Associate Professor, Ozayr Saloojee (in collaboration with Vincent DeBritto, Jamuna Golden and Cynthia Lapp in Landscape Architecture) received $31,250 in grants from three separate agencies (The Institute on the Environment, The Imagine Fund and the Institute for Advanced Study) at the University of Minnesota for their interdisciplinary multi-year M.Arch/MLA graduate research design studio and community initiative titled “Design Duluth.” The project investigates the design and engagement of complex systems at large and small scales using the port city of Duluth, Minnesota as a local laboratory to test global issues. The initiative is a collaboration of the School of Architecture, Department of Landscape Architecture, the City of Duluth, private and public stakeholders and several NGOs. In addition, the project was designated a Research Collaborative at the University of Minnesota’s Institute for Advanced Study, and will develop transdisciplinary coursework, reading seminars, faculty and student masterclasses through a series of public lectures and academic and curricular programming.

Professor Saloojee (with visiting faculty Brad Agee, Landscape Architecture) lead the College of Design’s inaugural semester abroad program to Rome and Istanbul and participated in the opening of the University of Minnesota’s and College of Design’s Istanbul Center, located in the vibrant Beyo_lu district of Istanbul. The program hosted 12 undergraduate students from Architecture and Landscape Architecture from January through May and will be offered again in the Spring of 2014.

Thomas Fishser, Dean and Professor of Architecture, appeared in the PBS show, 10 Buildings that Changed America. He also wrote several pieces about design and education in the Huffington Post and several articles on past P/A Award winning projects for Architect magazine, as well as a peer-reviewed essay on “Creating Public Value” for the Public Administration Review. He gave a talk, as well, at the U.S. Department of Transportation on fracture-critical infrastructure, based on his new book Designing to Avoid Disaster (Routledge, 2012).

Professor Ignacio San Martin, Dayton Hudson Chair of Urban Design programs and Director of the Metropolitan Design Center, was awarded with the prestigious University of Minnesota President’s Community Research Scholar Award for his work in the Twin Cities metropolitan region.

John Comazzi, Associate Professor and Director of the BS Degree Program (Architecture), recently spoke on the subject of his book Balthazar Korab: Architect of Photography, at the University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA), during an event co-sponsored by the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Knoll Furniture, a2modern, and the AIA. He also delivered a paper at a recent symposium organized by the Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan. The symposium was organized around the theme of “Visual Culture and the Archive” and was held in honor of Francis X. Blouin’s 32 years as Library Director. Professor Comazzi’s paper, “Balthazar Korab: Anticipating the Archive” focused on his extensive research on the Balthazar Korab archive, prior to its acquisition by the Library of Congress in 2011. Comazzi was also recently awarded a grant through the Grant-in-Aid of Research, Artistry & Scholarship Program administered through the Office of the Vice President for Research at the University of Minnesota. His grant, entitled, “The Miller House: A Model for Collaborative Design” will fund archival research in preparation of a manuscript on the unique collaborations formed around the design and construction of the Miller House in Columbus, IN.

In May and June of 2013, Professor Comazzi will lead a group of 10 undergraduate students (8 architecture, 1 landscape architecture, and 1 interiors), on a program abroad in Florence, Italy. The program will explore the development of the city’s urban morphology, building typologies, and landscapes, in a hands-on active learning experience.