Kongjian Yu DDes ’95 Wins Cornelia Hahn Oberlander International Landscape Architecture Prize
The Oberlander Prize, an initiative of The Cultural Landscape Foundation, includes a $100,000 award and two years of public engagement activities focused on the laureate and landscape architecture
The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) has named Kongjian Yu DDes ’95 the winner of the Cornelia Hahn Oberlander International Landscape Architecture Prize (Oberlander Prize), a biennial honor that includes a $100,000 award and two years of public engagement activities focused on the laureate’s work and landscape architecture more broadly. The Prize is named for the late landscape architect Cornelia Hahn Oberlander BLA ’47 and, according to TCLF, is bestowed on a recipient who is “exceptionally talented, creative, courageous, and visionary” and has “a significant body of built work that exemplifies the art of landscape architecture.” Kongjian is the second recipient of this prize with Julie Bargman MLA ’87 as the inagural recipient in 2021.
posted October, 2023
“Migrating Figures” by Nahyun Hwang MArch ’01 and David Eugin Moon MArch ’01 featured in 18th International Architecture Exhibition of Venice Biennale
Migrating Futures, a project by N H D M Architects, founded by Nahyun Hwang MArch ’01 and David Eugin Moon MArch ’01, was presented at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition of Venice Biennale. Exhibited as a part of the Korean Pavilion curated by Soik Jung and Kyong Park, the project investigates the historical and contemporary geographies of diverse diaspora communities and transnational migrant workers within Korea and across Asia in relationship to new futurity.
For more on Migrating Figures, visit here.
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posted September, 2023
Jonathan Evans MArch ’10 serves as lead architect for Embrace Boston Memorial
Boston and Kigali, Rwanda, based MASS Design Group, lead by Jonathan Evans MArch ’10, is the lead architect of the Embrace Boston Memorial. This tribute to Coretta Scott King and Dr. Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. will open on the Boston Common on Friday, January 13th, 2023. The memorial is completed in partnership with Embrace Boston and designer Hank Willis Thomas.
The Embrace Memorial is an important cultural symbol of equity and justice for Boston residents and all those who visit the city and region. The artwork is a permanent monument representing the Kings’ time and powerful presence in Boston, a time that helped shape their approach to an equitable society. Five years in the making, The Embrace is a physical reflection of Boston’s diversity. Chosen from 126 submissions, The Embrace memorial depicts the embrace between Coretta Scott King and Dr. Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. when he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.
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posted January, 2023
Julie Bargmann MLA ’87 featured in New York Times “Visionaries” series
Julie Bargmann MLA ’87 was featured in the New York Times article “How the ‘Queen of Slag’ Is Transforming Industrial Sites” for recent work on abandoned industrial sites. “Three decades ago no landscape designer was looking at the vast manufacturing and mined landscapes, landfills and every type of degraded landscape. When I thought about the number of acres, it was astonishing. That set me off. Folks might think I’m a bit crazy, but I’m going to go find the landscapes that I want to work on, not more or less already perfect landscapes.” said Bargmann in response to a question about her career focus. Ms. Bargmann is the founder of D.I.R.T Studio in Charlottesville, VA.
Visionaries is a limited series that looks at figures who are trying to transform the way we live.
posted September, 2022
2022 Forbes 30 Under 30: Honghao Deng MDes ’18
Honghao Deng MDes ’18, with partner Jiani Zeng, was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for their startup Butlr in the Manufacturing & Industry category. Butlr designs and manufactures smart building sensors to make architecture more responsive and understand users’ needs.
“Butlr’s patented technology is now being deployed for fall detection in senior living facilities and to help people age in place.” – Forbes
posted December, 2021
In Memoriam: Cornelia Hahn Oberlander BLA ’47
The GSD remembers Cornelia Hahn Oberlander BLA ’47 who passed away at age 99 on May 22, 2021. Oberlander was a pioneer in the field of sustainable design, an early proponent of green roofs, and a champion of collaboration. She once said that her dream is “green cities with green buildings where rural and urban activities live in harmony.”
A member of the class of 1947, Oberlander was one of the first women admitted to the GSD. She described herself as “elated” upon receiving her acceptance letter from Dean Joseph Hudnut and recalls sharing desk space with Lawrence Halprin BLA ’44, who became a good friend. She was taught by Walter Gropius, a leader of the Bauhaus movement. While at the GSD, she met her late husband H. Peter Oberlander MCP ’47, PhD ’57 at a picnic.
Oberlander shared with the Harvard Alumni Association in 2014, “Landscape architecture is a fabulous field that is more in demand than ever,” she says. “We need to take care of our environment. We have to have places to play for children. We have to have places for recreation. It means having a corner in the city, and a bench, and a tree to sit and contemplate away from a very busy world.”
~Anita Berrizbeitia, FAAR, MLA ’87, Chair of the Department of Landscape Architecture
You can read more about Cornelia Hahn Oberlander’s life and legacy as published by the New York Times.
Photo below: Cornelia Hahn Oberlander BLA ’47 (center) at a GSD event in 2014 with Peter Walker MLA ’57 (second from the right) and Gary Hilderbrand MLA ’85 (far right).
posted August, 2021
Vardhan Mehta’s MAUD ’21 Start-up Acelab Raises $3.5M in Seed Funding
Acelab, an information marketplace of building products for architects, manufacturers, contractors, and clients founded in 2019 by Vardhan Mehta MAUD ’21 and MIT alumnus Dries Carmeliet, recently announced it had raised $3.5 million in investment from institutional investors and industry angels. Among participating investors in its first round of funding were Pillar VC, Alpaca, Draper Associates, MIT MET fund, Emily Fairbairn, and Erik Jarnryd.
As architectural designers, Mehta and Carmeliet recognized the vast numbers of hours architects spend gathering information on building products—“from sifting through manufacturing brochures and spec sheets to contacting salespeople with questions about product specs, pricing, and availability,” says Mehta. He notes that Acelab allows architects to “spend more time designing, and less time on the busy work involved in product sourcing and specifying” and manufacturers to “increase visibility and get in the spec.”
Acelab is currently running pilot partnerships with a select group of architecture and manufacturing firms in the US to prepare for its general availability launch.
Daniel Fetner, principal at investing firm Alpaca VC, explained the need for a tool like Acelab, describing it as a way to automate the “manual and time-consuming process of sourcing building materials and drafting spec sheets.” Pillar VC’s Russ Wilcox elaborated, saying, “It’s challenging for architects and building products manufacturers to coordinate, especially in this time of supply chain interruptions. Acelab’s platform makes it easy for everyone to stay on the same page. Architects can select and specify exactly the right products, manufacturers can sell more efficiently, and builders waste less time returning wrong orders.”
Last year, Acelab won the Harvard Real Estate Venture competition, received grants from MIT DesignX and MIT Sandbox, and was a finalist in Harvard Innovation Lab’s President’s Innovation Challenge. Currently, Acelab is running pilot partnerships with a select group of architecture and manufacturing firms in the US to prepare for its general availability launch.
posted August, 2021
Seven Alumni Elevated to ASLA Council of Fellows – Class of 2021
Seven GSD alumni have been elevated by the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) as fellows for their exceptional contributions to the landscape architecture profession and society at large. Election to the ASLA Council of Fellows is among the highest honors the ASLA bestows on members and is based on their “works, leadership and management, knowledge, and service.” ASLA will formally recognize its 2021 Class of Fellows during the annual conference in Nashville on Sunday, November 21.
Congratulations to the GSD alumni in the 2021 Class of Fellows (pictured below left to right).
- Juan Antonio Bueno MLA ’86
- Claude Cormier MDes ’94
- Shauna Gillies-Smith MAUD ’95
- Eric F. Kramer MLA ’98
- Allan Webster Shearer MLA ’94
- Glenn LaRue Smith LF ’97
- Roderick R. Wyllie MLA ’98
For the full list of 2021 Fellows, click here.
posted July, 2021
Soledad Patiño MAUD ’20 Wins 2020 LafargeHolcim Next Generation Awards
The LafargeHolcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction awarded Soledad Patiño’s MAUD ’20 project “Transitioning infrastructures for sanitation equity” as the first prize in the Next Generation category for Asia Pacific. The proposal was developed as part of a studio and research led by Rahul Mehrotra MAUD ’87, Chair of the Department of Urban Planning and Design and John T. Dunlop Professor in Housing and Urbanization. It was conducted at the GSD during 2019 and aims to bring social and economic legitimacy to waterfront settlements of Mumbai through a new network of sanitation and community infrastructure.
The international LafargeHolcim Awards recognize exemplary sustainable construction projects and visionary ideas from nearly five thousand submissions by applicants around the world in 2020. “The project suggests new multipurpose infrastructures,” said the jury. “These give rise to new dynamics of water, waste, and energy management within the community, that offer a high potential in generating sustainable businesses and a strong basis for circular economy models”. Read the full press release.
You can find Soledad Patiño on Instagram @solepatino_
posted June, 2021
Nader Tehrani MAUD ’91, Meejin Yoon MAUD ’97, and Theaster Gates LF ’11 Newly Elected to American Academy of Arts and Letters
Nader Tehrani MAUD ’91, Meejin Yoon MAUD ’97, and Theaster Gates LF ’11 will be inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters during its virtual award ceremony on May 19 at 7 p.m. EST.
Membership in the Academy is limited to 300 architects, visual artists, composers, and writers who are elected for life. The honor of election is considered the highest form of recognition of artistic merit in the United States.
The American Academy of Arts and Letters was founded in 1898 as an honor society of the country’s leading architects, artists, composers, and writers.
posted March, 2021
Exhibition About Cornelia Hahn Oberlander BLA ’47 Showcases a Lifetime of Landscape Architecture
A recent exhibition with the West Vancouver Art Museum (WAM) showcased work across the seventy-plus-year career of Cornelia Hahn Oberlander BLA ’47. Cornelia Hahn Oberlander: Genius Loci explored how the theme of environmental stewardship weaves throughout her work, drawing on four distinct areas. The WAM described the exhibition thus:
“Cornelia Hahn Oberlander is among the most eminent landscape architects in the world, known for many projects in Canada and abroad. Genius loci, meaning the protective spirit of a place, is embodied in the seven decade span of her work. Her landscape designs demonstrate her desire to create terrains that are less an interruption and more an amplification of what already exists on a site. At a time when our relationship to the earth is of paramount importance, Oberlander’s projects reveal consistent and significant stewardship of the natural environment. This bilingual (French and English) exhibition introduces projects by Oberlander, which are presented in four sections devoted to playgrounds, social housing, public and residential projects, showing photography of the places alongside her sketches, plans and research proposals.”
posted March, 2021
Six GSD Alumni Elevated to AIA Fellows 2021
Six GSD alumni have been elevated by the 2021 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:
- Rocco J. Ceo MArch ’86
- Mina M. Chow MArch ’93
- Billie J. Faircloth MArch ’01
- John H. Martin MArch ’89
- David S. Parker MArch ’85
- Gregory C. Wiedemann MArch ’77
For the full list of 2021 Fellows, visit the AIA website.
posted February, 2021
Precis Advisory, with Planning and Development Director Faaiza Lalji MDes ’13, Will Contract with Merck to Build New Headquarters in King’s Cross
American pharmaceutical group Merck (known as MSD in Europe) has announced that it intends to build a new UK headquarters across from the King’s Cross station in collaboration with Precis Advisory, Architects Allford Hall Monaghan Morris, and AKT II engineering consultancy. GSD community-members are represented across the project at all three collaborative partners, most prominently Faaiza Lalji MDes ’13 who is the Planning and Development Director of Precis Advisory.
The project would put special focus on creating a structure that acknowledges and complements the history of the area while also sitting at the forefront of sustainability. A press release from Precis Advisory shares the following details of the project: “The proposed building, ten stories on Euston Road and four stories (with a fifth story set back) on Argyle Square, will deliver c 180,000 sq ft of net lettable space for MSD, would use sustainable materials and has been designed to reduce carbon emissions generated through construction, operation and future fit-out refurbishment. An innovative double-skin façade would reduce solar gain and the energy required to cool the office spaces, and includes a biophilic zone which gives visibility of plants from every workspace and from outside the building.”
An article in the Financial Times notes that “Merck’s UK hub will be its first set of labs outside the US that carry out early-stage research to discover new medicines.”
The project has not yet been finalized and is still subject to planning permission and approval.
posted December, 2020
Online Exhibition by Hayoun Won MDes ’13 Currently on View at Blank Space Gallery
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.
posted June, 2020
Jeff B. Speck MArch ’93 Inducted to 2020 AICP College of Fellows
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.
posted May, 2020
Zeerak Ahmed MDE ’18 Builds on Urdu Keyboard Development Project
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
posted April, 2020
Seventeen GSD Alumni Elevated to AIA Fellows 2020
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.
posted April, 2020
Firm of Lisa Iwamoto MArch ’93, Craig Scott MArch ’94 wins Ivy Tech Columbus project
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.
posted March, 2020
In Memoriam: Philip Goodwin Freelon LF ’90
Philip Goodwin Freelon (1953–2019) LF ’90 died on July 9, 2019 at the age of 66. The renowned architect, designer, husband, and father of three left an indelible mark on the world of architecture and design, most recently with the opening of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington D.C., for which he served as lead architect.
An esteemed member of the Harvard Graduate School of Design community, Freelon first came to the GSD in 1989 as a recipient of the Loeb Fellowship. More recently, he established the Phil Freelon Fellowship Fund, which expanded opportunities for African American and other underrepresented students, and collaborated on the creation of the African American Design Nexus.
Freelon was a passionate and committed advocate for equity, access, and representation in design and the arts. In establishing the Freelon Group in 1990, he sought to bring inspiring design to people and places that had often been overlooked. The Freelon Group would eventually become one of the nation’s largest African American-owned architecture firms. Freelon believed that diverse teams can produce remarkable results. His most celebrated projects include the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta, the Harvey B. Gantt Center in Charlotte, the Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco and Emancipation Park in Houston.
Philip Goodwin Freelon was an architect whose influence transcends his landmark projects, his decades of teaching and mentorship, and his focused, committed activism for diversity and representation in design. The design world has suffered an enormous loss, and the GSD community honors and celebrates Phil and his profound legacy.
posted July, 2019
Mikyoung Kim MLA ’92 Receives 2018 ASLA Design Medal
Mikyoung Kim MLA ’92 is the recipient of this year’s Design Medal from the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), one of the most prestigious honors bestowed upon a landscape architect. The Medal recognizes an individual “who has produced a body of exceptional design work at a sustained level for at least ten years,” according to its website.
“It is a tremendous honor to be recognized and supported by my peers and clients. This recognition is an amazing moment for me because it not only honors the work of my office, but also highlights the importance of resiliency, restoration, and creative thinking,” Kim said in a press release.
She is founding principal and design director of Mikyoung Kim Design, an international, woman-owned, landscape architecture and urban design firm based in Boston. The studio’s award-winning body of work addresses the most pressing environmental and health-related issues, while creating artful and immersive experiences. Earlier this year, the firm received the National Design Award from Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum.
In Kim’s nomination materials, author and thought leader Sarah Goldhagen remarked: “Mikyoung shows that landscape design and environmental art can be a public amenity, a social condenser, and a sustainable practice while simultaneously being a poetic art that captures and sustains our all-too-often-distracted attention, confers a graceful sense of play, and instigates deep imaginative thought about the many ways that every day landscapes can enrich peoples individual experience and social congress.” (View all of Kim’s supporting nominations.)
Kim currently serves as a Design Critic in Landscape Architecture at the GSD. She led the fall 2017 option studio “Civic Spaces in an Age of Hyper-Complexity: From Protest to Reverie” with Bryan Chou, Design Leader at Mikyoung Kim Design.
Previous GSD alumni winners of the ASLA Design Medal include Gary Hilderbrand MLA ’85 in 2017, Andrea Cochran MLA ’79 in 2014, Stuart Owen Dawson MLA ’58 in 2013, Peter Walker MLA ’57 in 2012, Richard Shaw MLA ’76 in 2009, Richard Haag MLA ’52 in 2007, and Lawrence Halprin BLA ’44 in 2003.
posted July, 2018
Dongwoo Yim MAUD ’08 Publishes “(Un) Precedented Pyongyang” with Actar
(Un) Precedented Pyongyang, a new book by Dongwoo Yim MAUD ’08 and published by Actar, looks at “socialist urbanism” in post-Korean War Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, and how space may change in a future market-economy system.
Yim is the principal and co-founder of architecture and research firm PRAUD in Boston, and visiting professor at Washington University in St. Louis and adjunct professor at Rhode Island School of Design. His research interest focuses on integral urbanism and architectural typologies that catalyze urban transformation in various urban scales, and his previous publications include “North Korean Atlas,” “Pyongyang, and Pyongyang After,” “Hamhung and Pyongsung” and “I Want to be METROPOLITAN.”
posted June, 2018
Jane Philbrick MDes ’16 Co-curates International Artist Residency; Advances GSD Thesis
Jane Philbrick MDes ’16 is the co-curator of Dirt & Debt, an international artist residency with Brooklyn-based Residency Unlimited. Dirt & Debt will culminate in an exhibition and publication with ongoing programming in the metro NY region in 2019 and 2020, including a collaboration with the Bronx Science Consortium.
The residency is based on Philbrick’s Connecticut wire mill revitalization project, which served as the case study for her 2016 MDes thesis. She has since built out a team that includes a brownfield board of directors, formed under pioneering 2017 CT brownfield legislation, and project backers. The team recently met with Governor Dannel P. Malloy in Hartford to detail implementation of his signature brownfield legislation. Christopher “Kip” Bergstrom MCP ’76, MCRP ’81, the original project funder in 2013 and former deputy commissioner of the CT Department of Economic and Community Development, wrote of the project:
“There are many, many innovative aspects to the TILL redevelopment proposal for the site, which I won’t attempt to summarize other than to say that this could be the pace-setter for brownfield and mill redevelopment for the 21st century, not just in Connecticut, but nationwide.”
OPEN CALL FOR US-BASED ARTISTS:
Dirt & Debt Residency at Residency Unlimited (RU)
Dates: February 1-April 30 2019
Deadline for submission: Tuesday, July 31, 2018, 11.59pm EST
Artists today are key actors in bringing vitality back to the land, taking back their towns, and staking an active claim in re-envisioning their communities’ future. RU invites applications from US-based artists for Dirt & Debt, a 3-month thematic residency, conceived and curated by Livia Alexander and Jane Philbrick, for artists whose medium is the built and/or natural world. Criteria of selection will include working at the community level in the global context.
Dirt & Debt explores artists’ relation to the built and natural world in the era of superabundant capital, in which corporate profits are disconnected from local economies and artists are deployed to grace and animate the enterprise. Far from benign, art and real estate intersect at a global crossroads of wealth creation that accelerates inequality and ecological degradation.
Against a backdrop of the ever-expanding portfolio of initiatives undertaken by municipal leaders and real estate developers in various urban centers in the US and internationally to deploy the arts as a catalyst for economic growth, through this residency, RU aims to look at what other, more symbiotic models may look like.
RESIDENCY FEATURES:
Buckminster Fuller astutely observed, “You never change things by fighting existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” In order to build a new model, the logic of the existing model must be identified and understood.
Drawing on RU’s model of customized support, Dirt & Debt will take the form of a think-tank/street studio model of cross-discipline exchange and collaboration. Artists will work from RU’s headquarters in Brooklyn and have the option to develop projects while taking part in weekly discussions, meetings, and mentored workshops with key professionals in the built environment, including climate and soil scientists, real estate financiers, municipal leaders, land use and policy experts, and others. Artists can apply and develop their creative practice and processes around issues such as climate change, alternative transportation models, new technologies towards land remediation, and the transitioning relationship of the city to exurban peripheries.
Dirt & Debt is offered in two 3-month residencies; the first session runs February 1-April 30, 2019, the second in 2020 (dates TBA). Each cycle brings together 4 US-based and 4 international artists.
TERMS:
– We are inviting applications from US-based artists only.
– Based on available funding, housing and travel stipends will be provided to selected artists if they are based outside of New York City. In addition we are planning for each selected artist to receive a stipend that will be determined in accordance to funds secured by RU.
APPLICATION AND SELECTION TIMELINE
– June 1, 2018: Applications Open
– July 31, 2018: Applications Close
– August 24, 2018: Applications Review by RU’s curatorial staff and external advisors
– September 6 snd 7, 2018: Interviews with the finalists
– October 1, 2018: Announcement of 4 selected US-based artists
Please provide the following material via the Submission Form below:
– Contact information
– 500-word statement of interest
– Digital portfolio of 10-15 images (up to 5MB) and/or up to 90 seconds sound or video excerpts;
– CV and narrative bio
– Up to 5 URLs to a project website, social media, talks, reviews
Receipt of your submission will be confirmed by email. Please direct application concerns or questions to Natasa Prljevic, RU Executive and Curatorial Assistant: [email protected]
To apply, click here. Deadline for submission: July 31, 2018 (Midnight Eastern Time)
posted June, 2018
Steve Calhoun MLA ’71 Creates Memorable Contributions to Australia
Steve Calhoun MLA ’71 is featured in this article on Domain.
“While many don’t know who he is, Steve Calhoun MLA ’71 is one of Australia’s most influential landscape architects and went to Melbourne on a one-year contract in the 1970s, fortuitously stayed on for 43 years not only as one of the first academically trained (Harvard) professional landscape architects in the country, but he helped set up the country’s first landscape architecture course at Melbourne’s RMIT.
While Steve Calhoun says that before he starts work on any project he can stand in the place and “see” the finished product – “I actually can’t not see it” – his drawings have the quality of abstract artworks and his creative methodology is more making art than designating the hard paving and seedling placements of projects in development. He says most of his still daily business agenda comes down to “playing” with “some real work in it too”.
One of the most protracted of Calhoun’s projects is the Tarrawarra art gallery and vineyard in Victoria’s magnificent Yarra Valley. He began working on it 34 years ago when it was a treeless former dairy farm. Some other projects of his include the Parliamentary Triangle, Domaine Chandon and the MCH, The Tennis Centre and Olympic Park all in Australia. “
Creating Memorable Places and Experiences by Steve Calhoun is published by Tract. RRP: is available through www.manic.com.au.
posted June, 2018
Dan Brunn, AIA, MArch’05 Recognized as California Home + Design’s 2018 Emerging Designer
Dan Brunn, AIA, MArch’05 Principal of Dan Brunn Architecture, has been recognized as California Home + Design’s 2018 Emerging Designer. Brunn has also recently received awards for his design of the flagship store for Road to Awe (RtA) from the Los Angeles Business Council’s 48th Los Angeles Architectural Awards in the Retail & Restaurants category, as well as the first Coffee For Sasquatch location from the Retail Design Institute’s International Store Design Competition for Excellence in Design and Execution. Since 2005, Dan Brunn Architecture has been developing award-winning commercial and residential projects that utilize a signature minimalist aesthetic to create provocative spatial choreography and harmonize light with volume.
Image courtesy of Brandon Shigeta.
posted June, 2018
Six Alumni Elevated to ASLA Council of Fellows
Six GSD alumni have been elevated by the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) as fellows for their exceptional contributions to the landscape architecture profession and society at large. Election to the ASLA Council of Fellows is among the highest honors the ASLA bestows on members and is based on their works, leadership and management, knowledge and service.
ASLA will formally recognize its 2018 Fellows at the ASLA 2018 Annual Meeting and EXPO, October 19–22, in Philadelphia.
Congratulations to:
Mary Anne Cassin MLA ’82
Walter R. Havener MLA ’86
Ying-Yu Hung MLA ’94
Edward C. Marshall MLA ’86
W. Scott Parker MLU ’86
David A. Rubin MLA ’90
For the full list of 2018 Fellows click here
posted May, 2018
Firm of Mikyoung Kim MLA ’92 Wins 2018 Cooper Hewitt National Design Award
Mikyoung Kim Design, the firm of Mikyoung Kim MLA ’92, is this year’s recipient of the Cooper Hewitt National Design Award for Landscape Architecture. The awards celebrate “design as a vital humanistic tool in shaping the world, and seeks to increase national awareness of design by educating the public and promoting excellence, innovation, and lasting achievement,” according to their website. Mikyoung Kim Design is an international landscape architecture and urban design firm based in Boston. Projects include the Chongae River Restoration, Crown Sky Garden, and Prudential Plaza.
“We’re so honored to receive this recognition from Cooper Hewitt this year. It’s really exciting to be acknowledged for doing the kind of unique work that we love. This award is the ultimate reflection of the creative spirit and dedication of our team, who are some of the most talented designers I’ve had the pleasure with which to collaborate,” said Kim in the firm’s press release.
Kim currently serves as a Design Critic in Landscape Architecture at the GSD. She led the fall 2017 option studio “Civic Spaces in an Age of Hyper-Complexity: From Protest to Reverie” with Bryan Chou, Design Leader at Mikyoung Kim Design.
The firm will receive their award at a ceremony on Thursday, October 18, 2018, at the Arthur Ross Terrace and Garden.
Image: ChonGae River Restoration Project in Seoul, South Korea.
posted May, 2018
“History’s savior”: Edward Des Jardins MArch ’66 Steps Down as Georgetown Historical Commission Chairman
After nearly half a century working to preserve buildings and sites in his native New England, Edward “Ed” Des Jardins MArch ’66 stepped down as Chairman for the Georgetown Historical Commission in 2017. Georgetown Record calls him “History’s savior” for his work in preservation, historical commissioning, and overseeing the restoration of many monuments. After studying with Benjamin Thompson, chairman of the Department of Architecture at the GSD, Des Jardins, joined Thompson’s Cambridge-based architecture firm. He spent the next 21 years designing and working on numerous projects, including Boston’s Faneuil Hall markets, the South Street Seaport in New York, and Colonial Williamsburg. “And that kind of got me into historical preservation” said Des Jardins, who served as chairman of Georgetown, MA’s Bicentennial Commission in 1976. The recipient of national AIA and other awards, Des Jardins was honored with a Massachusetts Historical Commission Historic Preservation Award from the state in 2014.
Now 81, Des Jardins plans to spend more time with his family, including his kids and grandkids on the West Coast. Read a letter by Des Jardins to “all you folks who appreciate Historic Preservation,” and view a few of his sketches of historic buildings that he has been involved with over the years (below). “Let’s keep our local history alive, for once it’s gone, it’s gone forever,” writes Des Jardins.
posted May, 2018
“Adaptive Sensory Environments” by Maria Lorena Lehman MDes ’04 Wins Nautilus Book Award
Adaptive Sensory Environments by Maria Lorena Lehman MDes ’04 has won a 2017 Silver Medal Nautilus Book Award in the Creative Process category. The book presents “a cutting-edge methodology for adaptive sensory design by fostering an inter-disciplinary approach in which aspects of neuroscience, biophilia, captology, nanotechnology, kinetics, and sensemaking all play critical roles in helping adaptive architecture ‘tune’ to occupants (learn more).” Lehman is founder of the Sensing Architecture ® Academy. Her research focuses on links between architectural design, science, and new technologies (learn more).
Established in the US in 1998, the annual Nautilus Book Awards recognize books in the genre of social and environmental justice. Previous winners include Deepak Chopra, Marianne Williamson, Eckhart Tolle, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
Images provided.
posted May, 2018
Phil Walker MDes ’94 Inducted to AICP College of Fellows; Appointed Planning Accreditation Board Site Visitor
Phil Walker MDes ’94, principal of The Walker Collaborative, was inducted into the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Certified Planners (FAICP) at the national planning conference in New Orleans in April (learn more and see other 2018 GSD alumni inductees). He was also appointed as a site visitor for the Planning Accreditation Board (PAB) to evaluate collegiate city planning programs.
posted May, 2018
Yujia Wang MLA ’17 and Gandong Cai MLA ’17 Curate Exhibition for Shenzhen Design Week
A new exhibition curated by Yujia Wang MLA ’17 and Gandong Cai MLA ’17 is on view through April 30, 2018, at the Shenzhen Museum of Contemporary Art & Planning Exhibition (MOCAPE) as part of Shenzhen Design Week. Entitled “Urban Underspace,” the show is inspired in part by research completed during their time at the GSD, advised by Professor Niall Kirkwood.
Find more details, including the exhibition’s exact location, on the poster below.
posted April, 2018
Hillside Village Project by firm of Constantine L. Tsomides MDes ’00 Begins Construction
Construction is underway for Hillside Village, a continuing care retirement community in Keene, NH, designed by Tsomides Associates Architects Planners, the firm of Constantine L. Tsomides MDes ’00. The 313,000 square feet facilities will include a community center building, 117 apartment units, an additional 24-unit Villa apartments, a 60-Bed Health Center, and a Sensory Garden. Expansive views towards the open wetlands and beyond are planned for many of the apartments. The project is scheduled for completion in January 2019.
Photo provided.
posted April, 2018
Alda Ly MArch ’10, Architect behind The Wing, Profiled in The Atlantic
Alda Ly MArch ’10, founder of Alda Ly Architecture and Design and the architect behind the popular women’s clubs The Wing, was recently profiled in The Atlantic. The feature touches on a range of topics, including Ly’s background, the founding of her practice and her current work, designing for women, and gender issues surrounding the field of architecture today. “Nobody had done a women-only co-working and event space before,” Ly says of designing The Wing. “It was a lot of sitting around the table and brainstorming, ‘What does that look like?’”
Read the full profile.
Photo courtesy of The Atlantic.
posted April, 2018
Brenda Levin MArch ’76 Honored as CA’s 28th Congressional District Woman of the Year
Brenda Levin MArch ’76 is one of 13 women recently recognized by California’s 28th Congressional District as a 2018 Woman of the Year. Representing the neighborhood of Los Feliz, Levin was honored for her commitment to and vision for the city of Los Angeles. “Ms. Levin has touched the historic and cultural spirit and complexity of Los Angeles, significantly shaping the city skyline as we know it,” said Representative Adam Schiff during an awards luncheon. “For over 20 years her architecture and urban planning firm, Levin & Associates Architects, has pioneered, in collaboration with innovative developers, the process of historic preservation by the polishing the riches of the city with a new sheen, and her success in this effort has helped to energize the preservation movement in Los Angeles. ”
Read the full statement by Rep. Schiff.
Photo provided.
posted April, 2018
Firm of Wendy Evans Joseph MArch ’81 Designs Cooper Hewitt Exhibition, “The Senses”
Studio Joseph, the architecture practice founded and led by Wendy Evans Joseph MArch ’81, has designed the upcoming Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum exhibition “The Senses: Design Beyond Vision.” Set to open Friday, April 13, the show explores how multi-sensory design can open us up to new experiences and understandings while reaching a greater variety of users. It features over 65 design projects and more than 40 objects and installations to touch, hear, smell, and see. The show is designed to be accessible and welcoming to visitors of all abilities.
“The Senses” will be on view through October 28, 2018.
Images provided.
posted April, 2018
Alumni Receive 2018 Graham Foundation Grants for Exhibitions, Publications, Research
Fifteen designers, artists, historians, and others from the GSD alumni community have been selected to receive 2018 Graham Foundation Grants. Announced on April 5, the Graham Foundation’s 2018 Grants to Individuals present $534,850 in new grants to support 74 projects by 111 individuals and collaborators who are “engaging original ideas that advance our understanding of the designed environment,” the Foundation writes.
Alumni projects include exhibitions, publications, and research. Among the winners are GSD faculty Zeina Koreitem MDes ’16 and John May MArch ’02, who received a grant for the exhibition “Under Present Conditions,” produced through their Los Angeles-based firm, MILLIØNS. (“Under Present Conditions” will be on view at the A+D Museum in Los Angeles from January 11 through April 26, 2019.)
The funded projects were selected from over 600 proposals and represent a diverse group of individuals and collectives, including architects, artists, choreographers, historians, and filmmakers who hail from around the world.
Other GSD alumni awardees include:
Eric Bunge MArch ’96
Mimi Hoang GSD ’98
Kenny Cupers PhD ’10
Rami El Samahy MArch ’00
Michael Kubo MArch ’06
Alexander Robinson MLA ’05
Neyran Turan DDes ’09
Bradley Cantrell MLA ’03
Marielsa Castro Vizcarra MDes ’17
Brian Goldstein PhD ’13
Ana Maria Leon Crespo MDes ’01
Sun-Young Park MArch ’08/PhD ’14
Sara Zewde MLA ’15
Read the full list of 2018 Graham Foundation Grants to Individuals via the Graham Foundation’s announcement.
Image: MILLIØNS (Zeina Koreitem & John May), Collectives II, 2016–. Courtesy of the artists.
posted April, 2018
Loreta Castro Reguera MAUD ’10, Stefano Romagnoli MLA ’19 Win 2018 LafargeHolcim Global Awards
From over five thousand entries by applicants around the world, two projects from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design community are among the 2018 Global LafargeHolcim Awards’ six winners. The winning projects by Loreta Castro Reguera MAUD ’10 and Stefano Romagnoli MLA ’19 both propose interdisciplinary approaches to infrastructure around water.
Administered by Switzerland-based LafargeHolcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction, the international LafargeHolcim Awards recognize exemplary sustainable construction projects and visions, irrespective of scale. Winners of the Global LafargeHolcim Awards are selected from among a pool of Gold, Silver, or Bronze awardees in each of five regional competitions: Middle East Africa, Europe, Latin America, North America, Asia Pacific. Fifty-five projects qualified for 2018 Global Awards. The 2018 Global LafargeHoclim Awards jury was headed by Pritzker Prize laureate Alejandro Aravena.
The competition’s top prize went to Reguera’s project “Hydropuncture in Mexico,” a collaboration between Reguera and colleague Manuel Perló Cohen of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Their design for a publicly-accessible water retention and treatment complex in Mexico City previously won the Gold prize at the Latin America region LafargeHolcim awards. (Read about other GSD winners of the 2017 LafargeHoclim regional awards.)
Aravena called the proposal “compelling and appealing” for its scalable solution to a global problem. “The beauty of the project is that it’s able to integrate more than one dimension—it’s not just the technical infrastructure problem of water, it is also about public space,” said Aravena in a video on the project. “It has capacity to improve the quality of life in neighborhoods that desperately need it.”
Current Master in Landscape Architecture candidate Stefano Romagnoli and co-authors received one of three “Ideas Prize” for their project “Territorial Figure in Argentina: Tidal energy landscape.” The design proposes an infrastructure for the use of tidal energy in the Río Gallegos estuary. The team previously received a “Next Generation” first prize at the Latin America regional awards. (An exhibition of Romagnoli’s work related to energy landscapes was displayed on the Dean’s Wall last fall).
The Global LafargeHoclim Awards Jury consisted of Alejandro Aravena (head of jury), David Adjaye, Xuemei Bai, Hashim Sarkis MArch ’89, PhD ’95, Stuart Smith, Werner Sobek, Rolf Soiron, Brinda Somaya, and Marc Angélil.
This is the fifth International LafargeHolcim Awards competition. Submissions for the next round of awards will open in mid-2019.
Images courtesy of the LafargeHolcim Foundation.
“Hydropuncture in Mexico”
Analysis of global and local energy and tidal opportunity for “Territorial Figure in Argentina.”
posted April, 2018
William Harris MArch ’79 Named Managing Director for Perkins+Will New York Office
William (“Bill”) Harris MArch ’79 has been named Managing Director for Perkins+Will’s New York Office, one of the firm’s most strategically significant and visible practices. A leader in interdisciplinary design ‘convergence,’ Harris previously served in Perkins+Will’s Boston studio, where he focused on designing for the scientific and technological sector.
“It’s an exciting time to plant my roots in New York City, where I’ve already been working with developers and other clients for more than a year thanks to the burgeoning life sciences and high-tech economy,” Harris said in a press release. “As our clients increasingly rely on design to support innovation and to attract and retain talent, we find that the best solutions integrate research facility and laboratory design with workplace, healthcare, and higher education—and those areas happen to be the strongest practices in our New York studio. The market here is brimming with opportunities for interdisciplinary design convergence, and I’m thrilled to lead the charge.”
Read the full press release.
posted March, 2018
Alumni Projects Receive 2018 MASterworks Awards
Projects by three alumni have been honored with 2018 MASterworks Awards from the The Municipal Art Society of New York. The awards celebrate designs that make a significant contribution to the built environment of New York City. DLANDstudio, the firm founded by Susannah Drake MArch ’95, MLA ’95, won “Best Urban Landscape” for the project Gowanus Canal Sponge Park; ARO, the firm of Stephen Cassell MArch ’92, won “Best New Building” for their Brooklyn Bridge Park Boathouse; and WORKac, the firm of Amale Andraos MArch ’99, won “Best New Urban Amenity” for the Kew Gardens Hills Library project. Recipients will be honored at an event on April 11 that will also toast to MAS’s 125th Anniversary.
Image: Gowanus Canal Sponge Park, courtesy of MAS.
posted March, 2018
Renée Cheng AB ’85, MArch ’89 Named Dean of UW College of Built Environments
Renée Cheng AB ’85, MArch ’89 has been named dean of the University of Washington’s College of Built Environments. Her term is set to begin on January 1, 2019, following approval by the UW Board of Regents. She currently serves as professor and associate dean of research at the University of Minnesota, where she developed the Master of Science in Architecture with a concentration in Research Practices (MS-RP) degree program.
“Professor Cheng recognizes that the building professions – from architecture to urban planning to construction management – are part research and part practice. Their work reflects our communities, serves them and becomes part of them,” said UW Provost Jerry Baldasty in a press release. “By continuing to advocate for a research-based approach to this work, and increasing the number and visibility of women and people of color, Professor Cheng will serve as a dynamic leader in the college and beyond.”
A registered architect, Cheng worked for Pei, Cobb, Freed and Partners and Richard Meier and Partners before founding Cheng-Olson Design. She has received numerous awards for excellence in teaching, including ACSA/AIA awards for Practice & Leadership and Distinguished Professor this year. She has twice been named a top 25 most admired design educator in the United States by DesignIntelligence.
“The College of Built Environments is a unique collection of disciplines that together, have unparalleled access to, and impact on, the lives and well-being of each and every community around the globe,” Cheng said. “I am honored and excited to join the College of Built Environments and work with new and existing partners, in the greater Seattle area and elsewhere, to collectively make the greatest positive impact.”
Read the UW announcement.
Image courtesy of University of Washington.
posted March, 2018
Anh Nguyen MArch ’07 and Partner Win Innovation Competition with Space Colonization Concept
A space colonization concept by Anh Nguyen MArch ’07 and Shawn Chinudomsub of IDAS, Inc. has won the inaugural Joan B. Calambokidis Innovation in Masonry Competition in the architectural/engineering firm category. Their design for a hexagonal masonry unit suitable for assembly in space can be made with indigenous materials and simple hand tools. The award, sponsored by International Masonry Institute (IMI), recognizes former IMI President Joan B. Calambokidis, who retired in 2017.
Winners gathered at an awards ceremony hosted by the awards sponsor, the International Masonry Institute (IMI), and the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers (IUBAC) in Miami, Florida on March 6, 2018. (Nguyen (far left) poses with other award winners and Joan B. Calambokidis, former IMI President (center).)
Images provided.
posted March, 2018
Five Alumni Elected to 2018 Class of the College of Fellows of AICP
Five GSD alumni have been elected to the 2018 Class of the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Certified Planners (FAICP). The highest honor bestowed upon members by AICP, Fellows are honored for achieving “excellence in professional practice, teaching and mentoring, research, public and community service, and leadership.” Congratulations to:
John M. Dugan MCP ’71
Hazel R. Edwards MAUD ’89
William Klein LF ’91
Shafik I. Rifaat MArch ’65
Philip L. Walker MDes ’94
There will be an induction ceremony for the Class of 2018 during the National Planning Conference in New Orleans on Sunday, April 22, starting at 4:15 p.m. CT. Learn more.
Image courtesy of AICP.
posted March, 2018
David De Celis MArch ’98 Begins Third Year as Chairman of City of Cambridge Public Art Commission
David De Celis MArch ’98 is celebrating his second anniversary, and beginning his third year, as Chairman of the City of Cambridge Public Art Commission (PAC). A member of the Commission since 2013, De Celis is a longtime advocate for the visual and performing arts. He founded DCM Design, a multi-disciplined design firm based in Cambridge, MA, in 1997, and recently established a new professional partnership, DCVL Design, with Amy Van Lauwe. PAC’s six member commission provides guidance and advice for the administration and implementation of the City’s Public Art/Percent-for-Art Ordinance.
Read the full press release.
Image: De Celis visits the first completed art project in Cambridge during his tenure as Chair of PAC, On the Other Side by artists Chat Travieso and Yeju Choi. Provided.
posted March, 2018
Sara Hendren MDes ’13 Named Logan Non-Fiction Fellow; Work exhibited at Cooper Hewitt, Pitzer College, Victoria and Albert Museum
Artist and design researcher Sara Hendren MDes ’13 is one of 13 Logan Non-Fiction fellows at the Carey Institute for Global Good this spring. The program supports deeply reported independent journalism with the overall goal of advancing democracy. Hendren’s work explores the unexpected places where disability meets design and the importance of an inclusively designed future. She is writing a book on the subject to be published by Riverhead Books.
“Spending time among other fellows who are tackling a wide range of urgent socio-political topics is thrilling. I’m so grateful to be in conversation with the Carey Institute community on both the conceptual and practical matters of publishing my first book. And the uninterrupted time away to work is indispensable!” Hendren told Olin College news of the fellowship.
Additionally, Hendren has work in three exhibition this year: “Access+Ability” at the Cooper Hewitt (on view through September 3, 2018); “Manifesto: A Moderate Proposal” at Pitzer College (on view through March 29, 2018); and the upcoming “The Future Starts Here” at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London (on view May 12 through November 4, 2018).
She previously received a 2017 Public Scholar grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), and was a 2018 New America National Fellow at the think tank New America (learn more). Hendren serves as a designer- and researcher-in-residence at Olin College of Engineering.
Image: “Accessible icon,” 2009–11, designed by Brian Glenney, Sara Hendren, and Tim Ferguson-Sauder. Client: Accessible Icon Project. Part of the Cooper Hewitt’s “Access+Ability” exhibition.
posted March, 2018
Susan Jones MArch ’88 Publishes Book on Mass Timber
A new book by Susan Jones MArch ’88—Mass Timber: Design and Research–looks at the relatively new technology of Mass Timber. A leading expert on Mass Timber in the United States, Jones shares some of the pioneering work and research she has done with her Seattle-based architecture practice atelierjones and her University of Washington students over the past six years. Projects include her own family’s home, a church, and a twelve-story tall Timber Wood Innovation tower on the University of Washington campus in Seattle.
Learn more about Mass Timber: Design and Research.
posted February, 2018
Joan Blumenfeld MArch ’79 Receives 2018 Legend Award from Contract Magazine
Joan Blumenfeld MArch ’79 has been honored with the 2018 Legend Award from Contract magazine. She is the 16th recipient of the annual award, which recognizes individuals whose work and achievements have “contributed in a significant way to the practice of commercial interior design.” “Joan has had a demonstrable impact as a leader among women in architecture, as a mentor, as an advocate for sustainability and wellness—recognizing that the interiors we design have an impact on healthy living,” said John Czarnecki, Contract’s editor in chief.
Blumenfeld’s first job in architecture was with Sert, Jackson & Associates in 1977 while she was still a student at the GSD. “Sert was inspiring and encouraging,” Blumenfeld recalls. She went on to work at a few Boston-area firms before moving to New York in 1984. Since 2005, Blumenfeld has worked for the global design firm Perkins+Will, where she currently serves as a design principal. She was previously the firm’s first global design director for interiors.
Read Contract’s full profile.
Photograph by Brian Ferry.
posted February, 2018
Solo Exhibition by Zenovia Toloudi DDes ’11 Opens at UNC-Charlotte
Technoecologies, a solo exhibition by Zenovia Toloudi DDes ’11/Studio Z, is on view now in Storrs Gallery at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte. The show explores the relationship between humans and their environment in architecture. Toloudi is an architect, artist, and assistant professor of architecture at Studio Art, Dartmouth College.
Learn more about the show. On view through March 2, 2018.
Photos by Dimitris Papanikolaou. Courtesy of Toloudi.
posted February, 2018
N H D M, firm of Nahyun Hwang MArch ’01 and David Eugin Moon MArch ’01, Wins 2018 New Practices Award from AIANY
N H D M, the collaborative practice for design in research in architecture and urbanism founded by Nahyun Hwang MArch ’01 and David Eugin Moon MArch ’01 in 2010, is one of five winners of the 2018 New Practices New York Competition from AIA New York. The bi-annual award recognizes and promotes innovative architecture and design firms in NYC and honors architects that utilize unique and innovative strategies, both in the projects they undertake and the practices they have established. Learn more.
The practice also recently received a 2018 Design Honor Award (Interiors category) from AIANY for the renovation of the Nam June Paik Art Center in Yongin, South Korea. Learn more.
Image: Nam June Paik Art Center. Courtesy of N H D M.
posted February, 2018
Alumni Honored with AIANY 2018 Design Awards
Projects by a number of GSD alumni have been honored with 2018 Design Awards by AIA New York. The top prize went to the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture by Freelon Adjaye Bond / Smithgroup, led in part by Phil Freelon LF ’90. Award recipients will be featured in the Center for Architecture’s 2018 AIANY Design Awards exhibition (opens April 20, 2018), and included in AIANY’s Oculus magazine.
Alumni winners include:
ARCHITECTURE – HONORS
NADAAA, firm of Nader Tehrani MAUD ’91 in collaboration with partners Katherine Faulkner MArch ’93 and Daniel Gallagher MArch ’91
Project: University of Toronto Daniels Building at One Spadina
Location: Toronto, Canada
INTERIORS – HONOR
N H D M, firm of Nahyun Hwang MArch ’01 and David Eugin Moon MArch ’01
Project: Nam June Paik Art Center Renovation
Location: Yongin, South Korea
URBAN DESIGN – MERITS
NADAAA, firm of Nader Tehrani MAUD ’91 in collaboration with partners Katherine Faulkner MArch ’93 and Daniel Gallagher MArch ’91
Project: Justice in Design
Location: New York, NY
ROGERS PARTNERS Architects + Urban Designers, firm of Rob Rogers MDes ’89
Project: Houston-Galveston Area Protection System (H-GAPS)
Location: Galveston Bay, TX
Image: Nam June Paik Art Center. Courtesy of N H D M.
posted February, 2018
Alumni Honored with 2017-18 ACSA Architectural Education Awards
Six GSD alumni have been honored with 2017-2018 Architectural Education Awards for their outstanding work as architectural educators. They will be celebrated in March at the 106th ACSA Annual Meeting in Denver. In addition, GSD Professor Jorge Silvetti received the Topaz Medallion for Excellence in Architectural Education this year.
ACSA/AIA Practice & Leadership Award
Renee Cheng AB ’85, MArch ’89, University of Minnesota, Professional Practice Class
Distinguished Professor
Renee Cheng AB ’85, MArch ’89, University of Minnesota
John Ronan MArch ‘91, Illinois Institute of Technology
ACSA Collaborative Practice Award
Aziza Chaouni GSD ’05, University of Toronto, “Let’s Talk”
ACSA Faculty Design Award
Jonathan Rule MArch ’08 with Ana Morcillo Pallares, University of Michigan, MUDEM
JAE Best Article Award Design as Scholarship
Jacob Wayne Mans MDes ’16, “Scaling for Non-Expert Production,” University of Minnesota
Clare Robinson MArch ’01, “Scholarship of Design Architecture in Support of Citizenry,” University of Arizona
posted February, 2018
John Ronan MArch ’91 Named John and Jeanne Rowe Endowed Chair in Architecture at IIT
John Ronan MArch ’91 has been named the John and Jeanne Rowe Endowed Chair in Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology. The founding principal of John Ronan Architects, Ronan also serves as the IIT College of Architecture’s Associate Dean of Curriculum. His area of expertise is in architectural design, urbanism, and the history & theory of material culture in architecture. In 2018, he was honored with a Distinguished Professor Award from the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA).
posted February, 2018
