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Pennsylvania State University

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 Stuckeman School mourns the loss of Jawaid Haider 

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Jawaid Haider, a long-time professor of architecture at Penn State, passed away on Friday, Dec. 7. He was 67 years old. 

A native of Karachi, Pakistan, Haider served as an assistant professor at Penn State while earning his doctoral degree in interdisciplinary studies from the university in 1987. Prior to that, he was an instructor at Dawood University of Engineering and Technology in Karachi from 1997 to 1983. After completing his doctorate, he went back to Pakistan to become an associate professor at Dawood before returning to Penn State to stay in 1989. 

Haider was a sought-after teacher and adviser for both architecture design studio teaching and theory classes. As a faculty member and curriculum designer, he was instrumental in shaping the reputation held by the Department of Architecture at Penn State, especially in advanced architectural design and research of the thesis year of the B.Arch. program. He was the coordinator of the thesis-year level for many years and was influential in designing and developing the graduate programs within the department. 

“Being a faculty member with us for over 30 years, Jawaid has left his traces everywhere in the Department of Architecture,” said Ute Poershke, interim department head and professor. “More than 1,500 students have graduated with an architecture degree from our department during this time and it is a comforting thought for us that his teaching resonates in so many lives.” 

He received many awards and recognitions during his career, most notably being named a Fulbright Senior Scholar by the Australian-American Fulbright Commission. He also received the College of Arts and Architecture Faculty Award for outstanding teaching and the inaugural Faculty Outreach Award “in recognition of exemplary leadership in applying scholarship in support of society.” Most recently, he was named the recipient of the college’s 2018 Distinguished Teaching Award, which “recognizes faculty members who have contributed significantly to the intellectual and artistic life of the college through their teaching.” 

Haider’s research interests included architectural issues relevant for children, intergenerational design, public space, architectural design education and comparative theoretical perspectives in architecture. More recently his research interests expanded to include active living strategies in parks and recreation systems. His research explored how the design of an environment or space could be child-friendly and elder-friendly, and he sought to make spaces for all generations to share, and to allow people to better form relationships. 

As the principal investigator of a major research project titled, “Planning and Design Strategies for Healthy Living, Parks and Recreation in Pottstown [Pennsylvania] Area,” he influenced both community design and healthy living. He published extensively and received major funding for his research, including grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Graham Foundation. 

“Jawaid also contributed immensely to academic life at Penn State,” said Poerschke. “Noteworthy were his tireless efforts in the planning and chairing of the Facilities Planning Advisory Board, which advised Penn State administrators on the architecture and landscape architecture here on the University Park campus.” 

Later in his career, Haider served as the dean of academics at Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture in Karachi for two years and he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Institute of Architects of Pakistan in recognition of his contributions to architectural education in his home country. 

He was active in the State College community through his involvement with Global Connections, a community-based, non-profit organization affiliated with the United Way of Centre County and Penn State, with the mission of promoting intercultural understanding and building a strong, inclusive community through service, education, advocacy and partnerships. He also served as the design consultant for the Discovery Space of Central Pennsylvania. He was also involved with the Association of University Women. 

Haider is survived by his wife, Talat, and their twin sons, Shuja and Asad, as well as two sisters and three brothers. 


The link to the release is: https://stuckeman.psu.edu/news/stuckeman-school-mourns-loss-jawaid-haider

Pennsylvania State University

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Penn State designer’s firm up for Young Architects Program 

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Low Design Office (LOWDO), an architectural design firm co-owned by DK Osseo-Asare, assistant professor of architecture and engineering design, has been named one of five finalists for next year’s 20th annual Young Architects Program. The program is run by the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and MoMA PS1, one of the oldest and largest nonprofit contemporary art institutions in the United States. 

Each year, 50 firms comprised of recent architectural school graduates, junior faculty and architects experimenting with new styles or techniques are nominated by deans of architecture schools and editors of architecture publications for the program. The firms submit portfolios of their work for review by a panel consisting of leaders and curators from MoMA and MoMA PS1. The panel culls the group down to five finalists that are then challenged to develop original designs that provide shade, seating and water while working within guidelines that address environmental issues, including sustainability and recycling. 

The winner of the 2019 Young Architects Program will be announced in February, with the winning design to be installed at MoMA PS1’s outdoor courtyard in New York City next summer. 

This year, MoMA and MoMA PS1 have partnered with the National Museum of XXI Century Arts (MAXXI) in Rome, Italy; CONSTRUCTO in Santiago, Chile; Istanbul Modern in Istanbul, Turkey; and MMCA in Seoul, Korea, to create international editions of the Young Architects Program. 

Osseo-Asare and Ryan Bollom started LOWDO in 2006 while they were master’s degree students at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. The practice was formed around the idea that transformative innovation in creative fields most often originates when the creator must overcome limited means and resources to provide meaning in his or her work. Now a transatlantic architecture and integrated design studio based in Tema, Ghana and Austin, Texas, LOWDO continues to use its founding principles in its practice to deliver high-impact design for a broader public through low-resource, low-tech, low-carbon strategies. The firm’s projects search to find optimal balance between design and resource consumption—to achieve the “most” with the “least.” 

For more information and to read about all of the finalists, see the Architect’s Newspaper. 


Link: https://stuckeman.psu.edu/news/penn-state-designers-firm-young-architects-program

Pennsylvania State University

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Faculty from the College of Arts and Architecture are part of a multidisciplinary team of Penn State researchers that has recently been approved for a $2.5 million education program grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Michael Arthur, co-director of the Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research and professor of geosciences, is leading the grant.

“Marcellus Matters: Engaging Adults in Science and Energy” aims to enhance the general public’s understanding of science, engineering and energy through community-based activities that foster constructive dialogue, engage locals in science and research, and develop “Marcellus Community Scientists” who can transfer knowledge to their respective communities.

In addition to the College of Arts and Architecture, the three-year project includes researchers from the colleges of Earth and Mineral Sciences, Agricultural Sciences, and Education. “This is an interdisciplinary, campus-wide effort to study and engage a critical issue facing Pennsylvania,” said Timothy Murtha, associate professor of Landscape Architecture and one of the project’s researchers. “Each of our small parts contributes to that greater goal.”

While Pennsylvania has a history of natural resource extraction, the magnitude of the Marcellus Shale natural gas industry is posing social, economic and environmental challenges for rural communities experiencing drilling activity.  The NSF program funding this initiative targets informal education for adults in four disciplines – science, technology, engineering and mathematics – vital for community-level understanding of the implications of this rapidly evolving industry.

“This NSF project will address those challenges as it will provide opportunities for the residents of the Marcellus region to gain skills in scientific inquiry and build an understanding of science and energy that can be used in managing change,” Arthur said.

Structured around several science, energy, engineering, planning and design topics, the project will empower communities to make informed opinions and decisions. Those topics include an overview of the U.S. energy picture including supply and demand; resource needs of energy sources and climate change; perceptions of risk and perspectives on “acceptable” and “unacceptable” risks; and the potential environmental impacts of drilling and development on forest ecosystems, wildlife habitats, water quality, and introduction of invasive species.

With a focus on adults—those people who are making decisions about land leasing, community regulations and other issues related to Marcellus Shale development—the project is designed around four closely integrated activities with overlapping content.

Those activities include community-based theater performances on risk and uncertainty produced by faculty members in the School of Theatre.

“Community-based performance is a unique and effective way to further the understanding of the science for all affected,” said William Doan, professor of Theatre and associate dean for administration, research and graduate studies in the College of Arts and Architecture. “It engages community members to enter the discussion through the exchange of ideas and constructive debate.”

The participation of theatre artists in this important NSF grant is a first for Penn State, the College of Arts and Architecture, and the School of Theatre, Doan said, adding that it’s a “testament to the College’s strategic goals to engage in interdisciplinary and collaborative work across the campus.”

The project will also utilize environmental planning workshops, overseen by Murtha and Brian Orland, professor of Landscape Architecture. Those workshops will use place-based and data-driven visualizations as a basis for community discussion about the environmental and community changes accompanying Marcellus Shale activity.

“The planning workshops are a natural extension of the engaged problem-based and student-centered learning of a typical design studio class,” Orland said. “Rule-based design strategies provide an immediate connection to the science education goals of this project.  In essence we’re taking the design studio to the streets.”          

“Marcellus Matters” will be coordinated by the Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research, which is supported by the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, the College of Agricultural Sciences, the Penn State Institutes of Energy and the Environment and Penn State Outreach. Penn State Extension, which has provided informational sessions on Marcellus Shale development since 2005, will have a key role in project implementation.

Other researchers on the project include Chuck Anderson, Earth & Environmental Systems Institute; Brian Bills, Center for Environmental Informatics; Seth Blumsack, Energy Policy; Kathy Brasier, Agricultural Economics & Rural Sociology; Barbara Korner, Theatre; Douglas Miller, Center for Environmental Informatics; Esther Prins, Adult Education; Eliza Richardson, Geosciences; Susan Russell, Theatre; and David Yoxtheimer, Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research.

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