The Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis has recently hired Catalina Freixas as a new Assistant Professor of Architecture. Freixas had been teaching as a Senior Lecturer at the Sam Fox School, and as a Visiting Assistant Professor at the School prior to that. She is also co-director of the firm laulab in St. Louis. Freixas will be serving as the ACSA faculty council for the Washington University in St. Louis.

Assistant Professor Catalina Freixas and Senior Lecturer Pablo Moyano Fernendez’s paper “Prairie to Prairie: Ungrowth in American Cities” has been published in the Journal of Suburban Sustainability, Scholar Commons, University of South Florida Libraries, Bepress, 2013. This paper examines the current role eco-urbanism plays in St. Louis City through the examination of three eco-urbanism strategies that can be found within the city: community gardens, greenways, and urban forests. In April, Freixas & Moyano’s project “HUB: Hybrid Urban Bioscapes” was selected as a Finalist in the Sustainable Land Lab Competition. The proposal for a vacant plot in Old North St. Louis (ONSL) consisted of various eco-urbanism strategies: a pollinator nectaring garden and gathering place. The project and its accompanying research effort has been awarded the International Center for Advanced Renewable Energy and Sustainability (I-CARES) Research Grant 2013, from Washington University on St. Louis, a Faculty Creative Activity Research Grant (CAR) by the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, and a Gephardt Institute of Public Health grant, from Washington University in St. Louis. The I-CARES research proposal aims to conduct a quantitative sustainability assessment on the effects of eco-urbanism strategies in the community. The CAR grant aims to increase the quality of life in ONSL via: i) the actual implementation of specific eco-urbanism strategies on an existing vacant lot ii) providing data and analysis on the impact of eco-urbanism strategies using the project as a case study. The Gephardt’s grant will support the design, construction and installation of urban furniture on ONSL.The project is intended to culminate with “Re-surfacing onsl”, an exhibition in ONSL Restoration Group, during the summer 2014.

Professor Stephen Leet curated and designed the exhibit “red” in the Kemper Art Museum September 20, 2013 – January 6, 2014.  The exhibit includes works by Dan Flavin, Donald Judd, Andres Serrano, Marcel Duchamp, Ettore Sottsass and others.

On September 19, 2013, Richard Franklin, AIA, principal of Franklin Associates, will deliver a feature lecture at Washington University in St. Louis, co-sponsored by AIA St. Louis and NOMA St. Louis. A pre-reception will be held at 6:00 pm followed by the lecture at 6:30PM in Steinberg Auditorium.  The St. Louis native is noted as the first African American graduate of WashU’s School of Architecture (day school), earning a BA with a major in Architecture in 1970 and a MArch/MUD in 1974. His long list of projects includes the restoration of the Apollo Theater in Harlem, Strivers Gardens Apartments, the construction phase of the September 11 Memorial Museum at the World Trade Center site, and collaboration with the design team for the Smithsonian Museum of African American History.  This event is open to the public with a suggested donation of $5 (Free for members of AIA, NOMA and Washington University in St. Louis). 

Chandler Ahrens, Assistant Professor at Washington University in St. Louis and co-author Aaron Sprecher, Assistant professor at McGill University have been accepted to publish their paper “Processing Transdisciplinary Knowledge, Intensity, Extensity and Potentiality in Digital Architecture” in the forthcoming issue of the peer-reviewed International Journal of Knowledge, Society, and Technology. In addition, Chandler is a jury member for AIA Dallas design awards.