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North Carolina State University

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Photo: North Carolina State University’s team in Walt Disney’s Imagineering 21st ImagiNations Design Competition L-R Kyle Thompson, Michael Habersetzer, Andy Park, Brian Gaudio Photo Credit: Gary Krueger, Walt Disney Imagineering

February 3, 2012 — Glendale, CA – The winners of the annual Walt Disney Imagineering ImagiNations Design Competition were announced on Friday, February 3 at Imagineering headquarters in Glendale, California. The ImagiNations Design Competition is a program designed and sponsored by Walt Disney Imagineering to encourage university students to consider careers in creative and technical fields including digital arts, engineering, and architecture.

For this year’s ImagiNations design competition, students from American universities and colleges were given a unique challenge: “Imagine it’s the year 3011. Disney has entertainment experiences all over the world, many which don’t even exist today. The human race is finally living on the moon and Walt Disney Imagineering wants to be the first one to provide entertainment and/or recreation to the new citizens there. What would you imagine that this new Disney experience could be?”

First Place and “Best in Show” was awarded to students Brian Gaudio, Michael Habersetzer, Andy Park and Kyle Thompson of North Carolina State University. Their project, “The Mind of Molly Mouse” utilizes modern-day 3011 technology to communicate the sweeping story of Molly, a descendant of Mickey Mouse, over the course of their stay.

Second Place was awarded to Carnegie Mellon University “Create the Night Finale,” which is an interactive nighttime spectacular and experience. The three members of the Carnegie Mellon University team are Michael Honeck, Ping Li, and Franz Mendonsa.

Third Place was awarded to Utah State University for their Disney Galactic Cruiseline: “The Oneiro.” Guests will be at ease in this contemporary environment designed to offer the luxuries of a seven-star resort with the thrill of space exploration. The three members of the Utah State University team are Jason Cooper, Adam Dambrink and Philip Le Goubin.

Twenty-one college students from six universities were finalists in Walt Disney Imagineering’s 21st ImagiNations Design Competition. ImagiNations is an annual program designed and sponsored by Walt Disney Imagineering, the creative arm of all Disney Parks and Resorts worldwide, which allows participants to showcase their talents and gain practical knowledge in design from leaders in immersive storytelling and themed entertainment.

This marks the third time in four years that a North Carolina State University team has placed in the top three. Last year’s North Carolina State team “Fantasia: The Lost Symphony,” placed second in the competition.

Participants work for several months on their concepts and presentations, which are evaluated by a team of Imagineers. The projects and concepts presented are not necessarily intended to be built by Disney – they are a way for the entrants to demonstrate their skill and creative abilities. In consideration for the opportunities provided by Imagineering, submissions become the sole property of Walt Disney Imagineering and Imagineering retains all rights to use and/or display the submissions and the materials contained in them.

A position at Walt Disney Imagineering is often found on surveys of “dream occupations,” and the company uses ImagiNations as a way to reach out to the widest possible talent pool for its future. The top three placed teams were awarded cash prizes with the first place team receiving $3,000. An additional $1,000 grant was awarded to the first place team, to be equally divided among its sponsoring universities and/or organizations.

The six teams of finalists visited Walt Disney Imagineering in Glendale from January 30 to February 3 to make professional presentations to the judging panel, interview for paid internships and get a behind-the-scenes tour of Disneyland from the viewpoint of Imagineers. During their week at Imagineering, the teams met and networked with Imagineers from a variety of disciplines.

Imagineers are famous for telling stories through three-dimensional attractions and experiences. The judges are looking in particular for the ability of technology, architecture, costumes, transportation, and attractions to support the story – and participants are advised to “begin with a great story before developing anything else.”

The judges apply the same criteria to the entries as they would to their own work – beginning with the team’s ability to collaborate across different disciplines and backgrounds; the mastery of their individual skills; whether it provides an engaging guest experience; the ability of the experience to demonstrate respect and inclusion for the diverse array of families who visit Walt Disney parks & resorts, and that it is unique in that it is not limited to what guests already experience in Disney parks and resorts.

The competition is open to students from colleges and universities in the United States that are Juniors, Seniors, or full-time Graduate students, or within one year after graduation, enrolled in Architecture, Arts, Animation, Computer Science, Construction/Project Management, Creative Writing, Engineering, Game Design, Graphics/ Communications Design, Illustration, Industrial Design, Interactive Media Design, Interior Design, Landscape Architecture, Media Production (Digital, TV, Film), Theater Design & Production.

 

University of Virginia

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The conditions of 21st-century life – an aging population, environmental pollution, rapid urbanization, increased poverty, the rising cost of medical care, the need for preventive medicine and developments in social and medical science – have created a host of challenges and opportunities for those who design and plan environments that aid and nurture health and well-being.

Recognizing the relationship between design and health, the University of Virginia School of Architecture on May 12 launched the Center for Design and Health [link to: http://uvadesignhealth.org/] to pursue cross-disciplinary research to advance the design and planning of patient-centered facilities and healthy neighborhoods, towns and cities.

The goal of the center is to empower faculty and community collaborations, according to the center website. It will act as a catalyst, providing seed funding to new research and projects already under way that bring together researchers from a variety of disciplines to address design challenges that incorporate the expertise of design professionals, policy planners and health professionals.

“City planners and urban designers rarely understand, or have systemically studied, the long-term health effects of their work,” said Timothy Beatley, the Teresa Heinz Professor of Sustainable Communities in the School of Architecture. “The activities of the center in focusing on the measurable health effects of, say, green features such as trees, community gardens, trails and nearby nature, will help to change that.”

Beatley and Reuben M. Rainey, William Stone Weedon Professor Emeritus of Landscape Architecture, co-direct the center.

Initial collaborations include a post-occupancy study for the Shands Cancer Center in Gainesville, Fla.; a partnership with the U.Va. Emily Couric Clinical Cancer Center that resulted in the inclusion of original works of art throughout the center that complement the building’s natural light-filled spaces and natural materials, part of the center’s mission to provide cutting-edge care in a patient-friendly facility; and biophilic cities work around the globe. This spring the Architecture School and School of Medicine partnered on a Medical Center Hour, symposium and exhibit focused on photographs taken inside and outside of abandoned mental health facilities by Christopher Payne.

Although based in the School of Architecture, the center aims to engage the school’s faculty, alumni and students who seek or are working in careers in health-related design and planning, with faculty from areas across the University who have expertise in physical, emotional or community health, including the schools of Medicine and Nursing, the School of Engineering and Applied Science, and the departments of Psychology, Anthropology and Sociology.

In addition, partnerships with design and planning professionals working on health-related projects as well as faculty at other universities will be welcome, Beatley said.

The center’s research efforts will focus primarily on the work of planners and designers, and the body of knowledge produced will be relevant to the concerns of administrators of medical facilities, medical and nursing schools, schools of public health, public officials and citizen advocates concerned with creating, sustaining and supporting healthy environments, Beatley said.

Projects may include research related to aging in place, healing landscapes, health and public spaces, food and nutrition, disaster housing and recovery, healthy design for hospitals and other health care facilities, and biophilic cities that embrace the concept of incorporating nature into the urban fabric with elements, such as urban farming and green rooftops, that take advantage of the healing power and life-enhancing potential of reconnecting to the natural world. The center’s website will provide information on the research activities.

“The center is intended, in part, to create spaces and opportunities for designers to work together and learn from other disciplines concerned with health. No one discipline has all the answers, and the health and design agenda is necessarily multidisciplinary,” Beatley said.

The center is seeking emerging scholars to participate in the inaugural Faculty Fellows Program [link to: http://uvadesignhealth.org/fellows]. Three fellows, chosen from full-time faculty of any department or school at the University other than the School of Architecture, will be offered for the 2011-12 academic year. Chosen fellows, who will work to develop long-term scholarly research agendas related to health implications of design and planning the built environment, will receive a $3,000 stipend. Fellows are expected to participate in the life of the Architecture School and to begin collaborations with faculty there.

Also, research grants of up to $3,000 per project are available to Architecture School faculty with innovative research questions and projects.

Fellowship and grant applications will be accepted through July 1 and the fellowships will begin Sept. 1.

The grants and fellowships are intended to be catalytic and to help lay the foundation for larger awards from other funding agencies, including University grants, state and federal agencies, foundations, corporations and private individuals, Beatley said. Individual members of the center are responsible for securing funding for research projects.

The center’s role is to foster synergistic relationships and grant proposals through its activities, including symposia, lectures and roundtable discussions where ideas are vetted, as well as a Web presence that will encourage researchers with complementary interests to find each other, he said.

The center’s Design and Health Lecture Series will explore practice and emerging new ideas in design and health. The series will feature three to five lectures each year, given by University faculty, practitioners and visitors. The center also will co-sponsor lectures organized by the Medical Center Hour, the U.Va. Medical School’s weekly forum on medicine and society.

An important long-term aspect of the center’s work will be to develop new courses and curricula focused on health and the built environment. To start, the center will post a list of such existing courses offered by faculty across Grounds on the center’s website.

Down the road, the center plans to identify and help create new courses and curricula to help strengthen educational opportunities in the area of design and health, Beatley said. New courses might include a series of short courses on specialized design and health subjects, such as healthy hospital design, community design for walkable and healthy cities, or semester-long classes co-taught by professors and researchers in various fields with a focus on building new insights about multidisciplinary practice.

Also under exploration is the idea of a new design and health certificate that would initially be available to students in the School of Architecture and eventually to students in allied fields across the University.

“The center builds on work already being carried out in the School of Architecture and looks to embrace other disciplines to expand and enhance research related to issues of design and health that have implications for individuals, our public spaces and the planet,” Architecture School Dean Kim Tanzer said.

University of Puerto Rico

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The UPR School of Architecture organized and co-hosted a Symposium titled Education of an Architect – 40 years later – John Hedjuk & the Cooper Union.  The Symposium celebrated the particular point of view and legacy of Hedjuk as Dean of the Cooper Union. The debates instigated a discourse on the evolution of architectural pedagogy from the first publication of Education of an Architect and the 1971 MoMA exhibition to the present. The guest speakers were Lebbeus Woods, Val Warke, Lance Jay Brown, David Gersten, Diane Lewis, Michael Kwartler, David Shapiro, Zubin Singh, Jim Williamson and Guido Zuliani.  The panels were moderated by Sotirios Kotoulas, Javier de Jesus and Francisco Javier Rodriguez.

In collaboration with the AIA-PR, the UPR released a publication on Contemporary Architecture in Puerto Rico: 1993-2010. The book was edited by Dean Francisco Javier Rodríguez, AIA and Prof. Darwin Marrero.

The UPR School of Architecture is celebrating its 45th anniversary. As part of the occasion, the School’s auditorium will be named after its founder, Jesús Eduardo Amaral (B.Acrh Cornell, 1951).

The UPR School of Architecture received a $100,000 grant to fund the installation of 100 solar panels that will save thousands of dollars on the electricity bill as well as over 100,000lbs of carbon emissions.  Together with other sustainable measures implemented by Profs. Crisitna Algaze, LEED AP, and Brenda Martínez, LEED AP, this project will allow the school to surpass the requirements for a LEED certification under the Existing Building Category.

Prof. Mayra Jiménez-Montano has been named Associate Dean, while Humberto Cavallín, Ph.D. and Prof. Anna Georas will direct the Undergraduate and Graduate programs respectively.

The Community Design Studio, directed by Prof. Elio Martínez-Joffre, is collaborating with the Ricky Martin Foundation to design a center for abused children in the municipality of Loíza.  The project is slated for construction in 2012.

For the 5th contiguous year the UPR participated of the AEC Global Teamwork studio, organized by Prof. Renate Fruchter at Stanford University.  The studio is locally coordinated by Prof. Humberto Cavallín, Ph.D.  Rebecca Diaz, and her team, won the Native Award Challenge, because of the sensitive use of local resources in their design project. This honor was awarded by Swinerton Incorporated.

The UPR School’s 2009 Solar Decathlon entry (CASH) was selected for the Ibero American Design Biennial (BID10) in Madrid, where it received the Design Development Prize.

Prof. Fernando Abruña, FAIA, received the Henry Klumb Award, the Puerto Rico College of Architects (CAAPPR) highest distinction for a practitioner.

The new General Studies Building for the UPR-Río Piedras campus designed by Prof. José Javier Toro, of the firm Toro Ferrer Architects, received AIA awards in both Florida and Puerto Rico and was recently published in Architectural Record.

Dean Francisco Javier Rodríguez, AIA, offered a lecture at Tulane University titled Three Short Stories Without an Ending.  He also received a FIPI grant to conduct research on the history of architectural pedagogy and was selected to participate on the Ibero American Design Biennial (BID10) in Madrid under the Industrial Design category.

Prof. Jorge Lizardi, Ph.D. finished his new book offering a critical view of public housing endeavors during the twentieth century titled Vivir y pensar la comunidad moderna. Together with Prof. Manuel Bermúdez, he is also facilitating a Graduate Studio project documenting Caribbean cities including Havana, Santo Domingo, Cartagena and San Juan.

Prof. Javier Isado edited the 5th edition of the School’s magazine (in)forma, dedicated to Digital Narratives, while Prof. Darwin Marrero edited the 6th edition on Hypertourism.

Profs. Fernando Lugo and Maria Rossi are offering a Graduate Joint Studio together with Oklahoma State University’s Profs. Awilda Rodríguez and Paolo Sanza.  Last year, Prof. Anna Georas offered a Graduate Joint Studio with PENN Design (W.Dubbeldam, F.Kolatan, R.Snooks) and the City College of New York (J. Salcedo), while Prof. Jorge Ramírez-Buxeda conducted a Joint Studio with the Pratt Institute (A. Barker).

The UPR School of Architecture is now offering a joint MArch-Juris Doctor degree with the UPR Law School, and is currently working on a joint MArch-MBA degree with the UPR Graduate School of Business Administration.

The work of Profs. Pedro Cardona, Jorge Ramírez-Buxeda, Nataniel Fúster, Eugenio Ramírez, Ernesto Rodríguez and Francisco Gutiérrez was recognized during the 2010 AIA-PR Chapter Awards Ceremony.

Auburn University

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Auburn University’s School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture (APLA) would like to congratulate Dr. Rebecca Retzlaff and Dr. Carla Keyvanian for their promotion to Associate Professor with Tenure, and to Chair of the Graduate Program for Landscape Architecture, Dr. Rod Barnett, for his promotion to Professor.  

University of Miami

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University of Miami, part time faculty Sebastian Eilert, AIA, principal of Sebastian Eilert Architecture was awarded the 2011 AIA Miami “Sustainable Design Architect of the Year” award. The company was also recognized by the South Florida Business Journal as one of the “Top 25 Green Architecture Firms”.

University of Miami

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Jan Hochstim, a longtime professor at the University of Miami’s School of Architecture who was well known to generations of students for his exacting standards as a historian of the modern movement, passed away on November 5. He was 80.

Hochstim engaged fully in scholarship, teaching, and professional practice. He began his teaching career in 1958 and taught design and the history of architecture. He also practiced, producing work that ranged from the original Mark Light Stadium at UM to remodeling of the Swensen residence in Coral Gables’ French Village.

Hochstim also renovated the 1940’s-era apartment buildings that became the home of the UM School of Architecture in 1984. He practiced in recent years with Adam Krantz.

Hochstim’s classes in the history of modernism fueled his scholarly work, and his book, The Paintings and Sketches of Louis I. Kahn (1991), was a critical success with reviews in the architectural press as well as The New York Times Book Review. His subsequent book, Florida Modern: Residential Architecture 1945-1970 (2005), brought together Hochstim’s intellectual interests as well as his personal associations with Florida’s leading modern practitioners.

The Dade Heritage Trust honored Hochstim last March as a “Living legend for his stellar contributions to Miami’s architectural heritage.”

In addition, he was recently appointed to the board of directors of DOCOMOMO US, an organization for the documentation and conservation of buildings, sites, and neighborhoods of the Modern Movement.

Hochstim was born in Krakow, Poland, in 1931. As an exile during World War II in Uzbekistan, he met his future wife Ruth, also of Poland. After the war, they immigrated to the United States where they were married.

Hochstim earned a bachelor of science degree in architectural engineering from UM in 1954 and a bachelor of architecture from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1958. In 1976, he earned a master’s degree in the history of art and architecture from UM.

Hochstim received the Woodrow W. Wilson Award for Outstanding Teaching at the School of Architecture in 1981-82, and in 1978 his design for Mark Light Stadium received the American Institute of Architects’ Award for Outstanding Concrete Structure in Florida as well as the American Concrete Institute and Florida Concrete and Products Association Award.

Hochstim was predeceased by his wife Ruth and is survived by a brother, Adolf; a son, Richard; and nieces Diana Taylor and Monica Hochstim.

A gathering to celebrate his life was held in the School of Architecture’s courtyard on December 2 at 4 p.m. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Jan’s memory to the University of Miami School of Architecture for the Materials Lab, P.O. Box 249178, Coral Gables, FL 33124-5010.

Tulane University

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Tulane School of Architecture welcomes the following new non-tenure track faculty for the 2011-12 academic year.  The following adjunct faculty has been appointed as part of the school’s new Master of Sustainable Real Estate Development program. 

M. Tatiana Eck, most recently Vice President of Architecture and Development at AIG Global Real Estate Investment Corp. and a registered architect and LEED AP at William McDonough + Partners before that. Her BA in Architecture, cum laude, is from Princeton University and she holds two master’s degrees, in Architecture and in Urban and Environmental Planning, from the University of Virginia. 

Kelly Longwell, Director in the New Orleans office of Coats Rose, where she concentrates in the areas of real estate, affordable housing and taxation. She holds a LL.M degree in Taxation from New York University, a JD from Louisiana State University and a Bachelor’s degree from Tulane University.

Casius Pealer, is Principal of Oyster Tree Consulting L3C, a mission-driven limited liability corporation that provides affordable housing and community development advising services. He served as the first Director of Affordable Housing at the U.S. Green Building Council and is a Senior Sustainable Building Advisor for the Affordable Housing Institute in Boston, MA, and he is 2011 Chair of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Housing Committee.  He holds a Masters in Architecture degree from Tulane University’s School of Architecture and a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School.

Ommeed Sathe, has served as Director of Real Estate Development for the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority (“NORA”) since June 2007. He received his JD from Harvard University Law School, a Master in City Planning from MIT and a Bachelor’s degree from Columbia University in Urban Planning and Neuroscience.

Z Smith, AIA received his bachelor’s degree in Physics from MIT, master of architecture degree from UC Berkley, his doctorate in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Princeton University.  He is director of Sustainable Design at Eskew+Dumez+Ripple Architects.

Reuben Teague, is co-founder and principal of Green Coast Enterprises. He has been named an Echoing Green fellow for 2008-10, one of Gambit Magazine’s “40 under 40” for 2009, one of Fast Company’s “10 Coolest Innovators Rebuilding New Orleans,” and one of “America’s Most Promising Social Entrepreneurs” by Business Week. He holds a JD from New York University School of Law and an AB in Economics from Princeton University.

Seth Welty, LEED AP received his Master of Architecture degree from Tulane University and won a prestigious Enterprise Rose Architectural Fellowship under whose support he worked for the last three years on rebuilding efforts in Biloxi, Mississippi with the Gulf Coast Community Design Studio. Welty’s primary area of interest is finding venues and methods of practicing a socially responsible architecture that takes a more inclusive, active role in shaping equitable and sustainable environments. 

University of North Carolina Charlotte

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Professor David Walters led one of five urban design teams engaged in a large scale block-by-block design and coding project for the historic core and adjacent neighborhoods in Beaufort, SC organized by the City of Beaufort with the Lawrence Group as lead consultants. This innovative design and coding project will result in a form-based code calibrated to detailed site-specific proposals for future development within the historic context.

Walters’ work on place-specific urban design and form-based coding is also featured in a commissioned paper entitled “Smart Cities, Smart Places, Smart Democracy: Form-based codes, electronic governance and the role of place in making smart cities.” This paper, which features a case study of the work in Beaufort, SC, will be published in a special themed issue of the European journal “Intelligent Buildings International.”

Associate Professor Jose Gamez and his collaborative efforts through the Design + Society Research Center was recently awarded a $20,000 matching grant from the City of Charlotte’s Neighborhood Services and Economic Development.  The funding augments previous funding from Z Smith Reynolds Foundation and is intended to support efforts to address crime and safety in Windy Ridge, a foreclosure hit neighborhood in NW Charlotte.  This on-going, action-based research project has recently been covered by an Associated Press article, featuring the work of faculty and students who aim to help stabilize the neighborhood.  The story appeared in The Charlotte Observer, the San Francisco Chronicle, Miami Herald, Denver Post, WRAL in Raleigh, BusinessWeek.com, MSN Money section online, and many other smaller newspapers.

Associate Professor Peter Wong served on the panel discussion “Modernism at Risk: Challenges and Solutions to the Preservation of Modern Architecture” at the Wells Fargo Auditorium in Uptown Charlotte, as part of Historic Charlotte’s “Mad About Modern” Preservation Program.  Other panelists included John Boyer of the Bechtler Museum of Art, George Smart of Triangle Modernist Houses, and Robert Ciucevich of Quatrefoil Consulting.

Assistant Professor Jeff Balmer presented “The Diagram & Beginning Design Education” at the 27th National Conference on the Beginning Design Student, hosted by the College of Architecture at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Assistant Professor Chris Beorkrem presented “Material Ecologies in Parametric Design Software” at the

International Conference on Sustainable Design and Construction held on the campus of the

University of Kansas.  Also, five student groups from his spring term Topical Design Studio were selected as Finalists in the ShiftBoston Barge 2011 design competition.  Each proposal was designed using a combination of off-the-shelf unconventional recycled or “pre-cycled” components in conjunction with digitally manufactured connections.  

Assistant Professor Zhongjie Lin received a research grant from the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts (Chicago) for his research project “Constructing Utopias: China’s Emerging New Town Movement.” This is Dr. Lin’s second Graham Foundation grant award. He received a publication grant award in 2008 for his book Kenzo Tange and the Metabolist Movement: Urban Utopias of Modern Japan. The current project will focus on the planning and development of the “model new towns” emerging from the current massive urbanization in China, and study them through the lens of urbanism and utopianism. 

Assistant Professor Emily Makas co-authored the book “Architectural Conservation in Europe and the Americas” with John Stubbs of Columbia University, published by Wiley Press.  This book serves as the first comprehensive survey that examines in detail architectural conservation practice on a wide comparative basis.

Assistant Professor Nick Senske presented “A Curriculum for Integrating Computational Thinking” at the

ACADIA Regional Conference: Parametricism: (SPC), held at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. 

Auburn University

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Auburn’s Urban Studio, directed by Professor Cheryl Morgan, played a key role in a Regional and Urban Design Assistance Team (R/UDAT) project to assist Birmingham, Alabama’s Pratt City community with a recovery plan following April’s devastating tornado.  The R/UDAT project was sponsored by the American Institute of Architects’ Center for Communities by Design and was held at the request of Birmingham Mayor William Bell in October of last year.

Morgan served as a key member of the R/UDAT Local Steering Committee, hosted the national R/UDAT team of pro bono design professionals and experts from around the country for charette studio sessions, and engaged students from Auburn and Tuskegee University in the process. The final report and public presentation to the Pratt City community on October 10 was met with great enthusiasm.

In early August 2011, Morgan gathered a team of AU faculty, professional planners, and designers in Cordova, Alabama to study rebuilding opportunities that were hardest hit by the April 27th tornados.  The team included a group from FEMA along with experienced planners, architects, landscape architects and economists who volunteered their time for the workshop.   The charette was open to the public and many citizens participated.

The summary review of the initial work was presented to 65 citizen attendees on August 28, 2011 and focused on evaluating alternatives to capture Cordova’s assets and opportunities.  Commenting on the community meetings, Morgan observed that, “The input of the citizens of Cordova was the foundation of the work, and the work accomplished during the August workshop establishes the road map for first steps in rebuilding.”  As a result of the combined volunteer and community planning effort led by Morgan other organizations (such as Alabama Forever, founded by longtime Alabama residents in response to the April 27th, 2011 tornadoes) are becoming interested in assisting the Cordova community.  The Urban Studio and other key team members will be planning regular meetings with Cordova’s long term recovery committee and with the community to be sure that they are included in the progress of the work and in the final proposals.

The Urban Studio’s efforts in Cordova are being complemented by other faculty within the School of Architecture, Planning, and Landscape Architecture.  During Fall Semester 2011, Landscape Architecture Professor Jocelyn Zanzot organized a collaborative (landscape architecture and community planning) graduate seminar that worked closely with Professor Cheryl Morgan and the Cordova Long Term Recovery team.  The seminar students focused on post-disaster planning and design for resilience including strategic/resourceful first moves with the idea that the work will seed long-term processes of regeneration. A combined research document was produced with the intention to support future School work in Cordova.  The Master’s of Integrated Design (MID&C) and Construction program at Auburn, under the leadership of Professor’s Josh Emig and Paul Holley, will build on the previous efforts of Morgan and Zanzot by focusing on the design of key civic buildings. Cordova lost almost its entire civic infrastructure due to damage from the tornadoes of April 2011.

The Urban Studio also hosted the Mayors’ Institute on City Design (MICD) South Regional Session on February 15 thru 17.  MICD is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and U.S. Conference of Mayors.  The Regional Session in Birmingham was attended by 6 to 8 mayors from around the country and helped teach the value of good city design in context of confronting challenges faced by cities. In the years since MIC&D’s inception in 1986, nearly 900 mayors, governors and members of Congress have been involved in the initiative.

MID&C students have been invited back to Chattanooga by the Urban Design Forum to develop a vision for a Chattanooga Industrial Heritage Center. The proposed center will celebrate Chattanooga’s industrial history, as well as its continued industrial development which balances traditional manufacturing with high-tech startups and a strong ethic of sustainability and community. MID&C students will explore two sites along the proposed north and south extensions to Chattanooga’s River Walk. Industrial Heritage Center projects will combine newly constructed elements with re-use of existing structures.

The $20K House began in 2005 as an ongoing Rural Studio research project to address the need for affordable housing in Hale County, provide an alternative to the mobile home, and accommodate potential homeowners who are unable to qualify for commercial credit.  The $20K House project gets its name from the highest realistic mortgage a person receiving median Social Security checks can maintain.  The objective of the Rural Studio students is to design and build a model home that could be reproduced on a large scale by a contractor and built for $20,000.  Currently, Rural Studio has designed ten versions of the $20K House with costs of approximately $12,000 for materials and $8,000 for contracted labor and profit.

In June 2011, Rural Studio hired Marion McElroy, a 2002 Rural Studio alumna, as the $20K House Product Manager.  Marion is taking steps to move the projects out of the research area and formulating an initial plan to move from $20K Project to $20K Product.

In the early 19th century, the Federal Road was constructed to connect Washington City (DC) to New Orleans through the soon to become State of Alabama. Established first as a postal horse path, the road usurped Creek Indian trails to traverse woodlands, navigate rivers and backwater swamps, and reach remote settlements and trading crossroads. Soon expanded as a military route to defend the United States in the War of 1812, it divided the already compromised Creek Nation and precipitated battle over the land. The road, a conduit for both travel and information, opened the Old Southwest to settlers; it promised wealth and delivered violence. As a place unto itself, it was a site of contested relations and encounters between strangers. Land use transformations that followed the road disturbed multiple ecosystems initiating protracted processes of reconfiguration. The State Legislature has identified the Old Federal Road as a route of significant historic potential that could assist rural economic development.

Beginning in the spring semester of 2011 and continuing through 2012, students and faculty in Auburn University’s Master of Landscape Architecture program have embarked on a 21st century re-exploration of the road in search of viable alternatives to the normative landscape-based tourism that so often conceals Alabama’s rich eco-cultural complexity and post-modern eclectic vernacular. Under the direction of Assistant Professor Jocelyn Zanzot in partnership with artist Dan Neil, the students will work with communities along the Old Federal Road to uncover potentials for place-making that interpret and activate the contemporary landscape of this historic route. A first series of investigations and events have been conducted at Uchee, Burn Corn and Mt Vernon, historic crossroads of significance to the Creek Nation. Results from this first work are forthcoming in Southern Spaces journal, and an on-campus exhibition of Creative Scholarship.

Daniel Bennett, Dean Emeritus of the College of Architecture, Design and Construction, was presented the Alabama Architectural Foundations Distinguished Architect Award Feb. 9 at the Alabama Council of The American Institute of Architects Awards Gala at The Country Club of Birmingham.

Mississippi State University

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The School of Architecture (S|ARC) at Mississippi State University has the following four faculty members joining its ranks this academic year:

Amber Ellett, AIA, LEED AP, Visiting Assistant Professor, comes to S|ARC from the office of Burris/Wagnon in Jackson, MS where she has was an Intern Architect for the past 3 years and taught part-time as an adjunct studio-critic in the S|ARC  5th year program. She received her degrees at the University of Nebraska (B. Design + M. Arch) where she also taught as a Teaching Assistant for 2 years while completing her graduate studies. Professor Ellett will teach in the 2nd and 3rd year studios and in the concentrated area of Building Technology.

Alexis Gregory, AIA, Assistant Professor, joins the S|ARC faculty from the Savannah College of Art and Design. She received her degrees at Virginia Tech (B. Arch) and Clemson (M.S. Arch).  As a registered architect she worked for numerous firms in the Wash DC metropolitan area (including Perkins + Will).  Professor Gregory and will teach in upper-level studios and in the concentrated area of Building Technology.  Alexis was named a member of the Journal of Architectural Education (JAE) Editorial Board for 2010-2013 and since arriving was awarded a ($2,000) Mississippi State University Cross-College Research Grant for a project titled: Service Learning for Architecture Students: Designing a Habitat for Humanity Prototype; the research is being conducted in conjunction with an elective course in Spring 2012.  Professor Gregory also has an article entitled “Taking Back Territory: Adapting Architectural Education and Practice to Reclaim the Role of Master Builder” in the upcoming Spring 2012 issue of AIA Forward Journal.

Frances Hsu, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, comes to Mississippi State University from Georgia Tech. Hsu teaches design studios, architectural theory, and seminars in urbanism and practice. She has also taught at the ETH-Zürich and worked in the offices of Ben van Berkel, Peter Eisenman, and Rem Koolhaas. She holds a B.S. Arch, University of Virginia; M. Arch., Harvard University; and Ph.D., ETH-Zürich.

Andrew Tripp, Assistant Professor, comes to S|ARC from the University of Pennsylvania School of Design where he taught and is finishing his PhD dissertation. He received his degrees at Cooper Union (B. Arch) and U. Penn (M.S. Arch History and Theory). As an Instructor, Professor Tripp taught at the Cooper Union for 3 years. He worked for 5 years as an architectural designer and project manager for Tsao & McKown in NYC and 1 year with Kaplan/McLaughlin/Diaz.  Professor Tripp will be teach in the foundation-level studios and in the concentrated area of History/Theory.

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