At the Podium

Kristina Hill, MLA ’90, Director of the Program in Landscape Architecture at the University of Virginia, was the inaugural speaker on March 18 for the new lecture series, New Directions in EcoPlanning, established at Harvard Museum of Natural History. Her presentation, “Designing the Urban Ark: Biodiversity and the Future of Cities” explored the future relationship between human cities and the diversity of life and presented the case for future cities to support biodiversity based on human self-interest, actual development conditions, current urban plans for climate adaptation, and lessons learned elsewhere in the United States. 

Eamonn Canniffe, GSD ’83, who was an exchange student from Cambridge University at the GSD in 1982-83, and presently teaches at the Manchester School of Architecture, will return to Harvard University to present his recent book The Politics of the Piazza: The History and Meaning of the Italian Square (Ashgate 2008) at the De Bosis Colloquium in Italian Studies in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures.The event will take place in Boylston Hall on April 1 between 4.00-6.30pm. For additional information, please contact Professor Francesco Erspamer at erspamer@fas.harvard.edu.

New and Current Projects

Natalya Kashper, MArch ’03, and Michael Piper, MArch ’03, of DUB Studios have designed a boutique office that brings the aesthetics of the Moscow brewery, Mos Pivo, to the workspace, creating a “home away from home” for the Russian office dwellers. The concept for the office was to provide a beer display, or “bottle line” that ran the length of the space, creating a relaxed and playful atmosphere—a top priority for the owner. Also in New York City, DUB has renovated a landmark building in the SoHo district—a 100-year-old former factory that will be transformed into apartments.

DUB Wooster House

DUB Brewery Renovation

Honors and Awards

Hope Hasbrouck, MLA ’96, graduate adviser and assistant professor in the School of Architecture at The University of Texas at Austin, has received the 2008 Rome Prize, one of the most highly regarded awards in the arts and humanities. Her proposal, “Interpreting Cultural Territories through Prospect and Passage,” will examine the cultural landscape of Rome and its surrounding territory, focusing on the definition of place and the personal geometries of the historic imagination.

John Ronan, MArch ’91 has received the 2009 AIA Honor Award for Excellence in Architecture for his design of The Gary Comer Youth Center in Chicago which demonstrates a commitment to social progress in providing a constructive environment for area youths to spend their after-school hours.  

Lynn E. Wolff, MLA ’81, announces that her firm, Copley Wolff Design Group, and  EDAW, Inc., the firm of Joseph Brown, MLAUD ’72,  are recipients of an Honor Award for Group Landscape Architecture from the Maryland and Potomac Chapters of the American Society of Landscape Architects  for their work on the Wharf District Park on Boston’s Rose Kennedy Greenway

Paul Westlake, MArch ’78, is the Interiors Award—Restoration Winner for the Balboa Theater near downtown San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter District. The Balboa Theater, circa 1924, suffered through redevelopment fits and starts after going dark in 1982. Today, this glittering jewel box hosts performances in modern comfort and safety, garnering applause and awards all around.
http://www.contractmagazine.com/contract/content_display/design/news/e3i947d7121b176518aff0b08668ea2ae1f

Honoring John Peterson, LF ’06, and John Cary of San Francisco-based Public Architecture, Contract magazine recently named them 2009 Designers of the Year. Positioned clearly at the front of the movement of socially responsible design, Peterson and Cary believe that the benefits of design should not be limited to the wealthy. Rather, they are increasingly focused on bringing design to those who may truly need it and are dedicating their careers to opening up these channels of practice.
http://www.contractmagazine.com/contract/content_display/esearch/e3i947d7121b176518a0b9dcf540d3f8c48?imw=Y

Other News Highlights

Wing Chao, MArch ’72, recognized for work at Disney
Chao believes his career at Disney was practically fated. In 1971, the same year Walt Disney World opened its doors in Orlando, Fla., Chao was working on his thesis at Harvard entitled, “A Free Time City.” Chao’s professor was Kenzo Tange, a celebrated Tokyo-based architect and one of the revolutionary minds behind society's transition into the Information Age. He believed that as technology increasingly permeated all aspects of people’s lives, providing them with additional conveniences, they would have more free time and seek out ways to both entertain and educate themselves. Chao’s thesis looked at this philosophy from an urban planning perspective, which fit in perfectly with the Disney Corporation’s plans for the future.
[Contract Magazine; January 2009]
For the complete article: http://www.contractmagazine.com/contract/content_display/design/designer-profiles/e3i947d7121b176518abddb62f11ff7e4f9

Shun Kanda, MArch ’71, senior lecturer at MIT’s School of Architecture and Planning, has curated the exhibition, “Design Teaching at MIT,” which is on display January 16 through March 13, 2009 at Gallery A4 (pronounced Gallery A Quad) at the new main office of Takenaka Cooperation in Tokyo, Japan. The exhibition includes students’ projects from design studios at MIT and introduces MIT’s teaching styles and its curriculum. Shun directs the annual Japan Design Workshops, a summer program of design fieldwork investigating issues of Continuity/Transformation in Architecture & Community Form. He is currently Director of Architectural Studies with the MIT Japan Program.
 For more information: http://www.a-quad.jp/main.html 

Alumni on the Move

Joanne Sender, RLA, LEED AP, MLA ’77, has joined Jacobs Carter Burgess as Urban Design and  Planning Unit Manager. With 30 years of experience in landscape architecture, her accomplishments include responsibility for large-scale urban and transportation infrastructure projects, land development planning, regional\community master planning, commercial site design, urban design and landscape reclamation, site designs, and ski area development.

Ned Phillip, MLA ’97, Principal of Ned Phillips + Co. LLC, has been elected Chairman of the Block Island Conservation Commission, Block Island, Rhode Island.

New and Current Projects

Cliff Garten, MLA ’97, received the commission to create an integrated public art project as part of the Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area, La Cienega Boulevard Bridge Enhancement Project. This project is produced in association with the Baldwin Hills Conservancy, Los Angeles Neighborhood Initiative, and the firm of Mia Lehrer, MLA’79, Mia Lehrer Landscape Architects. 

Lynn Wolff, MArch ’81, named top architect for Boston’s  central artery

Copley Wolff Design Group (CWDG) president and principal Lynn Wolff, MArch ’81, was recently named one of the “Top 10 Architects and Interior Designers” in Boston by Women’s Business Boston newspaper. 

Lynn received this award in part for her work on the Central Artery / Tunnel Surface Restoration and Wharf District which celebrated their grand opening on October 4, 2008.

This internationally-recognized project changed the face of the city and added nearly 30 acres of public green space to an area of Boston previously consumed by highways and concrete.  Copley Wolff was responsible for the design and development of the Rose Kennedy Greenway Surface Restoration from Causeway to Congress Streets, and in association with EDAW, the Wharf District Park.

The Wharf District Park also received the Honor Award from the American Society of Landscape Architects Maryland and Potomac Chapters.

Michael Kaplan, MArch ’67, publishes new book on Ralph Erskine

View Productions, the firm of Michael Kaplan, MArch ’67, has published Ralph Erskine: Buildings in Stockholm, funded in part by the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts. View Productions produces images of architecture and design in the View-Master 3-dimension format and has received mention in Dwell, Metropolis, Metropolitan Home and Wallpaper magazines, among many others.

For more information: http://viewproductions.com

Henry C.K. Liu, MArch ’60, active in finance and consulting

Henry C. K. Liu, MArch’60, reports that he left the practice of architecture and urban design about a decade ago to become active in finance and in advising governments on macroeconomics with particular emphasis on monetary policy and economic development strategy. Based in New York City, Henry is chairman of a private investment firm and a Visiting Professor of Global Development in the Department of Economics at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. He is also a regular commentator on geopolitics ad economics for Asia Times on Line (AToL) (http://www.atimes.com/atimes/others/Henry.html)

Marcel Acosta, LF ’01, named executive director of the National Capital Planning Commission

Marcel Acosta,  LF ’01, is executive director of the federal government’s central planning agency for Washington DC and the National Capital Region. He will direct the agency’s planning programs, make policy recommendations to the Commission affecting the planning and development interests of the federal government in the National Capital Region, and guide the work of the professional planning staff.

James Favaro, MArch ’82, and Steven Johnson, MArch ’83, complete new college project

Principals at MDA Johnson Favaro in Los Angeles, James Favaro, MArch ’82, and Steven Johnson, MArch ’83, have completed Chaffey College’s Main Instruction Building, the first building on the new campus in Chino, California.

The 203-meter-high Mode Gakuen Cocoon Tower, whose striking design stands out among buildings near the station, symbolizes a cocoon nurturing the young talent inside, according to Tange Associates, the company that designed the building.
[Daily Yomiuri Online+AP, Japan; January 14, 2009]
For the complete article:  http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20090114TDY03104.htm

Peter Oberlander, MCP ’47, remembered for his contributions to Canadian urban life

One of Walter Gropius’s students, Peter Oberlander, MCP ’47, who was the first Canadian to earn a doctorate degree in Regional Planning at the GSD, died on December 27, 2008. A series of firsts marked his distinguished career: co-founder of the Lower Mainland Regional Planning Board (now Metro Vancouver), founder of Canada’s first professional program in Community and Regional Planning at the University of British Columbia, and co-founder of the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements in Vancouver.

Founder and principal of ANDarchitects in New York City, Andrea Steele, MArch, ’96, has designed a penthouse that serves as a residence and a laboratory for green technologies.

Photo by ESTO

Joshua Prince-Ramus, MArch ’96, is waging a holy war against the sculptors, starchitects, and fey theoreticians of his profession. And in the process, he’s actually building things, says the December 2008 Esquire magazine.
For the complete article: http://www.esquire.com/print-this/joshua-prince-ramus-1208#

President-elect Obama nominates Shaun Donovan, MArch ’95, for Secretary of Housing and Urban Development

Shaun Donovan was added to President-elect Barack Obama’s Cabinet to help deal with an issue at the heart of the U.S. economic crisis.

If confirmed by the Senate, New York City’s housing commissioner and former Clinton administration aide will lead the Housing and Urban Development Department at a time when the mortgage crisis is being blamed for the financial market turmoil that has dragged the nation into a recession.

Obama praised Donovan’s record in New York, where he managed a $7.5 billion plan with a goal of putting a half-million New Yorkers in affordable housing. The Harvard-educated architect also kept foreclosures to a minimum in the city’s low- and moderate-income home ownership plan, with just five out of 17,000 participating homes.

[Chicago Tribune; December 13, 2008]
For the complete article:  http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/obama/chi-shaun-donovan-081213-ht,0,4019721.story
[New York Times; December 13, 2008]
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/13/us/politics/13web-donovan.html
http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2009/1/13/74642/6549

Nico Kienzel, DDes ’02, and Atelier Ten celebrate year of growth and recognition.

The year 2008 has been a period of growth and recognition for environmental design consultant firm Atelier Ten USA. In addition to almost doubling its workforce in New York City and New Haven and opening offices in San Francisco and Baltimore, the firm’s Yale Sculpture School project, designed with architect Kieran Timberlake, was named International Project of the Year by the Sustainable Building Services AwardsAtelier Ten USA’s London-based parent company, Atelier Ten Ltd., was recently ranked one of the top ten global service engineering firms by BD World Architecture.

In addition to Nico Kienzl, director, Atelier Ten GSD graduates include associate John An, MDesS ’01, and environmental designers Adriana Lira, MDesS ’03, and Naree Phinyawatana, MDesS ’04. www.atelierten.com or email nyc@atelierten.com.

Nico Kienzel, director of Atelier Ten USA hosted the firm’s annual autumn party on November 13.

Adriana Lira and Naree Phinyawatana, Environmental Designers at Atelier Ten

Josh Dannenberg, MArch ’08, thesis published in Surface award issue.

Recent graduate Josh Dannenberg’s thesis appears in the Annual Thesis Guide in the current issue of Surface magazine. “The design debutantes in this year’s Annual Thesis Guide have refreshed our standards by reworking old materials, hypothesizing new ones and tackling erstwhile problems from original angles,” says the editor. “From expanding the potential of the traditional knit to using complex technologies to shape cities of the future, these studnts make us eager to see what else their careers have in store.”

Advised by Ingebord Rocker, Josh’s idea for a massive driving range on the site of Hong Kong’s former Kai Tak Airport uses complex mathematical equations to encourage a new understanding of how a structure’s surface could singularly unify and define a space. He created a set of customized formulas for each area within the arena that instructed how the surface’s structure could fluidly adapt to the functional needs of the building.  Josh_dannenberg@yahoo.com

Alumni Briefs

•  Richard Haag, MLA ’52, Principal of Richard Haag Associates Landscape Architects, gave the  keynote address “Trees in the City” at the October 2008 Blu + Verde International Congress in Milan, Italy.
  
• James Batchelor, FAIA, LF ’85, recently took office as the 74th president of the Boston Society of Architects, the nation’s largest branch of the AIA. Batchelor is president of Arrowstreet architecture firm in Somerville, MA.
• Cyrus Sutherland, MArch ’49, Professor Emeritus of Architecture and Preservationist, died Nov. 15, after a long illness. In addition to teaching and mentoring many students during his 32 years at the School of Architecture, Sutherland was instrumental in saving and preserving some 40 historically significant buildings in Arkansas and also designed homes, churches and libraries in northwest Arkansas. http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article.aspx?aid=110167.54928.122296
• Marshall Strabala, MArch ’00, celebrated the recent groundbreaking for the Shanghai Tower, China’s tallest building, the Tower is also the world’s first double-skin, super-tall building includes many sustainable features such as roof wind turbines to generate energy. Marshall Strabala of the Gensler architecture and design firm is the director of design for the project.  
  

Michael Lehrer, MArch ’78, designs Los Angeles Elections Operations Center

The Los Angeles County’s Elections Operations Center, which was designed by Michael Lehrer, MArch ’78, is efficient proof of a piece of architecture that finds some surprising and effective grandeur in—of all things—the mechanics of storage. Lehrer calls his building a tribute to the “infrastructure of democracy.”

[Los Angeles Times; November 4, 2008]

For the complete article: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/arts/la-et-electcenter4-2008nov04,0,4532578.story

The work of Suárez Santas Arquitectos was recently exhibited through a video installation at the Spanish Pavilion of the XI International Venice Biennale. The show, which included drawings and images of the firm’s built and unbuilt projects, was part of the Spanish biennale exhibition, titled Spain: From Building to Architecture without Paper, displaying the latest projects from 20 of the country’s architecture offices.

Gil Rosenthal, MArch ’76, represented the United States in a World Forum on Social Housing in Copenhagen. Rosenthal, a principal at Wallace Roberts & Todd, was selected for his work revitalizing distressed public housing in 40 American cities.  Five other architects also participated, including experts from France, Spain, The Netherlands, England and Denmark. The work of Rosenthal and these other architects was also published in ARKITEKTEN.  It was organized by Denmark’s Architects’ Association. A book on the proceedings will be published later this year.

I.M. Pei, MArch ’46, found his inspiration for the Museum of Islamic Art, which is located on an artificial island just off the shore of Doha, in the geometric forms of a 13th- century fountain at a mosque in Cairo.  The museum opened on November 22. 

[Wall Street Journal; November 14, 2008]

For the complete article: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122661462581926029.html

David Trachtenberg’s, MArch ’85, primary accomplishment is helping to shape the look of Berkeley with commercial buildings such as Saul’s Restaurant & Delicatessen, the former Cody’s Books on Fourth Street, and the mixed-use building that houses La Farine bakery on Solano Avenue.

[San Francisco Chronicle; November 5, 2008]

For the complete article: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/11/05/HOUS13ACM8.DTL

Jonathan Rule, MArch ’08, and Bernardo Maldonato, MAUD ’08, winner and finalist of design competition

The Red Hook Bicycle Master Plan Design Competition was organized by the Forum for Urban Design with the intention of reimagining Red Hook as the most bicycle friendly neighborhood in New York City.  Jonathan Rule, MArch ’08, an architect with Morcillo + Pallares Arquitectos in Spain, was the winner of the competition.  Second place went to Bernardo Maldonato, MAUD ’08, and his teammates at HOK Sport’s New York Design Studio.

For more information on Rule’s winning design see: http://ffud.org/rhfinals/specifics/24137.html
For more information on the Bernardo Maldonato/HOK project: http://ffud.org/rhfinals/specifics/28941.html

Bernardo Maldonato’s Red Hook master plan scheme.

Jonathan Rule, MArch ’08, and the studio Morcillo + Pallares Arquitectos also won first place in a design competition for a performing arts center in Molina de Segura, Murcia, Spain.  The Centro de Produccion de Artes Escenicas / PRODUCTION+PERFORMANCE consists of a center for performing arts situated between an industrial enclave and new residential neighborhood.  

Aziza Chaouni, MArch ’05, and Takako Tajima, MLA ’05, MUP ’05, win sustainability gold prize

Chaouni and Tajima received the Holcim Africa Middle East Gold Award for their river remediation and urban development scheme in Fez, Morocco.  Dan Brunn, MArch ’05, was also a member of the design team.  Construction on the landscape design, which includes water quality improvement, remediation of contaminated sites, creation of open spaces, and the enhancement of existing resources for economic development, is set to begin in January 2009. 

For more information see:
http://www.holcimfoundation.org/T855/A08AM-overview.htm
http://www.holcimfoundation.org/T856/A08AMgo.htm
www.extramuro.com

The Museum of Fine Arts Boston has selected locally-based Ann Beha Architects to develop a master plan for its campus, including The Forsyth Institute property that the MFA purchased in September 2007.

GSD Alumni participate in Future Practice Seminar

Zhya David Jacobs, MDesS '07

Zhya David Jacobs, MDesS ‘07, tragically drowned in Lake Michigan on November 11.  The circumstances surrounding his death are not clear. Founder and president of the student group GSD India, Zhya was also a teaching fellow of the 2006-2007 studio option in Mumbai, led by Professor Niall Kirkwood, Chairman of the Landscape Architecture Department.

 Zyha was committed to addressing the issues in cities of the developing world and using them as laboratories for global solutions. He once wrote that his experience in the Mumbai studio option encouraged him to pursue the role of design in shaping our way of life and understanding the importance of bringing the sensibility and ethics of the design profession to tackle these complex issues.

Martin Bechthold, Professor of Architectural Technology and Co-Director, MDesS Program, emailed a letter to the MDesS alumni in which he said:

“Zhya was an outstanding student and wonderful member of the GSD community.  I greatly enjoyed working with him, and fondly recall his friendly and kind presence. Zhya also worked closely with Professors Niall Kirkwood, Monica Ponce de Leon, Daniel Schodek, Kostas Terzidis, Spiro Pollalis and John Macomber.  He left behind a closely knit group of friends from his years at the GSD.  We will all miss him, and will be sending our sincere condolences to his family and friends in India.  Please join me in remembering Zhya, his passionate enthusiasm for design, his friendship and richness of spirit.”

Zhya worked most recently as Senior Architectural Professional at Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture in Chicago.
Responses may be posted on Chicago Breaking News at http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2008/11/man.html

Maryann Thompson, MArch/MLA ’89, and David Hamilton, MArch ’00, noted for their sustainable design

For the first time that she can remember, clients are requesting “sustainable homes,” says Cambridge architect Maryann Thompson, M.Arch.-M.L.A. ’89, who is known for her “green building” principles. “It’s very exciting. Lots of clients who may have been looking to tear things down are instead looking at adaptive re-uses, which is the most targeted kind of recycling you can do.”

[Harvard Magazine, November-December]

For the complete article: http://www.harvardmagazine.com/2008/11/keeping-it-green.html

As the global financial crisis starts to hit the local economy, Boston and the region can draw strength from a reservoir of intellectual talent and history of innovation, attendees at the fourth annual Ideas Boston conference were told yesterday.
Kennedy spoke about her work to develop flexible photovoltaic materials, which function like curtains over a window, but generate enough electricity to charge a cell phone or light a room. She said the materials are being used in the Portable Light Project, which her Boston architectural firm, KVA MATx, has developed to bring power to rural Mexico and other areas that do not have access to an electric grid.

[Boston Globe; October 31, 2008]

For the complete article: http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2008/10/31/speakers_see_ne_handling_fiscal_crisis/?s_campaign=8315

The Shanghai Port International Cruise Terminal, designed by Francis “Frank” Repas, MArch ’70,  is the first major modern cruise facility in China and, according to his firm, possibly the only one anywhere that is underground. The terminal establishes a new context for the future cruise industry on the eastern Pacific Rim and acts as an urban design catalyst for development of the entire northern Hongkou district of Shanghai.  
A transparent glass bubble 280 feet long, one of the largest and most technically complex structures of its type in the world, floats above the terminal and park. It is a fluid, silvery form that acts as a 42,000-square-foot observation platform and multipurpose facility for the new cruise terminal and is also a cultural venue. Its glass surface is defined by geometric procedures never before done at this scale.

Bill Hubner, MArch ’83, principal architect of Incite Architecture in Lexington, Massachusetts has received a Builders Choice Design and Planning Award. A special Focus award was given to the firm for the design of the Dixon Sound Studio in Concord, Massachusetts as an innovative solution for an out-building on a residential property. The 658-square-foot listening and composing studio space also doubles as a guesthouse and home theater.

For more information and more pictures of the Studio please visit our website www.incitearchitecture.com click on Projects, Competed, and Dixon.

Scott Levitan, MAUD ’84, named Innovator of the Year

Scott Levitan, Senior Vice President and Director of Development of Forest City Science + Technology Group, has received the Innovator of the Year awarded by the Maryland Daily Record. Levitan accepted the honor at an awards ceremony on Wednesday, October 15. Forest City Science + Technology Group is part of the Forest City-New East Baltimore Partnership, which is developing the Science + Technology Park at Johns Hopkins.

The Innovator of the Year awards program recognizes Maryland residents and companies who have introduced innovations that have had a positive effect on their business, industry, or community. Levitan is being recognized for his dedication to revitalizing the New East Side through the development of the Science + Technology Park at Johns Hopkins.

One of Levitan’s most important initiatives has been the inclusion of minority and women-owned businesses in the project. The first building, completed in April, had a minority business enterprise representation of 29 percent, and 7.4 percent women-owned business enterprise contracts were awarded.

“I am honored and humbled by this distinction,” said Levitan. “I believe the work that Forest City-New East Baltimore Partnership is doing will help strengthen the community and lead to better jobs, better homes, and a better quality of life. I cannot thank my colleagues enough for their help in making this project a success.”

A retrospective exhibit, “Edward L Daugherty: A Southern Landscape Architect Exploring New Forms,” opened October 17, 2008 and will run through March 25, 2009 at the Atlanta History Center in Atlanta, Georgia. His career is the subject of a documentary film produced by The Cultural Landscape Foundation. For brief excerpts of the film, go to: www.tclf.org.

Marcia Rosen comes to NHLP with an extraordinary and extensive background in housing and community development work and leadership for which she has received significant and well deserved recognition. For six years she served as the Executive Director of the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency, a governmental agency dedicated to promoting community, economic, and physical development of San Francisco’s distressed neighborhoods and the development and preservation of affordable housing. Prior to that, she served for five years as Director of the San Francisco Mayor’s Office of Housing, representing the mayor before various local, state and federal agencies and legislative bodies. During this time, she also served on the U.S. Conference of Mayors Housing and Community Development Committee, representing that committee and the City of San Francisco during both the Clinton and Bush Administrations. Before serving the City of San Francisco, Marcia was the Deputy Director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, where she represented low-income people and community organizations in a broad array of civil rights cases and issues, specifically focusing on housing, land use, economic and community development, and child and youth issues.

Edith Hsu-Chen, MUP ’97, named new director of Manhattan planning office

Firm of Assoc. Prof. Joe MacDonald, MArch ’92, receives New York Chapter AIA award

Urban A&O, the firm of Associate Professor of Architecture Joe MacDonald, MArch ’92, was the Highest Honor recipient of the AIA New York Chapter’s “New Practices New York 2008” competition.

New Practices New York 2008 is the second juried portfolio competition and exhibition in a new biennial tradition sponsored by the New Practices Committee of the AIA New York Chapter.  It serves as a platform to recognize and promote new, innovative and emerging architecture firms within New York City that have undertaken unique and commendable strategies – both in the projects they undertake and the practices that they have established.  Distinguishing this award from others given to new practices is the attention focused on how the winning firms are uniquely shaped to better facilitate the type of projects they undertake.

The Center for Architecture—AIA New York Chapter is featuring an exhibition of the award-winning projects through January 3, 2009. For more information: http://www.aiany.org/centerforarchitecture/exhibitions.php

Filio Iliopoulou, MLA ’08, wins jury award in IFLA competition.

Out of 380 submissions, Filio Iliopoulou, MLA ’08, won a jury award for, “Blue-Green,” in the International Federation of Landscape Architects competition that was announced at the World Congress IFLA last June. The theme was “Transforming with Water.” For a list of winners, visit http://www.ifla2008.com/.

Andrea Cochran, MLA '79, noted for her sustainable gardens with an aesthetic flair.

San Francisco landscape architect Andrea Cochran did environmental planning for the Tennessee Valley Authority before moving on to residential gardens. At Walden Studios in California, Ms. Cochran juxtaposed planes of crushed local stone, water and a minimal lawn.

[The New York Times; August 22, 2008]
For the full article: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/21/garden/21sustainable.html?pagewanted=1
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/08/20/garden/20080821_sustainable_ss_2.html

Building Tall, by Scott Johnson, MArch '75, newly published.

The skyscraper, whatever it may be as physical fact, looms large in our lives. As a figment of our imaginations it conveys wealth, ambition, and dominance. The image of the skyscraper has been made and remade in the news, in literature, and film, and now in all forms of our global media. 

Paradoxically, as the building type continues to become more complex and is designed to address fundamentally different cultural conditions, the image, that is to say, the idea, of the skyscraper in the public mind seems to become simpler, more omnipresent, and more consumable.

Building Tall explores what the skyscraper evokes in us as a curious and complex technical achievement and also as a powerful image that has inspired artists for over 100 years. Johnson's readable text and his intimate knowledge of tall building brings the skyscraper to life both technically and emotionally. Numerous, rarely seen images of landmarks of architecture make this book a visual treat.

Michael Lehrer, MArch '78, project wins best building award

Michael Lehrer, MArch '78, was among the 66 architects whom the The Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design honored with the American Architectural Awards for the Best New Building Design in the United States for 2008. His project, Water + Life Museums Campus, was designed in association with Gangi Design+ Build.

David Halpern, MArch '63, helps form visual identity for NYU campus

The office of David Halpern, MArch '63, Halpern Associates, within its masterplan for NYU's downtown campus, has created a sense of place for the university as noted in the June 5th issue of the New York Sun. By visually opening up the ground floors of the university's diverse buildings, he has brought them together into a coherent whole. Halpern Architects removed all the visual encumbrances, creating a street-level transparency, and placed activity-filled spaces, such as student lounges, on the ground floor. The firm has worked with NYU since the 1980s.