Browsing: Education

Cornell University

Every year, the Greenway Group led by James Cramer (chief executive of the AIA from 1988 to 1994) assembles the architecture-schools rankings. The rankings include the top 10 undergraduate architecture schools and the top 10 graduate schools.

Also, there are different skills rankings, like “analysis and planning”, “communication”, “computer applications”, “construction methods and materials”, “design”, “research and theory” and “sustainable design practices and principles”. This may be a great tool for architecture students when looking for a school and useful also for architecture firms when deciding on who to employ.

Read the complete rankings after the break. Seen at Architectural Record. read more »

A few months ago I had the chance to interview Ila Berman, director of the Architecture program at the California College of the Arts. She holds a doctorate in architectural history, theory, and criticism from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design.

Dr Berman created New Orleans: Urban Mappings for a Future City, an exhibition in the U.S. Pavilion at the 2006 International Architectural Biennale in Venice.

I visited the school by the end of the semester, and had the chance to see the final projects by the students and an exhibition on building technologies that was currently being assembled on the main hall. I really liked the atmosphere of the school, the students were very into it. I also meet a group of young teachers who are doing interesting work professionally, such as Douglas Burnham (envelope A+D), Mona El Khafif ( CCA URBANlab, IG Architecture), Craig Scott (Iwamoto Scott) and David Gissen.

My architect friends from San Francisco are always mentioning the lectures at CCA, as they have done a very good work inviting some of the best architects around the world to their lecture series: Alejandro Zaera Polo (FOA), Paul Lewis (LTL Architects), Bernard Tschumi, Winy Maas, Toyo Ito, etc (you can download some at iTunes U).

A school to keep an eye on…

Refract house, built and render

I just saw that the house designed by  Team California,  a multidisciplinary team from CCA + SCU, that we featured a few months won the Architecture Contest (1 out of 10 contests) at the US Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2009.

By reading the jury’s comments, the project was highly acclaimed by two aspects: the inside/outside integration and the high quality of the project documentation.

On this integration, the house offers 700 square feet of decking that includes a large central courtyard and strategically placed openings which extend each living space to the outside, contributing to the overall feeling of spaciousness.

Clerestory windows and large sliding doors contribute to this integration, and is also part of the energy strategy, by bringing a high amount of natural daylight inside the house, minimizing the electric load. The interiors incorporates materials and products from individuals and companies that have demonstrated their dedication to sustainable practices, and others such as a lamp made from plastic drinking straws. Reclaimed California redwood rainscreen covers the house’s exterior, providing a warm hue and varied texture.

You can see more photos of the house at their CCA + SCU Refract House Flickr page, and read the full description of the project on our previous feature.

Steven Holl Architects, in collaboration with Glasgow-based JM Architects, was awarded first prize in the international design competition for the Glasgow School of Art Competition.  The selection committee, chaired by Barcelona-based architect David MacKay, sought to select an architect-led team, not a design.  The committee unanimously chose Steven Holl Architects because Holl’s work demonstrated “a poetic use of light and their submission demonstrated a singular creative vision, scale of ambition, profound clarity and a respectful rivalry for the Mackintosh Building.”

More about Holl’s project after the break. read more »

In a few minutes, Barack Obama will give his Back to School speech (read full text at the Huffington Post), just after the results for the 2009 Open Architecture Challenge are announced.

Near the ending, Obama says “I’m working hard to fix up your classrooms and get you the books, equipment and computers you need to learn. But you’ve got to do your part too”. Cameron Sinclair, founder of Architecture for Humanity, responds on Twitter “Sir, your welcome”.

This year the Open Architecture Challenge called architects, designers and engineers to rethink the classroom of the future.  Sounds like a typical competition, but it is not: they were required to  collaborate with real students in real schools in their community to develop real solutions.

Teton Valley Community School / Section Eight design

The winner of this year’s Challenge is the   Teton Valley Community School, with a project designed with the emerging practice Section Eight [design]. The Teton Valley Community School in  a non-profit independent school located in Victor, Idaho, which is one of the most underfunded school systems in the nation. Currently the school is based out of a remodeled house, but thanks to this award they are closer to get a full classroom.

There are also other awards that I will describe later, but this is more than just prizes. The Challenge received over 1,000 entries, entries that can become real projects that can help improve the quality of education around the world.  Architecture for Humanity established the Classroom Upgrade Fund, that hopes to provide seed funding and support to local schools in implementing the design solutions they have developed.

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A few months ago, we shared the University of Melbourne’s six short-listed finalists for their new Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning building (short list can be read here).  Of the six finalists, the team of Melbourne-based John Wardle Architects and Boston-based Office dA have been named the winners.  Professor Tom Kvan, Dean of the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, stated, “The winning design showed a detailed understanding of the teaching and research activities of the Faculty and the potential for contribution to research across the campus.”

More images and more about the winning project after the break. read more »

Several times I haves asked myself what is inside Geoff Manaugh’s mind. The author of the BLDG Blog has been pushing architectural thinking (or more like stretching, bending, twisting…) by proposing views of an uncertain future (while linking this to our past),  leaving an open door that invites us to think about architecture in a non traditional space-restricted way.

Sounds weird, but I can´t really define it.  Maybe we should stick to his definition:  ”Architectural Conjecture, Urban Speculation, Landscape Futures”.

A couple of days ago Geoff told me that he is going to be in NY during the fall, where he will run an  an independent design studio, called Landscapes of Quarantine, “meeting to explore the spatial implications of quarantine”. The studio will run from Oct 6 to Dec 5, and he has already confirmed a  group of ten people, whose backgrounds include architecture, sound design, urban gaming, comic books, film, photography, art, landscape, and food. The studio will conclude with an exhibition at the Storefront Gallery.

But the interesting part, at least for our readers, is that the studio is open for public applications. If this sounds interesting to you, just head to BLDG Blog and read the details about Landscapes of Quarantine and on how to apply.

p.s.: I also recommend you to follow Geoff at Twitter, as he is constantly sharing ideas and links worth reading. And another thing worth reading is his book: The BLDGBLOG Book.

Adaptable Hillside Classroom

After 6 months and 4 rounds of jurying, Architecture for Humanity, a charitable organization that seeks architectural solutions to humanitarian crisis and brings professional design services to needy communities, just recognized eight team finalists for the 2009 Open Architect Challenge: Classrooms.  The competition attracted 10,000 architects, teachers and students who came together to develop designs for more than 500 schools in 65 countries. “This initiative invited the architecture, design and engineering community to collaborate directly with students and teachers to rethink the classroom of the future. Designers entering the competition were given a simple mandate: collaborate with real students in real schools in their community to develop real solutions,” explained Cameron Sinclair, the co-founder for Architecture for Humanity and this competition.

The finalists include: Adaptable Hillside Classroom by Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios & Architecture for Humanity UK, Bamboowood School by Petr Kostner, Martina Sobotkova, Sona Huberova, Classroom for the Saltpan Community by Cohesion Foundation: Rajesh Kapoor, Prashant Solanky, Bharat Karamchandani, Kiran Vaghela,  Teton Valley Community School
by Section Eight Design, A Sustainable Community Classroom by Gifford, House In The Wood by Built Form, LLC / Northwestern University Settlement House, Justified Architecture in a Landscape of Transformation by Arquitectura Justa: Wolfgang Timmer, Fabiola Uribe, T. Luke Young, and Blurred Classroom by Gensler.

We would like to congratulate not only the eight finalists, but all participants who dedicated their time, effort and design skills for such an importance cause.

Project descriptions and images of the eight finalists after the break. read more »

The Tulane City Center houses the Tulane University School of Architecture’s urban research and outreach programs. So far this year, the students at the Tulane School of Architecture have built three projects, a Green Pavillion (a sustainable exhibition on rainwater re-use, a Farmer’s Market in Hollygrove, and a LEED certified (soon to be) house in Central City. All of these projects are located in New Orleans.

You can find more on the Tulane City Center here. Images and description of the three projects, after the break. read more »

“Learn by doing” sounds like something very obvious when it comes to education in most fields, and specially in architecture schools.

I have taught at schools that embrace it in different ways, either by doing a collective small project during the semester, or building a complete project over the development of the final graduate project. This last method was inspired by the work of the good ol’ Rural Studio.

For those of you that don´t know what Rural Studio is, Wikipedia describes it as:

The Rural Studio is a design-build architecture studio run by Auburn University which aims to teach students about the social responsibilities of the profession of architecture while also providing safe, well-constructed and inspirational homes and buildings for poor communities in rural west Alabama, part of the so-called “Black Belt“.

The studio was founded in 1993 by architects Samuel Mockbee and D. K. Ruth. Each year the program builds five or so projects – a house by the second-year students, three thesis projects by groups of 3-5 fifth year students and one or more outreach studio projects. The Rural Studio has built more than 80 houses and civic projects in Hale, Perry and Marengo counties.

And so, it´s not only building for educational purposes, but also to engage future architects with their community, establishing a true link between the needs of the society and the profession. The importance of Rural Studio has been recognized at Into the Open: Positioning Practice, the official US exhibition at the past Venice Biennale.

Future architect Joey Fante shared with us his project for 20K (team: Ryan Stephenson, Joey Fante, Kait Caldwell, Aimee O’Carroll), the Loft House, part of the 2007/2008 thesis class at Rural Studio. The idea is to design a build a house for  $10,000 in materials and $10,000 in proposed labor cost.

Project description after the break:

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This past April, Dominique Perrault completed the campus center for Ewha University in Seoul, Korea.  The new ‘campus valley’ provides both Ewhaians and prospective female students with much-needed space for continuing education and student services.

Further project description after the break. read more »

On 13 May 2008, the Faculty of Architecture of the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) was unexpectedly reduced to ashes by a devastating fire. Soon after the fire, the Faculty of Architecture decided to organise an open international ideas competition for the new faculty building in 2009. Recently, the winners of the competition where announced. You can see all the winning projects, here.

Architect: Dorte Mandrup Arkitekter Aps + Cebra Arkitekter A/S
Location: Hellerup, Copenhagen, Denmark
Project Year: 2008
Turn Key Contractor: Partnering NCC Construction Danmark / Mangor & Nagel Arkitektfirma A/S
Client: Gentofte Municipality
Engineer: NCC Construction Danmark
Landscape: Peter Holst Landskab
Construction Area: 2,600 sqm
LOutdoor Area: 4,000 sqm
Photographs: Adam Mørk

read more »

The Berlage Institute is offering, in conjunction with the Faculty of Architecture at the Delft University of Technology, a new three-year PhD Program in Architecture devoted to the study of how the form of the city can be theorized, represented, and projected. The program encourages speculations that take positions towards the city-at-large by questioning and using architectural knowledge itself. This knowledge of architectural forms and representations will be used to speculate about the city and its political, social, and cultural organization.

Read more about it here.