It is with great sadness that we share the passing of Norman Millar, our friend, former ACSA president, and dean of the Woodbury University School of Architecture, on April 14 due to complications from surgery, following his diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. Norman co-chaired the Administrators Conference in 2011 and served on the Board of Directors from 2012 to 2015, including as ACSA president in 2014-15.
Norman was an optimistic proponent of change to improve architectural education. He was passionate about inspiring students to join the architecture community, demonstrated through his leadership in growing the program at Woodbury University. Those efforts attracted a cover story by Architect magazine in 2011 about Woodbury University and the increasingly diverse populations of students entering architecture school.
As ACSA president, Norman advocated for collaboration and equity. He challenged ACSA, and the nation’s major architecture organizations, to seek new models for support of architectural education. He helped to shape initiatives that have helped students to graduate and become architects more quickly. Within the ACSA Board of Directors, he brought a vision for the organization that valued diverse forms of research and scholarship and encouraged board members, and our numerous volunteers, to find ways to collaborate and increase the impact that architecture schools can have on their communities.
The ACSA Board of Directors invites nominations and self-nominations to participate in 2016-2017 ACSA committees and task forces. Faculty at ACSA full and candidate member schools are encouraged to participate in activities designed to strengthen architectural education.
At the 2016 Annual Meeting, the ACSA Board approved a second phase in its governance review process. To begin implementation, the ACSA plans to reorganize its board committees in 2016-17 around three new “program committees,” each comprised of 4–6 at-large members and 2–3 ACSA board members. With these committees the ACSA Board intends to expand involvement of ACSA members in addressing strategic issues facing architecture schools.
The three program committees are charged as follows:
The Scholarship & Awards Committee is charged with leading ACSA’s efforts to support faculty in scholarly endeavors; monitoring and assessing peer-review and recognition programs; and recommending actions to advocate for architectural scholarship. The committee is responsible for policies guiding scholarly conferences, journals, and awards.
The Education Committee is charged with leading ACSA’s efforts to improve the effectiveness of architectural education through best practices and overseeing programs to cultivate and disseminate these best practices. The committee is responsible for policies guiding the ACSA Teachers Seminar, workshops, and webinars.
The Leadership Committee is charged with leading ACSA’s efforts to support the strategic development of architecture programs; identifying and disseminating best-practice models of program leadership and administration; and overseeing ACSA’s efforts to promote awareness of architectural education. The committee is responsible for policies guiding the Administrators Conference, student recruitment efforts, and data collection and analysis.
Appointments to committees are initiated by the 2016-17 ACSA president, Bruce Lindsey. Appointments are for one year beginning July 1, 2016, and are eligible for renewal thereafter.
Committees will work primarily through conference calls during the academic year. A funded meeting is planned for committees in fall 2016, and committees may convene at the 2017 Annual Meeting in Detroit.
More information about ACSA’s governance plan and strategic plan are available on the ACSA website.
Interested participants are asked to submit a 1–2 page cover letter identifying areas of interest related to ACSA’s committees and strategic plan, as well as a 2 page (maximum) curriculum vitae. The deadline for nominations and self-nominations is May 3, 2016. Submit materials to Allison Smith, asmith@acsa-arch.org.
This summer, after fifteen years of dedicated service to The University of Texas at Austin, Dean Fritz Steiner will be leaving the School of Architecture to serve as dean of PennDesign at the University of Pennsylvania, his alma mater. Elizabeth Danze, UTSOA professor and Associate Dean of Graduate Programs, will serve as interim dean for the school effective July 1.
Assistant Professors Kory Bieg and Clay Odom won the FIU Emerging Architect’s Initiative to design a rooftop canopy for the Bernard Tschumi designed FIU School of Architecture building.__ Kory Bieg also won the Field Constructs Design Competition for his project Hybroot, which was installed in the Circle Acres Nature Preserve in Austin last fall.__
Gabriel Díaz Montemayor gave a lecture entitled, “Service Studios: Public Space and Academia,” at the VII International Congress on Architecture and Design organized by the Marista University of Merida in the state of Yucatan, Mexico. Montemayor also presented a paper, “Hybrid Ecological and Sustainable Mobility Networks for Northern Mexico,” at the 46th Urban Affairs Association Conference held in San Diego
_Steven Moore, Co-Director of the Graduate Program in Sustainable Design, recently delivered the keynote address at the Annual Doctor of Design, DDes Symposium at the Harvard Graduate School of Design.
Professor Wilfried Wang guest-edited two consecutive issues of the Japanese architectural journal A+U, on the work of Sigurd Lewerentz. Wang also co-curated, with Adjunct Associate Professor Barbara Hoidn, the upcoming exhibition,DEMO:POLIS–The Right to Public Space, at the Akademie der Künste, Berlin.
Andrew Vernooy, an award-winning architect and professor of architecture at Texas Tech University, has been named director of the Montana State University School of Architecture. He will assume his duties July 1.
Shannon Bassett, Assistant Professor of Architecture & Urban Design, presented her design research “Back to the Countryside! – reconfiguring rural-urban typologies, recovering China’s agricultural and ecological landscapes” at the Annual Conference of the Urban Affairs Association in San Diego. Professor Bassett also served as moderator for the session “Urban Environment and Sustainable Development in Asia”
Shannon Bassett presented a paper entitled “ Beyond Inert Sites – scoping the urban landscape & re-calibrating architectural narratives through the shaping of new urban knowledge in architectural education” at the 2016 ACSA national conference in Seattle. The paper was presented in the session “Urban knowledge in architectural education.”
“He, She & It” – a new building for artists in Buffalo designed by clinical assistant professor Stephanie Davidson and Assistant Professor George Rafialidis, received the 2016 Architizer A+ Award in the Architecture + Workspace category. The project was selected from entries from over 100 countries. Architizer A+ submissions were judged by an international jury that included Winy Maas, Jeanne Gang, Sou Fujimoto and Bjarke Ingels.
Georg Rafialidis, Assistant Professor of Architecture, was awarded a SMART CoE (Sustaianble Manufactirung and Robotic Technologies Community of Excellence) exploratory grant for his work on corbelled structures. He presented this research at the 2016 ACSA national conference in Seattle.
Jin Young Song, Assistant Professor of Architecture – Assistant Professor of Architecture Jin Young Song’s High Living was the 2016 A+Award Jury Winner in the Unbuilt Residential category.
The project designed by Assistant Professor Jin Young Song and Ludovico Centis(UB School of Architecture & Planning Banham Fellow 2013-14) Hotel Ascension was selected as a finalist of AZURE magazine’s 2016 AZ AWARDS.
Collaborators: Thomas Bittner (Photography), Uros Vukovic, Matthew Rosen
Assistant Professor Jin Young Song’s façade research has received support from the SMART Exploratory funding program. The design team consists of: Jin Young Song (Department of Architecture), Haiqing Lin (Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering), Jongmin Shim (Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering)
www.buffalo.edu/smart
Brian Carter, Professor of Architecture, served as external examiner of the graduate program in architecture at Dalhousie University in Spring, 2016.
Photo Caption: Left to Right: MCHAP Director Dirk Denison, Jury Member Florencia Rodriguez, Jury President Stan Allen, MCHAP.emerge winner Wonne Ickx representing Productora, Jury Member Dean Wiel Arets.
MCHAP.emerge 2014/15 WINNER ANNOUNCED
Award for Emerging Architecture Goes to Pavilion on the Zocalo; Mexico City, Mexico by Productora
Chicago, Illinois – April 4, 2016 – Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) College of Architecture Dean Wiel Arets, Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize (MCHAP) 2014/15 Jury President Stan Allen, MCHAP 2014/15 Juror Florencia Rodriguez, and MCHAP Director Dirk Denison announced the MCHAP.emerge 2014/15 Winner, Pavilion on the Zocalo; Mexico City, Mexico; Productora, at the April 1, 2016 MCHAP.emerge Symposium and Award Dinner at S. R. Crown Hall, the home of IIT College of Architecture.
The authors of the winning project, represented at the MCHAP.emerge Symposium by Wonne Ickx, will be recognized with the MCHAP.emerge Award, the MCHAP Research Professorship in the College of Architecture at Illinois Institute of Technology for the 2016/17 academic year, and funding of up to $25,000 USD in support of research and a publication related to the theme of “Rethinking Metropolis.”
The MCHAP.emerge 2014/15 Finalists were selected by the MCHAP 2014/15 Jury from among the 55 MCHAP.emerge 2014/15 NOMINATED WORKS of architecture in the Americas, realized between January 2014 and December 2015, which have been put forward by 95 nominators from throughout the Americas. Nominations were received in January and February and were included in the MCHAP 2014/15 Exhibition held at S. R. Crown Hall on March 4th and 5th at which time the jury held its first jury session.
The MCHAP 2014/15 Jury includes Jury President Stan Allen, architect and former Dean of Princeton University’s School of Architecture (New York); Florencia Rodriguez, editorial director of Piedra, Papel y Tijera publishers (Buenos Aires); Ila Berman, Professor of Architecture, University of Waterloo (Waterloo); Jean Pierre Crousse of Barclay & Crousse (Lima), and Dean Wiel Arets (Chicago).
MCHAP is a biennial prize that acknowledges the best built works of architecture in the Americas. MCHAP.emerge is the corresponding biennial prize for the best built work from an emerging architecture practice. MCHAP was created by Dean Wiel Arets who, in his 2013 inaugural address, offered “Rethinking Metropolis” as a strategic device for the college, for research, for the development of knowledge and skills, for taking part in design exercises, for debate, and for making. Dean Arets outlined his plan for a revitalized curriculum in NOWNESS, a publication in which he announced MCHAP among other initiatives. MCHAP was officially launched in February 2014 at an event hosted by Phyllis Lambert at the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal and which featured Kenneth Frampton, President of the inaugural MCHAP Jury.
MCHAP Finalist Announcement in late June
The MCHAP Jury will announce the finalists for the MCHAP 2014/15 in late June after the jury tour of the finalist sites. The tour will include visits with members of the MCHAP Network of architects, academics, and schools and is part of a strategy to build a vibrant network that unites architects working in the Americas and opens the discourse with others around the world. The exact date of the finalist announcement is to be determined.
MCHAP Symposium and Winner Announcement on October 19, 2016
IIT ‘s College of Architecture will host a day-long symposium including sessions for students, faculty and the architects and clients of the finalists in dialogue about the nominated works and how they contribute to the college’s continuing conversation — Rethinking Metropolis. Later in the afternoon, the general public will be invited to a moderated discussion between the architects and jury about the context of contemporary practice. At the end of the day of activities the winner of the Americas Prize 2014/15 will be announced at the MCHAP Award Dinner. The author of the MCHAP winner will be recognized with the MCHAP Award, the MCHAP Chair at IIT College of Architecture for the following academic year, and funding of up to $50,000 USD, in support of research and a publication related to the theme of ‘Rethinking Metropolis.’
For more information about MCHAP and MCHAP.emerge, MCHAP.student, their purpose, process and timeline, visit http://www.mchap.org.
Read the most recent issue of StudioAPLA, the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture’s newsletter. StudioAPLA features current news about Auburn APLA faculty, alumni and students. The Winter Issue typically focuses on the many travel opportunities available to APLA students, either abroad or in studio-related field studies.
Izumi Kuroishi, PhD, Professor of Architecture Theory and History at Aoyama Gakuin University, Japan, will present the final lecture in the APLA’s Spring 2016 Lecture Series: “Small Houses with Large Dreams: Technology and Design of Prefabricated Houses in Postwar Japan.” Professor Kuroishi’s research focuses on material culture and ethnographies of architectural space as well as on the idea of interior, and on the relationship among technologies, rituals, and mathematics in the designing of buildings.
Associate Professor and Director of the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture’s International Studies Program in Rome, J.Scott Finn, has been invited by the Institute of National Architects in Italy (INARCH), to speak at a seminar in Rome that creates a dialogue between Roman designers and visiting designers.
AASL Column, March 2016 Barbara Opar and Lucy Campbell, column editors
Column by Robert Adams, Acquisitions and Reserves coordinator, BAC Library
In the past, library collections were often locked up behind brick and mortar, only available to those patrons bold enough to enter. Recently the Boston Architectural College Library, better known as the BAC library, undertook a new initiative to better integrate library resources into studio culture and change the way students accessed the collection. Library staff saw an opportunity to reach out to students who might not be using the library, increase circulation, and boost the library’s visibility with senior administration.
At the beginning of each semester, the BAC hosts an event called Studio Lottery where Faculty pitch their studio classes to the student body. Library staff has been attending these meetings to better understand the core concepts from each studio. Hearing it straight from the faculty, as opposed to seeing it on a syllabus, provides greater insight on future reference questions. The library staff saw additional opportunities–for acquisitions to the collection, outreach for instruction, and creation of specific online course guides.
Studio Lottery
Studio Lottery showed us there were students who had never visited the library. How could we put our great resources in their hands and help them succeed?
A trusty old library cart was liberated and a plan hatched to make book displays mobile. We targeted studios for which we knew we had great resources, over studios where the focus was more on using the woodshop or the materials lab. Each faculty member was emailed a tailored online guide and photos of the proposed mobile library cart stocked with helpful and appealing books. After a ten minute visit that allowed students to check books out right from the cart, we wheeled out of studio, leaving their hands filled with great books to kick off their research. On average, half the books on the cart were checked out by the students and faculty.
Engaged students and a picked over cart.
With this very successful first effort we achieved our goal of reaching students who were not regular library users. Students actually told us how helpful this was–especially international students who felt uncomfortable searching the library catalog in English. In addition, informal polling of participating instructors revealed our Mobile Library visits improved the quality of student work.
One of the surprising outcomes was impact on our Reserve Collection. Prior to the Mobile Library, studio faculty would visit the library and pull books they knew on the topics they were teaching. This often resulted in dozens of books going on reserve in the hope that students would reference them. It was our experience that few would. The few students who did were faced with the sad fact that the book was on reserve and could not be taken home.
Mobile Library visits introduced faculty to additional resources on their topics, which, combined with the fact students were actively checking out books, caused faculty to rethink their reserve strategies. Instead of placing books on reserve, they are now borrowed, passed around, and better absorbed by more students. This has also cut down on the work load for the Reserves Department, and freed up two whole shelves of Reserve space.
Word has spread about the success of our Mobile Library visits. We have given presentations to the Education and Administration staffs at the college. This has prompted our Interior Architecture and Landscape programs to inquire about visits as well. The fall semester will find us rolling into both studios and classrooms. Now if only we had a better book cart…
Students working in class with their newly acquired books.
Tips
We found it best to not over-pack the cart. We provide a sampling, not the whole collection. The students are less overwhelmed. They are then more motivated to visit the library to see what else we might offer.
Having an engaged faculty member makes the difference on how many books get checked out. One who points out why certain books are helpful to a student gets them to check books out.
We work in teams of two, so that one person can engage the users and answer questions.
MIES CROWN HALL AMERICAS PRIZE ANNOUNCES MCHAP.emerge 2014/15 FINALISTS
Five to be Celebrated at April 1, 2016 MCHAP.emerge Symposium
Chicago, Illinois – March 18, 2016 – Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) College of Architecture Dean Wiel Arets and Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize (MCHAP) Director Dirk Denison announced the MCHAP.emerge 2014/15 Finalists. The finalists will be celebrated at the April 1, 2016 MCHAP.emerge Symposium and Award Dinner at which the MCHAP.emerge 2014/15 recipient will be announced.
Earlier in March, MCHAP announced the MCHAP 2014/15 Nominees and Jury. MCHAP also outlined the main events within the second cycle of the biennial prize including the MCHAP.emerge Symposium and the October 19, 2016 MCHAP Symposium.
MCHAP is a biennial prize that acknowledges the best built works of architecture in the Americas. MCHAP.emerge is the corresponding biennial prize for the best built work from an emerging architecture practice. MCHAP was created by Dean Wiel Arets who, in his 2013 inaugural address, offered “Rethinking Metropolis” as a strategic device for the college, for research, for the development of knowledge and skills, for taking part in design exercises, for debate, and for making. Dean Arets outlined his plan for a revitalized curriculum in NOWNESS, a publication in which he announced MCHAP among other initiatives. MCHAP was officially launched in February 2014 at an event hosted by Phyllis Lambert at the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal and which featured Kenneth Frampton, President of the inaugural MCHAP Jury.
The MCHAP.emerge 2014/15 Finalists were selected by the MCHAP 2014/15 Jury, led by Jury President Stan Allen, from among the 55 MCHAP.emerge 2014/15 NOMINATED WORKS of architecture in the Americas, realized between January 2014 and December 2015, which have been put forward by 95 nominators from throughout the Americas. Nominations were received in January and February and were included in the MCHAP 2014/15 Exhibition held at S. R. Crown Hall on March 4th and 5th at which time the jury held its first jury session.
San Francisco Building; Asunción, Paraguay; Jose Cubilla & Asociados
The MCHAP 2014/15 Jury includes Jury President Stan Allen, architect and former Dean of Princeton University’s School of Architecture (New York); Florencia Rodriguez, editorial director of Piedra, Papel y Tijera publishers (Buenos Aires); Ila Berman, Professor of Architecture, University of Waterloo (Waterloo); Jean Pierre Crousse of Barclay & Crousse (Lima), and Dean Wiel Arets (Chicago).
The MCHAP.emerge 2014/15 Symposium and winner announcement will be held on April 1, 2016 at S. R. Crown Hall. In afternoon sessions the practices of the finalist projects will present their work and engage in substantive discussions with the jury, the IIT Architecture faculty and student body, as well as the larger MCHAP Network and Chicago architecture community. The MCHAP.emerge 2014/15 recipient will be announced at the evening award dinner. The authors of the winning project will be recognized with the MCHAP.emerge Award, the MCHAP Research Professorship in the College of Architecture at Illinois Institute of Technology for the following academic year, and funding of up to $25,000 USD in support of research and a publication related to the theme of “Rethinking Metropolis.”
MCHAP Finalist Announcement in late June
The MCHAP Jury will announce the finalists for the MCHAP 2014/15 in late June after the jury tour of the finalist sites. The tour will include visits with members of the MCHAP Network of architects, academics, and schools and is part of a strategy to build a vibrant network that unites architects working in the Americas and opens the discourse with others around the world. The exact date of the finalist announcement is to be determined.
MCHAP Symposium and Winner Announcement on October 19, 2016
IIT ‘s College of Architecture will host a day-long symposium including sessions for students, faculty and the architects and clients of the finalists in dialogue about the nominated works and how they contribute to the college’s continuing conversation — Rethinking Metropolis. Later in the afternoon, the general public will be invited to a moderated discussion between the architects and jury about the context of contemporary practice. At the end of the day of activities the winner of the Americas Prize 2014/15 will be announced at the MCHAP Award Dinner. The author of the MCHAP winner will be recognized with the MCHAP Award, the MCHAP Chair at IIT College of Architecture for the following academic year, and funding of up to $50,000 USD, in support of research and a publication related to the theme of ‘Rethinking Metropolis.’
For more information about MCHAP and MCHAP.emerge, MCHAP.student, their purpose, process and timeline, visit http://www.mchap.org.
The Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize (MCHAP) is a biennial prize that acknowledges the best built works of architecture in the Americas. MCHAP was created by Dean Wiel Arets who, in his 2013 inaugural address, offered “Rethinking Metropolis” as a strategic device for the college, for research, for the development of knowledge and skills, for taking part in design exercises, for debate, and for making. Dean Arets outlined his plan for a revitalized curriculum in NOWNESS, a publication in which he announced MCHAP among other initiatives.
The first cycle of this award culminated in 2014 with the selection of seven finalists and then two winners, the Iberé Camargo Foundation in Porto Alegre, Brazil, designed by Alvaro Siza and the 1111 Lincoln Road the mixed use parking structure in Miami Beach, Florida, USA, designed by Herzog & de Meuron. Visit www.mchap.org.
About IIT Architecture Chicago
IIT Architecture Chicago welcomes students, faculty, and guests from around the globe who share our interest in “Rethinking the Metropolis.” We conduct research; we analyze existing phenomena; we learn from other disciplines. We question the roles of architecture, landscape, and urbanism in our changing world.
IIT Architecture’s curriculum is structured around our innovative “horizontal Cloud Studio” introduced by Dean Wiel Arets—a school-wide design and research laboratory in which students from all degree programs work together on topics related to the metropolis.
With a history of design excellence and technical expertise, an unmatched professional studio curriculum, and inspiring surroundings in S. R. Crown Hall designed by Mies van der Rohe, IIT Architecture is one of the schools most respected by architectural firms around the world. The College offers a five-year Bachelor of Architecture degree, four different Master’s degrees (M.Arch, M.L.A., M.L.A./M.Arch., MS.Arch.), and the only Ph.D. in Architecture offered in Chicago. Visit www.arch.iit.edu.
About Illinois Institute of Technology
Founded in 1890, IIT is a Ph.D.-granting university with more than 7,300 students in engineering, sciences, architecture, psychology, design, humanities, business and law. IIT’s interprofessional, technology-focused curriculum is designed to advance knowledge through research and scholarship, to cultivate invention improving the human condition, and to prepare students from throughout the world for a life of professional achievement, service to society, and individual fulfillment. Visit www.iit.edu.
Vinayak Bharne has been appointed Executive Editor of the India and Netherlands based quarterly, “My Liveable City.” In this capacity, he will help expand its global reach and direct its future issues and themes. He was also a speaker in the USC Urban Growth Seminar Series at the Price School of Public Policy. His talk titled “Urban Design: The Pluralism of Practice” elaborated on his ongoing projects in the United States, Panama, China, India and Japan. Bharne is currently editing “The Companion of Global Heritage Conservation,” for Routledge Press, London. This 40-chapter volume examines the relationship of heritage conservation planning with the specific agencies, governance structures and cultural expectations across the world. The volume is slated for release mid 2017. Steven Ehrlich will be speaking at the AIA National Convention in May, in Philadelphia as part of the College of Fellows 2 + 2 program. The program supports mentorship by showcasing the work of two Fellows alongside the work of two recent national recipients of the AIA Young Architects award. The work of Steven Ehrlich and Takashi Yanai was recently recognized by the Chicago Athenaeum American Architecture Awards, two projects (John M Roll Courthouse and McElroy Residence) were awarded for their achievements in design. The projects will be part of a traveling exhibition titled “New Los Angeles Architecture” which will be opening in June of 2016.
Jose Sanchez has released Block’hood, a city-building simulation video game that focuses on notions of ecology, decay and coexistence. The game was released on the Steam platform getting a very positive review from the media and the community. The game will enable research on crowdsourcing, problem solving, systems education and how games can impact reality. The game will continue development for the rest of the year.
Rob Berry’s essay “In Defense of the Drought” was published as an op-ed in the Winter 2016 issue of the LA Forum Newsletter. This spring he is serving as a juror on the review panel for the Cavin Family Travelling Fellowship. With his practice Berry and Linné, he recently completed two collaborative public space projects: a parklet in Rancho Cucamonga, in collaboration with utopiad.org, and Todos Juntos, a public plaza at the Benjamin Franklin Public Library in Boyle Heights, in collaboration with Lyric Design + Planning.
Assistant Professor Travis Longcore (Landscape Architecture program) was an invited speaker for a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine workshop panel on Ecology, Physiology/Human Health and Light at the Beckman Center of the National Academies of Sciences & Engineering in Irvine, California.
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It is with great sadness that we share the passing of Norman Millar, our friend, former ACSA president, and dean of the Woodbury University School of Architecture, on April 14 due to complications from surgery, following his diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. Norman co-chaired the Administrators Conference in 2011 and served on the Board of Directors from 2012 to 2015, including as ACSA president in 2014-15.
