Page 114 – Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture

Call for Proposals: 2013 ACSA Fall Conference

March 17, 2014/in ACSA News /by Matrix Admin

Deadline: February 1, 2012

The ACSA invites proposals from member schools to host the 2013 ACSA Fall Conference. Beginning in 2011 the ACSA began holding annual fall conferences that were thematic in focus. The 2011 conference hosted by Prairie View A&M University and Texas A&M University focused on “Local Identities/Global Challenges.” The 2012 ACSA Fall Conference will be “Offsite Production in Architecture: Theory and Practice,” hosted by Temple University and chaired by Ryan E. Smith, University of Utah, John Quale, University of Virginia, and Rashida Ng, Temple University.

The Fall Conference program is assembled from peer-reviewed abstracts, with full papers collected in a digital proceedings published in ACSA’s permanent online archive. The conference is an opportunity for the host school to bring educators from across North America and beyond to their campus. The thematic focus can highlight a school’s strengths and demonstrate educational excellence to upper administration. Other goals for the new format include strengthening social opportunities for participants with common scholarly interests and bringing concentrated visibility to the work being done in the topic area.

Attendance at the Fall Conference is anticipated to be 100-200 people, with host schools using campus facilities or other appropriate venues for conference sessions. Joint proposals from neighboring schools and partnerships with other groups (such as those formed around the thematic area) are welcome.

Final proposals will be reviewed and selected through the ACSA Board of Directors’s Scholarly Meetings Committee. Proposals should be 3 pages or less, excluding supporting documents, and should include:

1. A title and paragraph-length description of the conference that clearly identifies the theme

2. Proposed dates for the conference

The Fall Conference should occur in late September or October, typically Thursday through Saturday.

3. The name of the conference chair or co-chairs, as well as any other relevant organizers

Identify one or more faculty members to act as chair and whose area of expertise relates to the proposed theme. The chair(s) will be responsible to craft the conference program, oversee local logistical details, and maintain communication with partners on any joint efforts. The chair(s) will also work with ACSA staff on planning, promotion, and on-site support.

4. A description of other potential enhancing conference features: partnerships, sponsors, keynote speakers, tours, etc.

5. Clear expression of interest by school

Show evidence of support from the school’s dean, provost, or other appropriate university representatives through letters and/or supporting documents.

6. A description of resources available for the conference

ACSA does not expect host schools to contribute direct financial support to the conference, and instead encourages in-kind contributions of available resources, such as meeting space, audio-visual equipment, ongoing lecture series to cover keynote speakers, etc.
ACSA will work with the host school to develop a business plan that accounts for in-kind school contributions, registration revenue, and staff and direct financial support from the ACSA. Resources that cannot be provided in-kind will be paid out of registration fees or sponsorships.

Schools interested in hosting are encouraged to contact the ACSA to discuss potential arrangements prior to making a proposal.

Submission and Information
Please submit your proposal and direct any questions to: Jonathan Halpin, Conferences Manager, jhalpin@acsa-arch.org, 202.785.2324 x2

University of Virginia

The University of Virginia School of Architecture has named Spanish architect Iñaki Alday to serve as R. Quesada Professor and Chair of the Department of Architecture. The five-year appointment, which was announced by Architecture School Dean Kim Tanzer, will begin Aug. 1.

“Iñaki’s expertise in design and practice will add a significant dimension to not only our programs in the Architecture School, but to the global scope of our community as well. We are so pleased that he has decided to join our faculty and School,” Tanzer said.

Alday replaces associate professor of architecture Craig Barton, who held the post since 2007 and will return to full-time teaching.

An internationally recognized practicing architect, Alday is principal of aldayjover architecture and landscape in Barcelona, Spain, an office founded in 1996 with partner Margarita Jover. The firm specializes in works of public architecture, urban space and landscape, and has received numerous design awards, including the FAD Prize of City and Landscape and the European Urban Public Space Prize. Alday and Jover will maintain their practice in Spain, returning periodically to oversee key aspects of current projects. Jover will begin an adjunct teaching appointment as a lecturer in architecture in the spring 2012 semester.

Alday was born in Zaragoza, Spain, and received his degree in architecture from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia Vallès School of Architecture in Barcelona. He has held visiting and associate professor positions in the Vallès School of Architecture, as well as visiting professor or lecturer positions in several architecture and landscape programs.

Alday and Jover gave the 2010 Benjamin C. Howland Memorial Lecture at the U.Va. School of Architecture, titled “Beautiful Floods,” a transcription of which is featured in the school’s student journal, “Lunch 6: Systems.” [link to: http://www.arch.virginia.edu/spotlight/lunch6/ ]

The School of Architecture includes four departments – architecture, architectural history, landscape architecture, and urban and environmental planning – supporting a tapestry of interdisciplinary research themes that connect the faculty’s research with the curriculum and engage in the most important issues of the day.

University of Southern California

March 17, 2014/in School News West Region /by Matrix Admin

Adjunct Associate Professor, Gerdo Aquino, is President of SWA, and Principal at the Los Angeles studio. Aquino was recently recognized as a Fellow with the American Society of Landscape Architects and was recently awarded the Southern California Chapter ASLA Merit Award for the Anning River project in Panzhihua, China and an ASLA National Honor Award for the book Landscape Infrastructure: Case Studies by SWA which he co-authored. He is currently working on one of the largest mixed used projects in Cairo, Egypt, and the Samsung Headquarters in San Jose, California.

Diane Ghirardo‘s new book, Italy. Modern Architectures in Context, has just been published by Reaktion Press in London and Chicago.

With the addition of a high resolution laser and camera scanner Alexander Robinson continues to expand and develop the technological capabilities of his Landscape Morphologies Lab. This technology will allow for the real time analysis and projection of forms generated with the lab’s robotic modeling of landscapes with sand and other mediums.

Peter Simmonds was in Shenzhen, China with Thom Mayne of Morphosis presenting the Morphosis design for the Hanking Tower Competition which they won, beating some serious competition for this 360m high tower. Simmonds also presented at the faculty Pecca Kucha offering an Engineering perspective of Architecture. He also gave a seminar on designing comfortable spaces at the Southern California ASHRAE technical seminar in Downey.

Ed Woll (Tomko Woll Group Architects Inc) has attended openings for three recently-completed residential developments in the past two months: Young Burlington apartments near Koreaown, Joveness Houses in East LA and Jill’s Place (permanent supportive housing for formerly homeless women in downtown LA.) These projects were done in collaboration with USCArch alumna Ena Dubnoff. In the works are renovation of an existing pool and parking garage for a condominium complex in West LA’s “Million Dollar Mile” and a new housing development for seniors and homeless veterans in Eagle Rock.

Adjunct Professor Veronica G. Galen successfully passed the Lighting Certificate exam and was the lighting designer for various projects that received awards from the AIA/California Council. She has also accepted a position as Secretary of the Illuminating Engineering Society, Los Angeles Chapter (IESLA).

Lecturer Ying-Yu Hung is Managing Principal of SWA Los Angeles, and co-founder of the Infrastructure Research Initiative (I.R.I.S.). Hung was recently awarded an ASLA National Honor Award and a Southern California Chapter ASLA Honor Award for the book Landscape Infrastructure: Case Studies by SWA which she co-authored. She also received a Southern California Chapter ASLA Award of Excellence for Gubei Pedestrian Promenade. This project is coincidently featured in the December 2012 issue of Landscape Architecture Magazine. She recently won the Pudong Waterfront competition in Shanghai, China, a development of mixed use, open space and a sculpture park along the Huangpu River. Hung is currently working on international and local projects which include the Fuyang Urban River Design, a mixed use development project along a riverfront in Fuyang, China and the recently awarded Highland Park Streetscape in Los Angeles, California.

David Lawrence Gray architects has completed design work for a 92 unit adaptive reuse building at 1111 sunset blvd in downtown Los Angeles. The 50 year old building was designed by William Pereira. The architects have added two stories to the existing top floor. Construction began on December 1 2012.

Adjunct Professor of Architecture Lorcan O’Herlihy has received several accolades in 2012, including a Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award nomination, 5 AIA awards, and Interior Design’s Best of Year Award. Lorcan’s design work will be on view Spring 2013 at the MOCA exhibition, A New Sculpturalism, as well as A+D Museum’s Never Built: Los Angeles.

Erik Mar recently completed the 7200 sf East Rancho Dominguez Library, in Compton, CA. It is the first LEED Platinum rated building owned and operated by the County of Los Angeles.

John V. Mutlow, FAIA, Professor of Architecture, was honored by the AIA California Council with a ‘Presidential Citation’ for his service to the profession as Chairman of the AIA Los Angeles Chapter’s Fellows Committee. Professor Mutlow has also won the 2012 Professional Builder magazine Platinum Award for Stovall Villa. He received the Los Angeles Architectural Award for “Housing, Multi-Family” from the Los Angeles Business council for Stovall Villa, a 32 unit affordable senior housing complex in Los Angeles. Professor Mutlow, in partnership with Tighe Architecture, Inc., received a 2012 Westside Prize from the Westside Urban Forum for The Courtyard at La Brea, a mixed-use affordable housing community for seniors, emancipated youths, and persons with special needs in West Hollywood, CA. Professor Mutlow’s firm, John V. Mutlow Architects, Inc., focuses on affordable housing for the elderly, families and persons with special needs.

Warren Techentin was recently awarded two AIA, NEXT/LA awards for his work.

Adjunct Assistant Professor Mario Cipresso AIA has been named one of the “Top 20 Under 40” for 2013 by Engineering News Record California. The award celebrates the excellence of young design and construction professionals who have made significant contributions to the profession at an early stage in their careers. A feature will be published in the February issue of ENR California.

Lecturer Brian Tichenor has written the introduction for, and contributed to ‘California Casa’ (Rizzoli 2012). His work is featured in the January 2013 edition of Architectural Digest, and in ‘Kelly Wearstler: Rhapsody’ (Rizzoli 2012). His firm, Tichenor and Thorp Architects, is currently bringing to completion a six acre Creative Technology Campus in Culver City, integrating three buildings, interiors, and Landscape Architecture.

“Professors Kyle Konis, Karen Kensek, Joon-ho Choi and Anders Carlson, recently received an award of $15,000 from NCARB to implement their proposal “Performance as a Design Driver: Creating a Framework to Integrate Practitioner Knowledge in the Design Studio.”

Emily Gabel-Luddy, FASLA, instructor for ARCH 536, was elected Vice Mayor of the City of Burbank for 2012-13. This year she presented at the California State Trails Conference, addressing the development and implementation of urban trails, tracing their history in Los Angeles’ neighborhoods.

Professor Schierle’s book Structure and Design is posted on more than 30 websites. Examples:

http://www.abebooks.co.uk/book-search/author/g-g-schierle/

http://www.bookrenter.com/g-g-schierle/textbooks-by

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3310564.G_G_Schierle

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/structure-and-design-g-g-schierle/1015116000

http://www.curee.org/publications/book-1934269379.html

http://www.infibeam.com/Books/search?author=G%20G%20Schierle

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s?_encoding=UTF8&search-alias=books-uk&field-author=G.%20G.%20Schierle

http://www.thenile.com.au/books/GG-Schierle/Structure-and-Design/9781934269374/

http://www.bizrate.com/architecture-books/978868081.html

Lawrence Technological University

March 17, 2014/in School News /by Matrix Admin

Rochelle Martin, Ph.D., passed away on October 8, 2011. Dr. Martin had been with Lawrence Tech since 1986 and was a Professor in the College of Architecture and Design at the graduate and undergraduate levels. Professor Martin received a Doctor of Architecture from the University of Michigan, a Bachelor of Architecture from Lawrence Tech, a Master of Arts in History and Bachelor of Science in Education from Wayne State University. Prior to working at Lawrence Tech, Rochelle was an Assistant Professor at Kansas State University, a Visiting Professor at the University of Nebraska, and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Michigan.

In her years at Lawrence Tech, she served on numerous university and college committees, along with founding the university’s Tau Sigma Delta chapter. A published author, she served on many thesis juries and enjoyed researching the impact of film media on architecture.

Rochelle was highly respected and will be greatly missed. She is survived by her daughter Marilee.

Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico

March 17, 2014/in School News Gulf Region /by Matrix Admin

Dean Carlos E. Betancourt LLambias AIA, and Interior Designer Smyrna Mauras, CODDI, announced the inauguration of the Interior Architecture Program in the Spring 2013. Dean Betancourt also announced the integration of the Landscape Architecture program to the school of Architecture ARQPOLI.

Professor Diana G. Rivera was appointed as the new Associate Dean of the School of Architecture at the Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico (PUPR). Professor Rivera has been teaching for seventeen years and has taught design studios at various levels. Professor Rivera has a B.A. in Environmental Design from the University of Puerto Rico and an M.Arch from Syracuse University.

Professor Jorge Rigau FAIA, received the Distinguished Architecture Professor Award from the Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico in May 2012.

Professor Miguel Del Río AIA, has been appointed AIA Regional Director for the areas of Florida and the Caribbean. The appointment took place on July 2012 during the AIA Convention in Palm Beach.

Professor Andres Mignucci AIA, will be lecturing at Tulane School of Architecture, the lecture ‘The City is not a blank slate” will take place this coming month. Also, Professor Mignucci announced the publication of his next book Contexts: Parque Munoz Rivera and the Supreme Court.

Professor Nadya K. Nenadich mentored second place award winning students Glorimer Anselmi, Nestor Bartolomei, Javier Bidot, Cristhian Cano, Marcos Colón and Janice Quevedo, for the San Juan 3D Competition sponsored by Colegio de Arquitectos y Arquitectos Paisajistas. Nenadich also gave the lecture “La erosión de la gestión común de lo común” for the Arquitectonics International Workshop “Architecture, Education and Society” at the Barcelona School of Architecture (ETSAB) on May, 2012.

Professor María Gabriela Flores AIA, gave the lecture “Consideraciones de Diseño para Vivienda en Puerto Rico” as part of the design competition “Nueva Vivienda para Puerto Rico 2012” at the Puerto Rico’s Architects Association (CAAPPR) on May 10, 2012.

Professor Omayra Rivera, coordinator of the Collaborative Design Studio, is offering a course at Beta Local in Old San Juan in collaboration with the project ENLACE for Caño Martín Peña. Moreover, Prof. Rivera presented the paper “Participatory Analysis of the Living Environment: The Plus Ultra Neighborhood”, together with professors Leandro Madrazo and Angel Martin Cojo from the School of Architecture La Salle in Barcelona at the Association of Collegiate School of Architecture (ACSA) Conference on June, 2012, that took place at the Center of Contemporary Culture of Barcelona.

Professors Yazmín Crespo and Omayra Rivera, together with Andrea Bauzá, presented the work produced by their collaborative studio “Taller Creando Sin Encargos’, at the Puerto Rico’s Architects Association (CAAPPR) on August 16, 2012. They were also guest speakers at the University Radio talk show “Arquitectura de Hoy”.

Professor Yazmín Crespo gave a history and theory of architecture summer course at the Elisava School of Design in Barcelona on June, 2012.

Professor Vladimir García has joined the ArqPoli faculty. Prof. Garcia, who has a Masters Degree from SCIArc, was recently awarded, together with Doel Fresse, the First Prize from the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture: Galería Espacio Temporal (GET) Design Competition 2011 for the Revuelo installation. Revuelo was selected as one of the projects to represent Puerto Rico in the Third Design Biennial in Madrid on November 2012. Prof. Garcia gave a lecture about this art-installation at the School of Architecture, Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico and at the Puerto Rico’s Architects Association (CAAPPR) on March, 2012.

Professor Maria Isabel Oliver conducted a Summer Advanced History Course together with the Centro de Estudios Martianos in Havana, Cuba. The project Havana: topologies of a transitional city, examines through videos and urban acoustics, the topological ‘invariances’ of memory, history and identity within the ‘variant’ uses of contemporary society.

Professor Oscar Oliver Didier, together with 16 students, traveled to Berlin, Germany, to conduct the Summer Studio Berlin: Enduring Impermanence. The project evaluates place and the crisis of permanence.

The Study Abroad Exhibitions Berlin: Enduring Impermanence and Havana: topologies of a transitional city will be held at the Antiguo Cuartel de Ballaja in November 2012.

Dean Carlos E. Betancourt Llambias AIA, announced the production of the third ArqPoli Polimorfo journal edition “Architecture to come” and the ArqPoli deBrief student work catalog, to be released in the upcoming months.

Clemson University

March 17, 2014/in School News Gulf Region, Mid Atlantic Region /by Matrix Admin

CLEMSON — Two teams of Clemson University’s School of Architecture graduate students have earned first and second places in Dow Chemical Company’s Dow Solar Design to Zero Competition. Three additional Clemson teams received honorable mention and ancillary awards.

The international competition challenged undergraduate and graduate students to conceptualize energy-efficient, sustainable residential solutions on a global scale. Clemson’s ambitious teams were selected by a group of their contestant peers as the winners from a pool of 131 design teams from 19 countries.

Winners were announced Wednesday during a ceremony at the National Home Builder’s International Builders’ Show in Orlando and online through a Facebook Livestream.

Clemson’s Live/Work team won first place and $20,000 with its sleek, modern design. Eric Laine of Indianapolis and Suzanne Steelman of Las Vegas embraced the social and economic aspects of life and created a home that incorporates both commercial and residential functionalities.

Daniel Kim of Vienna, Va. and Caitlin Ranson of Pickens received second place and $10,000 for their Project Zero design. The structure’s concrete masonry units create a seamless house that reimagines spaces and blurs the boundaries between interior and exterior with “zones” intended to increase ventilation.

Honorable Mention was awarded to John Oxenfeld of Tega Cay and Adam Wilson of Chester for their unique Partial Submersion design.

Mike Niezer of Fort Wayne, Ind., and Adrian Mora of Miama took the Design Integration Award for seamlessly integrating space, materials and technology to craft a serene and environmentally sound breatheZERO home.

The Built-In Photovoltaic Design Award went to Jason Drews of Houston and James Graham of Wilmington, N.C., for their Below Zero design, incorporating optimal solar angles.

Architecture school chairwoman Kate Schwennsen said she is very pleased with the success of these students, as are their design studio professor, Ulrike Heine, and consulting professors Daniel Harding and Bernhard Sill.

“The accomplishments of these students and faculty represent the highest aspirations, values and abilities of the School of Architecture,” Schwennsen said. “The work is innovative, technologically integrated and sophisticated, optimistic, engaged with industry, clearly and beautifully communicated, the result of collaborative design processes.

“It addresses one of the critical issues of our time and is focused on leaving the world better than they found it,” she said. “The School of Architecture couldn’t ask for better representation of its potential.”

Contestants created designs for three connected residences, including areas for privacy and recreation. In addition to traditional design elements, students were tasked with incorporating environmentally friendly, recyclable materials with near zero-energy efficiency standards.

Dow sponsored the competition as part of its commitment to the environment, health and safety as demonstrated in its 2015 Sustainability Goals.

[The winners are (left to right) Jason Drews, James Graham, Adrian Mora, Daniel Kim, Caitlin Ranson, John Oxenfeld, Adam Wilson, Suzanne Steelman and Eric Laine. Michael Niezer is not pictured.]

ACSA Seeks Nominations for ACSA Representative on NAAB Board of Directors

March 17, 2014/in ACSA News /by Matrix Admin

CALL FOR NOMINATIONS
ACSA Representative on NAAB Board of Directors
Deadline: October 10, 2012

The 2013-2014 National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB) will comprise thirteen members: three representing ACSA, three representing AIA, three representing NCARB, two representing AIAS, and two public members. Currently Theodore Landmark of Boston Architectural College; Nathaniel Belcher of Pennsylvania State University, Patricia Kucker of University of Cincinnati represent ACSA on the NAAB Board. With the expiration of Ted Landsmark’s term in October 2013, the ACSA Board of Directors is considering candidates for his successor at its meeting this March in San Francisco, CA.

The appointment is for a three-year term (Oct. 2013 – Oct. 2016) and calls for a person willing and able to make a commitment to NAAB. While previous experience as an ACSA board member or administrator is helpful, it is not essential for nomination. Some experience on NAAB visiting teams should be considered necessary; otherwise the nominee might be unfamiliar with the highly complex series of deliberations involved with this position. Faculty and administrators are asked to nominate faculty from an ACSA member school with any or all the following qualifications:

Tenured faculty status at an ACSA full member school;
Significant experience with and knowledge of the accreditation process;
Significant acquaintance with and knowledge of ACSA, its history,
policy programs, and administrative structure;
Personal acquaintance with the range of school and program types across North America.
Willingness to represent the constituency of ACSA on accreditation related issues.
Ability to work with the NAAB board and ACSA representatives to build consensus on accreditation related issues.

For consideration, please submit a concise letter of nomination along with a CV indicating experience under the above headings, and a letter indicating willingness to serve from the nominee, by October 10, 2012.

Nominations should be sent to:
Email (preferred): eellis@acsa-arch.org
ACSA, Board Nominations
1735 New York Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20006

University of Calgary

March 17, 2014/in School News Canadian Region /by Matrix Admin

Professor Graham Livesey – Congratulations to Graham who has been promoted to full Professor effective April 1, 2012. Well done Graham!

Professor Loraine Fowlow – The Solar Decathlon 2011 project is a finalist for the 2012 Emerald Awards, in the category of “Education: School or Classroom” category. The Awards will be announced at the Awards ceremony on June 6th. President Cannon has offered her congratulations to the Team on this accomplishment, saying, “The Solar Decathlon Team exemplifies the University of Calgary’s Eyes High goals to pursue excellence and to forge strong ties with our community.”

Professor Branko Kolarevic

was an invited speaker and a panelist at the “Vectored Resources” symposium held on March 8, 2012, in Toronto. This event was organized by Columbia University from New York as one in a series of global “think tanks” that are part of the “Columbia Building Intelligence Project” (C-BIP).
On March 23, Branko delivered the opening presentation (by invitation) at the “Material Intensities” Smart Geometry 2012 conference held at the Rensselear Polytechnic University (RPI) in Troy, NY.
will give a public lecture at Université Laval École d’architecture in Quebec City on Nov 8 (http://www.arc.ulaval.ca/).
is speaking at the aceBIM symposium in Edmonton on Nov 28 (http://www.acebim.ca/bim-symposium-2012).
is one of the keynote speakers at the “Materiality in its Contemporary Forms” conference to be held on Nov 29 & 30 in Lyon, France (http://mc2012.sciencesconf.org/). The conference is organized by École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture (ENSA) de Lyon and École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture (ENSA) de Grenoble.
He was a Technology Theme Co-Chair for the 2012 ACSA International Conference held in June in Barcelona, where he also presented a co-authored paper and co-chaired three paper sessions.
Branko also joined the Advisory Committee for the Architectural Technologies Program at SAIT. This fall he will lecture at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design in Norway and Université Laval in Quebec City.

Professor Tang Lee won first prize in the International Urban Design competition for the Foshan Chancheng District European Industrial Park, China. Orianne Berger, an EVDS student, assisted with the competition.

Tang Lee won first prize in a design competition for an Ecological Master Plan for a senior’s development in Mengzi City, Yunnan province, China.
Five EVDS students, 3 architecture and 2 planning students spend the summer working in China. The students worked on Tang Lee’s projects including the design several high rise apartment and commercial buildings, urban designs, town planning, etc.

Dr. Brian Sinclair’s

Administered the International ARCC King Medal Program for Excellence in Architectural Research (May 2012);
Received the UC GSA ‘Teaching Excellence Award’ and was nominated for the ‘Supervisory Excellence Award’ (May 2012);
Paper accepted (co-authored; first author S. Mousazadeh) for presentation in the 9th AHRA Conference in UK (May 2012);
Submitted invited paper (co-authored; first author S. Mousazadeh) to the Global Built Environment Review (May 2012) | publication pending;
Served on the Scientific and Paper Review Committee for the ARCC/EAAE International Bi-Annual Architectural Research Conference (Cities in Transformation) in Milano; chaired two sessions under the category ‘Housing and the Shape of the City’; and delivered a peer-reviewed paper (published in proceedings) within the category ‘Architecture and Technical Innovation’ at the conference (June 2012);
Delivered the invited Keynote Address at the Annual PhD Student Workshop, and moderated & served on the PhD Alumni Panel, at the University of Missouri (June 2012);
Paper on ‘Agile Architecture’ accepted for publication in ARCC Journal (June 2012);
Travelled to Yunnan Province in China as an government-invited participant, speaker and advisor (together with Professor Tang Lee) in the Honghe Prefecture Sustainable Urban Planning and Design Forum | delivered an address on Holistic Design & Planning at the congress (July 2012);
Received a DrHC (Honoris Causa) from the Institute for Systems Research & Cybernetics, at a ceremony held in Germany, in recognition of scholarly work and leadership in the field of Design Education (August 2012);
Delivered three lectures at the University of Hawaii’s School of Architecture including the opening invited public talk (Agile Architecture: Considering, Conceiving & Constructing Environmental Design for the 21st Century) for the 2012-2013 Academic Year (August 2012);
Received an EVDS Research Funding Award for work on ‘façade plasticity’ (September 2012);
Appointed to the Scientific and Paper Review Committee for the ARCC Annual Research Conference to be held in North Carolina in Spring 2013 (September 2012).

University of Arkansas

March 17, 2014/in School News Southwest Region /by Matrix Admin

A National Endowment for the Arts grant is a first step toward the revival of the historic, 60-block Pettaway neighborhood in Little Rock, by blending new development within the fabric of that turn-of-the-century urban neighborhood.

The $30,000 grant, awarded to the University of Arkansas Community Design Center and the Downtown Little Rock Community Development Corp., will fund the creation of the Pettaway Neighborhood Revitalization Plan.

The grant recipients were among 1,145 nonprofit national, regional, state and local organizations recommended for a grant as part of the NEA’s second round of fiscal year 2011 grants. This design grant was part of the federal agency’s Access to Artistic Excellence Program. In total, the NEA will distribute more than $88 million to support projects nationwide.

The Community Design Center, an outreach program of the Fay Jones School of Architecture, works to advance creative development in Arkansas through education, research and design solutions that enhance the physical environment. The Community Development Corp. steers investment activity in the Pettaway neighborhood and develops single-family housing in the area.

The Community Design Center will spend 10 months generating the Pettaway Neighborhood Revitalization Plan. Designers hope to develop methods for urban infill that integrate contemporary innovations – such as green streets, transit-oriented development, urban agriculture, low-impact development live-work housing configurations – with existing historic buildings. They are using models they’ve already developed and applying them at a broader, neighborhood scale.

“Like all well-established urban areas, the Pettaway neighborhood offers a rich mixture of lifestyle opportunities in the architecture and land uses close to downtown,” Steve Luoni, director of the Community Design Center.

The plan will combine urban development with affordable housing and public transit planning. Ecological-based storm water management methods will be studied, including green streets, low-impact development, rainwater gardens, bioswales and stream restoration. Designers will propose that the city extend its downtown trolley system into a commuter streetcar system along a trunk line, which will connect the Pettaway neighborhood to the downtown business district and North Little Rock’s downtown.

Affordable housing configurations with mixed uses will cater to artists and others employed in creative, innovative fields, while serving the neighborhood’s established constituents. The project team will explore an open space and landscape plan that will link underused parks with new pocket parks, drainage corridors, community gardens, recreation areas and pedestrian areas.

Though the neighborhood is already strongly committed to and supportive of changes, this plan will better guide the development corporation actions. “Something like this can bring the bigger vision for what the neighborhood can be,” said Scott Grummer, executive director of the Downtown Little Rock Community Development Corp. “This, in turn, helps guide the corporation, the neighborhood and other developers in decisions they make for future developments.”

The revitalization plan will be presented to the Pettaway neighborhood next spring.

This plan will build on the MacArthur Park District Master Plan – a plan created by the Community Design Center that has won five national and two state design awards. Segments of that plan are slated for construction this year. In that plan for MacArthur Park, which borders the Pettaway area, one of the more visionary options was to build a pedestrian bridge over the interstate, which literally divided MacArthur Park, and reconnect the park and downtown to the Pettaway neighborhood.

“There’s so much revitalization potential currently being exhibited in Little Rock that will allow it to flourish as a great mid-sized city,” Luoni said. “This plan will return low-density urban neighborhood options to the table, providing a mix of classes with affordable choices for living downtown.”

For the past two years, the Fay Jones School of Architecture has partnered with the Community Development Corp. to design and build two affordable, sustainable homes in the Pettaway neighborhood. Both homes are located on East Commerce Street.

Luoni said the school’s design/build program and this new neighborhood plan approach revitalization from different scales. “We’re going to look at the building blocks of good neighborhood development and planning, with an aggregate thinking that exceeds what one can accomplish on a single piece of property,” he said. “The design/build program serves as an exemplary model for what can be accomplished through building typology at the micro-scale. They are building stunning, high-concept houses that are affordable.”

University of Arkansas Community Design Center to Partner with City, Local NGOs to Create Urban Agricultural Scenario Plan

March 17, 2014/in /by Matrix Admin

An interdisciplinary team at the University of Arkansas will work with the City of Fayetteville and local non-governmental organizations to create Fayetteville 2030: Food City Scenario Plan. This urban agricultural plan will be designed for a city that is expected to double in population over the next 20 years.

The plan is based on a funding proposal developed by the University of Arkansas Community Design Center, an outreach center of the Fay Jones School of Architecture. The design center recently received $15,000 in seed money from the American Institute of Architects (AIA) to begin the project.

The award is part of the Decade of Design awards sponsored by the AIA in partnership with the Clinton Global Initiative and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture. The goal of the Decade of Design program is to engage architecture schools to participate in research that addresses problems facing urban, suburban and rural communities in the United States and the world. When completed, Fayetteville 2030: Food City Scenario Plan will serve as a national and international model for agrarian urbanism, said Jeffrey Huber, assistant director for the Community Design Center and adjunct professor in the Fay Jones School.

“Although in recent years there has been a greater emphasis – and actual development – on infill as a solution to some of our urban problems, Fayetteville’s current model for growth is sprawl,” Huber said. “And sprawl places more strain on the land available to grow food for the local population. Currently, we need about 100,000 acres of agricultural production to support about 50,000 people. There is a lot we can do to reduce this ratio. As designers, it is our responsibility to address what the local food movement is trying to do – to support a local, urban food network.”

The local food movement – in Fayetteville specifically but also nationwide – is a response to an industrial-based system of food production. Since the 1950s, American agricultural production has become an increasingly concentrated and industrialized enterprise, so much so that most Americans have forgotten where food comes from or how to grow it, store it and preserve it. Many in the local food movement believe the industrial-based system is unsustainable and environmentally irresponsible. Huber points out the average food product travels more than 1,500 miles from producer to consumer, and in that time it has lost 80 percent of its nutritional value.

With assistance from food-law experts at the University of Arkansas School of Law and food scientists in the University’s Dale Bumpers College of Agriculture, Food and Life Sciences, project designers and students at the design center will work with the City of Fayetteville and local organizations such as FEED Fayetteville to design infrastructure for the purpose of growing, storing, preserving, distributing and selling food locally. Through these relationships, they will create an urban plan for healthy and safe food systems at a local scale. The goal, Huber said, is to build agrarian urbanism, where everything is designed around production of food and how people live.

“The whole project is based on this question,” Huber said. “What if 80 percent of Fayetteville’s new development provided an incentive to develop around a local, urban agricultural network?”
So how does a food city work? Imagine Fayetteville’s Wilson Park as an agricultural asset, an orchard with apple trees or a mini farm with lettuce, green beans and strawberries growing in gardens along the walking trail. That is a small part of what a food city looks like, Huber said. From window boxes with tomato plants to large-scale industrial farms, the goal is to imbed agrarianism back into the urban environment. The urban landscape includes right-of-way gardens, residential “grow streets,” greenhouses, agricultural subdivisions, urban orchards and agricultural parks. Low-impact irrigation and water cycling would be integrated into these spaces. The food city could also include animal husbandry and processing facilities.

Such a change would create an “edible landscape,” as Huber calls it, a shift from the ornamental to the productive, and in this scenario, the city of Fayetteville could become a food utility, not unlike its current role as the water and sewage utility. But this would be only part of the overall plan. Private citizens, neighborhood cooperatives and both small and large farms and orchards would be integrated into the system. The challenge for the designers will be to develop a plan for infrastructure that will support all these components.

Huber said the center will finish the design of a food scenario plan by summer 2013. The University of Arkansas Community Design Center will present its work at the AIA national convention.

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