N H D M Architects has been recognized by Architectural Record as a 2020 Design Vanguard. Partners Nahyun Hwang MArch ’01 and David Moon MArch ’01 were featured for the depth and diversity of the firm’s work. Architectural Record‘s exclusive celebrates how, “for them, the realities of contemporary cities serve not only as subjects of investigation, but as inspiration and a fertile testing ground for experimentation and transformation.”
The Design Vanguard honor, started in 2000, “spotlights architects doing some of the most innovative work in the field and will lead the profession in the future. They are the firms at the forefront of design and the architects are the ones to watch.”
Learn more.
An exhibition by Hayoun Won MDes ’13 is currently on view online at Blank Space, a gallery space based in New York city “with a focus on experimental and mixed media techniques by artists from across the globe.”
According to Blank Space, the exhibition includes “a variety of works that range from spatial installation to hand drawn design diagrams that respond directly to the COVID-19 pandemic.” Among them is Won’s Moments of Silence which “is comprised of a media projection and four digital artworks which seeks to create a monument and memorial for those lost to the current tragedy. Also included in the exhibition are series from her past projects which think about the way in which design can impact and affect change on a social level and even react to the present circumstances; a future design without boundaries.”
Print Magazine highlighted the exhibition on their site, where more photos of Won’s work are available.
The exhibition will run through July 5, 2020.
Jeff B. Speck MArch ’93 has been inducted into the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Certified Planners for the Class of 2020. Induction to the AICP College of Fellows is the highest honor the American Institute of Certified Planners bestows upon a member. Election to the AICP College of Fellows based on outstanding contributions as a professional planner and individual efforts to improve both the field of planning and community.
As Director of Design at the National Endowment for the Arts from 2003 through 2007, Speck presided over the Mayors’ Institute on City Design and created the Governors’ Institute on Community Design. Prior to his federal appointment, Mr. Speck spent ten years as Director of Town Planning at DPZ & Co., the principal firm behind the New Urbanism movement. Since 2007, he has led Speck & Associates, an award-winning design consultancy serving public officials and the real estate industry.
With Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, Mr. Speck is the co-author of Suburban Nation, which the Wall Street Journal calls “the urbanist’s bible.” His 2012 book, Walkable City–which the Christian Science Monitor calls “timely and important, a delightful, insightful, irreverent work”–was the best selling city-planning book of the past decade. Its sequel, Walkable City Rules, was named to Planetizen’s “Top Ten” of 2018.
According to AICP “Fellows of AICP are nominated and selected by their peers to recognize and honor their outstanding contributions as a professional planner. The outcomes of their individual efforts left demonstrably significant and transformational improvements to the field of planning and the communities they served. All Fellows are long-time members of AICP and have achieved excellence in professional practice, teaching and mentoring, research, and community service and leadership.” In lieu of the FAICP induction ceremony and reception at NPC20, other ways to celebrate the 2020 College of Fellows inductees are being considered.
Anne Valentino and George Ranalli MArch ’74 of George Ranalli Architect are featured in: Architecture Here and There by David Brussat. The publication includes photography and aims to “promote a revival of classical and traditional architecture in Providence, R.I., and around the world by suggesting that lovable buildings needn’t be old but can be made new today, if only modern architecture can be somehow convinced, or shamed, or forced, into permitting an even playing field for major commissions in architecture.”
Through an integration of mechanical, structural, and material conditions, Ranalli introduced a modern design for a new theater, harmonious to both street and district in the municipality of a historic Pennsylvania district. The project called for a proposal for a new 4,000 square ft. non-profit community theater featuring a masonry façade attuned to its setting.
For more about the project click here
Zeerak Ahmed MDE ’18 runs Matnsaz, an initiative to better represent Urdu in technology. Growing on his master’s thesis work of building breakthrough Urdu keyboards for modern smartphones, Zeerak now runs a collaboration across continents and disciplines to build infrastructure for software developers across the world that want to support Urdu and other languages in the Arabic script.
In late 2019, they released Makhzan, an Urdu text corpus. A corpus of text is the fundamental building block used to train artificial intelligence upon which language processing capabilities are built. From autocorrect, to search, and to linguistic analysis, Makhzan will support a diverse set of use cases with a high-quality and free-to-use data source.
With the help of learnings from Makhzan, Zeerak is inching closer to a public beta of his Urdu keyboard. Recent articles in MIT Technology Review Pakistan, and Princeton Alumni Weekly go deeper into the technological and cultural implications of this new technology.
Credit: Michael Raspuzzi
Amanda L. Miller MDes ’17, AIA has been promoted to Project Architect, in recognition of her increased responsibilities and professional experience at Hoffmann Architects. As the press release states, “She joined Hoffmann Architects in 2017 as Staff Architect and earned a promotion in 2018 to Senior Staff Architect. Her experience includes comprehensive design development and implementation for a variety of projects, including accessibility and hardscape rehabilitation at Columbia University and facade rehabilitation for Open Society Foundations at the Argonaut Building, a LEED Gold historic landmark built in 1909. While at Harvard, she co-organized Black in Design, a conference that recognizes the contributions of the African diaspora in the design fields.”
“In 2018, Miller was selected as one of ten emerging architectural professionals for the American Institute of Architects (AIA) New York Civic Leadership Program, a mentorship training initiative focused on engagement in the civic process. As part of a grassroots network of urbanists and designers, she co-organized the Spaces and Places gathering in Oakland, California in 2019 and is currently planning the 2020 gathering in Houston, Texas. She is also the incoming co-chair of AIA New York’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee. Miller’s publication credits include the Hoffmann Architects JOURNAL article, “Plaza Design for Longevity and Maintainability,” and articles in Facility Executive and forthcoming in Facility Management Journal. She lives in Astoria, New York.”
To read the full press release click here.
Seventeen GSD alumni have been elevated by the 2020 Jury of Fellows from the American Institute of Architects (AIA) to its prestigious College of Fellows. The honor recognizes architects who have “achieved a standard of excellence in the profession and made a significant contribution to architecture and society on a national level.”
The GSD congratulates:
- Alexandra A. Barker, FAIA, AB ’93, MArch ’98
- Andrew Vernooy, FAIA, MDes ’91
- Ellis (Lanny) McIntosh, FAIA, AMDP ’14
- Eric Haas, FAIA, MArch ’93
- Javier Arizmendi, FAIA, MArch ’91
- Jay Valgora, FAIA, MArch ’88
- Katherine W. Faulkner, FAIA, MArch ’93
- Kenneth J. Jandura, FAIA, MAUD ’78
- Michael E. Tingley, FAIA, MArch ’89
- Neal J.Z. Schwartz, FAIA, MArch ’92, MPP ’92
- Philip B. Chen, FAIA, MArch ’96
- Roger Sherman, FAIA, MArch ’85
- Scott K. Henson, FAIA, MArch ’98
- Susannah C. Drake, FAIA, MArch ’95, MLA ’95
- Tom Sungjin Chung, FAIA, MArch ’99
- Warren A. Techentin, FAIA, MArch ’95, MAUD ’95
- Yanel E. De Angel Salas, FAIA, MDes ’06
For the full list of 2020 Fellows, visit the AIA website.
John Werner LF ’09 and a team of MIT researchers have launched a mobile app called Private Kit: Safe Paths, to track COVID-19 patients via their phones by sharing information about their movements in a privacy-preserving way—and could let health officials tackle coronavirus hot spots. This could potentially be the first large-scale project in the U.S. to trace their movement and that of those with whom they interact. As reported in The Wall Street Journal, “the project requires both people who have the illness caused by the novel coronavirus and those who don’t to voluntarily download an app to their phones. Researchers have said that the collected data is scrambled so that individuals can’t be identified and such measures are aimed at alleviating the privacy concerns that in the U.S. have surrounded the prospect of this type of surveillance.” Researchers said they are in negotiations for backing from the World Health Organization about how the technology should be deployed. They also are working with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and have had several conversations with the White House, according to people familiar with the matter.
The MIT project’s success is dependent on amassing a large number of participants, and whether that is attainable in the U.S. isn’t yet clear. The MIT effort comes as a host of startups and researchers are racing to develop new technology to fight various aspects of the novel coronavirus. The MIT research group says it is also joining with big tech companies and large health-care systems, such as the Mayo Clinic and the Big Four accounting firm Ernst & Young, to aggregate as much data as possible through the app, called Private Kit. Several Facebook Inc. engineers are donating their time to the project, which is led by Ramesh Raskar, a former Facebook executive who also worked at Alphabet Inc.’s Google X unit.
To find out more about this project, click here.
Ming Thompson MArch ’10 was recently honored with a 2020 AIA Young Architects Award. Each year, the Young Architects Award is given to individuals who have shown exceptional leadership and made significant contributions to the profession in an early stage of their architectural career. “As the leader of an innovative multidisciplinary firm, Ming Thompson, AIA, has proposed a new paradigm for architecture and challenged the rigid definition of practice. Her prominent voice has driven the conversation on equity in architecture, and her efforts and stamina have led to positive change and increased longevity for the profession.”
As the article states, “after years of working for firms, from traditional studios to community development corporations around the world, Thompson founded Atelier Cho Thompson with partner Christina Cho Yoo in 2014. In her work, Thompson leans on the rich diversity of her personal history and has shaped her practice around a more humane vision of architecture built around the human body.”
To read more about her achievements click here
An interactive map visualized by Yijia Chen MLA ’17, with contributions from Yujia Wang MLA ’17 and Qi Ou (University of Oxford), depicts COVID-19 cases in the United States at the county level. By hovering over an area, the viewer sees confirmed and newly added patient cases, population, and hospital location and capacity. The map was inspired by an earlier effort with Zhuoming Info Aid to document China’s COVID-19 county level situation in January.
Chen currently works as a landscape Architect with DumontJanks. Wang is an assistant professor of practice in the landscape architecture program at the University of Nebraska Lincoln.
IwamotoScott Architecture, the San Francisco-based architecture and design firm founded by Lisa Iwamoto MArch ’93 and Craig Scott MArch ’94, has been selected as the winner of a competitive invited RFP process to design the new 80,000 sq foot main campus building for Ivy Tech in Columbus, Indiana. The College anticipates breaking ground in 2020 and taking occupancy in 2022. “It is a true honor to be able to add to Columbus’ modern architectural heritage,” Iwamoto and Scott said. “The team from IwamotoScott showed true vision for what the future of Ivy Tech in Columbus could look like,” said Ivy Tech Columbus Chancellor Steven Combs. “Their concepts of how to use available space for a modern and advanced campus were well received by our community and employees.”
The project is supported by The Cummins Foundation and aims to continue the design excellence and modern architectural legacy they’ve established in Columbus. Other finalists in the process included SO-IL, Marlon Blackwell, nArchitects, and Snow Kreilich.
To read more about the announcement, click here.
Surfacedesign, Inc. and its principals–James A. Lord MLA ’96, Roderick Wyllie MLA ’98, and Geoff di Girolamo have recently released the firms first monograph, Surfacedesign: Material Landscapes, published by The Monacelli Press. The book chronicles stunning parks, plazas, waterfronts, civic landscapes, and private gardens designed by the firm.
Fair warning to future Surfacedesign clients and design collaborators: Surfacedesign is going to push you,” writes Alan Maskin, a principal of Olson Kundig Architects, in the foreword to Surfacedesign: Material Landscapes (The Monacelli Press). “But their ideas, enthusiasm, humor, and interests have never limited them to working within the boundaries of their specific discipline.” The first book on this award-winning landscape architecture and urban design firm reveals thoughtful parks, plazas, waterfronts, civic landscapes, and private gardens that convey beauty, authenticity, and inventiveness. An interview by landscape theorist, author, and teacher Anita Berrizbeitia with founding partners James A. Lord, FASLA, and Roderick Wyllie, ASLA, investigates the roots of the firm’s design ethos stemming from deep beliefs in the power of narrative to imbue landscape with meaning, to express the history of place, and, most important, to connect people to the places they live, work, travel, and play.
The Monacelli Press (2019)
208 pages; flexibound; $50
ISBN: 978-1-58093-552-4
Image credits
Material Landscapes, by Surfacedesign, 2019. Image courtesy of The Monacelli Press.
For the full press release click here
The Kabul Urban Design Framework Plan has been recognized with a 2020 AIA Award in Regional and Urban Design. Dennis Pieprz MAUD ’85 served as principal in charge of the Sasaki project. “The Kabul Urban Design Framework is amazingly ambitious (the shaping of a city of 4 million people with an immense history) and, simultaneously, modest.” states one of the juror’s comment. “The framework manages big moves and small. The broad strokes provide connectivity to the region with a sensitivity to the ecology (aquifers), economy (agriculture) and society (public space). The details focus on weaving together existing nodes and fabrics to reinterpret the potential of Kabul as a city for its growing populations.”
The 2020 AIA Regional & Urban Design program recognizes “the best in urban design, regional and city planning, and community development. The best planning accounts for the entire built environment, local culture, and available resources—modeling architecture’s promise and true value to communities,” according to the AIA website.
Learn more.
Edmundo Colon MLA ’06 is one of six selected to receive a 2020-2021 LAF Fellowship for Innovation and Leadership. Fellows are granted $25,000 to pursue a project of their choosing over 12 weeks in the coming year. Entering its fourth year, the fellowship allows participants to engage in “a yearlong journey to develop their leadership capacity and work on ideas that have the potential to create positive and profound change in the profession, the environment, and humanity.”
Colon currently serves as Principal at ECo in San Juan, Puerto Rico. His project, “El Río está vivo … y nadie lo sabe! (The River is alive… and nobody knows!): Re-envisioning Flood Control in the Urban Watershed of the Río Piedras,” will focuses on ways in which landscape architects can help create a more resilient post-hurricane Maria Puerto Rico.
José Juan Terrasa-Soler MLA ’07 is Executive Director of the non-profit Resilient Power Puerto Rico (RPPR) who have recently been awarded $194,000 to develop additional microgrids in the mountainous region of Puerto Rico. The North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation recently awarded RPPR as one of their grant recipients due to their efforts of proving energy in Puerto Rican communities. RPPR has been working since Hurricane María (September 2017) to develop energy resilience across the neediest communities in Puerto Rico, by deploying solar microgrids and promoting sustainable and locally-controlled sources of energy.
Thirty-five 25-kWhr microgrids have been installed at community centers all over the Puerto Rican islands, providing critical community service centers with renewable and reliable energy. RPPR has also partnered with Rocky Mountain Institute to develop an energy toolkit to help local organizations in their transition to renewable, resilient energy sources. A recent article in Scenario Journal recounts the story. José Juan is also Director at Marvel Architects in San Juan.
An exhibition designed by and featuring work from the GSD thesis of Stanislas Chaillou MArch ’19 is set to open at Paris’ Pavillon de l’Arsenal on February 27, 2020. Entitled “AI & Architecture,” the show “takes us through the main stages of an evolution that started from the studies on Modularity, Computer-aided Design (CAD), Parametrics and, finally, Artificial Intelligence,” states the exhibition website. Bringing together research and practice, “it also explores the current scales of experimentation: plans, elevations, structures and perspectives in which AI could already make a contribution, real or speculative.” “AI & Architecture” will be on view through April 5, 2020. Learn more.
Architect Dan Brunn MArch ’05 modernist home known as the “Bridge House” is built over a little-known natural stream in Los Angeles. As reported in the LA Times: “Hidden in Mid-Wilshire is an enchanting eight-street enclave called Brookside. True to its name, the tree-lined community is set apart by the flowing water feature that runs from the Hollywood Hills through the neighborhood and out to Ballona Creek. While most of the classical homes in this neighborhood celebrate the creek with garden features and backyard bridges, architect Dan Brunn chose to do something radically different. ”
Brunn was inspired by the long motor court at Breakers, the Vanderbilt family’s waterfront home in Newport, R.I. He would honor nature by building a home that made full use of the water, the sun and the land.
Read the full article
Vibeke Lichten AMDP ’06 and her firm Atelier Vibeke Lichten have been awarded a Hive50 2019 Award in the Design category for EcoHouse. Hive50 honored the groundbreaking design “for a real-world exemplar of ecologically minded, fossil fuel–free home resilience, able to operate by securing continuous vital access to essential resources independent of the grid.” Completed in 2018, EcoHouse is located off the coast of the Peconic River near Long Island, NY. The 4,105-square-foot house is built from concrete.
Learn more.
The Ghana elementary school attended by Maclean ‘Mac’ Sarbah MDes ’19 has named a building in his honor. As reported to JoyNews: “Maclean ‘Mac’ Sarbah, who recently graduated with a Masters from Harvard University, said he was ‘surprised and emotional’ when he discovered that Yeji’s Royal Educational Complex decided to dedicate a building to him. The school, which he attended for primary and junior high school (JHS), invited him to speak to its students about the power of education, but upon arrival, administrators had an entirely different plan arranged.”
“They ended up planning a festival in front of about 2000 school children. They were really inspired. It was surreal. I’m so grateful to the school,” said Sarbah. “In many ways, this was a recognition of the hard work and support of family, friends, teachers, classmates, staff at every school and mentors. It’s a recognition of God’s grace for the unworthy. I couldn’t have done it alone. I believe it’s for a bigger purpose than for yourself”
Read the full article.
Kuth Ranieri Architects has promoted Michael McGroarty March ’01 to the position of associate principal. The news was announced by Byron Kuth, FAIA managing principal of the firm.
Michael McGroarty, LEED AP, joined Kuth Ranieri in 2013 and has more than 20 years of professional experience as an architect. For the past three years, Michael has served as the design team’s stakeholder engagement process manager for the San Francisco International Airport (SFO) Terminal 1C project, executed as a joint venture of Gensler and Kuth Ranieri. His current projects with the firm include the SFO International Building Renovation: Phase 1 and the Palcare Infant Daycare Renovation in Burlingame, California. A registered architect, McGroarty received his master of architecture degree from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design in 2001 and his bachelor of architecture from Pennsylvania State University in 1997.
Kuth Ranieri Architects was founded in 1990. The firm has produced a broad spectrum of projects, from small-scaled objects and museum installations to buildings and urban planning proposals. Recently completed projects include the Randall Museum Renovation (with Pfau Long Architecture), SFO Terminal 1 Center (with Gensler) and the Golden State Warriors Chase Center Esplanade (with Gensler). Kuth Ranieri has earned a national reputation for innovative works that integrate current cultural discourse with contemporary issues of design, technology, and the environment.
Paseo del Bajo, a system of parks and public spaces at the core of Buenos Aires city, has been inaugurated. The result of an architectural competition, the project was spearheaded by BECKER ARQUITECTOS, firm of Daniel Becker MArch ’92.
Image provided.
The design for the recently completed New York University (NYU) campus in Shanghai, led by KPF Design Director Elie Gamburg MArch ’08, has won a Society of Collegiate and University Planners (SCUP) “Excellence” award on campus design.
Gamburg also led the design of a new law school building for “The Peking School of Transnational Law,” which was completed last year and recently garnered an AIA HK design award.
Image: NYU campus in Shanghai central courtyard, courtesy of KPF.
After a dozen years of representing local government, first as Assistant General Counsel to the Portland Development Commission and then as Deputy City Attorney for the City of Portland, earlier this year, Lisa Gramp MArch ’97, MLA ’97 was appointed to the position of Senior Assistant Attorney General for the Oregon Department of Justice where she primarily represents the Department of Housing and Community Services.
Ming Thompson MArch ’10 aand Christina Cho Yoo MArch ’11 have recently won a national IIDA Visionary Award for an innovative woman-owned design firm working in interior environments. Atelier Cho Thompson is proud to announce that they have been awarded the second annual Visionary Award from the IIDA Foundation Anna Hernandez/Luna Textiles Award. This award recognizes a visionary female business owner whose firm specializes in interior design or product design. The fund was established to honor the memory of Anna Hernandez, the award-winning founder and president of Luna Textile.
The Anna Hernandez/Luna Textiles Visionary Award recognizes a female business owner whose firm specializes in interior design or product design and has been in business between three to 10 years. The fund was established to honor the memory of Anna Hernandez, the award-winning founder and president of Luna Textiles, a visionary and leader in the textiles field.
Click here to learn more.
The Chicago Athenaeum and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies have bestowed Bernardo Fort-Brescia, FAIA MArch ’75 and Laurinda Spear with the 2019 American Prize for Architecture, also known as The Louis H. Sullivan Award. The honor is given to an outstanding office and/or practitioner in the United States that has created a new direction in architectural design and has demonstrated consistent contributions to the built environment. Rarely does one have such an impact on the appearance of a city quite the way Arquitectonica has with the Magic City skyline. With more than 40 years of designing buildings that dot Miami’s waterfront and urban core, Bernardo Fort-Brescia and Laurinda Spear were recognized for their contribution to shaping the built environment of the city as well as cities around the world.
The firm’s designs have defined modern Miami, and their celebrated projects in cities around the world include skyscrapers, opera houses, resorts and new cities. Bernardo Fort-Brescia led the charge of expanding the firm across the country and abroad. The firm is known as one of the pioneers of globalization in the architecture profession. Arquitectonica now has projects in 58 countries around the world with offices in Miami, New York and Los Angeles, Europe, Southeast Asia and South America.
Click here for the full press release.
Alexandra Barker MArch ’98 recently participated in a panel discussion conducted by Architect Magazine and entitled “Modern Design: Planning Secure Structures. Curating Pleasant Environments.” The panel asked: How can architects navigate demands for both new school construction and renovations while designing with the right balance of comfort, daylighting, aesthetics and security?
Additionally, on January 15, 2020, Barker will take part in the panel “Residential Architecture Now: Brooklyn,” co-hosted by AIA New York and AIA Brooklyn’s Custom Residential Architects Networks (CRAN). The group will discuss the unique experiences of practitioners who live, work, and design homes in the borough of Brooklyn, New York City.
Alexandra Barker is a founding principal of BAAO Architects, a Brooklyn-based practice focusing on residential, retail, and educational projects. The work has received national and international recognition through awards and publications. She is also the Assistant Chair and Adjunct Associate Professor with part-time tenure at Pratt Institute, where she helped to inaugurate the Masters in Architecture program in 2001 and received several grants to integrate practice and education. In addition, she teaches in the Pratt Young Scholars program which educates interested disadvantaged youth in coursework in art and design.
Yujia Wang MLA ’17 has been appointed to ASLA’s Committee for two year term term through November 2021. Wang is excited to start this new role and looks forward to listen, to represent, and to promote a number of landscape education agendas on a strategic level with this honorable committee.
Kenneth Francis MLA ’05, partner of Surroundings based in Santa Fe, NM is featured on the cover of Landscape Architecture Magazine for November 2019.
The November issue of Landscape Architecture Magazine features the studio’s Luz del Dia residence! The project achieved a LEED Platinum rating partially due to our innovations with stormwater. This shot on the cover of LAM shows a heritage variety apple tree and an ephemeral pool that captures roof runoff, which slowly percolates down into a cistern for the landscape.
Check out the Instagram post here!
Check out the November issue here!
Kimbery Cinco MArch ’10 has been promoted to Associate Architect at award-winning architecture firm JENSEN Architects. Trained in architecture and philosophy, Kim Cinco brings a gift for creative inquiry grounded in analytical rigor to her role at Jensen. The discipline of her process is evident in her work, ranging from leading complex residences from design through construction to envisioning a new workspace for per-eminent design thinkers. With an eye toward both the poetic and pragmatic, Kim also leads the firm’s business development initiatives.
Kimbery Cinco earned a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from Bates College before completing a Master of Architecture at Harvard University Graduate School of Design.
Jeffrey Lee, FAIA, March ’79 has joined the Washington, D.C., office of Quinn Evans as a senior architect. Lee brings nearly 40 years of design experience to the firm which is one of the top architectural, planning, and preservation practices in the nation.
Recognized as a leading advocate for design excellence both regionally and nationally, Lee is a sought-after design critic and awards juror for the American Institute of Architects (AIA). For nearly 25 years, he served as a professor in the School of Architecture at North Carolina State University, and also served as the first chairman of the school’s advisory committee. He has been a guest critic at the Boston Architectural Center, the Rhode Island School of Design, and Catholic University.
Lee was elected to the AIA’s College of Fellows in 2006. He is a recipient of the Kamphoefner Prize from the North Carolina chapter of the AIA and the North Carolina Architectural Foundation. He was also awarded the Order of the Longleaf Pine by the governor of North Carolina, in recognition of his contributions to the state. Lee is highly regarded for his work in higher education, institutional, corporate, and cultural facility design, with many of his projects earning major awards for design excellence.
“We are excited to have a designer of Jeffrey’s caliber join our staff here in Washington,” says Tom Jester, FAIA, FAPT, LEED AP, principal and director of Quinn Evans’ Washington, D.C., office. “He brings a creative and discerning eye to our design studio, along with a wealth of experience in our major practice areas.”
The Harvard Real Estate Alumni Organization met for a panel discussion and networking event on Thursday, November 7th from 6:00pm – 8:30pm.
The panel is entitled “Trends and Disruption in Real Estate Tech” and features four speakers and two moderators who are at the forefront of that field. Panelists include Jake Fingert, a venture capitalist and former Obama administration official, Memme Onwudiwe, a co-founder of an artificial intelligence and data analytics start-up, Yulia Yaani, a co-founder of a software platform for commercial real estate loans, and Ryan Croft, a co-founder of Transit Screen, a mobility interface used in building lobbies. Our moderators are TJ Wilkinson, an attorney with Shulman Rogers, and Roma Patel, an investor focused on the intersection of real estate and technology.
The audience was open to alumni of any Harvard school and will include a mix of real estate and proptech professionals.
Los Angeles based architect and founder of EC3, Edwin Chan MArch ’85, will be the featured presenter at a brunch program organized by the Harvard Alumni Association Shared Interest Group Harvard Real Estate Alumni Organization (HREAO) on Saturday, November 9. Edwin will share his behind-the-scenes design process and his firm’s architectural work. Questions and discussion, and an informal networking social follows. This program was organized by Macy Leung MDes ’12
Among several projects presented by Edwin will be True North, Detroit. One of Detroit’s most talked about projects, True North bridges the gap between real estate development and community building, fueled by creativity and open-mindedness. EC3 was approached by the young New York-Detroit based developer Prince Concepts in Spring 2016 with the task of reimagining the pre-fabricated Quonset Hut structure. The site, a 0.57 acre plot located two and a half miles from downtown Detroit, is situated in a quiet, spacious neighborhood which had not seen new construction in over sixty years.
For more information click here .
Pictured is True North, Detroit.
MacLean Sarbah MDes RR ’19 has returned from his trip to Ghana, where he put in place the initial work for the vision to contribute to social impact, entrepreneurship and education in Ghana and the African continent.
He was invited by Diaspora Affairs, Office of the President of Ghana. He also met and had discussions with the former President, current Vice President, and a number of government officials. He had meetings with senior business executives, senior university executives, and spoke to a variety of audiences and students. He also had interviews with the Ghanaian media.
Mac Sarbah is the Founder of EdAcme, which helps young people achieve their education and entrepreneurship potential. He is also President of Sarbah Foundation, a newly-formed initiative to help contribute to education, entrepreneurship and social impact in Ghana and the African continent.
Watch Sarbah’s interview with Joy News, Ghana’s premier media.
Read more about his goals.
Ballinger, an award-winning architecture and engineering firm in Philadelphia, recently announced seven new Principals and shareholders of the firm, including Stephen M. Bartlett MArch ’87, AIA, LEED AP. Since joining Ballinger in 1999, Steve has served in a variety of firm leadership roles including Architectural Studio Leader and Senior Project Designer. He has worked in diverse market sectors and collaboratively led the design of some of the firm’s most prestigious commissions. He is a frequent speaker at industry forums across the country and will continue to advance the firm’s design portfolio in higher education. Steve earned a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Maryland’s School of Architecture, Planning & Preservation in 1983 and a Master in Architecture (MArch II) from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design in 1987.
Hong Suk Yang MDes ’19 has passed away. Hong Suk Yang was an architecturally-trained project manager, entrepreneur and aspiring real estate developer from Korea. He attended Harvard GSD’s Master’s in Real Estate and the Built Environment program, focusing his studies on Real Estate Investment and Finance. Before Harvard, Yang worked at Caesars Entertainment as a project director and spent the last summer at Trammell Crow Company as a development and investment intern. His funeral was held on October 22, 2019, in Downey, California.
Please find the statement from Hong’s family below:
Since his childhood, Hong was a healthy and cheerful child with delicate emotions and loved nature. He was very determined to make his way forward, and in doing so, he was very focused. Hong was very proud of his family and respected us all together. He protected his mother with endless love, and he was a life-long best friend to his younger sister. He was especially fond of his sister and always warmly encouraged her to do her best in her work as a violinist. And he always made me a proud father.
Hong did his best to live up to his dreams. He shared his feelings and thoughts with others completely and always cared about those who needed help.
We believe that he left us to fulfill God’s plan.
We sincerely appreciate your condolences during this difficult time.
Hong had so much goodwill to contribute to society, and we believe that he will play the same role in God’s place. He genuinely cared about the people around him and strived to cooperate and communicate with them.
Once again, on behalf of my son, I sincerely thank you for your love, care, and for the condolences that you’ve shown for Hong.
Sincerely,
Hong’s father, Jai Hyun Yang
Greentown Labs, the largest cleantech startup incubator in North America, has named Ryan Dings MDes ’11 as Executive Vice President and General Counsel. Dings’ experience will help Greentown Labs strengthen the core operations of its business, ensuring a strong focus on its mission to support entrepreneurs addressing the climate crisis while the organization continues its dramatic growth. In this role, Dings will serve as second-in-command to Greentown Labs’ Chief Executive Officer, Emily Reichert.
“Ryan brings valuable experience scaling clean technology companies to the team, combined with a unique understanding of our startup member community based on his role at Sunwealth and work with other Greentown Labs startups,” said Reichert. “His passion for, as well as his experience in deploying cleantech solutions will be inspiring and highly valuable to our growing member community. We’re thrilled to have him joining the team!”
For the full announcement click here.
Civil Architecture, founded by Ali Karimi MArch ’16 and Hamed Bukhamseen MAUD ’15, partnered with Studiolibani, founded by Dima Rachid MLA ’15 and Leah Moukarzel AALU ’12, to contribute an installation for Amman Design Week 2019’s Ras El Ain Gallery Plaza, under this year’s theme of ‘Possibilities’ curated by Noura Al Sayeh-Holtrop. The installation was a week-long public park occupying a 720 square meter (7750sq ft) plaza in front of the main design space titled ‘Minor Paradises’. Previous iterations of the design plaza include Watermelon Installation by MIT SA+P Dean Hashim Sarkis.
Civil Architecture and studiolibani presented ‘Minor Paradises’, a series of provocations set against the Arab paradise and against colonial notions of green. Minor Paradises questions design in a time of drought and explores the notion of paradise in one of the most water scarce regions in the world. The Arab countries of the eastern Mediterranean refer to gardens as little paradises (jnaina): bounded boxes of green- delicate curation of plants in an ordered composition. Across the Arabian peninsula, on the coast of the Gulf, they are referred to as hadayiq, from the word‚ ‘to bound or encircle‘. In this context the garden as bounded space of green was rare until the mid-20th century. Traditional courtyards were often barren – reserved for laundry, livestock and cooking. Greenery as an interior fantasy was reserved only for those who could afford the luxury of water that was spent on beauty or cultivation. Today the Gulf landscape is an inherited fantasy: the well mowed lawn, the verdant setback – notions of care or fecundity that‘re borrowed colonial fictions.
Minor Paradises revisits the traditional notion of the courtyard and the picturesque Jordanian landscape, and samples scenarios from the territorial scale re-interpreting it as a miniature landscape at human scale. Locally-sourced sands, gravel, volcanic rock, and limestone re-create the landscape and curate the visitor’s experience towards the Hangar. Mounds of earth material pushed beyond its limits (angle of repose) form artificial geometries of varying heights and sizes, concealing and revealing views of this constructed landscape. Local adapted species of extreme drought tolerance appear as clusters negotiating a new, water-less aesthetic. The garden therefore suggests alternative notions of care, maintenance and beauty.
As an exercise in managing scarcity, the construction of the one week public park was made possible through the ‘loaning’ of sand, gravel and indigenous plants from local contractors and nurseries. The benches will be donated to a nearby skate-park at the end of the Amman Design Week.
Civil Architecture is a cultural practice preoccupied with the making of buildings and books about them. The work of Civil asks what it means to produce architecture in a decidedly un-civil time, presenting a new civic character for a global condition. Since its founding by Hamed Bukhamseen and Ali Karimi, the practice has attracted a strong following for their provocative works and their offer of an alternate future for a nascent Middle East.
civilarchitecture.org
studiolibani is an agency of landscape architects and urban strategists, invested in alternative thinking in landscape architecture and urbanism. In their work and design research, the founders, Dima Rachid and Leah Moukarzel, focus on shaping resilient environments and crafting spaces of social meaning and ecological and aesthetic value. studiolibani operates from Beirut, Lebanon, across scales, systems, and geographies.
studiolibani
Photos by Edmund Sumner : Minor Paradises, 2019 – Civil Architecture x studiolibani – The The Hangar Exhibition – Amman Design Week 2019 – Photo by Edmund Sumner
For the other photos: Minor Paradises by Civil Architecture x studiolibani – The Hangar Exhibition – Amman Design Week 2019
George Ranalli MArch ’74 was recently featured on a FOX 5 News, New York, segment about photographer Michael Fiedler’s new book Working Journal: A photographic and hand-written chronicle. Ranalli, founder of George Ranalli Architect in New York, is one of Fiedler’s subjects in the publication, which combines portraits of professionals from a range of backgrounds accompanied by their hand-written notes. Learn more about the project.
Additionally, a remodeling project by Ranalli is the subject of the Apartment Therapy article: “This Psychology-Focused Renovation is Full of Smart Layout Changes and Clever Storage Hacks.” “Psychology played a big role in project readiness in particular for this before and after,” said psychologist Anne Valentino Ph.D., who has worked with Ranalli on understanding the relationship between our physical environment and our mental wellbeing for more than 30 years.
Photo courtesy George Ranalli & Anne Valentino.
Architects and GSD Professors in Practice Sharon Johnston MArch ’95 and Mark Lee MArch ’95 are the subjects of a recent feature in the Los Angeles Times: “The L.A. architects who design buildings that make you say, ‘Huh?,’ then ‘Wow!’“
“Architecture as Measure,” curated by Neyran Turan DDes ’09, will be presented at the Pavilion of Turkey during the 2020 Venice Biennale. Selected from an open-call and two step evaluation, the project “seeks to elaborate on what architecture could contribute towards a new imagination of our environment beyond environmentalism and technological determinism in light of the current political crisis around climate change,” states a recent press release from the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts, which is coordinating the exhibition. “Rather than limiting the role of climate change for design as a problem to solve, the project questions whether we can speculate on architecture as a measure through which the environment might be imagined. By providing an alternative perspective on the seemingly mundane and quotidian practices that surround and support architectural construction in Turkey, the project proposes another kind of architectural environmental imagination.”
Neyran Turan is an Assistant Professor at the University of California-Berkeley and a partner at NEMESTUDIO.
Learn more.
Sarah Yerkes MArch ’45 was in her 90s when a friend invited her to try something new. A graduate of Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, Yerkes had had decades-long careers: first as a landscape architect using brick and stone; then as a sculptor creating abstract works in wood and steel, and in her later years, papier-mache.
But as she aged, sculpting had become physically challenging. A fellow resident at Ingleside at Rock Creek, the D.C. retirement community where she lives, had started taking a poetry writing class, so Yerkes joined, too. “I really feel like the good fairies were standing over my cradle, giving me the oomph to create,” Yerkes said recently while eating a breakfast of cornflakes and toast in her apartment.A 74-year resident of Washington, Yerkes was raised in Cleveland and educated as an architect. She fell into landscape design accidentally when she and a friend entered a contest and won. They ended up opening a business together.
Last month, at age 101, she released her first collection of poems, “Days of Blue and Flame,” published by Passager Books at the University of Baltimore. The book is the latest iteration of a creative mind that has worked with form and style for the better part of a century.
To read this article in full, featured in the Washington Post, click here
Iván Pérez-Rosselló MArch II ’05, as Senior Designer of Entos Design, received a 2019 AIA Dallas Chapter Unbuilt Design Award for the project named Second Shadow. Entos Design is a leading Architectural and Interiors design firm in the Dallas Fort Worth area.
Second Shadow revitalizes the entrance of a corporate building, seamlessly integrating an elegant glass triangle assembly into the existing cut wedge entry. The new design invests the entrance with a strong identity that builds upon natural elements and emphasizes the dynamic interplay between light and shadow. The distinctive shadow cast by the triangle assembly draws attention to the passage of time by using the physical space to accentuate change throughout the day.
Located by Katy Trail, the entry is passed by numerous pedestrians in addition to everyone working in the building. The deceptively simple design is a minimally invasive renovation that capitalizes upon the existing space for the maximum impact. The project has the potential to be a trailblazer for transforming the local area into a point of interest in Dallas.
John Syvertsen, FAIA, LF ’86 will receive AIA Chicago’s 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award, celebrating his career in architecture and service to the future of the profession. In his career, Syvertsen has distinguished himself through his work as an architect and firm leader, as a leader in community outreach, social impact, and environmental sustainability, and through his professorship at colleges and universities across the country. For ten years Syvertsen was President of OWP/P Architects. He led the merger with CannonDesign where he co-founded the Open Hand Studio dedicated to public interest design and was a member of the Executive Leadership Team. Since 2015 he has dedicated his career full-time in support of several nonprofit organizations.
“John is the model example of a leader – he’s a true gentleman that possesses poise and humility, but makes the tough decisions when needed,” said Andrew Balster, Assoc. AIA, Office Practice Leader of CannonDesign’s Chicago office. “As a mentor, he holds a deep sense of responsibility to ensure future generations not only achieve their greatest potential but that they also contribute to society as a whole. It’s humbling to be able to say I experienced the workplace and culture he helped define.”
To read more regarding this announce visit Chicago AIA here
On August 25 in New York, Nathan Charles Hoyt MArch ’79 , Nat to all who knew him, was robbed of his life by the wily cells of multiple myeloma.
Born in the Bronx on September 27, 1952, he was the adored only child of Beatrice Tilley Hoyt and Nathan Benedict Hoyt. Raised in the nurturing laps of his parents and his extended family of teachers, librarians, and doting mentors, he was a lover of books and knowledge. Described as a genius by a former college classmate, Dr. Margaret Hurley, his interests ranged from politics to photography, music, film, art, and architecture. He was a stellar student throughout his early and higher educations, attending both secular New York public schools and Mt. St. Michael in the Bronx, a private Catholic high school for boys.
He was affiliated with Davis, Brody, Bond, Architects and Planners, NY, NY from 1979-2011, where he ultimately became a principal of the firm and Director of Interiors. Selected highlights of his work in New York include leading the restoration of the main New York Public Library, a monumental project that took 22 years; the September 11 Memorial and Museum; the Harvard Club renovation and expansion; Mount Sinai Medical Center East Research Building; Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts; The Juilliard School; Columbia University School of the Arts expansion in collaboration with Renzo Piano; and Jacob Burns Film Center, Pleasantville, a project that was very close to his heart.
Above all, he was a humanist and a bridge-builder, literally and figuratively, believing in the innate goodness of people. “I thought of his having this ability to look at life with a mix of rational intelligence, but also of a sense of humor in the way he dealt with the imperfections of humanity,” wrote a psychologist who knew him, Lisa Kirk. “I felt that there was a capacity in him that had to do with being able to, in the end, accept life, not with a cynical shoulder shrugging but with an understanding that making do and going along with it was not a bad solution, even though he would have preferred perfection. [He] was unflinchingly consistent … in his kindness at any cost.”
In September 2009, he met the love of his life, Julia della Croce, a cookbook author. They married eight months later. Merging their shared passion for Italy, food, architecture, and photography, they collaborated on culinary sailing tours to Venice, ultimately becoming a photojournalist team. Nat is survived by his two adored children from his second marriage, Katherine Tilley Hoyt and Charles Benedict Hoyt and by Julia and her two daughters, Gabriella della Croce and Celina della Croce.
Nat was graduated from Fordham University with a Bachelor of Science and from Harvard University Graduate School of Design, earning a Master of Architecture with Distinction. In 2008, he was elected to the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects, the highest possible distinction awarded any architect.
The Boston Society of Architects’ AIA Women In Design Awards Committee is pleased to announce the 2019 recipients of the Women in Design Award of Excellence: Luciana Burdi Intl. Assoc. AIA, CCM DDes ’03, Gina Ford FASLA, and Emily Grandstaff-Rice FAIA.
Luciana is an architect and planner with almost 20 years of experience working and managing design and construction projects. She is currently Deputy Director for Capital Programs and Environmental Affairs Massachusetts Port Authority In her role, Dr. Burdi is leading the shift of Capital Programs towards a more innovative, progressive, BIM and design technology-driven department. In addition Dr. Burdi co-chairs the BSA (Boston Society of Architects) BIM Roundtable and is one of the founding members of the Lean Construction Institute New England Community of Practice as well as part of the Leadership Committee for the AIA TAP (Technology in Architectural Practice). She is an active member of the NASFA (National Association of State Facilities Administrators), CURT (Construction Users Roundtable) and AGC of America.
The Women In Design award is presented in recognition of a person who has built one’s own life around design, whose work exemplifies the best of process and product, and who uses a position of achievement to give back to the world of design and to the community at large.
Pat Sapinsley MArch ’80 has published an article in Craine’s New York Business on New York’s green legislation and a few lingering issues to be resolved.
She writes, “With the Climate Mobilization Act passed in April, New York City is leading the nation in Green New Deal legislation. The centerpiece of the legislation outlines how buildings over 25,000 square feet are to reduce carbon emissions; it is a crucial element in the city’s overall goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 80% by 2050. Buildings—which burn fossil fuels on site to generate heat and often have inefficient HVAC systems and poorly installed windows—represent 70% of those emissions. However, in order to achieve our goals, we have a few thorny issues to resolve.”
For the three key points of Sapinsley’s piece, read the full article here.
Pat Sapinsley is managing director of the Cleantech Initiatives at the Urban Future Lab, NYU Tandon School of Engineering.
KZ Architecture was thrilled to have particapted in the 68th United Nations Civil Society Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah. At the conference, their Principal, Jaya Kader MArch ’88 had the honr of being part of a UN panel discussion along with Heidi Kuhn from Roots of Peace. Jasmine Al- Fayed from Bodhi Tree, Anne Biging from Healing Hotels of the World and Alexandra Hesse, executive director of The Leonardo Museum. Moderated by journalist Cheryl Jennings, the panel explores ways to contribute to a more peaceful world through innovative partnerships and solutions.
For more on this event visit this Instagram post here
Susan Israel AB ’81, MAR ’86 develops proprietary programs and hands-on creative workshops for sustainability, innovation, communication and leadership with her company Climate Creatives. Susan’s Public Art installations connect communities and foster action toward a more sustainable world. Susan uses her own artwork as a personal lab for exploring ways to connect people to climate issues. Her work has been exhibited in over a dozen group shows in recent years and she has partnered with over 100 organizations.
Susan is an architect, artist, climate communicator, and social entrepreneur. In 2008, after 20 years as an architect, she decided that she wanted to do something more for our climate. What would motivate other people to do more as well? Something fun and visible. What was preventing people from acting? Fear, and lack of belief that their actions matter. Thus, Susan founded Climate Creatives to use art and design to engage people because data alone just doesn’t do it: behavioral change begins with an emotional commitment. Susan develops proprietary programs and hands-on creative workshops for sustainability, innovation, communication and leadership and shares them around the world. She uses creation of public art to focus on the emotional and cultural aspect to appeal to people around climate change instead of data, to help them feel less afraid and more connected and engage to solutions.
Jennifer Luce MDes ’94 Firm LUCE et Studio Architects have designed a West Chelsea Residence in New York. Steps from the cacophony of Manhattan’s High Line and traffic-clogged Tenth Avenue, Zaha Hadid’s bold residential complex on West 28th Street is an unlikely location for a California-style urban retreat. Yet on an upper floor of the 11-story structure’s west wing, a recently completed apartment designed by San Diego–based LUCE et Studio, for a couple from Del Mar, seems distant from the congestion below, a surprisingly tranquil escape that also exploits the city views around it.
The 3,000-square-foot unit was originally earmarked for Hadid to live in herself. The prospective owners contacted LUCE when it went on the market after the Pritzker laureate’s death in 2016, before the building was complete. They wanted their new pied-à-terre to evoke their comfortable West Coast home, where they could enjoy and rotate their collections. “It has been a long journey,” says architect Jennifer Luce, founder of the firm. “The project took two years to plan and a year to build.” Perhaps what most differentiates Luce’s scheme from the building’s original plan is its simplicity and straightforward flow. Surfaces are homogeneous throughout, and doors literally fade into the woodwork.
Click here to read more about the residence on Architectural Record
Photo Courtsey 0f Micahel Moran
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