Thomas Jefferson University Launches Ph.D. in Architecture and Design Research
The College of Architecture and the Built Environment is launching a new Ph.D. in Architecture and Design Research in Fall 2021 which will be overseen by Dr. Kihong Ku as Program Director. This STEM-designated program, one of the few of its kind in the United States, supports interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research in architecture, urban and geospatial design, science, technology, engineering, and healthcare. Students have the opportunity to pursue research at one of CABE’s partner institutions in Europe or Asia; assist in faculty-driven research projects; and participate in initiatives sponsored by CABE outreach and research centers.
Jefferson’s Institute for Smart and Healthy Cities was created in 2019 as a collaborative effort of the College of Architecture and the Built Environment and 2 other colleges to support the research, innovation, and education for transforming urban environments into smart and healthy cities. The institute is conceived as an aggregator and facilitator of transdisciplinary research and education across multiple disciplines driving the future of communities to build more efficient, healthier, and livable cities. The Institute, under the supervision of co-director, Prof. Edgar Stach, Ph.D. has hosted 2 online forums where interdisciplinary experts from the University and across the country shared their insights into housing policy and the evolution of cities as smart and healthy cities, among other important topics.
In his new book published by Birkhäuser titled Renzo Piano; Space – Detail – Light, Prof.Edgar Stach, Ph.D., analyzes and documents nine museum buildings by Renzo Piano Building Workshop to compare their playful use of natural light, transparency, and fine detailing.
This evolution of corporate modernism is the focus of Building Brands: Corporations and Modern Architecture, the latest book by Grace Ong Yan, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Interior Design who also teaches architectural history. The book is the result of Dr. Ong Yan’s archival research of historical case studies, as well as her own experience designing branded environments for corporate clients
ON ARCHITECTURAL EDUCATION, online international series of round table discussions
The schools of architecture of the Universidad Nacional de La Plata (Argentina), Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (ETSA-Vallès, Spain), and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (USA) jointly organize a series of panel discussions dedicated to the current status of architectural education.
ON ARCHITECTURAL EDUCATION
Over the last 25 years, the evolution of the profession and discipline of architecture has faced cultural, societal, and technical changes that have had an inevitable impact on both professional practice and institutional education. The environmental crisis, social inequity, fluctuating demographics, the eruption of digital technology and technological progress, and the absence of universal pedagogical models are just a few among many converging factors that invite us to reflect on the present and future of the discipline and of the institutional education of architects.
In the past, there were only a few models of architectural pedagogy that were adopted by educational institutions regardless of their geographical location and cultural identity. However, the globalization of the profession, the democratization of education, and the worldwide increase of schools of architecture (both public and private) in the last 25 years have led to the emergence of new models. Furthermore, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has simultaneously posed challenges and opened new avenues for educating future architects that deserve serious consideration.
Offered online in a hybrid, bilingual format (English/Spanish), the series is free and open to interested educators, students, researchers, and professionals worldwide.
This first series of five roundtables with representatives from the three co-organizing schools and two specially invited guests will focus on the design project as the backbone of architectural education.
Albert Einstein once said, “The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.” How do we know when our thinking and the world it produces need to change? Does that moment arrive as part of natural cycles or because of human action? Recalling Thomas Kuhn, what is the politics of “paradigm shift” in the 21st century, particularly in the wake of a global pandemic? These questions provide us with a framework to debate the nature of the built environment and the pedagogy it warrants in a post-pandemic world. There is little doubt that the 2020 pandemic has profoundly affected the entire world with unimaginable economic, social, public-health, urban, and environmental consequences. It has exposed, among other vulnerabilities, our weakness in disaster preparedness, our inadequacies in creating inclusive public-health infrastructures, our privileged hesitation to tackle racial, social, and gender injustice, and our misguided policies of urban governance and spatial management. The pandemic has also compelled us to question some of the fundamentals of our lives, politics, societies, and institutions. It is in this context, we ask: How might architectural pedagogy change in a post-pandemic world? Please join us for a stimulating panel conversation moderated by Professor Adnan Morshed, School of Architecture and Planning, Catholic University of America.
SOLITUDE | The 2021 Weissbourd Dialogues | Organized by Dario Donetti and Sean Dowdy
Billie Tsien (Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects) & Anthony Vidler (The Cooper Union/Princeton University) chaired by Sean Keller (IIT College of Architecture)
In lieu of our Annual Weissbourd Conference, the Society of Fellows in the Liberal Arts at the University of Chicago will host a “Weissbourd Dialogues” series over the first half of 2021. This year’s series, hosted via virtual symposia, will bring together speakers from different scholarly and professional fields to discuss and present work on the theme of Solitude. Although a topic of long-standing interest in the humanities and social sciences, solitude and its conceptual kin (isolation, loneliness, anomie, alienation, seclusion, etc.) have become everyday modes of life during the global COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, as we socially distance from each other’s bodies and breath, the tendrils of our social lives continue to stretch out, shoot back, and, in effect, compel us to ask: what good is solitude, after all? As an experiment in what Roland Barthes calls “being alone together” (idiorhythmy), this year’s Weissbourd Dialogues emphasizes solitude as a fundamental feature of social life rather than its abrogation. Each virtual symposium will bring together scholars and practitioners from psychoanalysis, critical race theory, architecture, neuroscience, art history, anthropology, poetry, philosophy, urban studies in order to query the values, practices, and challenges of being alone.
The 2021 Weissbourd Dialogues (traditionally, the Annual Weissbourd Conference), is made possible through the generous support of the Weissbourd Memorial Fund. The Bernard Weissbourd Memorial Fund for the University of Chicago’s Society of Fellows pays tribute to Bernard Weissbourd’s history of involvement with the University. The Fund reflects his abiding commitments to spirited inquiry, the excitement of learning, the power of discourse, and through all of these, the pursuit of a more just and humane society.
This event is co-sponsored by:
• Department of Art History–The University of Chicago (https://arthistory.uchicago.edu/)
• Urban and Architecture Design Initiative– UChicago Arts (https://arts.uchicago.edu/)
Open Call: 2021 CIDDI Conference Series on the Future City
This conference explores technological trends in the development of future cities. What are cutting-edge methods and technologies in city planning and urban design that will shape the design of our future urban environments? How will the application of AI, IoT, automation, smart and green technologies shape how we live, work and operate in future cities? We aim to explore emerging trends and discuss new applications engaging citizens in the planning process. In particular, we are interested in Artificial Intelligence (AI) its technologies, implementations, and impacts on urban planning and design.
The themes are:
1. AI History/Theory in Urban Design and Planning 2. AI Tools/Methods/Techniques 3. Using AI in city analysis 4. Using AI in city performance 5. Using AI in generating new city layouts/forms 6. Using AI in the experience/perception of cities
Call For Abstracts
CIDDI 2021 Conference Series on the Future City aims to bring together professionals, academicians, and the general public to share new trends and shape innovations in the development of future cities.
Select paper submissions will have the opportunity to be included in the book [Elsevier, 2022: Artificial Intelligence in Urban Planning and Design: Technologies, Implementation, and Impacts].
Abstract Submission Deadline: 25 April 2021 Notification of Acceptance: 02 May 2021
Kéré received his architectural degree from the Technische Universität in Berlin in 2004, having originally been trained as a carpenter both in his native country of Burkina Faso and in Germany. While still an architecture student he set up the association Schulbausteine für Gando e.V, later named Kéré Foundation e.V., which loosely translates to “School Building Blocks for Gando” to fund the construction of a primary school for his hometown.
He went on to complete his studies and build the Gando Primary School as his diploma project in 2004, the same year he also founded his own architectural firm Kéré Architecture. His first-ever building was awarded the prestigious Aga Khan Award for Architecture, recognized not only for its innovative construction techniques and expressive care in craftsmanship, but also for being built cooperatively by the Gando community.
Over the course of nearly two decades, Kéré has gone on to become one of the world’s most distinguished contemporary architects, celebrated for his pioneering communal approach to design and his commitment to sustainable materials, as well as modes of construction. Inspired by a curiosity for the particularities of any given locality and its social tapestry, he and his diverse team at Kéré Architecture have completed renowned projects across four continents. Most prominently these include his design for the Burkina Faso National Assembly in Ouagadougou; the Léo Surgical Clinic & Health Centre (2014) in Léo, Burkina Faso; IT University in Burkina Faso; the Lycée Schorge Secondary School (2016) in Koudougou, Burkina Faso; the Serpentine Pavilion (2017) in London; and Xylem (2019), a gathering pavilion for the Tippet Rise Art Center in Fishtail, Montana.
For its remarkable success in combining socially engaged and ecologically resilient design Kéré Architecture is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture (2009), the Marcus Prize (2011), the Global LafargeHolcim Gold (2012), the Schelling Architecture Foundation Award (2014) among others. In 2017, Kéré received two prominent honors, the Prince Claus Laureate Award and the Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize in Architecture from the American Academy of Arts & Letters, for which he was praised for being “an alchemist working with local materials and technology to design buildings of meaning and beauty.”
The medal is typically presented in observance of Jefferson’s birthday, April 13, during celebrations including a formal dinner at Monticello, a medal presentation at UVA and public talks by the medalists. However, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Architecture medal will be given during a virtual event. In In recognition of this distinguished honor, the UVA School of Architecture will host this virtual public talkby Kéré on Monday, April 12 at 5 p.m. (EDT), hosted on Zoom.
The boundary-pushing architectural practice championed by Kéré has attracted the attention of exhibition makers and curators, allowing him to oscillate between the realms of architecture and art. Commissions have included the Serpentine Pavilion (2017) – as the first architect of African descent to receive it; a visitors pavilion for the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival (2018); showcases at the Venice Biennale of Architecture (2016 & 2018); and various solo exhibitions, including at the Museo ICO in Madrid (2018), the Architekturmuseum in Munich and the Philadelphia Museum of Art (both in 2016). His work has been selected for group exhibitions such as: “AFRICA: Architecture, Culture and Identity,” at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk (2015); “Small Scale, Big Change: New Architectures of Social Engagement,” at the Museum of Modern Art, New York (2010); and “Sensing Spaces,” at the Royal Academy, London (2014).
A current project, the Benin National Assembly in Porto-Novo, is designed to embody the identity of the people it serves. Kéré said, “This project gives shape to our ideas about community gathering, the importance of indigenous forms of governance and what contemporary African architecture can be on a national scale.” The government building includes an adjacent park that can be used by city residents as a central recreation space, creating a sense of openness and transparency, while expressing the democratic values of the people of Benin.
This project evokes the values inherent in the inspirational work of Kéré and his expertise in tackling complexity with understated elegance across scales and contexts. As School of Architecture Dean Ila Berman said, “Beginning with Francis Kéré’s original work in Gando and throughout his acclaimed career, he has not only taught the world that architecture and education are for everyone, but also has exemplified how architecture can build capacity in communities, foster environmental and cultural resilience, and inspire creativity while immeasurably serving the public good.”
On the anniversary of Thomas Jefferson’s birthday, April 13 (known locally as Founder’s Day), the University of Virginia and the Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticellojoin together to present the Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medalsto recognize achievements of those who embrace endeavors in which Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence and third U.S. president, excelled and held in high regard. These medals are the highest external honors bestowed by the University of Virginia, which grants no honorary degrees.
We are happy to invite you to the inaugural Robert H. Winters lecture series Resistance as Practice: Acts of Anti-Racism through Architecture and Planning! The event is hosted by the Dalhousie University Faculty of Architecture and Planning’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee, in partnership with the SHIFT: Connect conference. Our final event will be on Wednesday, March 31st at 7pm AST, and will be a panel featuring Dalhousie professorsJennifer Llewelyn(Schulich School of Law),Frank Palermo(School of Planning) andIngrid Waldron(School of Nursing). In this event, our panelists will discuss the structures of institutional racism that they face, and the ways they aim to challenge these systems through their work in areas including restorative justice, community engagement and environmental justice. Please see the attached announcement for more details on the panelists and the event, and register through Eventbrite here.
We have organized this series at a critical moment for architects, planners and other disciplines grappling with difficult histories and professional cultures. This means questioning how designed spaces are embedded with power structures that stratify our society, and how practitioners are implicated in this. Just as importantly, we must acknowledge that this is not a new conversation or area of analysis: racialized communities have developed their own planning and design practices in cities when they have not been heard by the faces of power. This lecture series builds on the ongoing powerful response to racialized violence by presenting the work of practitioners, academics and activists who have pursued these acts of anti-racism as a central focus of their work.
We hope that you’ll join us for this final event of the series!
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