As part of the Chicago Architecture Foundation’s 50th Birthday Bash on Saturday, April 16, 2016, University of Illinois School of Architecture students showcased work from their current investigations into city improvement projects around the CTA Red Line, including ideas for streetscaping, retail and new mid-rise towers.
Randy Deutsch – Associate Professor
Leading a Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) Executive Education course for the third year, BIM: Lessons in Leadership, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. http://bit.ly/1YVWseC
Presenting “21st Century Skillsets: Assuring Architects and Emerging Professionals Stay Ahead,” at the AIA National Convention, Philadelphia, PA May 19, 2016 http://bit.ly/1SNsQyG
Invited to present “Big Data in the Construction Industry,” Executive Management for Design and Construction, McCormick School of Engineering, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, June 15, 2016
Invited guest speaker, Strategic Workshop on Big Data in the Built Environment, Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada, June 16-17, 2016
Serving as the BIM SME, BRE Research Group, London
New book published: Data Driven Design and Construction: 25 Strategies for Capturing, Analyzing and Applying Building Data (Wiley) http://bit.ly/1Oe2XDh
Book reviewed, Data Driven Design and Construction: 25 Strategies for Capturing, Analyzing and Applying Building Data, by Lachmi Khemlani, AECBytes, March 24, 2016http://bit.ly/1rCNIjx
Forthcoming book, Convergence: The Redesign of Design (AD, March 2017)
Column by Megan Lotts, Art Librarian Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey
One of the most interesting aspects of the Art Library Lego Playing Station is coming into the library each day to see what has transpired at the table. Some days it appears a group of grubby young children have been let loose at the table and Legos are strewn everywhere, including the floor. Other days I find elaborate models that tell stories about the students, their lives, their imaginations, and their dreams” (Lotts, 2015).
When I started the Art Library Lego playing Station in 2014 at the Rutgers University Art Library, located in the heart of New Brunswick, New Jersey, I was looking for ways to connect with the departments with whom I am a library liaison. I wanted to form deeper connections with the Landscape Architecture and Mason Gross Visual Arts, departments that are located a 15-30 minute walk from the Art Library. Coming from a background in Art & Design, I was concerned that these students did not know or understand the value that the library has to their education I also wanted to learn more about who the students, faculty, and staff are in these departments and how the library could best support these individuals.
Shortly after installing the Lego Playing Station, I contacted the Chair of the Landscape Architecture Department, Dr. Laura Lawson. After a brainstorming session we came up with an active learning assignment for her Environmental Design Analysis course that would incorporate the Art Library Lego Playing Station, and get her students into the library in person. The objective of the assignment was to introduce 100 incoming freshmen in the Landscape Architecture program to me (their library liaison), the Art Library Lego Playing Station, and the resources Rutgers University Libraries have to offer.
In September 2014, I was introduced to the EDA course and gave a 30-minute lecture that included a conceptual overview of the physical space of the art library, the resources available, an overview of the Art Library Research Guides, and an introduction to the Art Library Lego Playing Station (Lotts, 2015). Following my presentation Dr. Lawson introduced the assignment to the students and explained what would be required of them. Within days the Art Library Lego Playing Station saw an enormous increase in play and models made. Figure 1 shows 4 students working together to create a model for their assignment.
Figure 1 Students from Landscape Architecture EDA course. Photo credit: Megan Lotts
Since this collaboration with Dr. Lawson and her EDA course I have seen an increase in reference questions from the Landscape Architecture students and a decrease in my office candy supply. I have learned more about the needs of the LA department and now hold weekly office hours in the Blake Hall lobby, where the department resides. This gives students, faculty, and staff an opportunity to see me in person each week to ask questions or let me know anything new happening in their department. These hours also give me the opportunity to learn more about the individuals who are part of the LA community as well as share with them what is happening in the Rutgers University Libraries.
In conclusion, the Art Library Lego Playing Station has explored and expanded the conventional research functions of an academic library through encouraging creative problem-solving techniques associated with art and design and makerspaces (Lotts, 2015). If you would like to read a more about the Art Library Lego Playing station or an in depth version of this collaboration please read the paper, Playing with LEGO, Learning about the Library and ‘Making’ Campus Connections: The Rutgers Art Library Lego Playing Station, Part One, noted in the additional readings section.
When acquiring Legos, consider crowd-sourcing and asking for donations. This can be much cheaper and easier than purchasing the bricks from Lego, craigslist, ebay, or a garage sale.
Create signage for your Lego Station and consider creating a comment box. You can also invite patrons to take pictures not Legos, to detour possible thefts.
Find a good table or space where the Legos can be spread out and players have room to move. Remember Legos and players can be noisy so keep this in mind when locating your Legos.
Find partners and co-collaborators. Think about who else might have interest in Legos or making things. Consider partnering with another course or organization within your campus or community.
ConAgra, formerly headquartered in Omaha, Neb. moved its headquarters to Chicago. Now the city of Omaha and ConAgra are considering redevelopment. Instructors Emily Anderson and Geoff Deold‘s 411 studio reimagines Omaha’s ConAgra campus and Heartland of America Park as housing, mixed use, and a new anchor tenant. Students were charged with adapting existing urban building typologies to imagine new models of urbanism, adapting form to be responsive to use, context, and public or open space.
Victor Regnier FAIA is working on a new book that deals with Longevity and Housing that Wiley will publish in 2017.
It looks at the implications of the growing worldwide population of people 85+ and 100+ and the housing and service options available to care for their needs in a residential, non-institutional context.
Charles A. Lagreco attended the ACSA Annual Meeting in 2015 to represent the USC School of Architecture as one of the 14 selected schools to participate in the NCARB IPAL initiative to integrate registration requirements with professional degree graduation. Professor Lagreco with coordinate the program at USC which is on track to start in the fall of the 2016-07 Academic year.
Michael Ellars, AIA, recently completed his first year as an instructor in the undergraduate Building Science program at the University of Southern California School of Architecture; the second semester project focused on competition entries for the Timber in the City competition co-sponsored by ACSA. In February, he presented a three-hour professional education course on accessibility changes in the California Building Code to the San Fernando Valley Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (http://www.aiasfv.org/newsletter/2015/12-2015Elevations.pdf). Ellars recently wrote an article about using Virtual Reality to boost the K-12 educational experience for Insights, an on-going publication series by DLR Group thought leaders (http://www.dlrgroup.com/insights/articles/ellars-virtual-reality/). His article, Virtual Reality: A Revolutionary Evolution in Building Design, was published in the February 2016 issue of Connection, the architecture and design journal of the Young Architects Forum of the American Institute of Architects (https://issuu.com/youngarchitectsforum/docs/160216_-_1401_-_vol_14_issue_01_dra/32).
Prof. Graeme M. Morland, Principal, GEM Architects, has just completed a series of schematic design sketches for a 25 unit, research scholar housing complex within the Huntington Garden estate in San Marino, Ca. The project design was greatly influenced by the large cloister and garden cells of the Carthusian Monastery of Pavia, Italy, which Morland visited many times with USC architecture students when he directed the study abroad program in Italy.
Assistant Professor David Jason Gerber was invited to co-Chair the “Positions on Smart Environments” Special Panel at the 2016 ACSA national convention this year. Professor Gerber will participate at this years’ Simulation in Architecture and Urban Design conference in London to present his research on Multi-Agent Systems for Design. Professor Gerber has been awarded a Scholar in residence Fellowship by The Borchard Foundation to pursue a research titled “Descriptive Surfaces, From Desargue to De Casteljau and their mathematical influence on instrumental and design knowledge in Architecture.”
Alexander Robinson was invited to present his design research on Rome’s Tiber River at the International Federation of Landscape Architect’s 2016 Conference in Turin, Italy in April. He exhibited this work in March at the American Academy in Rome’s Cinque Mostre exhibit curated by Illaria Gianni.
Vittoria Di Palma’s book, Wasteland, A History (Yale: 2014), was awarded the 2016 Elisabeth Blair MacDougall Book Award by the Society of Architectural Historians. This prize recognizes annually the most distinguished work of scholarship in the history of landscape architecture or garden design. At the Society of Architectural Historians’ meeting in Pasadena, Vittoria was elected Vice President of the SAH Landscape History Chapter.
Jennifer Siegal, founder of Los Angeles-based Office of Mobile Design (OMD), has been announced as the winner of the fourth arcVision Prize – Women and Architecture, an international award to women’s architecture organized by Italcementi. Siegal was unanimously chosen by the jury for being “a fearless pioneer in the research and development of prefabricated construction systems, at low prices for disadvantaged users and areas, who has been able to invent and build practical solutions and a new language for mobile and low-cost housing.”
Trudi Sandmeier recently chaired the jury for the Los Angeles Conservancy’s annual Preservation Awards honoring the best conservation projects in Los Angeles County.
Mina Chow has launched an international social media campaign for FACE OF A NATION on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to provide a public platform for intelligent discussion about the role of architecture and design in cultural diplomacy and conflict resolution. As a result of the film’s significance, Skywalker Sound (George Lucas/THX) has agreed to join our team, and they are exploring ways they will contribute. A venture capitalist has invested further resources with another generous contribution. Mina also has presented her works-in-progress at several symposiums at USC Annenberg’s Center for Public Diplomacy between 2014-2016. FACE OF A NATION showcases America’s best architects and engineers (including Buckminster Fuller, Ray and Charles Eames, and Davis Brody) working together to promote the American image. The film has progressed to fine-cut with 34 animations-in-progress.
Kyle Konis will give a presentation entitled Daylighting Design Performance Metrics to Enhance Health and Well-being at the National AIA Convention in Philadelphia on May 20.
Adjunct Associate Professor Michael Hricak, FAIA, recently participated in a Metropolis Magazine “Think Tank” panel moderated by long-time Publisher/Editor in Chief Susan S. Szenasy held at the Los Angeles offices of AECOM. Professor Hricak represented the southern California design education community addressing current housing policies, real estate trends and workplace design and innovation. Also on the panel were representatives of the real estate, design and business communities. DISCUSSION STATEMENT: “Urban vs. Suburban…where to place the workplace.’As technology, work-styles, generational demographics, work-life balance issues and the war for talent continue to drive workplace evolution, our Think Tank panel will discuss how these issues affect a company’s decision on where to physically place the workplace. Traditional considerations of cost, ‘a downtown address’, and ease of mass transportation, to name a few, often define the workplace in an urban setting. Can the suburban setting better address the drivers of the evolving workplace given real estate costs in urban centers (both office lease and housing) such as home-based working, reduction of carbon footprint, and the rise of co-working/co-shared work environments? We will explore how the evolving workplace is driving new thinking around the importance of “address.””
Professor Kelly Shannon has been selected as a Research Fellow for the Landscape Architecture Foundation’s (LAF) 2016 Case Study Investigation (CSI) program. Professor Shannon is one of six fellows who will each lead a team who will assess and document benefits of high-performing landscape projects, resulting in Case Study Briefs for LAF’s Landscape Performance Series, an online, open-source database of paradigmatic landscape projects. The projects and firms that Shannon will be working with are Vista Hermosa Park (Mia Lehrer + Associates), South Los Angeles Wetland Park (Psomas), and Shenzhen Bay (SWA Group).
Joon-Ho Choi has been awarded a Zumberge Grant in support of his project, “User-Centered Integrative Building System Control Using Human Bio-Signals for Environmental Health and Sustainability.” “Joon-Ho has brought strong promise to the School’s research agenda, through which architecture will gain new ground in our concerns for the environment,” said Dean Qingyun Ma. Choi’s research focuses on developing intelligent environmental controls in buildings based on occupants’ physiological responses and maximizing the building’s environmental performance
Rob Ley’s design office was a winner of the Architizer A+ 2016 Award for the Eskenazi Hospital parking structure facade. His firm will be recognized in an event held in New York on May 12th.
Diane Ghirardo presented an invited paper on Lucrezia Borgia’s treasury at a conference on The Borgias in Art in Xåtiva, Spain, in May.
Eight teams of students in the graduate and fifth year undergraduate programs, led by Kim Coleman and Warren Techentin in conjunction with USC Architecture graduates Chiu Man Wong and Maria Warner Wong, of WOW Architecture in Singapore, designed proposals for a creative financial hub to be built in Bhartiya City, a new city currently in construction in Bangalore, India. Thanks to the generosity of the Bhartiya corporation, the group began the semester with a twelve day trip to India, researching the country’s culture and traditions. Design strategies for the two-million square foot project explore typologies that provide a strong identity and sense of place and that encompass a mix of housing, office, and retail functions, resulting in a mix of scale and use and a commitment to public open space. Snehdeep and Arjun Aggarwai of Bhartiya came to USC for the final reviews and celebratory reception on Thursday, 28th. An exhibit and publication is planned for fall, 2016.
Gary Paige’s award-winning proposal for the Los Angeles Forum for Architecture and Urban Design competition Dingbat 2.0 was featured in the new book Dingbat 2.0: The Iconic Los Angeles Apartment as Projection of a Metropolis, edited by Thurman Grant and Joshua Stein, (DoppelHouse Press, 2016).
Karen Kensek is planning the tenth annual BIM Symposium at USC for Friday, July 22nd. The theme of this year’s presentations is efficient, productive, and profitable workflows. The 2015 BIM Symposium focused on visual programming.
Hraztan Zeitlian directed the design of the Los Angeles Southwest College School of Career and Technical Education building that received an American Institute of Architects Los Angeles Valley Chapter Design Award.
Professor Marc Schiler moderated a panel on “Glare and Solar Convergence” at the Façade Tectonics Forum at the University of Texas, San Antonio, on April 7, 2016. He is working hectically on the scientific program for the Passive and Low Energy Architecture (PLEA2016) conference to be held in Los Angeles from July 11-13, 2016. This is the first time that the conference has been held in the United States in its 35 year history. Approximately 500 abstracts were accepted out of 1000 submissions. Based on completed manuscripts, about 300 full papers were accepted for presentation and publication. Thom Mayne and Ed Mazria are two of the keynote speakers. There will be tours of sustainable built environments of Los Angeles.
Lecturer Scott Uriu and his firm Baumgartner+Uriu is one of the 10 invited architects, artists and designers, invited to participate in the J. Irwin and Xenia S. Miller Prize as part of the inaugural 2016 symposium for Exhibit Columbus, “Foundations and Futures,” held Sept. 29 to Oct. 1. In Columbus Indiana. Exhibit Columbus is an exhibition put on by the city of Columbus Indiana in association with Ball State University, The Ohio State University, University of Cincinnati, University of Kentucky, University of Michigan, the Indiana University Center for Art+Design, and Columbus-Ivy Tech. http://www.exhibitcolumbus.org/
Douglas Noble and Karen Kensek are hosting the Façade Tectonics World Congress in downtown Los Angeles October 10-11, 2016.
Professor James Steele has been awarded a 2016-17 Fulbright grant to Malaysia. Next semester, Professor Steele will be working with Ezrin Arbi, Professor Emeritus at the University of Malaya, on a multi-publication project on the mosques and vernacular housing of both Malaysia and the Minangkabau people, an ethnic group of West Sumatra, Indonesia. Steele previously worked with Arbi to establish the USC Architecture study abroad program in Malaysia, and in 2012, Arbi asked Steele to collaborate with him on the project. Steele explained, “Arbi, now an octogenarian, is a devout Muslim of Minangkabau origin and has been collecting materials on both the distinctive vernacular houses and mosques of his homeland, and those of his adopted country of Malaysia, since he was a student in Jakarta more than 50 years ago.” Steele plans to frame Arbi’s materials by constructing the context of Minang and Malaysian villages. During the grant period, a group, including Steele, Arbi, and a few University of Malaysia colleagues, will be photographing houses and mosques within their village contexts using a drone. This will be done in both Sumatra and Malaysia.
On April 27 Edward Bosley, the Director of the Gamble House for USC, spoke to 1st, 2nd and 3rd-year students at Plymouth University School of Architecture in the UK about the Gamble House. The students were particularly interested in the Greenes’ use of materials and their attention to the details of craftsmanship, and generally their eyes were opened to the existence of architecture as a fine art.
Dimitry Vergun retired after teaching at the USC School of Architecture for over 40 years. Vergun is considered one of the finest teachers in the program, and taught in the building science studios for decades. He remains a beloved professor for all of his former students.
Adjunct Assistant Professor Tigran Ayrapetyan together with the USC undergraduate Building Science students participated in the symposium organized by Simpson Strong-Tie at their Riverside facility on 4-8-16. The participants were students from UCI, CSULB, CSUF, and USC. The students representing USC won the Simpson Engineering Jeopardy competition at the event.
Eric Haas, Adjunct Associate Professor, was the recipient of a 2016 USC Mentoring Award given by USC’s Center for Excellence in Teaching for his work with undergraduate students. His firm DSH // architecture exhibited their contribution Spiral Kitty, a 3d-printed reciprocal shelter for cats, at a benefit for Architects for Animals in March. He also exhibited Efflorescence Cognitionum, a microlibrary assembled from vintage card catalog drawers created with USC librarians Melissa Miller and Marje Schuetze-Coburn, on the USC campus as part of the Visions and Voices event “Microlibraries in the Everywhere.” His firm is currently at work on several preschool and charter school projects, among others.
The Courtyard at La Brea, a low income family housing project for persons with special needs located in the City of West Hollywood, by MUTLOW + TIGHE, (John V Mutlow, professor, and Patrick Tighe, professor of practice), is featured in the April 4 – 16 issue of NEW YORK magazine in an article titled ‘The Urbanist: Los Angeles Architecture. New buildings embrace nature, density and public spaces’, and in an online article by the Daily Intelligencer titled ‘A Guide to Los Angeles Widely Inventive New Architecture.’ See link: http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/04/guide-to-las-inventive-new-architecture.html
Charlene LeBleu, FASLA , Associate Professor and Chair of the Graduate Program in Landscape Architecture in Auburn University’s School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture (APLA), was presented with the 2016 CELA President’s Award; David Hill, ASLA, LEED AP, Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture, received the 2016 Excellence in Design Studio Teaching Award, Junior Level. Both faculty were honored at the CELA annual conference in Salt Lake City, March 23-27. CELA (Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture) is the premier international organization for educators in landscape architecture. Read more here.
Auburn APLA Alumnus Dan Ballard, MLA ’11, and DESIGNhabitat, created by APLA professors David Hinson and Justin Miller, recently received 2016 Spirit of Sustainability Awards at the Auburn University Office of Sustainability fourth annual awards ceremony on April 20 at the Pavilion at Ag Heritage Park. Read more here.
The Master of Landscape Architecture program in the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture (APLA) has been granted re-accreditation for a six-year period by the Landscape Architectural Accreditation Board. The LAAB based its re-accreditation decision on the MLA’s program self-evaluation report, the visiting team report, the institution’s response to the team report, and discussions with team members and program faculty. For more information about the MLA program, click here.
Auburn University College of Architecture, Design and Construction (CADC) faculty have been busy presenting research abroad.Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and Research, Karen Rogers, was a presenter at the “National Encounter of Deans and Directors of Schools of Architecture” sponsored by the Colombian Association of Schools of Architecture in Villa de Leyva, Colombia, March 29–31. Her presentation, “Rethinking the Relationship between Academia and Community: the Experience of Auburn University’s Rural Studio” was made in Spanish to the deans and directors of 38 Colombian architecture schools. Read more here.
J. Scott Finn, Associate Professor of Architecture and Director of the APLA’s International Studies Program in Rome, presented a seminar to Italian design professionals entitled “Dialogues of Architecture” on March 29. Finn, Carmelo Baglivo, and Laura Negrini, Italian architects and theorists of architecture, discussed Rome and its role in the education of Italian and foreign students of architecture. Read more here.
UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE STUDENT TEAM WINS HUD 2016 INNOVATION IN AFFORDABLE HOUSING COMPETITION
AUSTIN, TX—April 25, 2016— A team of graduate students from the University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture has won the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) third annual Innovation in Affordable Housing Student Design and Planning Competition. The team was one of the four finalist teams to develop a plan to redevelop a public housing project, Monteria Village, in Santa Barbara, California.
Students Sarah Simpson, Brett Clark, Megan Recher,Brianna Garner Frey, and Tatum Lau presented their final project on April 19 at HUD headquarters in Washington, DC, and took home the win, beating teams from the University of Kansas, Harvard University, and the University of Maryland at College Park.
“It’s amazing to watch our next generation create a plan for the future of affordable housing in a way that helps low-income families become self-sufficient,” said Katherine O’Regan, HUD’s Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research. “As we celebrate the third year of this competition, our hope is to continue this creative and forward thinking when it comes to affordable housing.”
HUD and the Santa Barbara Housing Authority challenged the teams to consider the complex challenges associated with rehabbing the current structure or demolishing it and creating new construction. Participants had to consider design, community development, and financing elements in order to provide an all-encompassing plan and solution that would allow the housing authority to meet its goal of offering safe and sustainable affordable housing. Students also needed to understand the needs of the intended residents, the zoning restrictions, and leveraging opportunities.
The UT School of Architecture team will receive a $20,000 award for their first-place win. The competition jurors praised the team members for their sophisticated site plan that connects homes and social space. The team also received very high marks for their water conservation plans and their plans to include an education center which will provide school and job training to address the needs of the community.
The UTSOA team was advised by professors Elizabeth Mueller, Jake Wegmann, Dean Almy, and Simon Atkinson.
The libraries of the University of Southern California are proud to announce the additions of several new digital archive collections featuring architects and architectural photography.
The Fritz Block and Pierre Koenig slides are two of the smaller unique collections in the possession of the USC Libraries. They document examples of 20th century California architecture that developed stylistically from the foundations of the International Style as established by the 1932 exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, titled Modern Architecture: International Exhibition, and of European pre-World War II Modernism. Koenig. Fritz Block (1889-1955) was a German-trained architect, who moved to Los Angeles in 1938. He shot slides of many private homes, as well as of some housing developments. Pierre Koenig (1925-2004) was among the most important Modern architects working in Southern California, and a long-time faculty at the USC School of Architecture. He is noted, among many projects, for participating in the Case Study House program, and for designing Case Study Houses #21 and #22. The digitized slides were selected by Pierre Koenig. Funding for digitization of the Architectural Teaching Slide Collection was provided by Victor Albert Regnier, ACSA Distinguished Professor and Professor of Architecture and Geronotology at the USC School of Architecture. This information was provided by Ruth Wallach, Head (1999-2014) of the Architecture and Fine Arts Library, USC.
The archive of Wayne Thom, a renowned architectural photographer who shot only with natural light, worked without assistant and meticulously printed his own images,” came to the University of Southern California Libraries in September 2015. “Thom’s stunning photographs of landmark buildings throughout the American West and Asia… include many buildings on the USC campus, including images of von KleinSmid Center, the 1968 USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism building, Heritage Hall, Varian Hall and others.” The collection dates from the 1960s through 2012 and in addition to his photographs include his extensive graphic design work such as architectural brochures for clients. [All quotations are from Allison Engel. “Architectural photographer Wayne Thom’s beautiful images head to USC Libraries” in USCNews (2015 August 31)]
USC alumnus Carl Maston was an influential Los Angeles mid-century modern architect. Upon graduation, Maston worked for the offices of Floyd Rible, A. Quincy Jones, Fred Emmons, Phil Daniel, and Allied Architects before opening his own office. His homes, shopping centers, military housing units, and university buildings can be found throughout Southern California. Known for his stark, no-frills modern buildings such as the Maston (or Marmont) Residence and Hillside House, his career spanned over 40 years in public and private sectors. The bulk of the collection consists of architectural project files as well as architectural photographs by longtime-collaborator Julius Shulman.
The Edward H. Fickett Collection contains a selection of items digitized from the archives of the architectural office of Edward H. Fickett (1916-1999), FAIA, in Special Collections, USC Libraries. The physical collection contains 664.04 linear feet of architectural drawings, renderings, and photographs as well as other material stored in 360 boxes, including 99 long boxes, 163 document boxes, 2 banker’s boxes, an additional 96 boxes of various sizes; and 52 flat file drawers. Another set of renderings is stored in flat folders. In addition, there are 4 3-D models of Fickett projects. The entire physical collection dates from 1945-2013. Examples in the digital selection include some of Fickett’s more notable designs: Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles Police Academy, Hotel Cabo San Lucas, Los Angeles City Hall tower renovation and the Port of Los Angeles Passenger and Cargo Terminals. The rights to the archive as well as the physical materials were transferred to USC. The USC Digital Library acknowledges the support provided by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission in making this material available online.
AASL column – April 2016 Barbara Opar and Lucy Campbell, column editors
Column by Cindy Frank, Architecture Librarian, University of Maryland School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation
In the fall of 2014, University of Maryland’s School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation branch library was preparing to close. An all too familiar story, this plan was the result of permanent, campus-wide budget cuts. But rather than throw in the towel the School and Libraries formed a Task Force to explore other solutions to the budget cuts issue. Consisting of students and faculty, the architecture librarian and library administrators, the Task Force conducted a literature review, SWOT analysis, interviews, and a design charrette to assess possible solutions. The final report, submitted to, and approved by the Dean of Libraries, proposed the conversion of the branch to a professional model library with the following recommendations: 24/7 access for the School community, reduced opening hours for the public, retention of the reference librarian, increased group study space, and acknowledgement of the library as a quiet place to study with great natural light.
Begun in late spring of 2015, the transition included physical alterations to the space as well as changes in access, hours and policies. Minimizing public open hours saved on student labor costs and paraprofessional staff salaries, while providing 24/7 access to the School community served immediate users in a tangible way. Currently the library is open twenty hours per week to the public, down from eighty hours a few years ago. The students, staff and faculty of the School already have 24/7 building and computer lab access. Adding the library to the list of accessible spaces was a relatively simple matter of working with the campus security office.
Next, the large circulation desk was removed, opening up the entryway and floor space in front of a large window. A self-checkout station was installed next to the self-serve hold shelf. An employee desk with a library work computer is now used as a reference desk, work station, and book return desk for patrons during open hours.
The reference librarian works a typical workweek, with her office in the library. Students and faculty are able to consult the librarian, access materials, make appointments for special collections materials, find a quiet place to study, and utilize a group study room created from a former staff office. Gate counts reveal between ten and forty patrons are swiping in between the hours of 4 PM and 11 AM.
Two academic semesters into the transition, there have been a couple glitches. The self-checkout station occasionally does not read an ID card, or a patron doesn’t follow the directions on the screen. Returned books are sometimes left on a reading table inside the library instead of in the book drop. The Dean of the School was left off the swipe access list when 24/7 access was started.
On the positive side, books and magazines are not disappearing overnight. Architecture competition teams have used the group study room for planning meetings. Real Estate Development students now meet in the library with alumni for career advising. Planning students are already here working when the librarian arrives. Faculty have increased requests for library instruction. Plans for the fall include collection assessments, fresh paint and a special collections open house. Although initiated by budget cuts, the changes have meant a library that is more responsive to its patrons.
A confluence of forces, external and internal, creates the context in which our academic programs advance research, engage communities, and deliver an education in architecture. The reset effected by a worldwide economic downturn that, despite gains, continues to reverberate, has re-focused energy on innovation, entrepreneurship, performance, and productivity. It has done so even while heightening our awareness of a profound global interdependence, of world-wide environmental vulnerabilities, and of the myriad ways in which we are collectively diminished by broad and persistent disparities in access, in income, and in the conditions essential to health and well-being.
Out of that context grows a sharpened awareness of the centrality of research and scholarship to advancement in the academy, in the profession, and in all aspects of practice; of the outsize power that resides in cultivating diversity, and leveraging a plurality of voices, capacities and disciplinary perspectives in the course of our work; and on the necessity to exercise our disciplinary skills in collaborative, reciprocal relationship to our counterparts across borders in the academy and in the profession.
Charges to Board Committees and Task Forces
Over the past months, I have engaged the committees of the ACSA Board to address these conditions through actions that affect the governance structure of the organization, as well as its programming and management activities. These charges have sought to initiate programs and build upon successful ongoing initiatives that express our core values, help frame potential new directions and opportunities for action, and position the organization at the heart of information, innovation, and engagement within our international and multi-collateral contexts.
A joint charge to the Board’s Publications, Awards, and Scholarly Meetings Committees asked members to embark on ambitious programs to assess and grow the number of ACSA instruments and venues for the dissemination of faculty production, including publications, presentation, and exhibitions.
Presidential task forces have focused on leveraging the growing digital capacity of the organization in multiple spheres: To enhance ACSA’s role in facilitating and advancing peer-reviewed research and scholarship, both in North America and internationally; to stake out a position of influence in the critical arena of program rankings and academic metrics; and to continue to assist programs in their recruitment efforts.
ACSA has convened an International Task Force with representatives from each of the collateral organizations—AIA, NCARB, AIAS, and NAAB—to begin shaping an international agenda for ACSA, raising its profile beyond North America and leveraging its existing programs and organizational strengths to facilitate collaborative international opportunities for faculty, students, and professionals across geographic, cultural, and national borders. As in the area of research, the international task force has worked collaboratively with the collateral participants to attain mutual advancement.
Strategic Plan and Governance
Understanding that significant accomplishment requires a clear and holistic articulation of values and goals, the board’s Planning Committee, led this year by President Elect Bruce Lindsey, has concluded its 2-year strategic planning process. For the first time in over a decade, and with broad member input, the ACSA has produced a new organizational statement of its desired future.
Equally important to its ability to undertake and fulfill an ambitious agenda, is a board governance structure that supports greater productivity, and includes broad member participation. A multi-year process that resulted last fall in member approval of a longer presidential ladder, continues this year with the creation of three new governance committees whose work will inform and advance the activities of the board.
Path Forward with NAAB
Our ongoing work with our collateral organizations on the governance and funding of NAAB has entered a new phase, as we continue our efforts to create a more equitable and affordable accreditation process: one that grows representation on its governing board for educators; that cabins its expenses, bringing them to closer parity with the accreditation processes of comparable disciplines; and one that opens avenues for greater coordination with our collateral partners around our shared interests in sustaining the growth and development of the continuum of architectural education, from K-12 through collegiate, internship, and continuing education. The Board has devoted a significant amount of time to advance these goals, as they affect our members significantly.
Other Collateral Collaborations
Beyond our participation in the joint collateral Path Forward task force, ACSA maintains close, active, and productive ties with AIA, AIAS, NAAB, and NCARB. This range of engagements joins the voices of educators to those of the profession, regulation, students, and emerging professionals. Our leadership in these efforts advances architectural education and research and, in so doing, benefits our members.
With NCARB we have exchanged committee liaisons. ACSA West Central Director Nadia Anderson served on the NCARB Integrated Path Evaluation Committee, along with other educators, and she will soon transition to become our representative on the NCARB Education Committee. Northeast Director John Cayshas served for two years on the Internship Advisory Committee. We were pleased to have NCARB Board Member Kristine Harding serve on our International Task Force this year and participate in the Administrators and Collateral Track at the International Conference in Santiago, Chile, this summer.
ACSA is a participant on a NAAB Accreditation Process Review Task Force. Christine Theodoropoulos, CalPoly, San Luis Obispo, agreed to serve on behalf of the Board. NAAB Director Helene Combs Dreiling serves on the ACSA International Task Force, and NAAB Director Tamara Redburn will lead a session on international accreditation as part of the Administrators and Collateral Track of the International Conference.
ACSA is pleased to have the vice president of AIAS as a Student Director on our Board. Joel Pominville was an active and persuasive participant in board committees, discussions, and juries. We were also able to involve AIAS board member Rachel Law in the International Task Force, soon before she was elected 2016-17 AIAS Vice President. Greg Hall, Mississippi State University, will be ending a two-year termasACSA liaison on the AIAS Board of Directors. Carmina Sanchez del Valle, Hampton University, will continue Greg’s work in facilitating collaboration and dialogue between the organizations.
Finally, under collateral relationships, several partnerships with the AIA have created opportunities for our members. We arepartnering for the second year in the upcoming Intersections Symposiumduring the AIA National Convention in Philadelphia, a conference/workshop intended to highlight research that informs architectural practice. This partnership will continue in coming years, affording more peer-reviewed opportunities for faculty to showcase their research.
We continue our work as partners with AIA and the Architects Foundation on the Design and Health Research Consortium and on the National Resilience Initiative, each of which has identified a number of member schools to advance research and teaching agendas in areas of critical importance for the profession.
AIA 2017 President and UIA Secretary General Thomas Vonier is a member of the ACSA International Task Force, and is working with us to organize the Administrators track in Santiago, Chile. We took the opportunity to work with the AIA Housing and Community Development Knowledge Community to co-organize a workshop at the beginning of the 104th Annual Meeting. Our thanks to Kathy Dorgan and Etty Epadmodipoetro for collaborating with us on an outstanding preconference housing workshop.
Conferences and Competitions
Between the Autonomous and Contingent Object, the 2015 Thematic Fall Conference, was hosted in October by Syracuse University. Co-chaired by professors Roger Hubeli and Julie Larsen, the conference focused on architectural theory and discourse, employing a provocative format structured around a series of debates. Selected papers form the core of the inaugural issue of the Plan, a new theory journal.
Uncharted Territories, the 2015 Administrators Conference, was co-chaired by deans Patricia Belton Oliver, University of Houston and Francisco Javier Rodriguez, Universidad de Puerto Rico. It was hosted by the University of Puerto Rico in San Juan and challenged administrators to address the plethora of new realities that increasingly define our work in the academy
The 104th Annual Meeting was titled Shaping New Knowledges. Co-chairs Sharon Haar, University of Michigan and Robert Corser, University of Washington graciously accepted my suggestion that the conference focus on the multiple modalities and products of architectural research currently underway at member schools. Hosted by the University of Washington, the conference offered a window on the impressive range of exploration collaborative practices in which our colleagues — in the academy and in practice — are presently engaged.
Cross-Americas: Probing Disglobal Networks is the title of the upcoming 2016 International Conference, to be held next June in Santiago, Chile. Focused on global discourses in architectural practice and research, the bi-annual conference will be hosted by the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. It is co-chaired by [from north to south] Vera Parlac, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada; Dana Cupkova, Carnegie Mellon University, Pennsylvania, USA; Alfredo Andia, Florida International University, Florida, USA; and Umberto Bonomo and Macarena Cortes, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile. Confirmed keynote speakers include Alejandro Aravena, winner of this year’s Pritzker Prize and curator of the upcoming Venice Biennale.
This year, for the first time, ACSA has introduced an International Administrators and Collateral Track within the program of the academic conference. Co-chaired by Emilio de la Cerda, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile, and Roger Schluntz, University of New Mexico, the Administrators Track includes sessions on international NAAB accreditation; transitions from the academy to practice in an international context; post-professional education across borders; and international study, internship, and practice.
We invite you to participate in the critical discussions on every aspect of education and practice, and encourage academic faculty, program administrators, and professionals to attend this multi-national discussion.
Finally, selected by the ACSA Board at the close of spring 2015, and focusing on research in design and health, the upcoming 2016 Fall Conference will be the first jointly offered by ACSA and the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health (ASPPH). Titled Building for Health and Well-Being: Structures. Cities. Systems, the meeting will bring together academics, practitioners, and policy makers to focus on research at the intersection of design, the built environment, and public health. The University of Hawaii at Manoa School of Architecture will host the meeting co-chaired by Sara Jensen Carr, University of Hawaii, Billie Faircloth, KieranTimberlake, and Howard Frumkin, University of Washington School of Public Health.
This year’s ACSA competitions cover a range of materials and areas of design focus. Tall Buildingsis the focus of the 16th ACSA/American Institute of Steel Construction student design competition, a staple for many faculty in North America. The Binational Softwood Lumber Council returns as a sponsor for Timber in the City: Urban Habitat Competition, with a mixed-use program that includes an outpost of the Andy Warhol Museum. Two AIA committees are partners for separate competitions. Last year the AIA Committee on the Environment expanded its renown COTE Top Ten competition to include students. The AIA Historic Resources Committee also continues the biannual Preservation as Provocation competition with a design challenge for a new visitor center at the Farnsworth House.
Thanks in Conclusion
It has been a year filled, I hope you will agree, with accomplishment. It is an honor to serve on behalf of ACSA with dedicated colleagues and a truly outstanding staff led by Michael Monti. The ACSA Board of Directors is a committed group of volunteers who have devoted a great deal of time to advancing the mission of the ACSA.
We were saddened to learn recently of the death of Norman Millar, member of the ACSA Board of Directors from 2012-2015, and its 2013-14 President. Dean of Woodbury University, Norman was a long-time colleague and valued friend. The architectural community is diminished by his absence.
Douglas Elliman Real Estate and Development recently celebrated the Grand Opening of their new California Headquarters. Patrick Tighe Architecture had the privilege of designing the 11,000 square foot environment located on 2 floors of the iconic 150 El Camino building in Beverly Hills. North Beach is a new park and playground designed by Patrick Tighe Architecture for the city of Santa Monica, The project has received all approvals from the city and is scheduled for a 2016 construction start date. The universally accessible park and playground is located on an acre parcel along the bike path, north of the Santa Monica pier.
Dr. Travis Longcore (Landscape Architecture + Urbanism program) was a workshop presenter at LightFair Institute at LightFair 2016. The course, Nighttime Lighting Blues: Juggling Needs of People and Critters, was co-taught with Ian Ashdown (Lighting Analysts Inc.) and Naomi Miller (US Department of Energy). Dr. Longcore also advised two students in the USC Undergraduate Research Symposium, where their poster, Park Light: A Framework to Monitor Nighttime Upward Radiance From and Near National Parks, won awards both for physical sciences and for policy. The research project was also awarded funding from the USC Provost’s office as part of the Undergraduate Research Associates Program.
Karen Kensek and Douglas Noble helped Prof. Jae Yong Suk of the University of Texas at Austin (UTSA) to organize the FAÇADE TECTONICS FORUM in San Antonio in April. Speakers included Hazen Rashed-Ali (UTSA), Douglas Melnick (City of San Antonio), Hayden McKay (HLB Lighting Design, Matt Fajkus (Univ of Texas at Austin), Jae Yong Suk (UTSA), Kevin McClellan (Tex-Fab), James Warton (HKS) and John Houser (Gensler).
Jennifer Siegal has won the arcVision Prize – Women and Architecture, an international award to women’s architecture organized by Italcementi. The winner was described by the jury as “a fearless pioneer in the research and development of prefabricated construction systems, at low prices for disadvantaged users and areas, who has been able to invent and build practical solutions and a new language for mobile and low-cost housing”.
Geoffrey von Oeyen presented a Spring 2016 Baumer Lecture titled “Geoffrey von Oeyen Design: Site, Sight, and Sailing” in Knowlton Hall’s Gui Auditorium on Wednesday, March 30, 2016, at the Austin E. Knowlton School of Architecture at the Ohio State University.
Lisa Little was an invited juror for the College of Architecture and Environmental Design at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo’s annual Best of Show reviews.
Assistant Professor Alvin Huang has been invited to give a public lecture and participate as a guest juror in the event “Ciudad de Dymaxion: Fuller en Mexico” at the Museo Tamayo in Mexico City from April 15-18. Professor Huang will speak about the influence of Buckminster Fuller in his own work, and review a series of constructed abstractions of Fuller’s approaches produced by students of Universidad Iberoamericano in the course “Corrupting Fuller” led by Professor Pablo Kobayashi. Professor Huang will also participate as an external reviewer in the Colloquium of final research projects presented by Master of Design Studies degree candidates in the Technology Concentration (coordinated by Allen Sayegh and Bradley Cantrell) at the Harvard Graduate School of Design on Wednesday, May 11.
Eric Nulman recently joined the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles Forum for Architecture and Urban Design (www.laforum.org). The Los Angeles Forum for Architecture and Urban Design is an independent nonprofit organization that instigates dialogues on design and the built environment through public programming, exhibitions, and publications. Eric is on a five-year appointment, serving through 2020.
The Courtyard at La Brea building (photo) by John Mutlow, FAIA, and Patrick Tighe has been nominated for the Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize by the College of Architecture at Illinois Institue of Technology. The objective of the MCHAP is to reward contemplation of the intersection of the new metropolis and human ecology,” says the school. There is an outstanding group of nominees for this distinguished prize. — Check them out on StudyArchitecture!
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