfect program to take advantage of the depth of the curriculums in the college and everything Alexandria has to offer,” said Susan Piedmont-Palladino, a professor of architecture at the Washington-Alexandria Architecture Center and the program director for the new concentration. Students will choose classes in the School of Public and International Affairs (file:///C:UsersspallaAppDataLocalMicrosoftWindowsTemporary%20Internet%20FilesContent.OutlookQ7IFG811spia.vt.edu) and the School of Architecture +Design (http://archdesign.vt.edu/), both schools within the College of Architecture and Urban Studies. The curriculum will focus on topics including livable cities and sustainable cities; areas where the college’s research will serve as a useful resource. Dean Jack Davis said, “As populations are increasingly moving to urban centers throughout the world, knowledge on environmental sustainability, public health in the urban core, and quality of life issues are critical to excellence in design. This concentration will address those issues and more.” The plan is to keep the size of each incoming class small to allow for more personalized attention and customized education. “We hope students will come in with particular urban issues that they are interested in,” Piedmont-Palladino said. “So it will have a self-directed course of study.” Piedmont-Palladino also says she hopes that the program attracts a diverse group of students so that each can benefit from learning from one another. “The ideal candidate is someone who has a professional degree in landscape architecture or architecture and may have spent time abroad, time in a city, and been exposed to other cultures. Perhaps they have practiced for a few years and found themselves interested in problems beyond a single building and want to expand their knowledge of planning,” explained Piedmont-Palladino. With this program, they can come back to school for three semesters and get a master’s in architecture with an emphasis in urban design.” The new concentration is not limited to those with degrees in architecture or landscape architecture, however. Students with non-professional degrees in architecture and landscape architecture can enroll for an extra semester. For students who do not have a relevant design degree, the program requires successful completion of a foundation studio to learn the basic principles of design and graphic communication. Such students would join aspiring landscape students with similar backgrounds in an introductory course for their first year at the Washington-Alexandria Architecture Center. A board of advisors will help guide the curriculum and also provide professional relationships, creating a built-in network for the new graduates. Virginia Tech’s College of Architecture and Urban Studies (http://www.caus.vt.edu/) is composed of four schools: the School of Architecture + Design, including architecture, industrial design, interior design and landscape architecture; the School of Public and International Affairs, including urban affairs and planning, public administration and policy and government and international affairs; the Myers-Lawson School of Construction, which includes building construction in the College of Architecture and Urban Studies and construction engineering management in the College of Engineering; and the School of the Visual Arts, including programs in studio art, visual communication and art history. Related Links * Jaan Holt, Henry Hollander receive American Institute of Architects Northern Virginia Chapter Award (http://www.vtnews.vt.edu/articles/2013/10/103113-caus-holtandhollandernovaaia.html) This story can be found on the Virginia Tech News website: http://www.vtnews.vt.edu/articles/2013/11/111813-caus-urbandesign.html
Closing this Fall Series, the School of Architecture and Planning at the Catholic University of America will be presenting the lecture “Mies van der Rohe: A Negative Theology” by Professor Thomas Mical, November 20th at 6:00pm. Professor Mical will reflect upon tactics of negation, absence, and a focus upon subtractive processes within the architecture and legacy of Mies van der Rohe, while drawing upon the under-examined spiritual context of the avant-garde recodings of historical and technological forces driving modernity. The lecture reinterprets Mies van der Rohe later glass, concrete, and steel design provocations as an incomplete negation, with details persisting as hosts of telling traces or minimal differences exposed in the historical turbulence of the twentieth century. Modern architecture after Mies is repurposed as a demonstration of what must remain almost hidden and nearly silent within the spatial arenas of modern transparency. Thomas Mical is an Associate Professor of Architecture at the University of South Australia, where he does research in the history of modern thought in architecture. He has published widely on surrealism, transparency, and cinematic urbanism and taught in several universities in the U.S. and internationally, including the Illinois Institute of Technology, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Carleton University, and the Vienna University of Technology. The lecture will be at the Koubek Auditorium, Crough Center for Architectural Studies, The Catholic University of America, 620 Michigan Ave. N.E. Washington D.C. All are welcomed.
The School of Architecture and Planning is pleased to announce that the first annual Urban Practice Distinguished Critic will be Tim McDonald of the Philadelphia-based Onion Flats. The intention of the Distinguished Critic program is to engage exemplary urban practitioners who can bring their perspective, methods and work to the students both informally and formally.The Urban Practice concentration, one of four concentrations in the Master of Architecture program, focuses on architecture that weaves the small and large scales with historical, cultural, social and conceptual contexts.For more information, please see our website: http://urbanpracticeatcuarch.wordpress.com/
Professor Terrance R. Williams, FAIA, and Associate Professor Adnan Morshed, PhD, will be at the Urban Affairs Association conference in San Francisco next April to present their paper, “Mid-Sized Cities: A New American Urban Frontier?” The paper focuses on the decades of urban depopulation—especially in mid-sized cities–and the vast surplus of under-utilized infrastructure that literally offers a subsidy to the re-densification our urban communities of all sizes.
Associate Professor Adnan Morshed, PhD, published his book “Oculus: A Decade of Insights into Bangladeshi Affairs.” The book was presented at the Hay Festival 2012, Bangla Academy last November 15th, and at the Baatighar Press Club, Chittagong last December 29th. Dr. Morshed was also an invited panelist at the University of Texas Austin’s Harry Ransom Center last November during the Tenth Biennial Fleur Cowles Flair Symposium “I Have Seen the Future: Norman Bel Geddes Designs America”. In addition, Dr, Morshed will be speaking at the School of Architecture, the University of Utah, as part of the Spring Lecture Series in March 2013.
Associate Professor Eric J. Jenkins, AIA, published his book “Drawn to Design: Analyzing Architecture through Freehand Drawing” (Birkhäuser, 2012).Beginning with the underlying concepts of freehand sketching, the book’s main component is a series of “design acts” that a student might perform in design and analysis. The book contains over 400 drawings exploring the role and the methods of freehand analytical sketching in architectural education. Jenkins has also been appointed to the Board of Directors of the District of Columbia Chapter of the AIA. In this position he will work to develop links between academia and practice as well as work on initiatives such as mentoring and A.R.E. preparation and completion.
Assistant Professor Carlos Reimers, PhD,will be presenting a paper at the Cultures of the Suburbs Symposium to be held at Hofstra University, NY this year on June.The paper is entitled “Informal Suburbia” and it addresses research into the growth of extralegal settlements on the outskirts of cities throughout the United States, and the environmental and political forces that fuel this growth.
During the Summer 2012, four architecture students at CUA, Peter Miles, Joey Barrick, Nina Tatic, and Filipe Pereira, worked under the direction of Associate Professor Miriam Gusevich to create a design proposal for development of the McMillan Reservoir site. This proposal, which was created in response to a plan created by Envision McMillan Partners, was presented at a July HPRB hearing. The project, which has also been presented to various community groups and other interested parties, has received very positive press from The National Trust for Historic Preservation and other groups.
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