Assistant Professor Mark Taylor has received $25,000 from the University of Illinois’ Research Board to facilitate collaboration with Elizabeth Hausler of Build Change which will focus on establishing material, component and assembly testing protocols for earthquake-resistant housing in Leogane Haiti.

Assistant Professor Kevin Erickson won first place in the competition “Floornature NextLandmark architecture contest” recognizing built work by designers/architects who graduated after 2000. His project (ROPE pavilion) was on display at the 13th Venice Biennale. Prof. Erickson has also been selected to the 2013 Warming Huts Competition jury.

Associate Professor Kevin Hinders and Visiting Professor Camden Greenlee received an Honorable Mention in the “FIVE Design Challenge Competition” for their project titled “MAKE IT (HAPPEN)!” 

Professor Kathryn Anthony’s new iOS apps, Design Student Survival Guide, and Student Survival Guide, were featured in Hackcollge.com’s article on “10 iOS Apps Every Student Should Download.” HackCollege is a student-powered lifehacking blog/website whose motto is ?Work Smarter, Not Harder.?

 
Associate Professor Scott Murray’s new book, Translucent Building Skins: Material Innovations in Modern and Contemporary Architecture, will be published by Routledge in September 2012. Murray is also the author of Contemporary Curtain Wall Architecture (Princeton Architectural Press).

Associate Professor Abbas Aminmansour organized a student competition titled The Architecture and Engineering of Sustainable Buildings during the Spring 2012 semester.  The completion was open to students in architecture, engineering and construction programs and was conducted by the Association of the Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA).  Sponsors included the National Science Foundation (NSF); School of Architecture at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC); Department of Material Science and Engineering at UIUC; College of Engineering at UIUC; Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill; Perkins + Will; Wiss, Janney, Elstner (WJE); Skidmore Owings & Merrill (SOM); Thornton Tomasetti (TT) Engineers; Chicago Committee on High Rise Buildings (CCHRB) and the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC).  Prize winning submissions will be recognized by ACSA and exhibited at the 2012 ACSA Annual Meeting and at the 2012 AIA National Convention.

Associate Professor Abbas Aminmansour & Dr. Ajla Aksamija of Perkins + Will co-organized a workshop on sustainable design held July 26-27, 2012 at the Chicago office of Perkins + Will.  30 invited architects, engineers, scientists, researchers and students participated in the event for presentations and discussions on the latest in sustainable design with an integrated approach.  The workshop was funded through a grant from the National Science Foundation and supported by Perkins + Will. 

Assistant Professor Mark Taylor spent three weeks in Leogane Haiti during May 2012. During the research trip he oversaw the installation of the roof and final structural elements of the Kay Fanm Yo (Women’s House) he designed. With funding from the University of Illinois Research Board, and in collaboration with Build Change he also conducted preliminary testing of concrete masonry units which are now being produced in large volume in the region. Preliminary results indicate that the majority of producers are not reaching the national guidelines for compressive strength. 

Associate Professor Erik M Hemingway was a panelist with Karen Kice, The Neville Byran Assistant Curator at the Art Institute of Chicago; discussing Aaron Jones Installation work at New Projects in Chicago in April 2012. Erik was selected as Designer and Invited Guest Article for d3:dialogue>blur, International Journal of Architecture and Design, New York; due out later 2012. The article is about three recent hemingway+a/studio flat pack architectural projects he is completing in Hong Kong, Urbana, and Chicago. Hemingway’s professional sponsorship of one of the four Internationally recognized entries from his competition studio in the Fall 2011, was recently published in the May 2012 issue GROUND UP, Landscapes of Uncertainty; by the School of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning, University of California at Berkeley.

Allison Warren, Instructor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s School of Architecture  mounted a solo exhibition entitled “Fallen Hemlock” at Georgetown College, Lexington, Kentucky in Fall 2011. The 4,000 sf exhibition examined the plight of the Hemlock tree in Eastern Kentucky and Northeast region by beetle infestation through the wrapping of a live healthy Hemlock tree in white clothes, similar to mummification.