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Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico

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The School of Architecture was founded in 1995 and today, after celebrating it’s 15th anniversary, we begin the project of expansion and renovation of it’s facilities. This year 50 students graduated bringing the total number of graduates to over two hundred and fifty (250), since the school’s inception.

It gives us great pride that many of our graduates and alumni have been accepted at prestigious universities in both the United States and Europe.

Alumni Tom Sebastian Groogard received the Honor Award in Design from Columbia University.

Professor Beatriz del Cueto became the first Puerto Rican women and the second person on the island to receive the Rome Prize Award for 2011 in the category of Architectural Preservation and Conservation. The prize includes a scholarship for a period of six (6) months to two (2) years at their academy in Rome.  

Various groups of students completed study abroad programs this summer including trips to: New York City, Barcelona, and Corsica, France.

Arqpoli developed the project Enlace del Caño Martín Peña in collaboration with the Luis Méndez Baz and Maria Bagur Foundation furthering their emphasis on social commitment. Faculty and students also worked on the “Complete Streets” project of the AARP.

The second edition of the school’s journal Polimorfo, was published during the last academic year with the title “Other Alternatives, Other Places”.

As part of the conference cycle the school hosted José Luis Vallejo of Ecosistemas Urbanos, Mitch McEwen of Superfront, Frank Matero of UPenn, practicing architect John Habraken, Matthew Johnson of Houston University, and Pedro Urzaíz and Federico Soriano of the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid. Technical conferences were also offered on themes relevant to the profession, particularly on built form and urban space.

Auburn University

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Jane Frederick, APLA ’82, was inducted into the AIA College of Fellows in Washington D.C. this past May.  Ms. Frederick is a principal in the firm of Frederick + Frederick Architects in Beaufort, South Carolina.

Design Initiative, led by partner and APLA alum Marshall Anderson (’97), was the recipient of a 2012 Birmingham AIA Honor Award for the design of Professor Cheryl Morgan’s (Director of the Urban Studio) Morgan Street Loft in downtown Birmingham, Alabama. 

American University of Sharjah

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In April, the American University of Sharjah (AUS) became the first university in the Middle East invited to participate in SaloneSatellite.  Begun in 1998, the annual event held in Milan, Italy brings together the most promising young designers from the world’s most prestigious universities and design schools.  Eight students as well as recent AUS alumni from the College of Architecture, Art and Design (CAAD) exhibited work in furniture.  Following a highly competitive selection process, CAAD students were invited to join approximately seven-hundred other young designers and eighteen international design schools for this year’s event.  The participating students were accompanied by Bill Sarnecky, Assistant Professor in Architecture, and Amir Berbic, Associate Professor in Design.  Also accompanying the group was the Dean of CAAD, Peter Di Sabatino.

Noting the significance of this opportunity, Dean Di Sabatino stated that, “we are much honored to be the first university from the Middle East selected to exhibit at SaloneSatellite.”  Adding, “this furniture fair and design week in Milan is the most important annual design event globally, and the selection process for SaloneSatellite is extremely competitive.  I am very proud of the students and faculty from the College of Architecture, Art and Design; they have done excellent work.”

The eight furniture pieces exhibited were designed and built by the students; four pieces were from the Furniture Design Basics course taught by Sarnecky, and four pieces were developed in a collaborative course entitled Form, Furniture and Graphics taught by both Sarnecky and Berbic.  Emphasizing the collaborative nature of the pieces from the latter course, Sarnecky said, “After teaching beginning furniture design for five years at AUS, I teamed up this past semester with Amir Berbic to teach a new course, Form, Furniture and Graphics.  Students in the course were encouraged to explore the potentially reciprocal relationship between two-dimensional graphics and three-dimensional form.  Four of the eight pieces traveling to Milan for the exhibition emerged from this course.”  Noting the overlap between the two programs and the effect on the work produced, Berbic added, “In some examples of student work, typographic patterns became a skin for the piece of furniture while in others the form of letters was the shaping element.  Students from both the architecture and design departments enrolled in the course and the unique conditions of the course resulted in a hybrid between two-dimensional and three-dimensional design.”

The eight pieces selected were all, coincidentally, designed by women of Middle Eastern heritage (AUS is a co-educational institution).  Students whose work was chosen were Rasha Dakkak, Sarah Alagroobi, Maha Habib, Noor Jarrah, Ghenwa Soucar, Heba Hammad, Danah Al Kubaisy and Marwa Abdulla Hasan.  Several of the furniture pieces were strongly influenced by specific regional traditions, practices and contexts.  For example, Palestinian student Rasha Dakkak’s piece, a table titled “Veto,” reflects a desire to shape visual culture in a way that best represents a modern Arab identity.  The table’s form is derived from a cross-sectional transformation of the Arabic word la (meaning refusal, denial or disbelief) into kalla (indicating strong disapproval, protest or objection).  The concept was inspired by dissent expressed in the Arab world during the Arab Spring revolutions.  Sarah Alagroobi, an Emirati student, created “Amal’s Prayer Chair.”  The idea originated from her desire to aid her mother and late grandmother who struggled to pray in the prostrate position.  According to Islamic tradition, those who cannot physically endure prostration may pray in a sitting position.  The typographic pattern on the skin of the chair is derived from the Arabic letter kaf and refers to “The Throne” (Ayatul-Kirsi), a powerful verse in the Holy Quran.  The verse states:  “His Chair doth extend, Over the heavens And the Earth…”  The chair also rocks to aid in the act of praying.

The selection of AUS student work exhibited at SaloneSatellite reflects the academic vision and institutional goals of the College of Architecture, Art and Design which promotes a culture of design excellence, opportunism, entrepreneurship and leadership in both the regional and global creative culture and the creative economy.  Design faculty and students at CAAD have a history of making in the applied and aesthetic contexts that contribute significantly to the regional and international material culture.  As a participant in this year’s event in Milan, AUS is proud to be recognized internationally for the quality of its architecture, design and art programs and for collaborating or partnering with regional and international entities.

As Dean Di Sabatino notes, “It is very much an honor and very gratifying to be sharing the creative voice and the creative energy of the Middle East in such a significant global venue.”

For images of the student work, please visit http://www.aus.edu/caadmilan#.T51bedlMGSo

 

Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University

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The College of Architecture and Urban Studies has appointed Associate Professor William Galloway to be the new Director of the School of Architecture + Design beginning with the academic year 2011/12. The director of the School of Architecture + Design is the chief executive administrator and oversees the academic programs of architecture, industrial design, interior design, and landscape architecture. The School of Architecture + Design enrolls approximately 1200 students who are guided in their inquiries by about 80 faculty members. The school offers eight different professional and post-professional bachelor, master, and doctorate programs. Galloway, a graduate of the University of Florida and Virginia Tech, has been teaching at Virginia Tech since 1988. From 1998 to 2003, Galloway was the chair of the graduate architecture program. 

University of Puerto Rico

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The Universtiy of Puerto Rico (UPR) School of Architecture celebrated its 45th anniversary with a keynote lecture by AV Editor Luis Fernández Galiano.

Design Intelligence included the UPR School of Architecture in its 2011 Best Architecture Schools in America as one of five “unexpected options.”

The School of Architecture will co-host an interdisciplinary Symposium titled “Energy: Technology, Policy and Planning.”

In collaboration with the Fundación Pro-Arq, the UPR will edit a publication on Hiram Bithorn Stadium, a San Juan Modernist icon.

Renowned photographer David Lachapelle gave a lecture sponsored by the Museum of Contemporary Arts (MAC), where Prof. Lilliana Ramos Collado, Ph.D. is Head Curator.

Prof. JRC Davis (Tulane) and Nixa Ramírez (UW-Milwaukee) have joined the faculty as Adjunct design Professors.

For the 6th straight year, the UPR is participating in the AEC Global Teamwork studio, organized by Prof. Renate Fruchter at Stanford University.  The studio is locally coordinated by Prof. Humberto Cavallín, Ph.D. and his CIDI Reaserch Center.

The UPR School’s 2009 Solar Decathlon entry (CASH) received an Honor Award in the College of Architects and Landscape Architects of Puerto Rico (CAAPPR in Spanish) Bienal.

Prof. Nathaniel Fúster won the Premio Nacional de Arquitectura (CAAPPR’s National Architecture Prize).

Dean Francisco Javier Rodríguez, AIA, offered a lecture at Oklahoma State University and attended the DRL reviews at the AA in London. This semester he will be lecturing at Georgia Tech.

Prof. José Javier Toro will lecture at Tulane University this semester.

Profs. Marco Trevisani and Carlos-García Moreira attended the final reviews at Texas Tech University.

Prof. Jorge Lizardi-Pollock, Ph.D. will present his new book on Modernist Social Housing at the Humbolt University’s Georg Simmel Center in Berlin.

Prof. Javier Isado edited the 5th edition of the School’s magazine (in)forma, dedicated to Digital Narratives, and was selected to present it at the Bienal Iberoamericana de Diseño in Spain and a symposioum at NYU.

Prof. Darwin Marrero edited the 6th edition of (in)forma on Hypertourism and presented it at UNIBE’s Tourism symposium in the Dominican Republic. It will also be presented at Tulane, Panama, Curaçao and Costa Rica.

Profs. Oscar Marty and Darwin Marrero are offering a Graduate Joint Studio together with Georgia Tech’s Prof. Ellen Dunham-Jones.

The UPR School of Architecture is working on a joint graduate degree with Barcelona’s ELISAVA.

The work of Profs. Jorge Ramírez-Buxeda, JRC Davis and Francisco Javier Rodríguez, Alumni Segundo Cardona and Miguel Calzada, and students Claudia Cintrón and Fred Díaz was recognized during the 2011 AIA-PR Chapter Awards Ceremony.

The work of Profs. José Javier Toro, Nathaniel Fúster, Francisco Gutiérrez, Carlos García-Moreira, Jorge Lizardi-Pollock and Francisco Javier Rodríguez, Alumni Segundo Cardona, Rafael Blanco and Miguel Calzada was recognized during the 2011 CAAPPR Bienal.

The Competition Studio students earned five Finalists and one Merit Award in International competitions in Moscow, Taiwan, Paris and New York. One of the projects was included in a publication by the IAAC in Barcelona.

This semester’s lecture series includes Cameron Sinclair, Felipe González (Colombia), Cruz García (WAI), Javier Sánchez (Mexico), Judith Kinnard, Mark Burry (New Zealand), Alan Balfour (Georgia Tech), Machado-Silvetti (Boston), Kieran-Timberlake (Philadelphia), Val Warke (Cornell) and Thom Mayne (Morphosis)

The School of Architecture reached an agreement for a summer program with Sao Paulo’s Escola da Cidade. It will be the seventh summer option along with Cartagena, Barcelona, Corsica, Mexico, New York and Havana.

Our staff visited the ie University in Spain and is currently working on a collaboration agreement between the two schools.

Auburn University

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Two APLA proposals have been awarded Daniel F. Breeden Endowment Grants by the AU Biggio Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning: Dr. Jay Mittal received a Breeden Grant to support GIS teaching in the Community Planning Program.  Dr. Carla Bell & Dr. Becki Retzlaff received a Breeden Grant to support the development of a documentary film:  “DIVA Against all Odds: Documenting Invisible Voices.”  This project will be connected to the seminar on race and gender Bell & Retzlaff will teach this fall.

Professor Josh Emig, Co-Director of the Master of Integrated Design & Construction program, has been appointed to a tenure-track position as an Assistant Professor of Architecture.  Josh has prior experience as Director of the Applied Technology Group, an interdisciplinary group of technical specialists at SHoP in New York, as well as experience as a façade consultant at Front Inc.   

Professor Ryan Salvas has been appointed to a tenure-track position as an Assistant Professor of Architecture, and also joins APLA after experience at Shop Architects’ Applied Technology Group in New York City.  Professor Salvas is also a founding member of HeliOptix, a collaborative company composed of academics, inventors, designer and builders whose team dynamic and field expertise allow them to produce innovations in building integrated products.  Professor Salvas is teaching architectural design studios, materials and methods classes, and a sustainability theory and construction seminar.

Professor Kevin Moore has been appointed to a tenure-track position as an Assistant Professor of Architecture/Interior Architecture.  Joining APLA after 10 years of professional experience in New Orleans and Chicago, and prior teaching experience at the University of Texas at Austin, Professor Moore teaches in the Interior Architecture program where he focuses on experiential effect. 

Professor Jocelyn Zanzot was the lead landscape architect for Aditazz, one of two  winning teams in the “Small Hospital Big Ideas Competition” sponsored by the non-profit health plan and care provider Kaiser Permanente.

North Carolina State University

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Professor Thomas Barrie was an invited speaker at a symposium entitled “Transcending Architecture” hosted by the School of Architecture, The Catholic University of America, October 6-8, 2011. His paper, “The Domestic and Numinous in Architecture,” focused on domestic symbolism often incorporated in sacred architecture.

The European Review has published Professor Thomas Barrie’s article “Sacred Space and the Mediating Roles of Architecture” (European Review, Vol. 20, No. 1, 79-94, 2012)

A review of Professor Thomas Barrie’s book The Sacred In-between: The Mediating Roles of Architecture (Routledge, 2010), appeared in the fall issue of Faith & Form magazine (Vol. XLIV, No. 2, 2011).

The Person Street Project, a community-based urban design project conducted at the College of Design’s Downtown Design studio fall semester 2011, concluded with a public exhibition on Friday, December 2nd. The exhibition, mounted in a storefront space on Person Street, featured urban design proposals and housing designs produced by twelve students in an ARC 401, Architectural Design Urban, studio led by Professor Thomas Barrie. Over 200 people attended the opening, and the project was featured in an article in the News and Observer. The project included research on contemporary urbanism, mixed-use development, and existing city studies and development plans for the project area; the urban and streetscape design for the Person Street neighborhood; and the design of a mixed-use, housing project for the development sites at the north end of Person Street.

The project partners were the Person Street Partnership and the City of Raleigh Urban Design Center. Project sponsors included the Person Street Partnership, the Society for the Preservation of Historic Oakwood and the School of Architecture.

(attached: exhibition photo)

 

North Carolina State University

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NC State University College of Design in conjunction with the Department of City Planning, Urban Design Center and NC State Foundation presents the 12th Annual Urban Design Conference

Urban Reset: green. smart. just

Set for March 17, 2012 from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. at the Raleigh Convention Center.

In the new global economy, successful cities will be green, smart, and just. What should we be doing to design our cities to be more carbon neutral, technologically advanced, and socially equitable? The 2012 annual urban design conference will answer these questions and challenge participants to lead us toward becoming a truly world class region.

Speakers:

Susan Anderson, Director, Bureau of Planning and Sustainability (BPS) for the City of Portland
Simon Atkinson, Professor of Architecture, University of Texas at Austin/NC State University
Jerome Chou, Director of Programs, Design Trust for Public Space
Don Edwards, Principal and CEO, Justice & Sustainability Associates
Adam Goldberg, Smart+Connected Communities, Cisco Systems
Susan Piedmont-Palladino, Curator, National Building Museum, editor, “Intelligent Cities”
Jess Zimbabwe, Director, ULI Daniel Rose Center for Public Leadership in Land Use, MODERATOR

Also, Mitchell Silver, AICP, President of the American Planning Association and Chief Planning & Development Officer and Planning Director for the City of Raleigh, will offer remarks on his observations of the “urban reset.”

APPROVED: 7 hours AIA/HSW/SD and 7 hours AICP CM.

Seeking approval: NC Board of Landscape Architects and GBCI (for LEED AP)

Visit the Urban Design Conference site and register at: http://design.ncsu.edu/urban

Hotel block available at a $109 rate at the Raleigh Sheraton Hotel. (Block extended, now closes 2/22/12.)

Interested in seeing AIA North Carolina’s Center for Architecture and Design while you’re in downtown Raleigh. The Center for Architecture & Design will have a public grand opening on March 17. Ride the R Line after the conference and join them!

Growing in Place Symposium

The 9th annual Urban Design Conference is presented in concert with the 5th annual Growing in Place Symposium held the day before, on March 16, 2012, also in downtown Raleigh. Discounts available when registering for both.

Auburn University

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Students in the College of Architecture, Design and Construction’s chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA) took first place in this year’s student design competition. Held in conjunction with NOMA’s annual conference in Atlanta, GA, October 20-22, 2011, the student design competition challenged teams to balance the historic character of Atlanta’s Washington Park/Vine City communities while developing a new MARTA Transit Village that preserved and enhanced the existing corridor. Competing against 15 teams from across the country, the Auburn team’s design of The Vine City Village won the first place prize of $1,500.  Auburn University’s student team was Damian Bolden, Phillip Ewing, Sarahgrace Godwin, Kyle Johnson, Weng Lon Lao, Tanner Backman, Jordan Cox, Andrew Dolder, Yesufu O’ladipo, and  Laura Taylor.

Auburn University

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Brian Bell, AIA, and David Yocum, AIA of the Atlanta, Georgia firm, bldgs have been appointed APLA’s 2012 Paul Rudolph Fellows and will be joining fourth year architecture students Spring Semester 2012. 

Third Year architecture students, directed by Professor Sheri Schumacher, worked with the community of Gees Bend, Alabama to investigate innovative and sustainable design initiatives and activities aimed at improving the social, economic and cultural conditions of the community. Gee’s Bend is a small community of about 700 residents, located on a peninsula in a bend of the Alabama River in southwest Alabama. The community has gained widespread attention for the work of its quilters, recognized most recently through a nation wide exhibition of 70 Gee’s Bend quilts launched in 2002 that transformed the art world.  The remarkable quilt making tradition in Gee’s Bend has made it a destination point for visitors from around the world..

 Schumacher’s students developed design solutions for local projects including a Gee’s Bend Learning Center for the study of quilting, as well as Visitor Housing and Community Regeneration opportunities located in the existing vacant Boykin School building  and the Gee’s Bend Park. The students’ design proposals aimed to communicate the compelling cultural and social history of the community for future educational travel groups visiting Gee’s Bend,  by encouraging economic development and increasing the benefits of local assets.

AL Innovation Engine (Engine, alabamaengine.org/about/) is a new initiative jointly funded by Auburn University and The University of Alabama that is working to create large-scale, positive change and encourage economic development in rural communities throughout Alabama. Engine’s objective is to support communities within Alabama as they work together to realize the potential of their best assets: residents, local leaders, natural resources, and their rich history.

Professor and Head of Landscape Architecture, Professor Rod Barnett is involved in a partnership with the Birmingham City Council and Birmingham Regional Commission to re-design a district of vacant and abandoned properties along Valley Creek, one of the main sources of water in Birmingham.  The design efforts strive to transform the properties into a network of useful and imaginative design interventions that contribute to both the social and the physical rehabilitation of neighborhoods affected by urban blight.

Professor David Hill, AIA, ASLA, LEED AP, received a Merit Award from the Montgomery, Alabama chapter of the AIA for 274 Bragg Avenue. Hill transformed this 3,390 square foot circa 1920’s warehouse near downtown Auburn, Alabama into a residence for the designer and his family.

Russell Harrington, a dual-degree Master’s of Landscape Architecture-Community Planning student, has just won the Alabama Chapter of the American Planning Association Outstanding Planning Student Award for his work with Professor Charlene LeBleu on a grant entitled “Taking Measures Across the Old Federal Road.”  Russell will receive his award and at the 2012 Awards Program to be held at the AL APA Annual Meeting, February 16, 2012, in Mobile, Alabama.

Professor Charlene LeBleu has been elected the Vice President of the Alabama Chapter of the American Planning Association for 2012-2014.

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