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Columbia GSAPP: The Latest Architecture and News

Andrés Jaque Named Dean of Columbia GSAPP

Andrés Jaque has been appointed as the new dean of the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP). Having taught at Columbia since 2013 and directed the School’s Master of Science program in Advanced Architectural Design since 2018, Jaque will assume his position on September 1, 2022. 

Mariam Kamara Could Profoundly Change Design Pedagogy Everywhere

Architect Mariam Kamara—founder of Niamey, Niger-based firm Atelier Masōmī—is a contrarian of design pedagogy as it is largely practiced today. To Kamara, modern is not synonymous with European forms, architecture is not only for Westerners to define, and the so-called canon of great buildings actually ignores most of the built world. The Niger-based architect's rapidly growing practice informs a series of lectures she has delivered recently at MIT, Columbia University GSAPP, the African Futures Institute in Ghana, and Harvard GSD.

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Design Miami Unveils Architectural Drawings by 90 International Architects Including Steven Holl, David Chipperfield and David Adjaye

Design Miami’s latest initiative in partnership with Architects for Beirut, has gathered a collection of 100+ original architectural drawings and artworks donated by 90+ renowned architects from around the world. With proceeds going to aid on-the-ground restoration efforts in Beirut, works offered include exclusive pieces from Zaha Hadid, David Chipperfield, Toyo Ito, Steven Holl, Tatiana Bilbao, Adjaye Associates, and Renzo Piano, to name a few.

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Columbia University Creates 3D-Printed Timber Lookalike with Internal Grain Pattern

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via Columbia University

Researchers at New York’s Columbia University have unveiled a method of vibrantly replicating the external and internal structure of materials such as wood using a 3D printer and specialist scanning techniques. While conveying the external profile and patterns of natural objects is tried and tested, a major challenge in the 3D printing industry has been replicating an object’s internal texture.

In their recent study “Digital Wood: 3D Internal Color Texture Mapping” the research team describes how a system of “color and voxel mapping “led to the production of a 3D printed closely resembling the texture of olive wood, including a cut-through section.

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Andrés Jaque Appointed as New Director of Advanced Architectural Design Program at Columbia GSAPP

Dean Amale Andraos of the Columbia GSAPP has announced the appointment of Andrés Jaque as the new Director of the Master of Science in Advanced Architectural Design program (AAD). Jaque is the founder of the Madrid-based Office for Political Innovation and has been teaching advanced design studios at Columbia GSAPP since 2013.

On June, 1, Jaque will succeed Associate Professor Enrique Walker, who directed the program from 2008 to 2018. "I’m very thankful for the rigorous vision and dedication that Walker has brought to the program during his directorship," acknowledged Andraos. "Enrique established a strong legacy of bringing experimental approaches to research and design and built a program that is firmly grounded in forming positions through design," added.

Kenneth Frampton on His Early Career and Appreciating Architectural Talent From Around the Globe

In a recent interview with Metropolis Magazine, Kenneth Frampton answered questions about his existing architectural influence and his opinion as it relates to the direction of architectural theory and criticism. Frampton has long been a prominent voice in the world of architectural theory and writing. He has taught at Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP) since 1972, all the while publishing a large collection of critical essays and books on the topic of 20th-century architecture—the most notable of those being his 1983 essay “Towards a Critical Regionalism: Six Points for an Architecture of Resistance.”

Even today, Frampton's evaluation of critical regionalism is still widely appreciated. In the interview, Frampton admits that he now sees the influence of critical regionalism primarily outside of "the Anglo-American world," but he believes that the implied importance of a "direct democracy" is what he sees as most beneficial.

GSAPP Columbia is Launching the First-Ever Ph.D. in Historic Preservation Program

Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP) has launched the United States’ first-ever Ph. D in Historic Preservation. GSAPP is ranked within the top 10 architecture graduate schools in the US in the latest figures for 2017. It’s leadership in learning and experimental practice is about to be further enhanced by the introduction of the course.

The Avery Review 2018 Essay Prize

The Avery Review, a journal of critical essays on architecture published by the Office of Publications at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, invites submissions for its first-ever Essay Prize. The call is open to current students and recent graduates, whether in schools of architecture or elsewhere (eligibility details below). In keeping with the mission of the journal, we hope to receive submissions that use the genres of the review and the critical essay to explore the urgent ideas and problems that animate the field of architecture. We’re looking for essays that test and expand the author’s own intellectual commitments—theoretical, architectural, and political—through the work of others.

Landscape Architect Kate Orff and Urbanist Damon Rich Awarded 2017 MacArthur "Genius" Grants

The MacArthur Foundation has announced the 24 recipients of their 2017 MacArthur Fellowships Grants (sometimes referred to as ‘Genius’ Grants), and for the first time since 2011, the list includes individuals from architectural fields: urban planner and designer Damon Rich and landscape architect Kate Orff.

Established in 1981, the grants are awarded annually “to encourage people of outstanding talent to pursue their own creative, intellectual, and professional inclinations.” This year’s fellowships come with a $625,000, no-strings-attached stipend for individual pursuits.

Tomas Koolhaas On "REM" – A Film About Architecture, Celebrity, and Globalization

In this episode of GSAPP Conversations, Tomas Koolhaas—the director of the much anticipated documentary-biopic REM, a film about the eponymous founder of the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), Rem Koolhaas—discusses the movie at length. Among other topics, the conversation touches upon Koolhaas's specific tools and methods for filming architectural space, and the challenges of producing a film founded on a personal relationship.

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How Architects in Chicago Are Making New History

"We are at a moment of great cultural transition," Jorge Otero-Pailos argues. "The kinds of objects that we look to to provide some sort of continuity in that transformation is often times architecture, [...] one of the most stable objects in culture." This short film, in which an number of participants of the 2017 Chicago Architecture Biennial reflect on their work and those of others, tackles the theme conceived by artistic directors Sharon Johnston and Mark Lee: Make New History.

Ahead of the 2017 Chicago Architecture Biennial, Co-Curator Mark Lee Discusses Its Contemporary Relevance

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Chicago Cultural Center, home of the Chicago Architecture Biennial. Image Courtesy of Holabird & Root

In this episode of GSAPP Conversations, ahead of the opening of the 2017 Chicago Architecture Biennial, co-curator Mark Lee (of Johnston Marklee) and Dean Amale Andraos discuss the theme of the show—"Make New History"—and it's relevance to the field today.

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Fabrizio Barozzi on Barozzi/Veiga's Obsessions, Process, and Position Within the Architectural Landscape

In this episode of GSAPP Conversations, Fabrizio Barozzi—who co-founded the Barcelona-based practice Barozzi/Veiga with Alberto Veiga in 2004—discusses the practice's process and obsessions, including how they position themselves in the architectural landscape and why they are sceptical of defining their own architectural "language". For Barozzi, research and an engagement with history are integral to the way his practice works operates.

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In Conversation with 3 Rapidly Emerging Practices: L.E.FT, Point Supreme, and vPPR

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Courtesy of Point Supreme. Image © GSAPP Conversations

In these three episodes of GSAPP Conversations, a podcast series designed to offer a window onto the expanding field of contemporary architectural practice, three globally-operating emerging practices are pressed and interviewed by students and staff from the New York-based school.

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© GSAPP Conversations

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Small Projects, Wide Reach: Hilary Sample on the Benefits of Maintaining a Purposefully Small Office

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MOS Architects, "Selfie Curtain" – 2016 Istanbul Design Biennial. Image © MOS Architects

In the seventh episode of GSAPP Conversations Amale Andraos speaks with Hilary Sample, an academic and co-founder of MOS Architects alongside her partner Michael Meredith. They discuss the lasting influence of ORDOS 100—a collection of villas built in Inner Mongolia by emerging and renowned practices—on the firm’s thinking, the role of representation, and how Sample's practice pursues an inclusive way of working and thinking – while maintaining a purposefully small office.

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Peter Cook is Concerned By Contemporary Drawing Culture, And Here's Why

In the sixth episode of GSAPP Conversations, Jarrett Ley (a current GSAPP student) speaks with Sir Peter Cook. They discuss architecture as a tool for shaping radical thought, the relationship of the current political climate in Britain, Europe, and the United States on architectural education and practice, and how the most interesting contemporary architectural projects appear to stem from "unknown architects in smaller countries."

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11 Architecture, Design and Urbanism Podcasts to Start Listening to Now

It can sometimes feel as if the world is divided into two camps: those who do not listen to podcasts (probably because they don’t know what a podcast is) and those who listen to podcasts, love podcasts, and keep badgering their friends for recommendations so they can start listening to even more.

Unlike other media, it’s notoriously difficult to discover and share podcasts – even more so if you’re looking for a podcast on a niche subject like architecture, design or urbanism. To help you in your hour of need, Metropolis’ Vanessa Quirk (author of Guide to Podcasting) and ArchDaily’s James Taylor-Foster (whose silvery tones you may have heard on various architecture and design audio stories) have come together to compile this list of eleven podcasts you should subscribe to.

Factum Arte on Preservation, Recording and Recreation

In this fifth episode of GSAPP Conversations, Jorge Otero-Pailos, Director of Columbia GSAPP’s Historic Preservation Program, speaks with Carlos Bayod Lucini and Adam Lowe (Factum Arte). Based between Madrid, London and Milan, the practice was founded by Lowe and has become internationally renowned for setting new standards in digital documentation and redefining the relationship between originality and authenticity. Here they discuss Factum Arte’s work, including the creation of the first high resolution digital record of the Tomb of Seti I in Luxor, Egypt, the importance of teaching students not only practical skills but also a conceptual understanding of how new technologies can be applied, and the importance of recording of artefacts during times of peace.

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