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Events at the GSD
- Ongoing
Patterns: Cases in Synthetic IntelligenceThrough 3/15/2009 Gund Hall GalleryFor event details contact: Shannon Stecher (sstecher@gsd.harvard.edu)
- Monday, March 2
- Glenn Lowry, "Oil & Sugar: Contemporary Art and Islamic Culture"6:30pm - 8:00pm · Piper Auditorium
Glenn D. Lowry
Director, The Museum of Modern Art
Based on his decade-long interest in the rich tradition of Islamic art and his deep commitment to contemporary art and artists, Glenn Lowry will offer insights into how artists in Muslim cultures navigate and explore the complex territory of cultural, social, and political forces that are shaping their world.
Biography:
Glenn D. Lowry became the sixth director of The Museum of Modern Art in 1995. He leads a staff of some 850 people and directs an active program of exhibitions, acquisitions, and publications. His major initiatives in the past ten years include guiding MoMA's $900 million capital campaign for the renovation, expansion, and endowment of the Museum, reinvigorating MoMA's contemporary art program, and challenging conventional thinking about modern art.
A strong advocate of contemporary art, Mr. Lowry, along with Alanna Heiss, director of P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, conceived and initiated the merger of their two organizations, which was announced in February 1999. He has lectured and written extensively in support of contemporary art and artists and the role of museums in society, among other topics.
Mr. Lowry is a member of the Williams College Board of Trustees, is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and serves on the advisory council of the Department of Art History and Archaeology at Columbia University. He is also a Steering Committee Member for the Aga Khan Award for Architecture. In 2004, the French government honored Mr. Lowry with the title of Officier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. Mr. Lowry's most recent publications include, Design for the New Museum of Modern Art (edited by Terrence Riley, 2004); ARTnews: Photography, What's Hot: 'Gained in Translation' (2006); and forthcoming Oil and Sugar: Contemporary Art and Islamic Culture an essay, to be published by the Royal Ontario Museum (2009).
Born in 1954 in New York City and raised in Williamstown, Massachusetts, Mr. Lowry received a B.A. degree (1976) magna cum laude from Williams College, Williamstown, and M.A. (1978) and Ph.D. (1982) degrees in history of art from Harvard University. He is married to the former Susan Chambers, and they have three children.For more information visit: Museum of Modern Art official site
For event details contact: Brooke King (bking@gsd.harvard.edu)
- Wednesday, March 4
- Chuck Hoberman, "Transformable Strategies for Adaptive Building Performance"6:30pm - 8:00pm · Piper Auditorium
Chuck Hoberman
President, Hoberman Associates
Adaptive performance in buildings can reduce energy consumption, enhance occupant comfort and better optimize space use. The technology to support adaptive building systems is both available and dependable.
Chuck Hoberman will speak about how the principles of transformable design enable the next generation of adaptive buildings. Hoberman's ongoing collaborative projects with firms such as Foster + Partners, Nikken Sekkei and others will be presented.
The talk will demonstrate the rule-based design of transformable structures, and will explore how parametric techniques facilitate the creation of movable, multi-state transformable systems for buildings. Analysis techniques, integration methods into fixed architecture and manufacturing options will be discussed.
He will also introduce a new co-venture between Buro Happold and Hoberman Associates: the Adaptive Building Initiative. Combining Happold's international reach and full spectrum of engineering disciplines with Hoberman's expertise in transformable structures, ABI provides solutions for specific projects and performs longer-term technological investigations.
Biography
Nowhere do the disciplines of art, architecture and engineering fuse as seamlessly as in the work of inventor Chuck Hoberman, internationally known for his Transformable Structures. Through his products, patents and structures, Hoberman demonstrates how objects can be foldable, retractable or shape-shifting. Such capabilities lead to functional benefits: portability, instantaneous opening and intelligent responsiveness within the built environment.
Hoberman's designs have been applied as medical instruments, emergency shelters and portable furniture. He is well-known to children around the world through his award-winning toys.
Examples of his commissioned work include the Hoberman Arch in Salt Lake City, Utah, installed as the centerpiece for the Winter Olympic Games (2002). Other noteworthy commissions include a retractable dome for the Worlds Fair in Hanover, Germany (2000), the Expanding Hypar (1997) at the California Museum of Science and Industry, and the Expanding Sphere (1992) at the Liberty Science Center, Jersey City, and the Expanding Geodesic Dome (1997) at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. His work has been exhibited several times at The Museum of Modern Art in New York, most with his commissioned installation, "Emergent Surface", which was part of the exhibit, "Design and the Elastic Mind".
Hoberman is the founder of Hoberman Associates, a multidisciplinary practice with clients ranging across sectors including consumer products, deployable shelters and space structures. The firm is engaged in a series of architectural projects to create the next generation of adaptive buildings, collaborating with architects such as Foster + Partners, Kohn Pedersen Fox, SHoP, Nikken Sekkai and others. These projects are developing retractable facades, responsive shading and ventilation, operable roofs and canopies.
This event is co-sponsored by the Wyss Institute at Harvard University.For more information visit: Hoberman Associates
For event details contact: Brooke King (bking@gsd.harvard.edu)
- Thursday, March 5
- Julien De Smedt, "Embracing Diversity"6:30pm - 8:00pm · Piper Auditorium/Lobby
Julien De Smedt is the principal of JDS, a multidisciplinary architecture and design office located in Copenhagen and that recently opened branch in Brussels.
During 1997-1998 and 2000-2001, he worked at OMA, Rotterdam. In 2001 he co-founded the office PLOT. Among other awards and recognition titles he received the Henning Larsen Price in 2003 and an Eckersberg medal in 2005. In 2004 the Stavanger Concert Hall was appointed world's best concert hall at the Venice Biennale and the maritime youth house was nominated for the Mies van der Rohe award and won the AR+D award in London. In 2007 he won the international competition for the new Holmenkollen Skijump in Oslo, Norway.
Julien De Smedt has taught as guest professor at Rice University, Houston, Texas and lectured among other places at the Sendai Mediatheque, Japan, at Architectural Association of Ireland, at the Tate Modern, London, at the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion, Barcelona, at the Pavillon de l'arsenal, Paris, at McGill University, Montreal, at Yale University, New Haven, at SciArc and USC, Los Angeles. His work has been exhibited in numerous locations such as Copenhagen, Toronto, Paris, New York City, Sao Paulo. JDS first monograph, entitled PIXL TO XL, is available since December 2007 from Damdi publishers.
Julien De Smedt was born on December 3rd 1975 in Brussels, Belgium to French art enthusiast Jacques Leobold and Belgian artist Claude De Smedt. After attending schools in Brussels (St Luc, La Cambre, Sint Lukas), Paris (Belleville), Los Angeles (Sci-Arc) and London he received his diploma from the Bartlett School of Architecture in 2000.For more information visit: http://www.jdsarchitects.com/
or: http://blog.jdsarchitects.com/
For event details contact: Aude-Line Duliere (aduliere@gsd.harvard.edu)