Among the “9 Women Who Are Rocking Public Interest Design” listed in Architizer last week are 3 GSD alums and a Loeb Fellow. Liz Ogbu (MArch ‘04), Marika Shioiri-Clark (MArch ’11), Chelina Odbert (MUP ’07) and Deanna VanBuren (LF ’12) are in practice, in academia and even in prisons–building, convening, researching and listening to the needs of communities to tackle social problems on every continent. Read more about them. Photo courtesy of Lee Romney, LA Times.
Gia Wolff (MArch ’08) can draw a line from her interest in “spectacle, performance, scale and experience”–which she explored in her GSD thesis project–to her winning 2013 Wheelwright Prize proposal, to her current installation in the Tate Modern’s “Up Hill Down Hall: An indoor carnival.”
In an article for Architectural Record, writer Bryony Roberts cites the Critical Conservation program at the GSD as evidence of a trend toward adapting and transforming existing buildings in highly nuanced ways that challenge the user’s experience of the structure and its history. Rick Lowe (LF ’02) and Project Row Houses in Houston are part of the vanguard. Read “Beyond Gordon Matta-Clark.” Image courtesy of modpod, a project of Project Row Houses
Ecosistema Urbano, the firm of Belinda Tato and Jose Luis Vallejo (design critics in architecture), has been awarded 1st prize in the international competition for the Master Plan to redefine the historic downtown of the city of Asunción, Paraguay. Details and photos in ArchDaily and on the Plan CHA website or read a translation of the proposal. Photo courtesy of la Secretaría Nacional de Cultura
Rahul Mehrotra (professor of urban design and planning and chair of urban planning and design) views architecture as the expression of the aspirations of society. In his teaching he advocates for design that connects all strata of society and chips away at inequities, and he practices what he preaches. Watch a video interview by ArchDaily.
Bing Wang (associate professor in practice of real estate and the built environment) was selected a Young Leader by the 2014 World Cities Summit. WCS Young Leaders are prominent individuals from diverse urban sectors who are committed to actively catalyze change in cities and help shape urban development agendas. They are selected once every two years for a 3-year tenure. The WCS YL initiative provides a platform to carry out intellectual discourse on urban issues and launch initiatives to tackle the challenges of tomorrow. Learn more about the World Cities Summit Young Leaders.
Caroline James (MArch ’14) was at the 2014 Venice Biennale to view the outcome of 2 Rotterdam studios abroad, additional student engagement and her own summer internship with Rem Koolhaas’s (professor in practice of architecture and urban design) AMO studio to put together the “Elements of Architecture” book and exhibition. She found a rigorous presentation of the human relationship to architecture and a wholly new approach to the Biennale itself. Read her post in the LOEBlog.
GSD alumna Amale Andraos has been appointed dean of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP).
Felipe Correa's (associate professor of urban design) workshop “Tokyo: A Synthesis of Scales” explored Tokyo as a unique urban laboratory to examine architecture across a range of urban scales. Students and faculty from architecture schools in the region took part in a short yet intense design exercise. The workshop was supported by Dean Mostafavi's office, Tokyo alumni and the Mori Corporation.
This summer, The Architectural League and the Center for an Urban Future have launched a design study to articulate new architectural, financial, and programmatic possibilities that will unlock the potential of the NYC branch libraries to be essential neighborhood-based resource centers. An interdisciplinary team including Daniel Hernandez, (LF ’98) of Topoloty LLC and Michael Murphy (MArch ‘11), executive director of MASS Design Group, is among the 5 winning teams selected to participate in the design study. Learn more on the ArchLeague website.