April 2009 Enewsletter
This E-newsletter keeps fellows in the know about each other's professional lives. It includes new job titles, recent publications, current projects, conferences, symposia, lectures and other events involving fellows.
See Fellowship Events for upcoming conferences and lectures featuring past and current Loeb Fellows.
SEND SUBMISSIONS FOR E-NEWSLETTER AS WORD DOCUMENTS TO CINDY FALLOWS: cfallows@gsd.harvard.edu
Announcements
Welcome to the class of 2010!
- Rob Bleiberg is the Executive Director of the Mesa Land Trust (MLT) in Grand Junction, Colorado. He is a leader in the vital movement to conserve land for ecological, environmental and social reasons.
- Patricia Leigh Brown is a contributing writer for the New York Times and Architectural Digest who works out of San Francisco. She writes feature pieces about the cultural landscape, vernacular architecture and the relationship between people and place.
- Julie Campoli is a landscape architect and author whose work has focused on analyzing urban form and the relationships between place and culture and the landscape and human settlements.
- Michael Creasey is the Superintendant of the Lowell National Historical Park, a strong model for the urban parks that comprise many of our National Park sites.
- Jose de Filippi has just completed a third term as the Mayor of Diadema, Brazil. He focused particularly on innovative programs to reduce violence and on cooperative ways to renew the favelas within his community. Jose was trained as an engineer.
- Donna Graves is an arts and cultural heritage consultant and urban historian. She has worked with cities and community groups to document and activate their histories.
- Weiwen Huang is Director of the Department of Urban and Architecture Design, Shenzhen National Planning Bureau.
- Gil Kelley is the former Director of Planning for Portland, Oregon, and previously served in the same role in Berkeley, California.
- Neal Morris is a developer in New Orleans. He is concerned about the zoning ordinance and other regulations in New Orleans and is involved in efforts to re-write them and to change the regulatory environment.
- Peter Steinbrueck FAIA, principal of Steinbrueck Urban Strategies, LLC, is an architect who recently completed a third successful term as a Seattle City Councilor.
West Grand Lake Community Forest Project
Peter Stein, LF 1981, of Lyme Timber shares that the company's most recent investment embodies the breadth, complexity and social/environmental benefits of their work. The West Grand Lake Community Forest Project, in central Washington County, ME, was organized with the cooperation of numerous local, non-profit, and business organizations. The 22,000 acres of the project are truly the “hole in the donut” of a landscape scale conservation effort that spans the Maine/New Brunswick border region.
Harvard-Dutch Collaboration
Climate change and environmental planning: those were the buzzwords at the GSD – certainly among the students – when I was a Loeb Fellow in 2006-’07. I also noticed that there is a lot of interest in the Netherlands, where I have lived for over half my life and where I work as a journalist and writer. The Dutch of course have centuries of experience in water management, and are gradually expanding their strategy from pure technological defense (higher and higher dikes, storm surge barriers, etc) to finding ways to accommodate water. Water is no longer just a foe, but can also be a friend.
When I returned from Harvard I suggested to the ministries of Planning
and of Water Management that they sponsor a project at Harvard. They were
immediately enthusiastic, and are working together with Jerold Kayden, chair
of Urban Planning & Design. The outcome is a two-year collaboration between
the Dutch government and the GSD comprising two design studios, internships
in the Netherlands, an exchange of ten experts and a research project with
the Center for the Environment.
The first studio, a joint offering of the departments of Landscape
and of Urban Planning & Design, is taking place now, in the spring semester
of 2009. It is being taught by Armando Carbonell and Martin Zogran, with
the Dutch landscape architect Dirk Sijmons as visiting professor. The location
is the new town of Almere, which is confronted not only with water issues
but also with the need to build 60.000 houses in the next twenty years and
to expand the infrastructure connection to Amsterdam. The students came to
the Netherlands at the end of March for the field trip and will present their
designs at the final review on May 5th.
The second studio will be in the spring semester of 2009-’10 and
will probably have Rotterdam as its location. In conjunction with this project,
and in my capacity as visiting fellow, I am working on a book which will
be called ‘Sweet&Salt: Design Response to Climate Change’. Publication
is planned for the summer of 2011, to coincide with the second edition of
the Landscape Triennial.
Tracy Metz LF 2007
t.metz@nrc.nl
Images of Harvard GSD studio in the Netherlands, March 2009: 1 2 3 4
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image 1 was taken by GSD professor Martin Zogran; images 2-4 by GSD student Dave Lewis
A note from Jim and Sally:...
Cindy Fallows Moving on to New Adventures
We are both delighted and saddened by Cindy’s decision to leave her position with the Loeb Fellowship effective June 30th. Her decision has been precipitated by Harvard’s offer of voluntary early retirement. For us it is a bittersweet decision because we have developed a wonderful team and we will deeply miss all of the many things Cindy does on behalf of the Fellowship, the Fellows and the Alumni network. The great news is that Cindy is planning to get married and to move to New Hampshire to share a new life adventure with her partner. The enormity of the gap that will be left with her departure is only beginning to come into focus. We wish Cindy much happiness in her new life and we will miss her many contributions to the work of the Fellowship throughout the year.
Events
Revitalizing Cleveland
Speaker: India Pierce Lee, Loeb Fellow 2009
BSA Placemaking Seminar - 52 Broad Street, 5th Floor, Boston, MA.
Monday, April 27, 12 noon
In 2006, The Cleveland Foundation, in partnership with Cleveland’s leading “anchor institutions” and local philanthropies and community groups, launched the Greater University Circle Initiative. The Initiative is designed to stimulate new investment in the neighborhoods of Greater University Circle to “create a 21st century community.” The Greater University Circle Initiative is a path-breaking attempt to transform the quality of life for the area’s low- and moderate-income residents. If successful, this Initiative promises to forge a new model of comprehensive community development that could become a national model for how cities can leverage their existing assets to create jobs, address poverty, build community wealth and family assets, and integrate into the development process a core commitment to environmental sustainability.
http://www.clevelandfoundation.org/
Loeb Annual Alumni Lecture - Where the Revolution Began: Lawrence and Anna Halprin and the Reinvention of Public Space
Speaker: Randy Gragg, Loeb Fellow 2006
Friday, May 1st, 6:00 p.m., Piper Auditorium, Harvard Graduate School of Design, 48 Quincy Street
Between 1963 and '70, Lawrence Halprin designed a series of fountain plazas in downtown Portland, Oregon that forever changed public space design in the U.S. Merging water, sculpture and theater, they provided something rarely seen since the renaissance: urban places for civic play. Writer/editor Randy Gragg explore both the designs' origins in the era's activist politics and in the highly experimental danceworks of Halprin's wife, choreographer Anna Halprin. And he will present excerpts from a series of recent performances that, in the same radical spirit of the Halprins, used dance and music to foster the plazas' preservation.
2009 Loeb Alumni Council Meeting Weekend schedule of events
Local Loebs are invited to attend the Annual Loeb Lecture with
speaker, Randy Gragg, LF 2006 (description above) in Piper
Auditorium on Friday, May 1 at 6 p.m. An opening reception
will follow in Gund Hall lobby for "The Allston Corridor", an exhibit by
current fellows Jim Brown and Rob Lane.
The Annual Loeb Alumni Council Meeting is scheduled for Saturday,
May 2 from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
We hope to see representatives or alternates from all classes in
attendance. Last year's meeting was a great success due to the large number
of attendees. Contact Cindy (cfallows@gsd.harvard.edu)
if you are planning to attend.
Publications
The June issue of Architectural Digest will feature a country home for a Chicago family designed by Margaret McCurry, LF 1987, on a former truck farm in rural Michigan. This past February, the magazine featured a remodeling she did in the Chicago suburbs. Also, a home in Aspen designed by McCurry and her husband Stanley Tigerman with garden designed by landscape architect Maria Smithburg, MLA '85, was just published in The Architect’s Garden, Schiffer Press by Lucy Rosenfeld.
Alumni News
Terrence Curry, LF 2001, has just been appointed Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Tsinghua University School of Architecture. Terrence moved to Beijing in January, and has been spending most of his time studying Chinese. He left Budapest in August, where he started the Szent Jozsef Studio Kollegium at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, and is hoping to start a new community design center in Beijing that focuses on manufactured housing within 2 years.
Barbara Deutsch, LF 2006, named Executive Director of the Landscape Architecture Foundation
The Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF) has named Barbara Deutsch, ASLA, as Executive Director. Deutsch was formerly Associate Director at BioRegional for its One Planet Communities Program in Washington, D.C.
Deutsch will focus on expanding LAF’s influence and role in sustainable design. “I’m looking forward to partnering with other environmental organizations to develop joint programs which will leverage LAF’s strengths and resources and lead to greater impact solving the complex, interdisciplinary environmental problems we face today.”
VJAA, the Minneapolis-based architecture firm where Jennifer Yoos, LF 2003, is a principal, was recently awarded the 2009 AIA Cote Top Ten Green Award for their Charles Hostler Student Center in Beirut, Lebanon.
Armando Carbonell, LF 1993, presented the talk "New Rural": Strategies for Small Town Sustainability on Friday April 3 at the Sustainable Urbanism Summit in Portsmouth, N.H.
Deborah Frieden, LF 2007, spoke at the Tel Aviv -Yafo Centennial Symposium for Urban Development and Sustainability on April 1 and 2. The symposium was the flagship event for a year of celebrations, community events and public discourse on Tel Aviv, Israel’s future. Deborah spoke on forging an urban future through innovation in cultural projects with a focus on maximizing social benefit; the talk was entitled Cultural Projects for an Urban Future.
Haig Khachatoorian, LF 1986, received the Outstanding Teaching Award from the NCSU College of Design. He is now a member of the Academy of Outstanding Teachers at North Carolina State University and currently serving as interim head of the Department of Industrial Design. Also, Haig and his wife, Frances Gravely, had their home published in the March 2009 issue of Architectural Digest, p.66; the home was designed by Kenneth Hobgood, FAIA and Michael Van Valkenberg, FASLA.
1000 Friends of Oregon seeks Executive Director
1000 Friends of Oregon is seeking a highly motivated individual with a strong vision and passion for land-use planning to become its next Executive Director. This is a highly visible position in a highly visible organization, with a strong influence in how Smart Growth will evolve both in the state of Oregon, and across the country.
The Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP) seeks Executive Director
The Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP) is a Brooklyn-based nonprofit organization that uses the power of art and visual culture to increase the quality of public participation in urban planning and community design. CUP specializes in creating interdisciplinary collaborations that bring together designers, educators, advocates, and community residents to improve urban life in New York City and beyond. The deadline to apply is May 1st.
More information can be obtained at http://www.anothercupdevelopment.org/CUP_EDsearch.pdf
or here, in the job
announcement
Director of Design Excellence and the Arts
The incumbent of this position serves as the Design Excellence and the Arts Program Manager in the Office of the Chief Architect, Public Buildings Service. Provides national leadership and direction for GSA's Design Excellence, Art in Architecture, Art Conservation, Design Award and Legacy Programs to support the execution of GSA's nationwide construction programs.
Major Duties:
Provide leadership and direction in the development and implementation of Design Excellence programs. Direct and oversee the planning, development and administration of all comprehensive design excellence programs for both PBS National Office and regional components.
Establish design excellence program standards, review process and protocols and link to budget.Establish project design excellence process to identify and remedy program issues with link to budget.
Establish measures to ensure design excellence and architecture processes are being followed and revised as necessary.
Manage PBS Registry of Peer Professionals Program. Administer Peer Reviews. Manage A/E Selection Panel approval for OCA. Administer Art in Architecture Program. Manage legacy and documentation of Art and Architecture Programs. Manage Art Conservation Program. Manage GSA Design Awards and Presidential Design Awards programs.
Closing date for applications is April 30, 2009.
I welcome the opportunity to speak with potential applicants.
Tom Grooms
202-501-4941
Seeking Hosts for Outreach Events
Outreach Activities:
As a result of our outreach events this fall and last spring we have
a diverse applicant pool for the current application cycle including applicants
from a number of cities where we have no Fellows or very few Fellows, and
a set of strong applications from people of color.
We are delighted that our ongoing efforts are yielding strong applications. But
our work is just beginning. We would like to continue this trend
into next year and in the years ahead. Personal connections and encouragement
from Loeb alumni have been the most powerful tool in attracting strong and
diverse candidates for the Fellowship. Loeb alumni can be of assistance
to the general outreach efforts and in our diversity outreach by nominating
promising applicants whom you believe would make excellent candidates for
the fellowship, and by hosting an outreach dinner or event to introduce candidates
to the program. We welcome participation from all of our alumni.
We invite you to take a look at our Diversity link (located
on left hand menu of Loeb Fellowship home page at http://www.gsd.harvard.edu/professional/loeb_fellowship/).
The Diversity page contains profiles of alumni/ae Fellows from a variety of
backgrounds who share their personal stories about their time as a fellow,
and ways in which their professional lives were affected after the Fellowship.
If you have any suggestions concerning minority and or general outreach
efforts, contact Jim Stockard at stockard@gsd.harvard.edu,
617.495.5988 or Sally Young at syoung@gsd.harvard.edu,
617.495.9345.
Thanks for your efforts.
Searchable Database
Send updated contact and career information, including key search words and job description, to Cindy at: cfallows@gsd.harvard.edu, 617.384.8387.