SPACEWORK 02

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PHILADELPHIA UNIVERSITY PHILADELPHIA UNIVERSITY COLLEGEAND OF ARCHITECTURE AND THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT

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SPACEWORK ISSUE

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PHILADELPHIA UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE AND THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT

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Introduction Dear Reader: Last year, students at Philadelphia University conceptualized a new type of design annual. With oversight from professor Donald Dunham, AIA, a team of 12 students from the College of Architecture and the Built Environment (C_ABE) designed, wrote, and produced a compelling journal. SPACEWORK highlighted the college’s programs in architecture, interior design (rated a top-10 national program by DesignIntelligence), construction management, geodesign, landscape architecture, and sustainable design, as well as the university’s nexus learning approach.

Building on the success of last year’s volume, a new group of students prepared the 2015 edition, featuring outstanding design projects created during the 2014-15 academic year by our talented students. Focusing on topics relevant to contemporary discourse in architecture and design, this edition contextualizes projects in five topical areas: (to) advocate, relate, generate, fabricate, and locate. As an educational tool teaching students the value of communication and critical reflection, SPACEWORK has sparked a dialogue between and among students and faculty about the relevance of architecture and its allied fields in the 21st century. SPACEWORK also examines the comprehensive PhilaU studio experience and the design concepts and critical thinking that happen as early as freshman year, with humor and context provided to illustrate C_ABE’s unique culture. My thanks go to the editorial team for their perseverance and passion in driving this project forward.

The 2014-15 academic year has been marked by many student achievements. For the fifth consecutive year, PhilaU interior design students swept the annual International Interior Design Association (IIDA) Tri-State Student Design Competition: Chesenia Burgos, Erik Smith, and Madeline Hill won first, second, and third prizes, respectively. The 2015 Honor Award of the Pennsylvania / Delaware American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) Student Awards went to PhilaU students Emma Haley, Amanda Bonelli, and Lauren Brosius. The prestigious DesignIntelligence annual survey also ranked the university’s interior design program third nationally by employers for sustainable design practices and principles.

Congratulations!

In Fall 2014, Philadelphia University’s landscape architecture program earned another six-year accreditation from the Landscape Architectural Accreditation Board (LAAB). The accrediting board praised the program’s environmentally minded curriculum and emphasis on sustainable design, calling it “one of the most highly unique in the country.”

In the past three years, the College of Architecture and the Built Environment has grown substantially. Via 11 programs, the college offers a unique combination of disciplines providing an unparalleled opportunity for interdisciplinary collaboration. This summer, C_ABE will launch a new three-year professional architecture degree (M.Arch) at the graduate level, expanding our graduate program offerings to include both a professional and a research path (M.S. Arch) in architecture. With a core focusing on sustainable design and integrated practice taught across all graduate programs, the college continues to be committed to educating the next generation of leaders for a sustainable future.

SPACEWORK celebrates the excellent work of our students and faculty. I am proud of their achievements.

I would like to thank our dedicated students and faculty involved in this ambitious project, as well as Professor Donald Dunham and Advancement Council member Amanda Gibney Weko, who guided our students and edited the journal. I am very grateful for the financial support provided by the C_ABE Advancement Council, especially Brian Corcodilos, for making this publication possible.

All of us at PhilaU see SPACEWORK as a foundation for studio culture, as a touchstone for students as they journey through the entire course sequence, and as a dialogue about design and process. I invite you to read and enjoy the second edition!

Barbara Klinkhammer Executive Dean

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CONTENTS

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ADVOC AT E 10-13 17 18-19 20-21

E.W. Rhodes Playground Global Brigades Freedom by Design Studio Culture: The Resources

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GE NE RAT E 44-47 58-59 60-61

Dr. Kihong Ku Christian Jordan Studio Culture: Lift-Off

05 L OCAT E 82-85 90-91 96-97 100-101 102-103 104-105

Brian Johnston Morna Livingston Rob Fleming Studio Culture: Shop Talk Closing Conversation Index

02 R E L ATE 24-26 32-35 40-41

Kim Douglas Jim Cassidy & Ivano D’Angella Studio Culture: Studio Tips

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FAB R I C ATE 68-69 72 75 77 78-79

Keith & Marie Zawistowski Armando Plata Bill Christensen Alexander Messinger Studio Culture: Launch Pad

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ADVOCATE

(v): designs which are driven by user/community needs

civil communal collective group informative societal

Advocacy is responding.

Advocacy recognizes a societal problem and solves it through design. It reacts to a community’s concerns with a humanitarian approach. It makes local connections to larger cultural issues.

Advocacy designs with a client’s needs in mind and makes a positive impact. Advocacy succeeds when an investment of time yields designs that meet social, cultural, and functional needs.

In order to make a difference in local areas or abroad, designers must meet the challenges that arise. A town could need rebuilding after a disaster; a neighborhood could use a park to keep their children active; or a staircase in a home could use a new handrail to make it more accessible. This is where designers step in and advocate solutions. Improving the natural surroundings through physical space makes an impression on people. Physical space can transform into social space that promotes human interaction, initiates change, and responds to the issues at hand.

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IN EXTENSION EXAMINING THE IN BETWEEN SPACES OF PROGRAM AND LANDSCAPE This project focuses on the immediate needs of the Limbe community in Malawi, Africa. The proposal consisted of designing a three-phased medical complex for local expatriates in Malawi. The overall project possessed a real client while working and conversing about the needs, desires and collective goals of the project. The proposed site was of semi-remote location with varying levels of access. It was challenging because of the programmatic needs maintaining one level and the site having a thirty foot grade change from each end.

This particular design serves to create a programmatic scheme that maintains adjacencies while integrating itself thoughtfully with the immediate landscape of the site. The overall objectives of this design is to enclose the program by means of separation through privacy and security, create procession through thresholds and transitions as well as create activity through conditions of necessary, optional and social engagement.

ARCH D9 KATHLEEN GARNER

ADVOCAT E

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SPACEWORK

MICRO RESPONSIVE DESIGN : SINGULAR PROGRAM This health clinic design focuses on the response to the local Malawians in addition to expatriates. The clinic aims to encourage community education, interaction, and involvement through outdoor spaces within the proposed site. Relating to the nature of Malawians and their appreciation for landscape and outdoor experience, this design continually connects the user with the environment through varying levels of exposure while simultaneously providing a direct connection to exterior gathering spaces. These outdoor spaces activate all programmatic elements and help to blend interior and exterior experiences while continuously promoting community interaction, education, and overall health and well being.

ARCH D9 JUSTIN SHAFFER

ADVOCAT E

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MACRO RESPONSIVE DESIGN: MASTER PLANNING Residents of Alexandra have been characterized by their love for their city and the struggle for the right remain in the city. Although the Reconstruction and Development Program is focusing on housing, they are neglecting their failing infrastructure. The combination of subsidized housing and micro-grid infrastructure will continue to build the community in Alexandra. Therefore an RDP system emphasized on micro-grid concepts of infrastructure and space will create a more effective and holistic strategy of public housing. The design proposal is to create a more effective and community based public housing strategy which first provides basic infrastructure (water, sewerage, electric) through a system of micro-grids, while maintaining density in Alexandra.

ARCH D10 LAUREN BROSIUS

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SPACEWORK

A CONVERSATION WITH THE E . W. R H O D E S P L AY G R O U N D C R E W C HR I S T OP HE R K I R C HE R , AI A B OB B Y B R OT HE R T ON CA L L E IG H M CD O NA L D (CM ) C HE L S E Y L OV E F R AN K HAN S E N S J US T I N S HAF F E R DY L AN HE R MAN C OR E Y P E DE R S E N MI K E HOL L AN D AAR ON K I M

P ro fe s s o r/ P ro f e s s i o n a l R h o d e s S c h oo l Te a c h e r P h i l aU C o n t a c t P h i l a d e l p h i a Wa te r De p a rtmen t L i a i s o n Tr e a s u r e r Do c u me n ta ti o n / P ho t o g r a p h y Ma te ri a l R e s e a rc h & Pr o t o t y p i n g Ma te ri a l R e s e a rc h & Pr o t o t y p i n g Ma te ri a l R e s e a rc h & Pr o t o t y p i n g Ma te ri a l R e s e a rc h & Pr o t o t y p i n g

INT E R V I E W E D B Y: K R I S T I N P OOL (KP )

Being able to see what was once just a conversation and idea come to fruition is one of the greatest feelings as a designer. It took a group of eight dedicated and inspired students to identify the need for a playground and give local elementary school children a new environment for play. With several key players throughout the design process and the addition of professional and academic assistance, the E.W. Rhodes Playground Crew has made the dream of safe, creative, and innovative play a reality for local children.

ADVOCAT E

KP:

What is the playground project?

CM:

It is the playground design for the E.W. Rhodes School. Their play space is currently just concrete. The students that attend this school are under-privileged and in need. We want to support what they are already doing on the playground: free play. Free play is un-prescribed play where imagination is the key part.

KP:

What inspired the playground project?

CM:

This project started as a conversation between T.J. Burghart (2014 alumnus) and Bobby Brotheron (E.W. Rhodes teacher). They met through an event they both attended. On Saturdays they would volunteer making sandwiches for the homeless at an East Falls church.

KP:

What are the goals of the project? Have the goals shifted throughout the process?

CM:

Originally the goals were to design the playground and then go in and build it ourselves. But as the process has progressed, we have found it more practical to design the playground and then prepare enough information for someone else to build it. The goals really turned into how we can best design this project and make it a reality.

KP:

How has the process been integrated into the classroom setting?

CM:

It has been difficult since we were only able to get one day a week dedicated to the project as class time. In regard to time, it is very challenging. Bringing in Professor Kircher has helped a lot with the professional and real components. Metcalfe Architecture, the firm where Chris Kircher works, has designed a lot of playgrounds and play spaces so they are able to give real-world advice.

KP:

What are the stages of the project? Realistic timeline?

CM:

The design was completed both independently and in groups. There were three groups working on ideas for three different sections of the playground. From there, we worked together on development, finetuning, and eventually the creation of shop drawings.

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KP:

What type of local impact are you hoping to inspire?

CM:

There is a current playground a block away; however, it does not have the “right crowd.” Our main goal and idea is: “Whatever we design these people are going to use.” You realize what you take for granted.

This project has really gotten everyone excited. Everyone wants to see it focus kids’ energy to the greater good and a unified school.

“The great thing about community service is getting to help someone else while also growing yourself.”

KP:

What types of methods are employed?

CM:

We utilize meetings, conversations, a carnival, student support, community support, and we had a table at homecoming.

KP:

Has the process of design been linear or more organic?

CM:

We have tried to make the process linear but working toward one design with eight people is hard, so it becomes organic. The process is constantly changing, going back over everything and everyone ultimately has their own opinion.

TEAM MEETING WITH CLIENT

KP:

How are you managing the project and the different processes?

CM:

We are managing this project with the help of Chris Kircher, AIA (teacher/faculty/mentor). He is our outlet and helps guide everyone.

He has been extremely helpful in all aspects of this project.

KP:

What are you hoping to gain by the end of this project?

CM:

PLAYGROUND TEAM PHOTO

The great thing about community service is getting to help someone else while also growing yourself. Being able to help the students, parents, and teachers gives us real-world experience. Looking back at your time at PhilaU and knowing you are able to leave something behind is special. We’re trying to pay it forward; we’re not looking for anything in return.

TEAM MEETING WITH PLAYWORLD

ADVOCAT E

E.W. RHODES PLAYGROUND T H E P R O J E C T, T H E P R O C E S S , & T H E T E A M The design of the E.W. Rhodes Playground is based upon the idea of un-prescribed play. In this type of play, the child does not use the conventional playground elements such as slides and swings. Instead, the elements of play are introduced through the design which inspires the child to utilize creativity and imagination and form their own type of play. With the current number of students attending E.W. Rhodes Elementary School, the project analysis calls for a playspace which can accommodate up to 150 students during a 20-30 minute time block. The playspace is also required to serve as an extension of the classroom. Throughout this project the team has worked side-by-side with the teachers and parents of the E.W. Rhodes School, Playworld (playground equipment manufacturer), the Philadelphia Water Department, Swampoodle (neighborhood association), and Metcalfe Architecture. The E.W. Rhodes Team hopes that this project will help create a precedent for future projects at Philadelphia University and create a design typology for playgrounds.

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SPACEWORK

DESIGN FOR THE INDIVIDUAL LIVE + WORK Live/work spaces were designed for the individual’s particular geographical location and career. The question asked was: how can you design a dwelling to create a condition of homeostasis for a botanist in California? Or a photographer in Alaska? Or a personal trainer in Arizona?

Understanding the specific user’s needs was critical in this intimate small-scale design.

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B A ARCH D8 MURPHY, PRAGOSA

B ARCH D8 SHAWN HALE

ADVOCAT E

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DESIGN FOR THE COMMUNITY T H E T I E S T H AT B I N D : C O A C H E L L A VA L L E Y Responding to the needs of a local community, Breaking New Ground is a competition that aims to create a direct network to basic amenities and opportunities that they lack. It connects the site’s inhabitants to outside resources that they need, educates them through hands-on work, and lets them apply it through financial possibilities.

LARCH D7, ARCH D9 BERGMAN, LOVALLO, TINSLEY

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SPACEWORK

STUDENTS GO GLOBAL TRAVEL SKETCHES & PROJECTS

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B A STUDY ABROAD JACQUELYN NEMITZ

B STUDY ABROAD KLINGLER, TYRRELL

C STUDY ABROAD THERESA STARRS

D STUDY ABROAD ZACHARY SAMMARTINO

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ADVOCAT E

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AN INTERVIEW WITH GLOBAL BRIGADES M a r i e La ster (ML) I n t e r vi e wed by: K r i st i n P o ol (K P )

The Global Architecture Brigades at Philadelphia University is a non-profit organization that gives students the opportunity to travel internationally and help alleviate infrastructure issues in countries that need it through hands-on construction projects. It is the largest student-lead responsibility movement on campus. The organization gives students hands-on experience for designing and constructing real projects. Philadelphia University is involved through Global Architecture Brigades and Global Medical Brigades. Membership is open to all students.

KP:

What events or projects have you participated in?

ML:

I’ve been on three brigades. I have been on two architecture brigades and one medical. I went to Honduras with architecture and Ghana with medical where we set up a medical clinic in a village and provided medical care for people who don’t have access to it.

KP:

Why did you decide to get involved?

ML:

I’ve always liked volunteer work. I wanted international experience, especially volunteering related to my major (architecture). Having real-world experience in the architectural field is essential and puts a realistic perspective on all projects and design decisions.

2013 BRIGADE

KP:

Would you recommend others to be involved in Global Brigades?

What type of person would fit?

ML:

Anybody with any major can go. No brigade is limited. I suggest for people to be open-minded. Things don’t always go as planned. They would want to be open to experiencing different cultures and living their lifestyle.

KP:

How do you think the work you have done in Global Brigades will impact your future career?

ML:

It helps having experience. It shapes my career because I really would want to do humanitarian architecture. I realized this through brigades. I’ll enjoy my job more if it impacts someone life. I have a greater appreciation for different cultural methods of architecture.

KP:

Do you see an expansion of this program at Philadelphia University?

ML: 2012 BRIGADE

Yes. Every year PhilaU gets students who want international experience and more experience in their major because they get a better understanding of what they want to do.

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JN: What do you think is the most successful project so far?

CL:

It is hard to say which project is the most successful because our goal for each project is to design to better serve and address the needs of our client. As long as we successfully meet those needs, the project is successful for them.

JN:

Do you think the individual projects affect the community as a whole?

CL:

“Small scale, big impact”

I believe that the individual projects have the capability of affecting the community as a whole because they have the potential to address the needs within a community. Even though our projects are at a small scale, when you look at an entire community, every small step forward helps. We have a phrase we use often: “Small scale, big impact.”

JN:

Is there enough recognition for the organization?

AN INTERVIEW WITH FREEDOM BY DESIGN Ch els ey Lo ve (C L) In t er v ie w e d b y: Jac quel yn N e m i t z (JN)

Philadelphia University’s Freedom by Design chapter is a small organization on campus that gives back to the local community. The organization takes on clients who have specific needs or accessibility issues in their homes and works with them to design solutions.

CL:

Although we are a very small organization on campus, we feel that we do not receive the appropriate amount of recognition in regard to the people we help, not in regard to us personally but the meaning and roots of every project. We do not get involved for ourselves; we do it to help others!

JN:

Do you work alongside other chapters or is PhilaU’s chapter on its own?

CL:

Philadelphia University’s chapter acts on its own, but there are other outside chapters that make up the larger organization.

JN:

How do you determine clients?

CL:

Over the last few years, we have been working with Habitat for Humanity and they have been providing us with clients. The process of determination lies with them, but they tend to base the clients they give us off of our skill sets, capabilities, and the projects we have completed in years past.

ADVOCAT E

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JN: What do members hope to gain on a personal level from involvement in Freedom By Design?

CL:

You tend to get out what you put in, and for me personally, I always try and put forth my best effort because I love helping others. The feeling that you get at the end of the project when the client is using the design for the first time is a feeling that cannot be put into words.

JN:

Can you explain the general process of a project?

CL: The general process consists of Habitat for Humanity providing us with a client based on where they are working at that point in time. Next, we meet with the client in their home so that we can be introduced to them and their needs. This gives us the opportunity to survey the area in the house that we will be working with and in, as well as talk about the initial design ideas and intentions that the client is looking for and is in need of. Once we have established a relationship with the client and agreed to the project, we convene as a group and have a charette to begin the design process.

After one long charette or a few shorter ones, we formalize the design in a way that we can show the client in order to get their feedback and make changes according to their needs and desires.

After we have a finalized design, we begin to gather the required materials and begin the fabrication process. We tend to pre-fabricate all the parts of the design, which makes the installation process run more smoothly. After the fabrication process is complete, we return to the client’s home and install the project.

JN:

Are there any bumps in the road?

CL:

JN:

There are always bumps in the road. Each project comes with its own set of challenges but how we go about addressing those challenges is the key. The bumps in the road can range from finding new members, keeping members encouraged and involved, fundraising, designing an appropriate project that fills the needs of the client, to issues discovered during installation.

How can you expand Freedom by Design to get more involvement?

JN:

How much time does a typical project entail?

CL:

The amount of time a typical project entails varies from project to project due to the size and scale of the project. We tend to have one each semester, but larger projects have the potential to run through two semesters.

CL:

We hope to gain more support from the university to receive more recognition and allow our name to be better known. There is also the possibility that students outside of architecture could be involved, such as students in interior design, construction management, industrial design, and possibly even fashion, because not only does it allow the organization to draw from a larger amount of people, but it also provides the opportunity for new ways of thinking and fresh eyes and ideas.

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SEED CENTER

DEC CENTER A&D HAYWARD HALL

SMITH HOUSE

It’s 1:30 a.m.

Your crit is in 6.5 hours The plotter in A&D jammed Campus closes in 30 minutes

WHERE DO YOU GO?

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THE RESOURCES FUEL AND NAVIGATING SPACE

THE FUEL ANALYSIS LESS SLEEP = BIGGER CUP

BLAST OFF

ESPRESSO SHOT Order this when you have no time and need a quick rush of energy. Also helpful when paired with coffee- commonly known as the “red eye.”

LAUNCH

SMALL

The small coffee is recommended for the student that has gotten roughly 8-10 hours of sleep. They are wellrested but still need that daily dose of caffeine.

ROCKET BOOSTER

MEDIUM

The medium coffee is recommended for the student that has slept roughly 5-7 hours.

The lack of two hours causes sloth-like symptoms as well as the need for added sugar and flavors. The medium is usually followed by a light breakfast.

DISTANCE FROM YOUR STUDIO DESK TO THE NEAREST SOURCE OF COFFEE 183 step. 410 feet. 123 seconds.

WE HAVE A PROBLEM

MAYDAY MAYDAY

The large coffee is not recommended on a daily basis.

This dosage of caffeine usually occurs after 0-4 hours of sleep.

A hot or iced version of the large coffee will be able to extend your liveliness through your critique or desk crit.

Extended attentiveness is not guaranteed.

The extra large sized coffee is for the student that has not slept in multiple days or possibly weeks. It is not recommended to consume more than one beverage of this size a semester.

LARGE

EXTRA LARGE

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RELATE

(v): designs are directly shaped by their context and environment

density renewal public local native urban

Relationships are symbiotic.

Relationships in the built environment stem from the coexistence of people and the places they inhabit. Whether spatial or social, the connections between one entity and another are important to create a common understanding.

Relating requires understanding and thoughtfully responding.

The built environment inherently evokes social relationships through tectonic experience. The concept of relating also involves empathy, being able to appreciate and provide for a client’s needs, and serving the under-served. Design has the ability to transform thought and perceptions of cultures in transition, thus relating outsiders to new perspectives and possibilities.

A successful design considers and involves all users in the spatial experience from process to product. Relating experiences, people, and cultures across time and space allows the built environment to serve as the ultimate storyteller.

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SPACEWORK

“I think landscape architects are understanding that they can take the lead on things.�

AN INTERVIEW WITH KIM DOUGLAS (KD) I n te rv i e w b y : Ol i v i a C e rv a s i o (O C) L a u re n B ro s i u s (L B )

Kim Douglas is the Director of the Landscape Architecture program and has been working at Philadelphia University for the past seven years. Before transitioning into the world of academia, she worked for Olin Partnership on local projects in Philadelphia, such as the Comcast building, as well as many other projects across the United States.

ARCH D9 B O N E LLI , BROSI US, H A LEY

RELAT E

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LB:

OC:

How did you find and start your career in the landscape architecture world?

What made you take the leap from community involvement to teaching? Was it that you wanted to foster that relationship in students and have them see the benefits?

KD:

KD:

I finally found landscape architecture, actually landscape design, in my mid-20s. I got a degree in landscape design then landscape architecture. When I realized I wanted to teach, I went to Penn to get my master’s. I realized when I got out of Penn that I didn’t really know that much. I thought maybe I should work for a while.

Now, I had been working for a while for my own firm, but not highlevel design; I was doing a lot of design-build. So I worked for Olin Partnership for 10 years and did a lot of really great projects there.

They get a lot of really amazing projects to work on, but one of the things that I missed was working with communities, which is why I left.

I thought I could do this job and also do my community work as well for a semester. It’s very hard to work and teach full time because your clients don’t understand that you have a class Friday morning and they have a meeting. I mean people do it, but it is really hard.

But the more I got into academia, the more I realized I could do what I wanted through grants and student work, but I really didn’t understand that when I started. It has transitioned into research and going after grant money to help communities. That’s where my professional work has evolved to over the seven years that I’ve been here at PhilaU.

OC: What does a landscape architect actually do and what are some of the projects that you had worked on at Olin?

KD: One of the projects I worked on at Olin was Rincon Park in San Francisco. It was an old brownfield site. I worked on the project probably for six months, but I only visited the site twice. I never met the community that was going to use it. The client was actually government agencies, but also the Gap; they were giving $3 million toward the park because their headquarters was right across the street and they had a vested interest in it looking good.

The same thing with the Comcast building; this was another project I did with Olin, although it wasn’t built while I was there. At the end of the project, we had designed this plaza for the community to use, and they came in and said we don’t want that, we want to build a wall. You know, we had to talk them out of that kind of stuff. Anyway, long story short, I just got tired of having that kind of relationship with the client and not seeing projects built, so I left.

One of the things that I wanted to do was work with schoolyards, because most schoolyards used to be asphalt and chain link. Now things have opened up, but at the time I was trying to do it, the school district was not interested.

So I decided to do community design, and that’s my first project where we took a one-acre parking lot and we really made it into an outdoor community center – a place where the community could meet, throw a ball with their kid, and it was community-driven and they take care of it. I mean the whole thing was about them. And that was really rewarding, so I worked on that kind of stuff and then really realized that I wanted to teach. And then this came up and here I am.

LB: It seems as though a lot of the projects you have here for the landscape students are real-life projects?

KD: Yeah, most of them are. So in the first year, students spend it with the architects. What the architecture students do in that second semester is exactly what we do, except yours is about architecture and ours is about landscape architecture. So putting it together has been really good actually, I think for both sides. So the architects get to see about landscape architecture and the scale that we work at.

OC: What is that relationship whether it is between students or in the professional world between architects and landscape architects?

Who starts a project? Who takes charge?

KD: I worked at Olin Partnership for 10 years, and I had a lot of interaction with Laurie Olin. He was a great mentor, and he really ran the firm like a studio. But I’ll never forget being out to dinner with him (man, that guy loved to eat well, so it was really fun to go out with him). Olin has a lot of clients that are architects that is how they get a lot of their work. You build these relationships because the architects are getting the buildings and then they bring a landscape architect into the fold. I’ll never forget him saying to me, “Landscape architects are the wives to architects.” Now this was 15 years ago so hopefully things have changed, but that was how he viewed it.

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OC:

OC:

I get the sense that he was talking about having a building first and then you were supposed to design the landscape around it. Do you think with sustainability it’s more about having the site and building have an appropriate relationship?

If the community is involved in the process from the very beginning, are they much more willing to perform upkeep, as opposed to something that has been placed upon them?

KD: You would hope. I don’t think landscape architects are taking the backseat either anymore. I think that is changing due to a lot of different factors and people are realizing how important we are. But if you ask anybody in the profession, they really do not understand what we do. Unless you have some experience with it, you do not realize the importance of landscape. I see projects all the time where architects think they can do the landscape piece and they have absolutely no background in it. And maybe architects can design the landscape to a certain level, but it is certainly not as in-depth as it should be.

OC: You mentioned before that personally you want to work on projects that are more community-driven. Is that where the profession is going? Are more projects being participatory?

KD: I think every project now understands that they need public consensus or it is not going to fly. In landscape architecture, we spend a lot of time working on how to talk to communities and what your role is. I think as a landscape architect, my role is to be a facilitator. I am not the arbiter of good taste who gets to tell people what they want. I get to facilitate that process and bring in expertise, but I do not tell someone that’s living in a community what they should do or what type of design they should have. They know better than you do what they want.

OC: Did you ever run into a situation where the community didn’t know what they needed and you had to analyze their needs?

KD: The community does not always know what they know either, so you have to have a process to pull it out of them. So one of the things you do is prompt. We will give them some ideas and something to react to, and that gets the conversation started. We also always start the process with inventory and analysis. It’s a really important process because it lets the community or the client know that you’ve done your homework. You want to get people excited and get the conversation going.

KD: Yes, so they are not resentful. One of the problems working with communities that don’t have a lot of resources, like in Germantown or North Philadelphia, is that the people you need to reach out to don’t have time for you, are not comfortable with the process, or resent you because a million other people have come in and said we are going to make your place better and nothing has happened.

Part of it is also getting to know who we call Bob. There is always a community member who knows what is going on; they are like the conscience of the community. We call him Bob (or she could also be Sally). But finding that person to talk to about what is going on in the community is critical.

LB: Making the transition from a mythical project to working with a real client is a very hard one to make, but it is so important to listen to what the community has to say.

KD: You really need to talk to the people who live there. There is an effort in India, where they are having people map their neighborhood.

It is brilliant; they know what is going on, and they are there on the ground. This semester, we are also working at the Kelly School.

The Kelly School is in Germantown and it’s a seven-acre site, 75 percent of which is paved. It has a rubber surface with holes big enough to swallow a kindergarten child. The school district doesn’t have any funds to fix this, so the kids do not get to go outside because it’s unsafe. So we are working on getting a Smith Grant, which is through the water department. The Smith Grant will pay you $100,000 per acre that you de-pave. So if we are successful, we will be de-paving three acres. The landscape students are doing the design and the construction documents and then we are working with a contractor. If we get the grant, then he will actually install it this summer. After de-paving, we will need someone to come in and pay for the boardwalks through the wetlands. That is the kind of work that we do, so students are getting hands-on learning and learning about grant projects. They get shot down a lot too; it is not easy, but it is important because I think that’s really where the profession is going. I think the sooner that we all get on board with that the better. On the other hand, you do not want it to be so reality-based that you are not spreading your wings.

RELAT E

27

CAPTION OF IMAGE

COACHELLA BREAKING NEW GROUND COMPETITION

ARCH D9 B O N E LLI , BROSI US, H A LEY

Like the immigrant of the early 20th century, the migrant worker is a new wave of this. Leaving their homeland, they entrust their families and their future to the opportunities equated with United States democracy. Once here, their vision of a new life remains unreachable as they are seen within our social system as outcasts. Like the immigrants who stepped on our shores 100 years ago, the seasonal worker is not recognized as a valuable contributor to industry. This notion must be radically altered. This notion must be disrupted. By setting up a system that allows the migrant worker to 1. Establish roots, and 2. Be recognized as contributors, we provide the migrant worker with tools to create a new identity. To do this, the migrant worker must see him or herself as empowered, self-sufficient, and a part of a system that holds every man as equitable.

28

SPACEWORK

MASTER PLANNING URBAN DESIGN North Broad is a connective corridor for the residents of Francisville, Poplar, Spring Garden, and other North-Central neighborhoods.

By greening the main avenues, adding bike lanes, and catering to pedestrians, the site will become an integral part of the Philadelphia network. Through the inclusion of community green space, repaired urban fabric, and the addition of needed mixed-use program, the North Broad area will again become an active area within the central district of Philadelphia. Creating community vibrancy and cohesion will be completed using art and culture as the underlying design approach to help strengthen the social, physical, and economic fabric.

In order to improve on the daily life of community members, each neighborhood will be developed around a specific programmatic theme and community green space. By reviving the neighborhoods through place-making strategies, the entire area benefits.

ARCH D10 PATEL, SMITH, STYER

RELAT E

29

STREETSCAPES CAMPUS MASTER PLANNING After an analysis of Rowan University’s current campus master plan, the team of students designed three scheme proposals to present to representatives from the university. Each proposal focuses on one of three important axes on campus, highlighting solutions to green space, storm water management, and pedestrian accessibility. Nodes at the intersections of these axes throughout the master plan are designed spaces of connection and interaction which also explore the street condition along Route 322, including one proposal to turn it into a pedestrian path.

ARCH D9 A LLG O O D , CERVASI O, FEDETZ, FERRIE R

30

SPACEWORK

1ST PLACE G E R M A N T O W N C U LT U R A L M U S E U M The Germantown Cultural Museum serves as a bridge between past and present; it is to be constructed as a tribute to the community’s history. Committed to the primacy of the visitor experience, the museum aims to draw visitors in through its striking appearance and encourage them to explore the creation and development of the town’s culture. The exhibits consist of a slide show of digital images.

In addition, touch screens display descriptions for a series of historical images and allows the visitor to customize his/her experience at each display. Some exhibits also feature short videos which can be heard and experienced through headphones.

INTD D7 CHESENIA BURGOS

“Exhibition design serves to provide a meaningful experience for the audience as it tell the stories of history, culture, enterprise, and discovery. It’s a very deliberate process and very different than architectural design.”

-Robert McCauley, Principal at Strada Architecture [Designer of RavenHub Student Lounge]

RELAT E

31

EXHIBITION SPACES GERMANTOWN ARCHITECTURAL HISTORY MUSEUM The Germantown Architecture History Museum focuses on the tension and progression of architecture from Colonial times to present times and its reflection of the social issue of slavery and the Underground Railroad. The majority of residences in Germantown served as stations of the Underground Railroad, which supported the concept of tension and progression or encapsulation to freedom. The idea of the design was to create spaces of encapsulation and freedom while mimicking the intimate feeling of residential architecture. The design was based from the structure’s original grid system then shifted through each level to create unique spaces that come to the core of the building to evoke the sensation of movement from encapsulation to freedom - giving users moment’s pause and clarity within the central hub of the design.

INTD D7 LOUIS IANNONE

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SPACEWORK

LB: Why are all of your employees alumni of PhilaU?

JC: It is actually a really simple answer: you know what you’re getting into with students from PhilaU because there’s nothing worse than not knowing. Imagine hiring somebody and you have no idea what their character is, what they are good at, how they can deal with things, and how they are with clients.

ID: So if you listen to what you just said, it has nothing to do with architecture.

JC: It is all about character.

ID: Which eventually turns into architecture.

LB: Do you think our characters are an outcome of C_ABE?

JC: Well it does have to do with the school a little bit. I do not think PhilaU is as ego driven as some places and students seem to be a little bit more willing to get their hands dirty. I think that goes back to character as well.

A CONVERSATION WITH

ID:

JIM CASSIDY (JC) & IVANO D’ANGELLA (ID)

JC:

Fa ci l i t a t e d by: La u r e n B r o si us (LB )

Jim Cassidy and Ivano D’Angella are both registered architects who teach third year studios at PhilaU and own firms in Philadelphia.

Jim Cassidy lives and works primarily in Germantown on residences and mixed–use projects. Ivano D’Angella lives in Philadelphia and works on single and multi-family residential projects within the tri-state area. As professors and owners of their own firms, they are very much invested in the curriculum and methods taught at Philadelphia University.

ARCH D6 KRISTINA PULSINELLI

It is also their willingness to jump in and do whatever it takes.

That’s a huge thing, because there is no, “We are not going to do this today or this project is not fit for our firm.” You have what you have and you have to find the best opportunity within the debris.

Actually, when I was teaching your studio (Spring 2013), we landed this really big project and that allowed us to open the firm up again and kind of start everything. So that project was the backbone to invest back into the office and start bringing people on.

ID: So working backwards, if I may, how does this relate to Germany?

Why did you come back?

RELAT E

JC:

ID:

I would have stayed in Germany. I had no problem staying there.

I had a great job, was in charge of competitions, and the way the firm liked to do competitions was it liked to build giant schematic models and photograph them spatially. Then we would do 3-D stuff on the side. So it was a collage. I would just crank out models.

Competitions are great because you are working with the heads of everything; you’re designing really. I was learning German on the fly, too. So anyway, we had good jobs, Ilka, my wife, had a good job, but the problem was they were all short term.

The economy was better in the States, so we came to the States, and I still don’t know if that was the right decision. We could not have the office that we have here in Germany; there is no way that would happen, and I don’t think we could have the office we have here in any other city but Philadelphia to tell you the truth.

(laughs) The middle ground … the Buddhist way.

ID: Why couldn’t you have it in Germany, because of economics, the support people, lack of connections?

JC: German is a very technical language, so think about all of the architectural words that we know. If I’m at an eighth grade level of German, I had limits to where I could go. Ilka didn’t, but the economy was not good. If you work in Europe, you live well or you live in a certain means and you are protected; you have insurance, six weeks of vacation, and you eat well … it is not so bad.

33

JC: I think to know that you can do better, that there is so much more, but I think the best thing about being in Germany was learning how to communicate. You really had to. If you can’t speak it, you have to diagram more, you have to draw more, you have to be very explicit in your communication. I think that was a pretty important thing.

ID: I don’t want to believe that because our method of construction is one way it is any less creative than what the Germans do, even though they are great.

JC: I don’t know about how it is in Italy, but every public building in Germany is out for competition and it is not invite-only; it’s an open competition. There’s a book you get every month that has the open competitions and the winners of the last one. It’s the great equalizer. The great thing about a competition is that you are told what you make, this is what the construction price is, and this is the framework. The fight we have all the time, budget and fee. It’s completely different.

JC: So those things translate into the architecture … good and bad.

LB: Do you think that has impacted your client relationships?

JC: “The goal is to get students to think for themselves and develop their own way to solve the problems.”

ID:

Our client relationships are good because when you talk about character of employees that’s our character. The Wissahickon Park Residence is a great example. These people called me out of the blue when we were starting the office back up again. They wanted to build a house on this great lot in the woods right in the Wissahickon.

She’s an artist and he’s an ex-lawyer who has the world’s largest Pez collection. Very cool. We were like, we have to do this job. Budget was small, but it just felt like we had to do it. And we designed and built the house within a year.

You think?!

ID:

LB:

Designed and built?

What parts of working in Germany did you try to take or have you been successful in taking back to Philadelphia?

TECHNICS OF COMMUNICATION VASILLIOS KOUMANDAKIS

34

SPACEWORK

JC: The house turned out great. We put way more time in than we got paid for, but what is amazing is that we dealt with these people and we have already gotten four other projects from their referrals. The good thing is that I think in any office there are projects that are profitable, projects that are marginal, and projects that maybe don’t cut it. Hopefully the ones that don’t cut it are awesome. Which is why you do them. That’s actually the hardest part of all, balancing that. To be able to have your own firm is half opportunity and half …

ID: Necessity?

JC:

LB:

No; half the ability to do it. See that’s the problem with marrying an architect. It’s good, but you just don’t have any extra income.

Do you think those projects are more successful?

ID:

ID:

Look at the yellow trace.

How do you measure success?

LB:

I love yellow trace.

JC: You have to do yellow trace. I hate white trace. Nothing looks good on it.

ID: Also, you can always draw with white on yellow trace.

LB: This may be my experience working at your firm, but I feel as though you have a special bond with Germantown, in which many people might not want to work.

JC: There are two answers to that statement. One is because we like to invent projects and I think that is a pretty awesome thing because sometimes – and tell me if you think this is true Ivano – sometimes the success of the project is that it was actually able to happen.

ID: That you were able to give birth to a project because of your creativity? What is so bad about that?

TECHNICS OF COMMUNICATION JESSICA SCHELL

JC: It’s not financial, that’s for sure. For me, you can sum it all up with the Waldorf School project. Six years ago, when my middle girl was six months old, Ilka and I went to go scope out this property just because it was awesome. It’s a complex of four church buildings on the edge of the Wissahickon, which now is actually a block away from where I live. Over those six years, we put together preliminary design and actually the whole financial package to develop that for the school to move in, and it’s going to be open in August. I go through these buildings and go down on one knee. But to think that this may never have been. The project doesn’t happen if we don’t do all of this.

ID: It’s a double-edged sword.

JC: It is without a doubt, but here’s the other thing. I live around the corner. It is bringing up my neighborhood.

ID: Urban acupuncture. It begins to bloom. The thing about that to some extent, is the appreciation or value of your existence to make that happen completely overlooked?

JC: Yes.

RELAT E

35

ID:

ID:

My heart. Now we’ll go back to the motherland; when I go out on the job site in northern Italy, they don’t call me Ivano. They call me Architect. We sell ourselves out frequently. Fifty percent of the time, I find people that say they do not value what we do. Absolutely. There are a lot of people who don’t understand and do not appreciate the value of an architect. They appreciate lawyers and doctors, though.

The confusion is intentional. Fortunately or unfortunately, you are talking to two people who have small firms and our perspective is that way. If you speak to someone else who has always worked in bigger firms, I think you’ll find that comment would be addressed differently. I worked in a 35-man firm once and they fired me to go back to school and become an architect. No, I probably could never work in a large firm. When I graduated from college, I started my own business. Before I had a license, I was doing architecture on the side.

JC: Because they are necessary.

ID: Well, why aren’t we necessary?

JC: Because they have all the quantitative rules down. What we supply is qualitative. There is no way to quantify the qualitative.

ID: I don’t know. I think it’s education. Every client I have I always tried my best to help them understand. I spell out the steps that we have to go through. We need to educate our clients.

LB:

How does all of this relate to what you are teaching us in our classes?

ID: Well that’s an assumption that we have a strategy.

JC: There is a strategy. There is a goal, and the goal is to get students to think for themselves and develop their own way to solve the problems. If they cannot do that, they cannot do any of the things we just talked about. If you cannot solve your own problem and come to the table with an answer, imagine what things are, you’re not marketing yourself as an architect. Isn’t that what we do? Teach people to think on their own and develop their own conversation, their own process?

LB: Having had both of you as professors, I remember talking to you and everything was great and I understood what you were saying, but when you walked away, I would not have any clue what we just talked about. You were making me think about something and I would not fully understand it until I did something.

STUDY ABROAD THERESA STARRS

JC: I am the same way. Because of my character, I would never be able to exist within that.

ID: The easiest thing to do is to be afraid to do something.

36

SPACEWORK

SITE CONTEXT R E L AT I N G B U I L D I N G & L A N D S C A P E The third year design studios redesigned the East Falls SEPTA Train station. The current station is a temporary installation, and SEPTA is looking for a new station to engage and embrace the East Falls community. One of the many complexities to the project was the dramatic slope leading up to the station, which is required to meet ADA codes. Interdisciplinary teams of interior design and architecture students worked to activate Midvale Avenue through a program emphasizing community spaces in order to create a better connection to Cresson Street. The program included a café, waiting area, ticket booths, and both indoor and outdoor public spaces.

A

B

A A ARCH D6 CATINO, GIARDINA, WILLIAMSON

B ARCH D6 GARCIA, MILLER, PULSINELLI

C ARCH D6 KO, MATZEK, MCELROY

D ARCH D6 BELLARE, EYER, ORCUTT, TRUTNER

RELAT E

37

“Placemaking is essential to our multi-disciplinary collaborative process and especially our dialogue with the clients/users. Making great places means designing and building spaces that are inviting, highly functional and meaningful/memorable to the people who use them. Our design process invites engagement and our goal is to inspire the making of great places and spaces.�

B

- Robert McCauley, Principal at Strada Architecture [Designer of RavenHub Student Lounge]

C

D

38

SPACEWORK

BIOCIRCUIT RESEARCH CENTER Situated north of New Orleans on the Mississippi River Delta, Louisiana’s capital Baton Rouge is a small city wedged between large-scale agricultural production. It holds the largest concentration of oil rigs in the Western Hemisphere and one of the nation’s largest maritime ports. With the movement away from non-renewable energy sources finally beginning to take hold in the U.S., Louisiana is both enthusiastic about the potential for alternatives and wary of the effect it could have on their economy. Research in the field of biofuels has recently discovered more economical ways of harvesting algae, an oil-rich aquatic plant, especially promising due to its lack of demand for arable land. The promotion of algae biofuel research is an ideal pursuit for Louisiana, and this facility presents the emerging field to both the students of Louisiana State University and the larger community of Baton Rouge, through training for industry leaders and workers and integration of biofuels into the bus transportation on campus.

ARCH D8 DZIEGIEL, FORD, MAGNER

RELAT E

39

40

STUDIO TIPS HOW TO SURVIVE DESIGN SCHOOL - AND LOOK GOOD DOING IT

STAKE YOUR CLAIM

THE ESCAPE DESK

“I can make a quick getaway to Kanbar when I’m really hungry.”

THE DESK WITH A VIEW

“One squirrel, two squirrels, three squirrels...

I wish I was outside playing Frisbee.”

THE ISLAND DESK

“Everyone is watching me...”

EVOLUTION OF A DESIGN STUDENT RELAXATION

CAMERON GRIFFITHS

ATTENTION

CONTEMPLATION

FRUSTRATION

41

UMM...

HOW TO ARCHITECT

[UNEXPECTED MODEL MATERIALS] 1. String 2. Paper clips 3. Clay 4. Wire (every kind in the bookstore) 5. Cloth 6. Tile 7. Rocks 8. Styrofoam 9. Sand 10. Popsicle Sticks

EYEWEAR

DRINK OF CHOICE

8AM STUDIO SCHEDULE 1. Arrive in studio as close to 8am as possible 2. Wait for professor to arrive 3. Go to Kanbar for tater tots

BAG

CLOTHING

WRITING UTENSIL *DISCLAIMER: LIMIT YOUR TOT CONSUMPTION TO 2-3 CUPS PER WEEK

AMBITION

PRODUCTION

SCENT COLLABORATION

SLEEP-DEPRIVATION

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03

GENERATE

(v): produce (a set or sequence of items) by performing specified mathematical or logical operations on an initial set

trigger provoke originate initiate propagate experiment

Generation is exploration.

Generating ideas pushes the boundaries of the design professions and integrates different fields. It offers the opportunity to experiment with different applications of digital design through research and implementation. Initially, conceptual models are developed that can be interpreted at various scales and broken up into smaller ideas or theories.

Diagramming plays a vital role in understanding the designer’s input to the project and leading viewers through the process and to the final output.

Digital design takes inspiration from nature, kinetic models, and science. It studies design through research and testing of physical forms and models. Research conducted through making and generating physical models, programming models, and parametric definitions garners a new understanding of the built environment. This understanding comes to life through models, digital fabrication, and renderings.

Generation validates the final output, as research transforms into built installations and models through digital fabrication.

This technology allows for exploring concepts in physical form and investigating the future of the built environment.

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SPACEWORK

AN INTERVIEW WITH DR. KIHONG KU In te rv i e we d b y : Ha P h a m (H P)

Our conversation started with discussion of the physical computing conducted in Design 10 and continued with the idea of digital technology as an input. An input can be understood as the start of an architecture project, the conceptual phase, or a visualization tool for the final stages of a project. We also discussed digital technology as a tool and how it enhances the design process.

GENERAT E

HP:

As a student, I find it really hard to explain digital technology.

How do you do define it? How does it relate to our D9 and D10 classes?

KK: There is more to it than how you can use technology to conceptualize or generate ideas. There are many different technologies out there.

What I explain is more in the virtual realm where you can do things in the computer. You generate dialogue between you and your computer screen. Let’s say you use scripting in Rhino to generate different schemes, and you go back and forth to understand what that means. That is one of the tools within the digital virtual world, but then what you are doing right now is taking the virtual into the physical – applying the concept of physical computing.

HP:

Can you use an example to explain the concept of physical computing?

KK: What we see on the screen is very different from real life. It’s a virtual environment where you can simulate the physical world. These are the tools that you use before you take that virtual component to the physical world. The next step is using micro-controllers like Arduino or a sensor to implement what you see in a parametric model or using the virtual simulation to the physical world to help you to implement or address some of the environmental or human issues.

ARCH D9 PABLO CORTES

45

HP:

Is there a real-world application of this technology?

KK:

We have examples already in the current architectural scene. We have talked about intelligent buildings; we talked about smart systems like the Nest control system that gathers information and adjusts to a user’s preference. There is a lot of technology already in the market right now.

Today, I think the bigger question is how this technology inspires architects or designers to do something that’s radically different from how we build or design today. I think that is the kind of interest I’m trying to inspire in my students, and also what I’m interested in finding through my research.

46

SPACEWORK

HP: Using all of these digital tools, I realized that, as a student, I slowly gravitate my focus toward the program rather than the design.

How can architecture students stay focused on architecture rather than coding so we can become digital designers?

KK:

You really can’t be an architect or designer just by knowing Grasshopper or any other digital tool. You need a good foundation of understanding how architecture and environment have evolved over time and all of the relevant disciplines. I think PhilaU’s architecture program prepares students for that because you learn about history and how architecture has evolved. Even though you learn a lot of digital tools, I think you still have to have that foundation in order to use them. It is a means, not the end itself. You inherently know the balancing between those when you came in with an aspiration of becoming a designer.

HP: Do you think it is OK for students to do most of their conceptual work on screen and then have their final work in physical form?

KK:

Your generation is growing up in video games and smart handheld devices. The amount of time spent with these devices could be paralleled to the older generation growing up with paper and pencil.

I think for older generation, the reason why they prefer paper is that they cannot really understand all aspects that they see on a screen. I don’t think they see the same object although it’s supposed to be the same. I think they don’t grasp it as the same, and that’s interesting because when you look at the three-dimensional object in either format, it is flat on both the screen and on paper so there is no differences to how you perceive it.

A

HP:

What do you think is lacking when people design using purely digital tools?

KK: The digital tool is a representation of the real world. It can represent the properties of a physical model, but is not perfect because it is idealized. You can model complex geometry, but what you see on the screen does not necessarily comply with reality. As a designer, you need to understand the gap between the material world and the digital world. You have to find a way to address it. One way of addressing that is studying different ways to achieve the geometry you see on the screen. In the physical world, there’s always an economic aspect to what you’re trying to build. Complex curvatures usually are more expensive than flat surfaces. In order to make something feasible, people go through the specialization process.

They tessellate triangular or quadrilateral surfaces so that a larger form is broken down into smaller surfaces that still show the overall curvature and complexity of the shape. When broken down into smaller flat pieces, shapes can be built less expensively and you can actually build them in the physical world. To understand that process is an important skill for the designer. That’s why it’s important to have that connection between the physical and the virtual.

A ARCH D9 ANNE MARIE AMISOLA

B ARCH D9 STEFAN LESIUK

C ARCH D9 TYLER COMPARI

B

GENERAT E

HP:

HP:

KK:

KK:

Does that mean that the digital world is failing at doing its job of conveying our ideas?

For example, did you learn Rhino and V-Ray or Rhino and 3ds Max?

I think that is why you have different media. Some people are more comfortable with seeing something on paper. Similar to reading, some people are comfortable reading a book on a screen and others are more comfortable having a hard copy and browsing even though it is the same book. The advantage to reading in a digital format is that you can easily search for keywords. You can also highlight things and copy them from the eBook. On paper, it may be easier to browse through the whole book since you can flip through the pages quickly, but you cannot pinpoint something like in an eBook.

So there are different kinds of interfaces. I think it is just a matter of what are you familiar with, and you have to accept that people will have different preferences. If you can use digital tools to support both, that would be good.

HP: Do you think it’s our job as the younger generation to understand how these different methods can communicate ideas to the client?

47

Rhino and 3D Studio Max. When you do a 3ds Max rendering, it is not a fluid process because you have to go through the modeling process, then export it to render, and you have to do a lot of things in each. It ends up being more work between you and your client’s representation. But let’s say you have V-Ray. You develop a geometry that you model and then you can immediately render it to see your design, so that gives you the immediate feedback. I think those are the types of tools that you want to have for your internal development.

Your tool is what gives you the feedback, confirms things, and allows you to move forward.

HP:

I have one last question. What is the first word that comes to mind when you hear the word “generate”?

KK:

Creative.

KK: It is not just only between you and your client, but it also between you and your tool. For an architect like Frank Gehry, it’s really between his thinking and his medium, which allows him to evolve and change his idea. He has a medium that really works perfectly for him, and then there is this process that this was directly between him, his hand, and using that to generate digital and physical models for feedback to develop his idea. I think the key for each designer is finding the tool that gives you that fluid kind of thinking between what you have in your mind and what you see, because a design is a process that must evolve. The digital is just another different kind of medium and tool that allows you to have these quick feedback loops between you and your thinking.

HP:

It is interesting that you mention the relationship between the designer and his tool because I tend to think of it as how do I convey my idea to the client. Do you think if we understand our relationship with our tool better, we will become better at communicating our idea to others?

KK: You’re right; that is the other aspect of this communication: what you show to your client or audience. If you think about your education here and think you’re learning all those different parts, you know you learn these tools to render and to visualize and that’s more for presenting and for communicating with the outside audience. And then you learn modeling to help you with your design process.

C

48

SPACEWORK

INPUT IMAGE SKECTHES The computer has become a powerful means for representing concepts in the architectural process. What was once dominated by hand drafting and sketching is now reigned by CAD software. Because of the efficiency and speed that this software provides, drawing by hand was once thought to be obsolete, but now the value of hand sketching has found a new meaning in the architectural process. Designers are beginning to blend digital images with hand sketches to create a new visceral understanding of their design concepts. These drawings play a powerful role in the initial understanding of the process and provide and raw connection to the designer’s intentions.

A

C A ARCH D8 HA PHAM

B STUDY ABROAD JEREMIAH WOODRING

C ARCH D2 JULIE CARBONE

D ARCH TECHNICS JESSICA SCHELL

B

D E ARCH D2 CAROLYN O’CONOR

E

GENERAT E

49

BEYOND EXPEDITION MARS Parametric modeling pushes the boundaries of what can be built and what can be imagined. The Mission to Mars project proposes an inhabitable tower on the distant planet while offering sustainable features which are specific to the unique environment. In a theoretical scenario where continued life on Earth becomes impossible, humans must quickly seek refuge on an adjacent planet. Expedition Mars is a response to building in an extreme environment with limited resources and creating a sustainable future for humanity. Through the development of a codependent network of communities and programmatic spaces with specific functions, the project is meant to both develop and preserve a stable, Earth-like environment which can support and maintain human life.

DITIoN

ars

ide population to 10 million people by 2025. In order that the only solution is to leave Earth and find a . Through a rapid research and planning period, a

by creating a sustainable living environment. As a race, establishing a codependent network of modular ans. There are three modules used to compose this pods, and circulation pods, each with its own t raw materials from the environment to manufacture eplicating themselves along the surface to provide a prevents sprawl and frees the surface for future ds, which provide human living spaces, agricultural ection from harmful radiation in the surrounding ulation pods, containing a train system used for both vertical and horizontal connectivity. The space they ect sunlight access to agriculture levels. This modular ght, simplifies expansion, and expedites production.

projected site plan

me to plan, they will initially extract natural materials rn to coexist with their new home through recycling mankind to recover in an unfamiliar environment.

0

n within hebes chasma

detail site plan 0 1000 3000

6000

longitudinal section 0

ARCH D9 COOK, RYAN, FISHER

400

1200

2400

400

1200

2400

50

SPACEWORK

PROCESS ARCHITECTURE, LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE & INTERIOR DESIGN

LARCH D7, ARCH D9 HERMAN, HOLLAND, LUGO

GENERAT E

COACHELLA

CONNECT COACHELLA VALLEY A collaboration between upper-level landscape and architecture studios, Breaking New Ground is a proposal to provide housing to migrant workers living in the Coachella Valley in Southern California. Explorations of the site through climate-simulating software demonstrate how sun exposure manipulates the built environment. From this data, the design team established a grid which allows for workable crop fields and comfortable living spaces.

N

51

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SPACEWORK

DIAGRAM KNIT The integration of textiles with parametric design forms the centerpiece of this design. This proposed textile museum in Germantown, Pennsylvania showcases the evolution of fabrics in the industrial world. By altering the scale of fabrics and textures, small materials develop into large museum displays and provide a unique user experience. The large yarn-like sculptural pieces act as macroscopic learning tools as well as conversational art pieces. A two-story space forms the core is this design, with the yarn sculpture at the convergence point of sight lines to various exhibits.

INTD D8 MADELINE HILL

GENERAT E

53

PARAMETRIC REI STORE DESIGN Recreational Equipment Inc. is an environmentally-conscious business with a passion for the outdoors. Therefore, elements from the natural world are abstracted and brought into this REI store design to emphasize its constant effort to become connected with the natural environment.

Taking the form of mountains and hillsides, an initial study model represents an imaginary landscape with an emphasis on the summit of the mountain. The topography of this model is inverted to inform the undulations of the store’s ceiling plane and reinforce the store’s continual effort to remain connected to the natural environment.

TUTORIALS.

FULLͳSIZED TENTS AT ENTRANCE.

PHYSICAL BRANDING

ECTRONICS SECTION. THIS IS AN MPLISHMENTS, ANNOUNCEMENTS, CAN BE ALSO INTERACTIVE.

CE TO ACCESS REI’S LIBRARY OF QUEST TO PLAY REI TUTORIALS ON IT IN REAL TIME.

D THEMSELVES ON THE SCREEN IF AGGING REI’S OFFICIAL PAGE, ON

INTD D5 FERAS ALSAGGAF

FULL SCALE TENTS ARE PLACED NEAR THE ENTRANCE. THIS IS A BRANDING STRATEGY THAT MAY BE IMPLEMENTED IN THE STORE. BRANDING LOCATIONS ARE HIGHLIGHTED IN THE DIAGRAM TO THE RIGHT. BRANDING LOCATIONS.

ELECTRONICS SECTION SHOWING THE GLASS DISPLAY, LOOKING NORTHͳEAST

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SPACEWORK

A N A LY S I S S E AT T L E O U T D O O R S A F E 3-D modeling has allowed for further and more detailed exploration of a building’s impact on the site and environment. Using 3-D modeling software in conjunction with plug-ins such as Vasari, Ecotect, and Lady Bug, designers can further understand how the placement of architectural elements can impact the interior lighting or human comfort levels. This adaptive reuse project shows how software can be used within the design process to create a more comfortable and efficient building.

SUMMER SUN

WINTER SUN

SUMMER SUN

CROSS VENTILATION

ARCH D8 HIRA, KRAUSE

WINTER SUN

GENERAT E

55

VISUALIZATION DRONE PORT This project converts an old brass fittings factory into an Amazon Drone Port complete with space for education, manufacturing, and shortterm living. Much of the existing structure and facades were preserved, while the concept of transparency influenced the new design. Increased ceiling heights, two-story atria, and light-wells allow for the circulation of drones. Thermal massing, green roofs, and recycled materials promote sustainability.

eet, 1st Ave S., was designed with a vertical wood louver louver system hangs in front of a structural glazing system th spider clips. This facade wraps the second and third ong the education wing. The triple height atrium space was ring and educational wing and faces the main street along

ARCH D8 THOMPSON, DEL PRETE, SWENGEL

Seattle, WA



Ryan Thompson, Nicholas Del Prete, Cameron Swengel





56

SPACEWORK

OUTPUT EXPERIMENTAL MODELING & DESIGN 10 STUDIO

ARCH D10 MATTHEW FISHER

GENERAT E

57

KINETIC

EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES With the cost of motors, sensors, and micro-controllers becoming more affordable, designers have began to experiment with how they can utilize these tools within the built environment. Using Arduino Uno micro-controllers, kinetic architecture installations explore interactive facades, sun shades, and interior ceilings. Skin facades can change based on weather information, ceilings can be manipulated based on hand gestures, and panels can shift when more shade and privacy is needed. The projects in this Design 10 studio are a collaboration with engineering mechatronics students and explore new ways of looking at architectural systems.

A

A ARCH D10, ENGINEERING MCDONNELL, FISHER, CASSISI

B ARCH D10, ENGINEERING AMISOLA, LESIUK, GERMANI

C ARCH D10, ENGINEERING RYAN, COOK, NYINAKU

B

C

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SPACEWORK

“If you teach a person to fish, you feed them for a lifetime”

AN INTERVIEW WITH CHRISTIAN JORDAN I n te rv i e we d b y : S te fa n L e s i u k (SL )

Christian Jordan is a principal architect at PJA Architecture in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania. He is also a professor at Philadelphia University where he teaches the Experimental Modeling class (xMod). His knowledge and experience in the field of emerging technologies started while he was a student. This conversation, which took place before one of his classes, explores his experience at PhilaU and his views on emerging technologies in the profession.

SL:

What have you been up to since you graduated from Philadelphia University?

CJ: I spent a year and a half at Francis Cauffman, thanks to a connection through a former PhilaU graduate. I was fortunate enough to be there for about 18 months before the opportunity presented itself to work at my father’s firm, Phillip Jordan Architects. Since I’ve been there, I’ve been slowly gaining responsibility. After I was registered two years ago, I became a partner and a principal. I’ve taken more of a focus and interest in growing the practice. I’m trying to expand a research and development arm of the practice, which has been around for about 20 years. We have a legacy to consider, but that also gives us the opportunity to stretch ourselves further because we have an established base of clients. As a principal, it is my responsibility to push into other market areas. We mainly do one- or two-story commercial projects, which we’ve come to enjoy for the efficiencies that we provide and the service we give our clients.

ARCH xMOD MATHEW FISHER

GENERAT E

59

SL: Was the idea for xMod something that started while you were a student or was that something that came about later?

CJ:

That was one hundred percent here. In 2004, I studied abroad, and we needed to submit our thesis proposals while we were abroad.

I decided that I was going to do something on democracy and architecture. I had a planned a trip to Berlin, and I developed my thesis proposal around this trip: on what I was going to learn, and what my next year was going to be like when I got back.

After I sent in my proposal, I stumbled upon Bruce Mau’s “Incomplete Manifesto for Growth” in the design studio. It got me thinking that I had a year left to push myself outside of my comfort zone and risk failing. And I knew that my professors, my classmates, and my work ethic were not going to let me fail. At the end of the year, I might not have something that resembled a true architectural thesis, but I knew that I would at least have a year of research that would capture my attention more than this idea of democracy and architecture.

SL: More about the xMod class; are you still learning new theories and concepts while teaching? How big of an influence are the students in your teaching?

CJ:

The students are a huge influence on me. I have always said, (while tapping a copy of SPACEWORK 01 and laughing) do you know the saying, “If you give a person a fish, you feed him for a day. And if you teach a person to fish, you feed him for a lifetime”? My thought since I started teaching has always been if you teach someone to fish, you will eventually become a better fisherman. So that’s where I see my role. If I am teaching the students these methods, I will get better at using them because the students will push me. They will ask questions; they will break code; they will get a definition to stop working; they will ask me the question and together we will troubleshoot; and it makes me better at those methods.

ARCH xMOD KEVIN RYAN

SL: I like the fisherman quote. I think you have a pretty profound influence on a lot of people with the way you teach. Personally, being in that class has pushed me to look at architecture differently.

Also, PhilaU has prominent graduates like Jared Laucks and Skylar Tibbits, who are really pushing the envelope for architecture at MIT and Formlabs, and it seems like you’ve had a decent influence on that as well.

CJ: I’d like to think so. You know Skylar was his own animal, right (laughing)? But I can remember going to the nonlinear systems organization meetings at Penn. I showed up in my hatchback and Jared said, “Hey, I got some friends” and Skylar was one of them. We spent the rest of the semester talking about how awesome this stuff was and where we could take it, and I was fortunate enough that they were part of the class where I could learn from them as well.

SL: There seems to be a trend now toward architects in emerging fields utilizing big data. And interconnectivity such as user interactivity is calling more to open source or crowd sourcing. Do you think that open source will devalue the role of the architect or do you think that it will improve upon it?

CJ:

That’s a great question. I have been around long enough to know that when professions cry out that something is going to devalue what they do, it doesn’t truly come to pass. A true professional will learn to adapt and utilize the technology of his time. Has open source devalued what Microsoft has meant to computer software?

You know open source certainly challenges them to make better programs, but it does not mean that it is eroding the professional computer programmer. I think architecture is still a really long way off from truly embracing the types of open source architecture that we are talking about. You have a segment of architects and designers using the software, but capital “A” Architecture will still always be about keeping water out of a building, keeping the inhabitants inside comfortable, and managing natural resources. I think some people say that the sky is falling because of some of the new technology coming online and that it’s the end of the professional architect as we know it. I think that’s a little short-sighted.

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PREPARE FOR LIFTOFF THE SPACEWORKER’S GUIDE TO SUCCESS

COVER DESIGN IMAGE COLLECTING [compiling images from students]

[iterations of SPACEWORK’s front covers]

FINAL BOOK LAUNCH [the last step, initiating launch sequence for SPACEWORK]

#M UGSHOT S @ CABEPRES S

ADVANCEMENT COUNCIL PROPOSAL

SECTION CONTENTS OF SPACEWORK

SIXTH SECTION INTRODUCTIONS [our personal touch to the book and what it might bring]

[debating upon the title for each section of the book and what it contains]

BOOK LAYOUT ITERATIONS PANCAKE BREAKFAST [fundraising event for SPACEWORK front cover]

[first passes at the organization of SPACEWORK]

INTERVIEW SETUP [a composition of who we will be interviewing and why]

S P A C E W O R K

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P H I L A D E L P H I A

U N I V E R S I T Y

FRONT COVER

WE WANT YOU The College of Architecture and the Built Environment’s Publication, SPACEWORK, wants you to tell us what you think.

Tell us what spacework means to you!

Email us your projects from this year, tell us your thoughts, or ask us your questions at cabepress@gmail.com

EMBOSSED COVER

SPACE ODDITY ALL SYSTEMS GO

spacework send us your process cabepress@gmail.com

I LOVE PEOPLE WHO MAKE ME LAUGH The College of Architecture and the Built Environment’s Publication, SPACEWORK, wants you to make us laugh.

Tell us what spacework means to you!

Email us your projects from this year, tell us your thoughts, or ask us your questions at cabepress@gmail.com

With the second edition of SPACEWORK, the editors placed an emphasis on creating and strengthening the culture of the studio environment. Initially, the editorial team generated ideas for branding the publication and created a logo which would become representational of the student work featured throughout the book and synonymous with the amount of effort put into the publication’s production. Campaign posters were designed and hung every few weeks to create a larger presence and spread awareness for the publication within the C_ABE community. At the heart of the promotional campaign, coffee mugs featuring the SPACEWORK logo were made and a pancake breakfast was organized to help fund the publication.

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04

FABRICATE

(v): focusing on projects which have become a reality or place an emphasis on structure and detailing

structure create tangible reinforce sustain connect

Fabrication is making.

Fabrication translates ideas from the conceptual to the tactile.

A design and its consequent success are often determined by the craft of execution. The significance of using a penny nail over a deck screw only becomes apparent after a handful of split wood stands in the way of a finished project. The tangible act of fabrication requires hands and mind. The composition of parts leads to the intersection of complex concepts and a concrete reality. Fabrication requires learning how things are put together, why they fall apart, and how to prevent it from happening again.

Fabrication folds paper to give it rigidity or heats Plexiglas to give it flexibility. It understands the materials, environment, and social context inherent to each project and uses that knowledge to skillfully devise a solution.

Today it is imperative that the designer has a larger role in the process of fabrication. Lessening the gap between the designer and the final product will have a profound effect on the buildings that are created; the smallest aspects often hold the largest meaning.

63

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SPACEWORK

HYDROHOUSE DESIGN/BUILD STUDIO Project HOME is a non-profit organization serving the community in Philadelphia to help end chronic homelessness.

St. Elizabeth’s, located in Northwest Philadelphia, is a housing project within Project HOME. In order for St. Elizabeth’s to continue supporting its residents, it is looking for new ways to make use of its exterior landscape.

As a part of the design/build studio, students analyze the site to understand the current conditions of stormwater runoff, pedestrian access, site elevations, wind patterns, and areas of maximum sunlight. This analysis, in conjunction with stories and testimonies from the residents, formed the concept to repurpose the landscape into a Wellness Farm. The farm gives residents the opportunity for peaceful work and access to healthy food.

The design/build studio developed several components of the Wellness Farm ranging from individual benches up to a garden shelter composed of various systems. The HydroHouse collects rainwater from its roof, stores some of the water for future use in other areas of the farm, and channels the rest into the HydroWall. The HydroWall uses the Nutrient Film Technique: a cyclical process which involves mixing the rainwater with nutrients and pumping the nutrient water to the top of the wall where it can run down the wall, distributing nutrients to plants along the way.

ARCH D7 CHOI, ESHUN, RAIA, SCOTT, SMOCK, STANLEY

FABRI CAT E

65

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SPACEWORK

SKELETAL STRUCTURES URBAN REUSE, DENVER, COLORADO The center for the research and development of Maglev Trains taps into the transportation history of Denver, Colorado and its growing need for sustainable alternatives. The exposed structure brings continuity throughout the entire project in both the interior and exterior spaces, giving insight into how the center was constructed and how it begins to address sustainable strategies through its structure.

A

A ARCH D8 LOLLI, NOON, WONG

B ADFND D1 ERICA LOMANDO

FABRI CAT E

67

CITY OCTAVIA, INVISIBLE CITIES Based on Italo Calvino’s Invisible City Octavia, the models are an interpretation of his fantasy spider web city. With tensile strength five times that of steel, the silk from a spider is used as the main structural system, supporting the residence externally.

B

68

SPACEWORK

AN INTERVIEW WITH

MZ:

KEITH + MARIE ZAWISTOWSKI

We don’t ever want to make up a project; we want to respond to an existing need. There are always people trying to do something, a lot of community volunteers in the area, and they just need a building.

A lot of times, the building is the means they lack to be able to serve their community.

K e i t h Z a wi stow ski (K W) M a r i e Z a w i stow ski (MZ) I n t e r vi e wed by: T h e r e sa S tarrs (TS)

Keith and Marie Zawistowski are a team of architects that are closing the gap between the design process, fabrication, and the community a design ultimately affects. Through their design/build firm, OnSite, and through their involvement with Virginia Tech’s design/build studio as professors, the Zawitowskis are pushing for a greater understanding of the design process from conception to completion in order to effectively use materials to best suit the needs of the client, community, and environment.

KZ: The one thing we are reticent about is making a project for an organization that is just getting started. They have to already be active, doing something in the community, and just need a building to enhance what they are doing. This is key to architecture being embraced by the community and sustainable in the sense that it is a vibrant piece of the community that is cared for and cherished.

MZ: It takes a community to arrive at architecture. The community really has to love and take pride in the building; therefore, they need to be an integral part of the process.

TS: In your opinion, how do design/build projects and community relate?

KZ: How do they not relate? One of the most fundamental components of architecture is its capacity to transform a community.

“One of the most fundamental components of architecture its capacity to transform a community.”

MZ: It has the ability to transform lives in general. If you’re going to put that much effort into something, then it should suit the community.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

KZ: Oftentimes, there can be community backlash; buildings are sometimes very controversial things. It’s often because architecture crash-lands; it’s not embraced by the people because they feel it doesn’t represent their identity or their values. One of the things design/build forces is that whoever is making the project is completely entrenched and immersed in people and place.

TS: Many of your projects with Virginia Tech’s design/build studio are based in the Clifton Forge area of Virginia. How do you continue to find new and varying projects?

KZ: We aren’t wed to Clifton Forge, but there has been an overwhelming need in that part of Virginia. At the point when it reaches saturation, we’ll move to the next place that’s in need.

ARCH D7 CHOI, ESHUN, RAIA, SCOTT, SMOCK, STANLEY

TS: Does the community usually come to you with a project or do you have to seek the projects out?

KZ: We start the planning years in advance, two and three years ahead.

They can come to the table with somebody who’s not ready yet.

Right now we’re working with a local fire department but they need some more time to get organized. We can tell they are going to be a perfect client. The need is there; the energy and activism are there.

FABRI CAT E

69

MZ:

TS:

The potential for what it will bring to the community is there. The project is a perfect fit, but we have to plan ahead of time for when the building will be serving a need.

The two of you received a grant from the Graham Foundation for “Traditions of Today and Tomorrow.” Was studying the traditional building practices in Ghana a choice? Why Ghana?

TS:

MZ:

Do the community members usually get involved?

We’ve always been interested in traditional building practices, but also in the capacity of communities that still operate in that world to come together and provide for their own housing needs. In all the rural areas of Ghana, there are no homeless people because the community will come together and build their brother a house.

KZ: We always like to say that they have to have some “sweat equity” in each project. We always find a way that they can contribute in a meaningful way. Depending on the organization, that contribution is always different. It ranges from lodging students in their houses to coming out and helping lay sod.

“We want to respond to an existing need”

KZ: That is common in many places with traditional building practices.

When we applied for the grant, Ghana was on the cusp of an economic boom. It was a key time to go to a place where there was a rich culture of traditional building technology but was also, in its big cities, throwing that away to build the way that we build in the West. It was an interesting time to look at what kind of future they wanted and what they wanted to keep from the past.

TS: How did that experience shape how you build here in the States?

MZ: TS:

We have worked with some interesting materials in the past like recycled carpet. That was part of our interest in traditional building techniques, that the materials are just so natural.

How much influence do the two of you have on the design process?

KZ:

KZ:

If you build with materials that don’t create waste in the first place, you don’t have to worry about dealing with the waste after.

We have this enormous allergy to the design/build education where the faculty is living vicariously through their students.

MZ:

We have our own practice; we have our own projects; and the students have theirs.

KZ: The learning curve is really flat if you’re just labor to build something that someone else designed. Generally, we like all of the things our students have designed. We’re certainly proud of them, what they’ve accomplished, and how they’ve had to grow in order to pull it off.

MZ: It’s very personal to them. You can tell when you look at the project the aesthetic is always very different because it’s always a different group of students.

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SPACEWORK

LIVING MARKET P I E R N I N E , D E L AWA R E WAT E R F R O N T Replacing parts of the existing roof with UV protected glass allows plants to grow throughout the market. This change in material allows the environment to become a place where people will want to come all year round. Through these design decisions, the Living Market is a sustainable aspect of the community in the sense that it is implementing a lifestyle that is healthy and long-lasting.

INTD D8 ALEXANDRA SEBASTIAN

FABRI CAT E

71

LIVE+WORK C A S E S T U D Y : M O B I U S H O U S E , U N S T U D I O C A S E STUDY A collage of superimposed digital textures over hand-drawn line work intended to represent the tectonics of the UN Studio’s Mobius House. This technique emphasizes the uninterrupted flow of circulation from work space to living space throughout the entire house.

A

B

UNIT DWELLING, NOVA SCOTIA, CANADA A combination of client, climate, and construction methods allows for passive strategies to be incorporated into a glassblower’s studio in Nova Scotia. Understanding the drastic differences between a glassblower’s work space and a residential space became a key component in how the spaces came together. From the shape of the roof to the incorporation of a breezeway between these spaces, this project thoroughly explores how to treat the intersection of these programmatic elements.

A ARCH D2 SHANNON MCLAIN

B ARCH D8 ZACHARY SAMMARTINO

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SPACEWORK

SH: What is the relationship between architect and structural engineer?

AP: A

FROM EXPERIMENTAL TO REALITY A R M A N D O P L ATA I n t e r vi e wed by: S h a wn H al e (SH )

Armando Plata is both a licensed engineer and architect. His work brings together an understanding of both disciplines in practice and theory with an interest in experimental structures.

SH: With a background in teaching the experimental structures course, what do you describe as experimental structure? Can you give any examples?

AP:

Experimental types of structures exhibit what we call non-linear behavior, which means you don’t know how they are unpredictable because of the mathematics or physics. That’s why we don’t have a lot of them; that’s why they are not around. Experimental structure is having a vision of what you want to do but not knowing exactly where you are going. In the beginning, you test grounds and then at the end, you’re trying to do something. But testing ideas through structures, it’s either material testing in different ways or testing form in different ways.

SH:

The way I work and the way I work with other architects because I’m also an engineer is collaboration. From the beginning, I know what’s happening so I can give better input to the final outcome.

It’s always, how do we celebrate structure and what makes this building stand? Sometimes it’s at the level of exposure but also how structure enhances the architecture.

“We go back to the basics of stone, earth and concrete.

While we explore experimental ends, we still have these very elemental building materials.”

SH: Do you have any ideas for how we can further our knowledge of making?

AP: The most important skill is to think how to design, to have a design mentality. Learning that you are a designer is the most important thing. Everything else you are going to learn in practice.

We emphasize design for you to better understand the design process and better collaborate in the design team. It is a very grueling phase when you are in school, because you design a building and that is a lot. In practice, we do it in teams but throughout a semester you are learning a lot of this time so it is very intense. But that is the nature of it; that’s our work.

Are there any emerging materials that you see having the potential to change the way we build?

AP:

Glass is one of those materials that is not as new to our industry but it is being pushed. Carbon fiber is being explored and speculated about what can be done with it. But of course, polycarbonates have the challenges of how you bond them. Composite may mean a combination of concrete and ceramics or concrete with plastic and we now have concrete with fiberglass. But even with the way we push forward with new materials, we cannot forget the rest of the world that has minimal means for building. We go back to the basics of stone, earth, and concrete. While we explore experimental ends, we still have these very elemental building materials.

A ARCH D10 HANSSENS, HERMAN, PEDERSEN

B ARCH D2 BEN MANARSKI

C ARCH D10 HOLLAND, KIM

B

FABRI CAT E

73

CROP COSTA RICA OBSERVATION POINT Designed for the Guancaste National Park, the Costa Rica Observation Point acts as a point of interest for those visiting the park and a shelter for those monitoring the natural landscape. The observation point needed to be easily constructed on site and made of easily accessible materials.

A

CAPTION OF IMAGE

C

A

C

74

SPACEWORK

SENTINEL

URBAN REUSE, DENVER, COLORADO Occupying an abandoned airport control tower, this project remains true to the tower’s presence, but material changes were made to better suit its new context. Combining contextual history and a growing need to understand climate change, the project focuses on providing educational and research space as well as providing the community space for nearby residents.

ARCH D8 HALE, NEMITZ, STROLLO

FABRI CAT E

75

AN INTERVIEW WITH

SH:

BILL CHRISTENSEN

Do you have any recommendations for those with little woodshop experience?

I n t e r vi e wed by: S h a wn H a le (SH ) T h e r e sa S tarrs (TS)

Bill Christensen is a professional model maker with a background in carpentry and mold making. He and his wife, Linda Brenner, have created several models for retrospectives on architects such as Louis Kahn and Robert Venturi. Their models of Eastern State Penitentiary aided in the reopening of the site, and their model of Mt. Rushmore serves as an educational tool in the lobby of a historic site in Washington, D.C. As administrator of the school’s woodshop, Bill lends expertise to ensure that students are getting the most out of resources available to them by offering unconventional modeling solutions.

TS: Do you see the benefits of using computer modeling software, laser cutters, and CNC routers?

BC: Absolutely. They’re just tools. I certainly don’t believe computer modeling supplants physical modeling. Until we get holograms, you’re still looking at a 2-D screen. I think the architecture students are making more creative use of laser cutters and routers. The architecture students seem to realize that they can make components like struts and trusses and shapes and then begin to combine them to make a whole. Some students tend to use it as a drawing program, just etching floor plans and facades, making what I refer to as a “decorated box.” I try to remind students that these machines won’t put the project together. It doesn’t correct mistakes.

SH: What are the most challenging materials to work with?

BC: I think it’s all challenging because most of our students have very little experience before coming here. I think that’s part of the value of this place. People actually get their hands on stuff and learn that materials split and crack, but things can still work out well. If you plan, things turn out right.

BC: Come here and use the place. I’m faced with the challenge of teaching all the incoming students how to do all of this. I get a lot of help from the TAs, but the idea is that when you come in here, there’s someone here to help you figure it all out and work with you.

TS: How integral is a physical model to the design process?

BC: In 1982, my partner and now wife, Linda Brenner, and I were asked to make a space-planning model of the National Gallery in Washington, D.C., by VITETTA. They discovered that when most people would come in the back entrance, they would never make it up to the top floor. They wanted to cut a hole in that space so when you came off the street, your eyes were drawn visually upward to the upper-level galleries. The director of the gallery at the time thought it was a great idea, but the committee members weren’t sure, so they decided to have a model made. We made the model so that the area in question had drawers that would slide in and out because they weren’t sure if they wanted a square opening in the space or a round one. Originally everybody thought it was going to be the square opening, but once people had a chance to look at it in the model, everybody agreed the round opening was the right choice. I’d say that’s pretty integral!

“I try to remind students that these machines won’t put the project together, it doesn’t correct mistakes.”

TS:

B

What is one of the more challenging projects you’ve worked on?

BC:

A ARCH D2 BOBBY DESLIS

A B ARCH D7 CHOI, ESHUN, RAIA, SCOTT, SMOCK, STANLEY

With [Louis] Kahn’s City Tower Project, we ran into some issues because even though there were a lot of drawings, there weren’t any sections. There were a lot of beautifully finished plans but no sections. It turned into cracking a code within the geometry of the plan, which is something that we never thought we’d figure out.

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SPACEWORK

TENSILE FORMS BOOKSTORE

In order to emphasize each bookstore’s content, which were influenced by conspiracy theories and rap music, both projects use the organization of the library to echo its subject matter with a composition of projecting angular geometries. The tensile structures guide the user through a particular circulation path, revealing hidden elements, and contrasting the existing rigid geometry.

A

B

A

A INTD D5 AMY HUFFORD

B

B INTD D5 STEPHANIE MATZEK

FABRI CAT E

FABRIC ARCHITECTURE

SH:

ALEXANDER MESSINGER

What kind of clients do you work with?

I n t e r vi e wed by: S h a wn H a le (S H ) T h e r e sa S tarrs (TS )

Alex Messinger is an interior design professor and artist in residence for the College of Architecture and Built Environment. His personal interests are in tensile structures and the use of fabric and light in space.

77

AM: My clients are often institutional. Certain things I do because I compete, I liked to compete and I still do because I want to challenge myself. I don’t market myself. I don’t have a website. I don’t believe in that. My responsibility is here, so I am busy enough with that. I don’t need a headache. I also enjoy doing work on my time, not on someone else’s time.

But on the same token, I like to share with my students. I learn through that. I get excited by my students. Some people just try to force it and I don’t. I come from a school where if you are interested, fine, and if not, too bad. You cannot force somebody to be creative.

TS: What kind of process do you go through to test tensile elements of your sculptural work?

AM: “I use what I know, push it to the limit, and then freeze it in space.”

SH: What brought you to Philadelphia?

AM: I came to Philadelphia University because I was interested in fabric structure. So when the opening came to start a new school of architecture, I came here to start the architecture program, the industrial design program, and I was also in charge of the interior design program for its accreditation. I enjoy teaching because it’s a vehicle. I say if I stop learning, I’ll stop teaching. That’s my whole idea; I am constantly learning.

TS:

How does a process of constant learning impact your style?

AM: The learning process is experimentation. Sometimes I can do certain things that my client will allow, but sometimes the result is pretty conservative and that drives me crazy. I try to address this in my design. I trust the client and their needs, so if I have a conservative client, it results in a conservative project. If I have a client who is more open-minded, I can do cutting-edge work.

I don’t impose my style. I don’t believe in it. I feel that the result of my work is a result of understanding the client.

ALEXANDER MESSINGER

I already know their behavior but create a parabola and work with it to create a form. I use what I know, push it to the limit, and then freeze it in space. You have to play with it, and after a while, I know what I am doing.

SH: Can you explain your creative process?

AM: I like words and to use them poetically; that’s my way of looking at things. My mother was a poet and sometimes I write poems to my students and sometimes they cry and sometimes they don’t care. No matter what, I work with students and I give them credit; I always do.

So that’s my direction. Symbolically a gesture, culturally a gesture; I explore these ideas in depth and this comes from my background as an architect.

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LAUNCH PAD W H AT D O E S I T S AY

It is home, broken pencils, and sketches of our day dreams.

It comes in every shape, size, and color imaginable. It has consumed more hours than are countable. Daily.

From old doors to IKEA countertops, our desks tell a story of the person who lives there. The assortment of gear ranges from T-squares to 3-D printers and everything in-between. As designers our workspace has come a long way. Before paper, we drew crude lines in the dirt where we imagined our buildings stood. Stone tablets turned into parchment and parchment into pixels. Today the architect’s desk is often a collage of drawn and digital; each bringing our ideas closer to reality. As technology continues to advance, there is a growing appreciation for the art of drawing and the character of each individual’s hand. After all, our hands do the making.

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05

LOCATE

(v): understanding how projects fit into a larger context; awareness of both precedents and legacy

context chronology venture discover vernacular place

Location is placemaking.

Location marks a design’s physical presence on the land and its reaction to contextual elements. It shapes a design’s consideration of its surroundings and response to the culture of the area.

Location delineates a project’s place in time. A design exists within the logical chronology of an area’s physical, environmental, and cultural history. A design’s place in time demonstrates an awareness for what came before and a sensitivity for what may come after. For a design to be culturally relevant, it must tie into its location’s history by taking lessons from the past. It stems from research. At the same time, an understanding of precedents only tells half the story. A design must anticipate future issues in order for it to fit into the historical context.

Culture accumulates the oldest traditions, the most current beliefs, and everything in between. Any design can react to its context geographically, but to be properly located, it must be aware of its place in time and every aspect of the culture it impacts.

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A

ARCHITECTURE OF A PLACE A CONVERSATION WITH BRIAN JOHNSTON I n te rv i e we d b y : J e s s i c a N o n n e n ma n (J A N) J a c q u e l y n N e mi tz (J M N)

Professor Brian Johnston has practiced architecture both locally and abroad in Venice, Italy. Our conversation reinforces the idea that architecture should not only focus on the geographical location of a place, but also focus on how a design fits into the time and culture of the place.

B

A ARCH D10 CHRISTOPHER LUTZ

B ARCH D10 JEREMIAH WOODRING

C ARCH D10 CARLIN, LOVALLO, GARMAN

LOCAT E

83

JMN: How have your travels abroad influenced your practice?

BJ:

Having the opportunity to travel a fair amount, which I was very lucky to be able to do, has given me a broad perspective of the practice of architecture. Whether it’s the different ways people are living, different material uses, or different levels of craftsmanship. I bring that experience to the table so I can challenge a program and challenge a project. I like challenging the way they might be made.

You can think a little more laterally if you’ve done some traveling, I think. That includes traveling locally as well as abroad.

JAN:

C

Can you tell us about some of those projects that you worked on when you practiced in Italy?

JAN:

BJ:

How was the workflow or the office atmosphere different? Is it different in the U.S. versus a different country?

I was an intern architect. My professor had a studio in Venice and a studio in Kentucky. He invited me to join the studio as I finished my graduate work. He tended to do very large-scale projects – urban projects. We did a lot of competitions. There was a feasibility study for one of the islands in the Venetian lagoon, which was interesting because the mayor of Venice commissioned the study and it was for an abandoned island, so it was completely theoretical.

BJ: The offices, I think, vary a lot as they do here. Very collegial, sort of like studio-based hierarchy and relationships in terms of building projects and developing projects. Here you have some of that as well.

You have a lot of start-ups. You know, a lot of small groups going out right out of school. Here in the States, I tend to see more of these larger firms where there’s much more of a hierarchy. I think there’s a lot of variation, and I think the critical thing for students is trying to find out what they’re interested in and which one of those organizations will get them the sort of knowledge and experience that they’re looking to get.

So we did that, and then there were a couple of little projects under construction, which was nice because we would visit some of those job sites. Being fresh out of school, I had seen some construction, but in Kentucky it was mostly stick-frame small projects, maybe some steel work in high rises, but this is where I got into concrete, stone, and started really beginning my passion for materials. I got to see it actually being constructed. He afforded me that opportunity which was nice.

JMN: So do you find yourself pulling from the ideas of Italian design into your work here at all? Or like you said before it’s just good to have a broad base of knowledge?

BJ:

A

It’s funny; when I first started traveling, all I wanted to do was see the architecture, see the architecture, see the architecture. It was all about that. And even now I might make a special trip or a little junket to go see a particular piece of architecture that I’m interested in. Now I’m much more interested in experiencing the culture of a place: food, social life, political life. In terms of Italian design, probably less architecture than product and industrial design. I remember from the first time I went to Italy, I was fascinated by the level of craft in everything, the level of design work in everything, clothing in particular, fashion design. I gained an appreciation for a responsiveness and an investigation of material and craft, and that’s what I try to bring to projects, an examination and critical thinking about how something could work versus how it always works. I love fashion design, by the way. Everything is designed. You design everything, even food and the way it’s presented.

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JAN: I felt that way when I was there. They are just so proud of everything they do.

BJ:

Everything. It’s tradition-based, but also everything is considered.

That really struck me. It’s just fantastic. That’s the great thing about traveling; you get exposed to all of those things so you get an appreciation of it. It’s not a one-to-one translation of what you’re necessarily going to do when you get home, but it’s a way of thinking creatively, thinking laterally that traveling and working abroad really helps you with, so I’m a big proponent of everyone traveling as much as possible. There should be more scholarships. Make sure you put that in.

B

JMN: That was one of our other questions: how do you overcome the challenges of designing for an area that you can’t visit?

“I’m a big proponent of everyone traveling as much as possible”

BJ:

This is a constant challenge, even working semi-locally. I’m even thinking last semester. Was it Design 5 or Design 6 we did the border crossing project?

JAN + JMN: Design 6

BJ: My memory… you’ll edit that out. The students and faculty had to imagine places that we couldn’t go. We have a similar challenge with the project in Venice. Some of the things we had to overcome with Venice were to overcome this romantic notion of what Venice is: the notion of this being kind of a Disneyland. It’s a functioning city with a population. Some of it was dissuading preconceived notions.

One of the things to try and overcome the distance that we had was I had a couple videos for them to watch and one had to do with the history and construction of Venice, backstage Venice. Some of the other things we did was I had a list of fiction for them to read if they chose to and a list of movies based in Venice so that they could try the best they could to get a sense of the colors, the sounds, the light qualities… certain things are not tangible in film, and I thought that maybe the fiction could take some of that space up because you have to imagine that, you have to create that in your head so the sense of acoustics, humidity, some things you might not get out of film can come through literature.

A

JAN: For your D10 course next year… field trip.

I would really like to do that. In fact, the first time I proposed a course was a short course. It was spring break, going to Venice; I did a program about it. It didn’t go through at the time, but that started my interest in whether we could do a project there. And it just started me thinking about the potential of an investigation, and taking my passion for a place and sharing that with some students.

A ARCH D10 CARLIN, LOVALLO, GARMAN

B ARCH D10 BONELLI, POOL, ULASSIN

C ARCH D10 AMANDA BONELLI

Back of Chapel

BJ:

D ARCH D10 STEFANIE LOVALLO

C

LOCAT E

85

JAN: So obviously that’s one way that today’s technology is helpful in doing that research. Are there other benefits? Are there drawbacks?

BJ: Clearly we have the benefit of being able to virtually place ourselves in these environments missing certain tactile, sensory components, which we still have to make up in other ways. The other thing that’s amazing now is just the pure amount of data you can get on a place. Population, temperature swings, sunlight, all of that stuff is readily accessible. What I like to discern is that there’s data and information and then there’s knowledge. So you can have all of this data, but if you don’t know how to critically assess it and extrapolate from that to translate all that information into some sort of critical understanding of the space, then all of the data in the world really isn’t going to help you. There is no substitution for going there, first and foremost. I don’t imagine anyone completing the design of a project without actually experiencing the space because there’s this complete other reaction to a place that I don’t imagine you can get any other way until we can transport ourselves magically into the place.

JAN: What are the most important things to focus that research on so that you’re directing yourself down the right road?

“There is a wisdom in the vernacular architecture of a place”

BJ:

D

I think getting an understanding of the culture of a place, the social aspects of a place, the environment, and the ecology are where I like to start. I think that’s it. I think you want to understand the people you’re trying to design for. You do want to look at the architecture though. You want to look at the vernacular architecture because, like I said, it’s the difference between information and knowledge. There is wisdom in the vernacular architecture of a place and so you have got be able to look at that and really be able to understand where it’s coming from. There’s a whole history or tradition and you’re going to be a part of that continuum if you do it right. I think looking to the wisdom of the local condition, the wisdom of the people, and how they interact with the landscape, and that includes the architecture as mediating between the people and the environment. There’s a lot of wisdom there. You want to have an understanding of that. You don’t want to necessarily just copy that because you still always want to do an architecture of your own time, with your own materials, and your own understanding, because you know cultures and people and societies change so that program type, that understanding, that wisdom, I think grows with it.

It’s not just me who has been able to do this. The faculty here is incredibly experienced in terms of traveling and I think that is something that Philadelphia University really offers. Not just fulltime faculty, but adjuncts who have a vast array of experiences both from a professional practice local point of view and also exposure and travel. I’m constantly amazed when I talk to someone and I find out they went here or they went there and we get to talk about the projects or the cultures that they experienced. A lot of the faculty have been around. It’s amazing.

JAN: We’re hoping Spacework can help to start conversations in studio beyond just the cursory “what is your project this semester?”

BJ:

B

And there’s so much to talk about. I might have touched on it a little bit not a one to one, but the appreciation of craft. How things go together. How my hand might touch this railing. In Venice at the Punta della Dogana there is an Ando renovation to the Customs House into a modern museum now and you go in there and there are minimal touches, but you look at every single touch. That handrail came up and it went just so far before it turned, or the way they framed the opening the way the steels relationship to the brick and what’s highlighted and what takes a more modest role. It takes a certain sensitivity to be modest with your work sometimes, right?

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A COLLECTIVE EXPERIENCE T H E 1 1 4 th J O H N S T E W A R D S O N F E L L O W S H I P I N A R C H I T E C T U R E

Walking the streets of Berlin today, it is hard to imagine the magnitude of events which occurred in this culturally and historically rich city.

For one to grasp a sense of understanding they must combine knowledge as well as a cultivation of their own experiences and reactions. To grasp a sense of what life was like in Berlin, Germany post World War II and during the separation created through the Berlin Wall, one must look at the historical layering of events and place. The site chosen to create such a transformative and captivating ten day competition project is on the outer edge of the Tiergarten and directly south of the Brandenburg Gate. The overall objective of this prompt was to create a transformative space of separation and connection

A

B

C

A ARCH D10 ZACH GARMAN

B ARCH D10 STEFANIE LOVALLO

C ARCH D10 AMANDA BONELLI

D ARCH D10 CAITLIN FEROCE

E ARCH D10 LAUREN BROSIUS

C

LOCAT E

87

D

E

B

C

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1 1 4 th

JOHN STEWARDSON COMPETITION

ENHANCING THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE

A

A ARCH D10 JUSTIN SHAFFER

B ARCH D10 ANNIE AMISOLA

C ARCH D10 AARON KIM

D ARCH D10 KRISTIN POOL

LOCAT E

89

B

C

Each project had to support each of the following requirements: 1. Contain- the proposal must form a designed architectural space 2. Connect- the proposal must be able to provide an architectural experience that connects its users 3. Transform- the proposal must define, elucidate and manifest a transformative space as the designer understands it 4. Endure- the proposal must have a tangible substantive presence that will last on the site Each project demonstrates a connection to the past, present and future of Berlin as well as the rest of the world. It serves to create a perpetual idea of creating spaces that serve to educate, elevate and relate to the people of different cultures, countries and beliefs.

D

A

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ML: The other day, one of the students asked me about her grade. She wanted to get an “A” (laughs) and she wanted to know how. I review all the projects but the really important part is how far students get from the previous project, how intellectually curious they are – whether they ever mention going to a lecture or reading a book. And as they gradually wean themselves from you, that’s the most exciting part, that they start to have their own reasons why they’re studying.

I look for that moment when they start to pull themselves slightly into their own orbit.

JMN: Could you tell us a bit about your background and training in art and photography?

ML: A

C U LT U R A L L A N D S C A P E S AN INTERVIEW WITH MORNA LIVINGSTON I n t e r vi e wed by: J e ssi ca N onnenm an (JA N) J a cq u e l yn N em i tz (JMN )

A well-respected photographer, Morna Livinston travels the world documenting cultural landscapes when she’s not teaching design, history, and photography classes. Having recently published Steps to Water, Morna shared her plans for future photographic exhibitions and publications.

JMN:

Many students like ourselves took your Design Foundations course, so we were wondering which project you enjoy teaching the most.

ML: The painting project. Partly because it’s at that point when you can tell where a student is going spatially. I find that really exciting because, they are new people coming into the design world, and that’s the first evidence of it.

JAN:

That course is extremely conceptual, especially compared to the other design courses. What do you most want to impress upon your students through that course as they begin their design education?

A ARCH TECHNICS SHANNON McLAIN

B HISTORIC PRESERVATION KATHLEEN GARNER

My training in art was fairly specific because I went to an art school.

I could paint very well. I learned to gild, to put on gold leaf. I learned all kinds of things about drawing, with silver point, conté crayon, with all that. I also took a little bit of sculpture, knew how to cast, knew how to print fabric, knew how to blow glass. If you go to an art school, you have the advantage where you can walk into any of those studios and you had friends who were doing things, and at night they’d let you try it. So that’s a great training.

I didn’t start to photograph much until my kids were grown and I was free to travel more and do projects on my own. So I took photography at the University of Tennessee where I was teaching, just as the students did. It was really great, I worked in the studio with the students and I loved it.

JAN: The photographic process has changed so much from how handson it used to be to how digital it has become. How has that changed throughout your career, and is there a certain stage that you still use or that you still prefer to use?

ML: It’s changed so much that I feel like I’m in a kind of a fishbowl. You know what Miro paintings look like with things just floating by?

They’re all just floating by and they’re opportunities.

Last summer I was working in Europe, and I’d been the summer before and during the harvest. There was so much dust in the air that all my digital cameras got dust in them and I could not keep the sensors clean. So the only thing to do was to switch to film, so I switched back.

Now, lately, I am interested in doing some black-and-white photography and maybe hand-coloring it. I’m trying to make screens at the scale of architecture, so about six feet tall. I’ll probably be developing the idea for two or three years and then I hope to sell some.

LOCAT E

91

JAN: How many months or years of your life are you dedicating to these projects?

ML:

Well it took me 16 years to write the book and I haven’t written anything else on it, but I did go to India and talk about the work subsequently. I’m working now in Yemen and I can’t go there. I worked on that for only five years, but it’s taking me now another five to write that because of the difficulty of not going.

JMN:

We were going to ask if you had plans to complete that project because of the political situation?

ML:

I was reading something and I found out that the Yemenese had gone and set up the water system in Majorca. I went to Majorca with a student of ours who graduated about four years ago and Chris Harnish. He was great; he did the driving and I did the cooking.

We did some mapping and a lot of observing how the community dealt with water when it got to the towns. And we got to have lots of picnics. The markets are very good and I always think that water is so connected to agriculture that eating is part of the fun of it. We ate very well; we had to try everything (laughs)! Chris isn’t afraid of any kind of food.

JAN:

Can you trace where your interest in these cultural landscapes came from initially? What’s drawn you to these types of projects?

ML:

My mother wanted to be an anthropologist. She went to Barnard and she had a really good education and she was bright as anything. She had taken a lot of undergraduate courses in anthropology, so when I went to college, I thought I was going to study anthropology, too.

I took physical anthropology and the skulls were interesting. But I wanted to know the stories of people, not what they looked like dead.

I took some cultural anthropology and at the same time, I decided to take some art classes so I could draw better. I liked the art classes so much I ended up switching to art. But it was always there in the back of my head to work in other cultures.

JAN:

B

ML: I think you’d have to say about the India project that I was lucky to do it when I did. There are so many things where the world starts to get worried about tourists and liability and so on. When the government starts opening the Indian stepwells as a tourist attraction they put fences around and they put guardians who start shouting at you, “No, no, don’t stand there.” Not only had I stood there, but they insisted that I climb all over those buildings. That’s how you get those shots!

I remember in Yemen, there was a ruin, and the guide said, “Of course you’re going to climb up on that wall.” I had a 4x5 camera and I said, “Someone’s going to have to hold on to me” because not only is it extremely windy, but I’m scared to death that the camera would start to go over and I’d – not thinking of where I was – I would try to grab it, and then I’d fall right off into the stone. The kind of miracle of just getting through the one in India or the one in Yemen, those have to stand out. That is work that not everybody gets a chance to do, and I’m very, very lucky.

JMN: Is there something you haven’t had the chance to pursue yet that you want to try next?

ML:

I photograph markets all the time and I hope to use some of those photographs in my cookbook. I was in Malaysia over the break at Christmas and these markets smell so incredible and they look so incredible. I don’t know, again it’s really just food. Now that I’m getting some of these architectural projects finished, I would like to photograph some of those Italian festivals and visit some of those places. The French also have that same kind of thing and I think it would be a great summer to spend with a friend and just go around and do that. I’d love to do that and put together the photos and the stories of these towns.

JMN:

Do you have a favorite project from your career?

That would be so fun!

JMN:

JAN:

Or one that has been the most memorable?

Thank you, we always love hearing your stories.

ML:

You’re very welcome. Now you know where they come from, you know the secrets.

B

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C U LT U R A L P L A C E M A K I N G THE ERDE MUSEUM

A

A

These existing buildings converted into museums reference the culture of the surrounding neighborhoods. The Erde Museum clearly expresses its focus on Germantown’s geology and ecology by turning the building into a conservatory. The design uses a composition of voids and suspended pathways to dispense natural light throughout the building, allowing plants to thrive and providing ample circulation space for galleries.

A INTD D7 ERIK SMITH

B INTD D7 EMILY STANSEL

LOCAT E

93

C U LT U R A L H I S T O R Y M U S E U M I N M A N AY U N K

B

B

B

The Cultural History Museum in Manayunk features colored partitions and a suspended sculpture to capture the town’s vibrant artistic aesthetic. Despite being separated from the community by the building’s existing walls, these projects fill the interior spaces with elements which distinctly reference the immediate context.

A

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DESIGN IN THE LANDSCAPE HALIFAX OPERA HOUSE

This live-work space is a small residential unit designed specifically for an opera singer. Acoustical needs are met and sound is distributed around the house through an arrangement of partition walls which stop short of the ceiling plane. Although this space is intended for seasonal use, it’s location in Nova Scotia, Canada demands a design which accommodates for the cold climate. The structure is oriented on the hillside site to maximize views and solar gain through sun rooms on the Southern and Eastern sides while the Northwest portion is buried into the earth to utilize thermal massing.

ARCH D8 JAKOB PASSERNIG

LOCAT E

95

DESIGN IN THE CITY B R O O K LY N P O W E R S TAT I O N

The Gowanus Canal is currently an EPA Superfund site but was once the most highly-traveled canal in the country. The Central Power Station used to run the entire Brooklyn trolley system, but today it is an abode for squatters. This adaptive reuse project references the site’s history and envisions a sustainability plan for the local public bus system. The programmatic core of the new Brooklyn Power Station is the manufacturing of hydrogen fuel cells. Utilizing hydroelectric power, canal water is filtered and channeled into the building to undergo electrolysis. To engage the community and establish its place in the neighborhood, the building visually expresses the manufacturing process and emphasizes its relationship to the canal. Mainly, the project features a glass chamber in which water is aerated and continually rains down, giving it an audible and visual presence while assisting the cooling and humidification systems.

ARCH D8 KLOHR, NONNENMAN, TYRRELL

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AN INTERVIEW WITH ROB FLEMING I n t e r vi e wed by: J e ssi ca N onnenm an (JA N) J a q u e l yn N em i tz (JMN)

Sitting in a studio hidden in the back of SEED Center, Rob Fleming spoke to us about the history and future of sustainability. He’s known on campus as the director of the M.S. in Sustainable Design program, but his passion to teach goes far beyond. He recently published Design Education for a Sustainable Future and has initiated the school’s first massive open online course in sustainable design.

A

JAN:

RF:

What sparked your interest in sustainable design?

That’s a really good question because everybody laughed at me for doing sustainability in the 90s. My thesis was called “The Seeds of Sustainability.” It was my third draft because my professors wouldn’t let me graduate with sustainability; they said it was never going to happen and you’re wasting your time. It’s only been three years now that nobody says, “Why are you doing that?” 2012 was when things kind of flipped over, and now I think that everybody agrees that sustainability is real.

RF:

When I was five years old (this is really kind of a joke, but it’s a true story) my mom took my sister and me to Woodstock – she was a hippie. I grew up in a socially progressive household where you were raised in a way to look for change and progress. So that’s where it really all started.

I went to Temple for undergrad and I designed this hugely successful off-the-grid house in 1984 and got laughed at by all of my colleagues and professors. I got registered, realized that I didn’t know what sustainability was (this is still in the 80s or early 90s), and I thought, this is not right, I am not making the world a better place.

So I decided to go to Virginia Tech’s master’s program. My thesis advisor was teaching something called sustainability from both the environmental and the social status standpoint so I thought, “Oh, this is really cool.”

JAN:

Did you know all along that sustainability was going to be more than just a talking point?

JAN:

So 2012 was that transition point. When did PhilaU master’s program start?

RF:

The master’s program here started in ‘06-’07. We’re in our eighth year already. We were one of the first programs in the country. My strategy was to write the proposal and get it through the curriculum committee before anybody really knew what I was doing. I just did it really quick and I had a really big proposal and they all passed it and the program got approved. This was all down in Manayunk; we used to have our own building. You probably don’t even know that do you? Yeah we were off campus for ten years. Do you know this?

JMN:

I know that there is a building in Manayunk. I didn’t know that this was associated with it.

RF:

We were there for ten years, and we were funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for $4.5 million to promote sustainability in the state. That was how we got the rent to pay for the Manayunk center.

JAN:

A ARCH D9 CARLIN, MARTIN

B LARCH D7, ARCH D9 BERGMAN, LOVALLO, TINSLEY

A

That is really cool. I think I only knew about the Manayunk building because it was an adaptive reuse, as is this facility. What are some of the core sustainable strategies that are used in these buildings that are really integral to adaptive reuse projects?

LOCAT E

RF: Well, of course, the first law of sustainability is don’t build at all.

If you don’t need a new building, don’t do one. The second one, of course, is to renovate. If you look at authentic sustainability, it really does involve cultural value. The SEED Center is unique because this building had very little cultural value. It had a bit of history from the basketball team, but as a piece of architecture it’s a Butler Building.

This got LEED Gold. It’s been great to set that precedent of sustainability on this campus because we have this master’s program and we want to have the university reflect our values.

JAN:

You mentioned LEED; that’s one of a few certifications. What do you think LEED’s biggest positive impact has been and what would be your critique of the LEED system because it’s still in its infancy?

RF:

I’m going to surprise you and tell you my favorite LEED point is the bike racks. I say that partly because every other professor makes fun of it here. I think that they’re missing the point of LEED. The intent is to reduce carbon and also change behavior. Not just to have a green building, but to change the behavior of the inhabitants. I think you want to encourage people to ride bikes and not drive; it’s kind of obvious.

LEED lists itself as a Green Building Rating System; it’s not claiming sustainability. The big fight now is between Living Building Challenge and something called Passivhaus. Passivhaus is the German system that’s really about efficiency. Living Building Challenge is holistic. Then there’s a new thing called Well Being, which looks more at human health inside spaces.

JMN: Do you think there’s anything that makes our sustainability program unique compared to other programs?

97

B

RF: The first one was the non-designers inclusion – it’s really unique. I wrote the website and didn’t make it that you had to be an architect. I said that I thought interior designers were great; I thought landscape architects would be great. Architects for sure, but I also wanted engineers, especially building HVAC guys or civil engineers. And then people found the loopholes and they applied with non-design degrees and I said, “Well let’s try it we’ve got this far.” So we let them in and it turned out to be a huge benefit. But the main thing that’s really different is that we’re doing authentic sustainability. We’re pursuing it at a very deep level, and we’re pursuing it holistically. The problem with architecture is that it’s visually dominated, so we’re looking at all manifestations to get a full-blown experience in the project. The other big part is the collaboration. We actually train students how to work in groups and lead groups because you know it’s going to be all collaborative when you guys get out of here, and you know you’re going to work across disciplines, so it gets really testy and can get really nasty.

JAN:

Because you’ve already made such an impact on the school, what’s next?

RF:

To have a free course and launch it out of PhilaU, and to have the first free course on sustainable design in (I guess) the world. I haven’t seen any other ones. I think what’s happening with PhilaU is that we’re regionally very well respected. We’re not a national school yet, but in five to ten years we’d like to be. The faculty is doing a great job by the way. We’re moving to that next level up which is really hard to do because it’s a big leap, but that’s really what I’m hoping to help the university do – to build a brand from a bigger scale. It’s only going to make your degree more valuable. Ultimately, it’s for you guys.

B

98

SPACEWORK

C U LT U R A L O V E R L AY S

PORTA PORTESE Study abroad provides students with the unique opportunity to design in an unfamiliar location without relying on research and inferences to understand the context. This project provides green space along the ancient Aurelian Walls in the middle of a traditional Roman neighborhood. The immediate physical context includes an abandoned airplane hangar and a recreational facility for the elderly; therefore, this urban design provides recreational space for the community’s youth, as well as gardens and a marketplace to benefit the whole neighborhood. The park is defined by linear strips of varying materials which fold over the walls to form benches and gardens. These strips respond to the angular nature of the Aurelian Walls with which they engage. Ultimately, this park provides much needed green space in a dense urban area, encouraging increased fellowship in the future while drawing attention to the site’s rich history.

STUDY ABROAD JESSICA NONNENMAN

LOCAT E

GRAY’S FERRY REDEVELOPMENT “The city grows upon itself: it acquires a consciousness and memory. In the course of its construction, its original themes persist, but at the same time it modifies and renders these themes of its own development more specific.”

-Aldo Rossi, “Architecture of the City”

ARCH D9 HUGHES, LOVE, POOL

99

100

SHOPTALK UNDERSTANDING DESIGN SCHOOL JARGON

“ACTIVATE THE SPACE”

DISCOURSE (N.)

BUDGET (N.)

FENESTRATION (N.)

the term your professor uses when he wants you to put scaled figures in your drawings

a monetary restraint that doesn’t exist until you enter the real world

written or spoken communication or debate

a fancy word for a window

CONVENE (V.)

to come together in a group

COLLABORATE (V.)

to work in a team to create something

CRITIQUE (N.)

FORMAL (ADJ.)

DATUM (N.)

GENTRIFICATION (N.)

often shortened to “crit,” a presentation which gathers feedback from peers, professors, or professionals

a reference line

DELIVERABLES (N.) the lenthgy to-do list

the physical massing of a space, usually explored in early design phases

the renovation of a deteriorating urban neighborhood by the upper or middle class, which causes property values to increase and often displaces the original low-income residents

101

GESTURE (N.)

a bold stroke reminiscent of an early Zaha sketch

ORGANIC (ADJ.)

a fancy word that justifies the arbitrary curves in your project

PARTI (N.)

an initial gesture which drives the entire design process

PEDAGOGY (N.)

the prevailing principles or methods of teaching

GRADE (N.)

[RE]

GREENWASHING (V.)

RENDER (V.)

each layer that you tediously cut out of cardboard for your site model; also known as topography

when you tack on solar panels or a green roof to pick up a few extra LEED points.

HIERARCHY (N.)

an organizational system in which items are layered by importance

a prefix used by students to turn ordinary words into reasonably acceptable project titles

a fancy word for coloring

SLEEP (V.)

an activity vital to the well-being of a student, but often neglected for the sake of the deadline

ITERATION (N.)

STUDIO CULTURE(N.)

JUROR (N.)

SUSTAINABILITY (N.)

JUXTAPOSITION (N.)

T-SQUARE (N.)

slightly different variations of the same scheme which are often produced in a series of sketches or models a person who provides feedback in a critique

a stark contrast between two elements (when used in speech, this word is usually accompanied by shifting hand motions)

the experiences, behaviors, habits, and patterns found within the architecture studio making decisions with an awareness of the impact current actions have on future generations (not just greenwashing your project)

your right-hand man for the first couple years

URBAN FABRIC (N.)

the dynamic culture of a city

VERNACULAR (ADJ.)

the architecture created by ordinary people in a specific region which favors function over form

MEMBER (N.)

an individual component of a structural system; not to be confused with your inclusion in an elite club

WORKFLOW (N.)

the sequence of processes through which a piece of work passes from initiation to completion

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SPACEWORK

DD: Architects and builders, from early on, were always trying to build better than they had before. Vernacular architecture is an architectural response to a particular place. As it advanced and moved through time, it became incredibly efficient. It got about as far as it could get on its own because technology became the accompanying piece to how to make our lives better.

CLOSING THOUGHTS WITH DONALD DUNHAM A co n ve r sati on w i th edi tors J e ssi ca N onnenm an (JN ) La u r e n B r o si us (LB )

Donald Dunham has published multiple essays including “Beyond the Red Curtain: Less is More Utopia” and “Architecture without Nature.” He asked us to read these essays before sitting down with him at the end of the semester to discuss architecture, education, and utopia.

DD: As architects, we should really think carefully before we just start building. Just because someone has money and wants to build something, maybe there’s a deeper question that we ask the client which is: “Do we really need to do this?” Now, we’ll put ourselves out of a job with that mentality, but it’s also up to us to propose what they should do if they have a real need. It’s about ethics. I don’t know if we address that enough in the profession. It’s a big question and I struggle with it.

JN:

I read your essays, they were fascinating. I don’t know much about utopia, and I feel like people have different perceptions of what that means: whether it’s a perfect community where everybody gets along or it’s surrealistic like an Archigram vision. But you portray it as less of a destination and more of a process and a natural progression for how the field advances.

DD:

Yes, that would be correct. It’s a motivation. The human condition is a social condition. Architecture is part of that, it is social. Utopia and utopianism is about social organization. What’s interesting is just the idea of utopia, which is: good place and no place. That’s Thomas More’s construct, it’s a play on a Greek pun. Humans always dreamed of a better place. The idea that we could, in fact, live in a beautiful place that was peaceful and controlled was considered before the word “utopia” came along, and it was a model for how we wanted to live as humans.

Of course, architects got a bad rap when the public’s fascination with the modern city met their hatred for the failed city. That kind of killed the idea of utopia. But you can’t get rid of it because the impulse is there. Rem Koolhaas would say that architects are born with a utopian gene, we just can’t rid ourselves of it - good or bad. It is process, because it is part of the critique. We use it to look at the work we do and see if it’s contributing. It’s valuable to us and that’s why it’s not going to go away.

JN:

That’s what I found most interesting about your essay on the Barcelona Pavilion. It was everything we learned in Architectural History 1-4, all in once neat little package. I hadn’t realized before that utopia is something that everyone is striving towards, whether they proclaim it or not.

DD:

What’s interesting about the Barcelona Pavilion is that it was this model for architects throughout the twentieth century, and probably still is. We love the planar exercise; the vertical and horizontal play.

Even though it was not the most honest structure in terms of what we see, the minimalism of it really does start to suggest how we should build. Which is less. The words are even attributed to Mies van der Rohe: “Less is more.” That itself is utopian: if we build, let’s build with less. The whole sustainability movement is based on that.

It’s a response to sunlight and climate and orientation of planes and materials. But it’s really doing it with less.

LB:

Do you think that with all the technology we have now, people will overuse it?

DD:

Technology is a problem because we just exploit it. We haven’t learned. At some point we have to draw that line in the sand and say we can’t keep building out, we have to push in. Our cities need to be more dense and we have to learn to live that way. The good news is that’s the next lesson. It’s not just technology, but what has to ride along with it in the front seat, which is the utopian critique.

LB:

Is it striking a balance between what we need and what we want?

CLOSI NG THOUGHT S

103

DD:

JN:

We have to question what we want, and the utopian critique helps us with that. Does everyone benefit from it, not that we can’t have our own interests but its limited. And that comes from our education.

What motivates us to have the biggest house, the biggest this, the biggest that. And the question is how do we change the paradigm?

How do we get people to reconsider the scope of their lives and the space requirements of their needs. See we respond to their wants and needs.

I think the best things we learn here are from the projects which are deeply rooted in research. You can’t just give someone a program or it becomes a puzzle you can only reinvent so many ways. But I love when we get a loose prompt to follow and go out and do the research to see what the space wants. You learn a different way of researching and thinking and you become very aware of social and cultural aspects rather than: this is a box and how will you fill it?

JN:

We need a way to get people to change their entire way of thinking.

In an urban context it is more feasible to ask people to walk and such. But out in suburbia, forget it. You’d have to redefine the whole infrastructure first.

DD:

I suppose there is going to be a limit to how far people are willing to travel to work. At some point you have to say that’s it, we can’t keep going. We can’t keep claiming more cornfields and agricultural areas for cities. We need to keep those close to the cities. We need to draw that line and say that’s it. How do we get people in this country to do that?

LB:

I think it’s that we have to educate them. Like you said before, it’s about ethics. We are taught to educate people on their options for building sustainably and so on.

DD:

Here is a question for both of you: I think it’s important in architectural education to be exposed to different building typologies. It’s fun to work on theoretical projects, to understand organizing systems and principles together, and to think about design. At some point when you are able to think about successfully putting these pieces together, we give you problems that are more rooted in reality. Now that you both are sophisticated students and designers, what kind of projects would you rather do here that would inform your career as an architect?

LB:

We need to stop doing community centers.

DD:

That is true, they seem to be a catch-all for extra space.

LB:

This semester, we did research to find a real client. It gave us something to sink our teeth into; a reason for doing it. It has made the projects more successful and it is easier to work on it because I feel like I’m doing it for a person or group of people.

DD:

As you develop the skills to start doing that research, it informs what a project needs to be. Does this bring value to society? Of course utopia is this desire towards the perfect place although we know we can’t get there. But can we get closer to it.

As architects we take on social issues but we just need more help.

We all have the technical knowledge that will get us a job, but then we are removed from the client and their needs. We’re moved away from the why that compels us to do what we do. I think architects should be compelled to take an oath like physicians, but we don’t.

We just say we’re going to uphold the safety, health, and welfare of the general public and that’s pretty much it.

JN:

And it’s so much more than that.

DD:

It’s tough, because there are a lot of architects out there who don’t care. And there’s of course a lot of people who are doing amazing, unbelievable work which satisfies real need as opposed to want, and it’s beautiful at the same time.

LB:

I think that’s the hard part about finding a job. Trying to figure out what you’re willing to sacrifice if one firm offers a lot of money but doesn’t do the kind of work you want to do.

JN:

We’re so used to the culture in school where we can dream big and solve every problem that comes our way.

LB:

You don’t want to get pigeon-holed when you get out into the real world.

DD:

Not to say you can’t deviate from the track you first start down, but once you start getting good at something, you could keep going in that direction. You have to be careful, whether you’re driving to A or B, because you probably want to get on the right road from the beginning.

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SPACEWORK

INDEX EDWARD ALLGOOD

29

ARCHITECTURE ‘15

FERAS ALSAGGAF

53

46, 57, 89

36

96

24, 27, 84, 86

9, 24, 27, 87

48

82, 84, 96

57

36 29

64, 68, 75 46

49, 57

45

75

38 64, 68, 75

36 29

87 29

49, 56, 57, 58

ARCHITECTURE ‘17

AMY HUFFORD

76

BRANDON HUGHES

99

LOUIS IANNONE

31

AARON KIM

72, 89

ALLISON KLINGLER

16

ALEXANDER KLOHR

95

CHUNCHING KO

36

VASILLIOS KOUMANDAKIS

33

SAVANAH KRAUSE

54

STEFAN LESIUK

46, 57

PATRICK LOLLI

66

ERICA LOMANDO

67

STEFANIE LOVALLO

15, 82, 84, 86, 96

CHELSEY LOVE

99

INTERIOR DESIGN ‘18 38

ARCHITECTURE ‘16

MELISSA GARCIA

50, 72

ARCHITECTURE ‘16

ARCHITECTURE ‘15

MEHGAN FORD

MIKE HOLLAND

ARCHITECTURE ‘15

ARCHITECTURE ‘15

MATTHEW FISHER

54

ARCHITECTURE ‘15

ARCHITECTURE ‘15

KYLE FERRIER

SUVIR HIRA

ARCHITECTURE ‘19

ARCHITECTURE ‘15

CAITLIN FEROCE

52

ARCHITECTURE ‘17

INTERIOR DESIGN ‘16

SHAWN FEDETZ

MADELINE HILL

ARCHITECTURE ‘16

ARCHITECTURE ‘16

MEGAN EYER

50, 72

ARCHITECTURE ‘15

ARCHITECTURE ‘16

EMMANUEL ESHUN

DYLAN HERMAN

ARCHITECTURE ‘15

ARCHITECTURE ‘19

DOMINIKA DZIEGIEL

72

INTERIOR DESIGN ‘15

ARCHITECTURE ‘15

BOBBY DESLIS

FRANK HANSSENS

ARCHITECTURE ‘15

ARCHITECTURE ‘15

PABLO CORTES

24, 27

INTERIOR DESIGN ‘18

ARCHITECTURE ‘15

ANDREW COOK

EMMA HALEY

ARCHITECTURE ‘15

ARCHITECTURE ‘16

TYLER COMPARI

14, 74

ARCHITECTURE ‘16

ARCHITECTURE ‘15

KALIA CHOI

SHAWN HALE

INTERIOR DESIGN ‘15

ARCHITECTURE ‘17

OLIVIA CERVASIO

40

ARCHITECTURE ‘15

ENGINEERING ‘15

DYLAN CATINO

CAMERON GRIFFITHS

ARCHITECTURE ‘15

ARCHITECTURE ‘15

WADE CASSISI

36

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE ‘15

ARCHITECTURE ‘19

SEAN CARLIN

NANCIE GIARDINA

ARCHITECTURE ‘16

ARCHITECTURE ‘15

JULIE CARBONE

57

ARCHITECTURE ‘15

ARCHITECTURE ‘15

LAUREN BROSIUS

MATHEW GERMANI

INTERIOR DESIGN ‘16

ARCHITECTURE ‘15

AMANDA BONELLI

6, 90

ENGINEERING ‘15

ARCHITECTURE ‘17

WOODY BERGMAN

KATHLEEN GARNER ARCHITECTURE ‘15

ARCHITECTURE ‘15

MINA BELLARE

82, 84, 86

ARCHITECTURE ‘15

ARCHIETCTURE ‘16

ANNE MARIE AMISOLA

ZACH GARMAN

ARCHITECTURE ‘15 36

ARCHITECTURE ‘15

I NDE X

NICOLE LUGO

50

CHRISTOPHER LUTZ

82

VERONICA MAGNER

38

BEN MANARSKI

72

HEATHER MARTIN

96

STEPHANIE MATZEK

36, 76

BRENT MCDONNELL

57

JENNY MCELROY

36

SHANNON MCLAIN

71, 90

SHELBY MILLER

36

JOHN MURPHY

16

JACQUELYN NEMITZ

16, 74

JESSICA NONNENMAN

95, 98

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE ‘15

JUSTIN SHAFFER

8, 88

ALLI SMITH

28

ERIK SMITH

92

TIMOTHY SMOCK

64, 68, 75

ETHAN STANLEY

64, 68, 75

EMILY STANSEL

92

THERESA STARRS

16, 35

MICHAEL STROLLO

74

MELISSA STYER

28

CAMERON SWENGEL

55

RYAN THOMPSON

55

AHDEEM TINSLEY

15, 96

JASON TRUTNER

36

RYAN TYRRELL

16, 95

MATTHEW ULASSIN

84

BILLY WONG

66

JEREMIAH WOODRING

48, 82

NICHOLAS WILLIAMSON

36

INTERIOR DESIGN ‘15

ARCHITECTURE ‘15

ARCHITECTURE ‘16

ARCHITECTURE ‘17

ARCHITECTURE ‘16

INTERIOR DESIGN ‘15

ARCHITECTURE ‘19 ARCHITECTURE ‘17

ARCHITECTURE ‘16 ARCHITECTURE ‘16

ARCHITECTURE ‘16 ARCHITECTURE ‘16

ARCHITECTURE ‘15

ARCHITECTURE ‘16

ARCHITECTURE ‘16 66

ARCHITECTURE ‘16

ARCHITECTURE ‘16 57

ENGINEERING ‘15

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE ‘15 36

INTERIOR DESIGN ‘16

ARCHITECTURE ‘17 94

ARCHITECTURE ‘16

ARCHITECTURE ‘16 28

ARCHITECTURE ‘15

ARCHITECTURE ‘15

COREY PEDERSEN

72

HA PHAM

48

ARCHITECTURE ‘15

ARCHITECTURE ‘15

ARCHITECTURE ‘15

ARCHITECTURE ‘15

KRISTIN POOL

84, 89, 99

DAVID PRAGOSA

14

KRISTINA PULSINELLI

32, 36

MATTHEW RAIA

64, 68, 75

KEVIN RYAN

49, 57, 59

ZACHARY SAMMARTINO

16, 71

ARCHITECTURE ‘15

ARCHITECTURE ‘17

ARCHITECTURE ‘16

ARCHITECTURE ‘17 ARCHITECTURE ‘16

ARCHITECTURE ‘15 ARCHITECTURE ‘16

70

ARCHITECTURE ‘15

INTERIOR DESIGN ‘16

AKSHAR PATEL

ALEXANDRA SEBASTIAN

ARCHITECTURE ‘15

ARCHITECTURE ‘15

JAKOB PASSERNIG

64, 68, 75

INTERIOR DESIGN ‘15

ARCHITECTURE ‘19

RACHEL ORCUTT

SHANNON SCOTT ARCHITECTURE ‘16

ARCHITECTURE ‘16

EMMANUEL NYINAKU

34, 48

ARCHITECTURE ‘19

ARCHITECTURE ‘15

JACOB NOON

JESSICA SCHELL

105

106

SPACEWORK

CREDITS

S PA C E W O R K

SPACEWORK is a publication produced by the College of Architecture and the Built Environment, Philadelphia University. www.Philau.edu/architectureandthebuiltenvironment

P U B L I C AT I O N E D I T O R S

ISBN-978-0-9903292-1-3v Š2015 by CABE PRESS College of Architecture and the Built Environment, Philadelphia University, 4201 Henry Avenue, Philadelphia University, PA, 19144. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without prior permission of CABE PRESS. All images of student projects appear courtesy of students enrolled in the College of Architecture and the Built Environment, Philadelphia University, copyright, CABE PRESS, Philadelphia University, unless otherwise noted.

Lauren Brosius Jessica Nonnenman

DESIGNERS Kristin Pool Ha Pham

SECTION EDITORS

Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders where applicable, but if any have been inadvertently overlooked, the necessary arrangements will be made at the first opportunity.

Olivia Cervasio Shawn Hale Stefan Lesiuk Christopher Lutz Jaquelyn Nemitz Theresa Starrs

PRINTING

FA C U LT Y E D I T O R

Printed by Paradigm Printing, Southampton, Pennsylvania, United States of America.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The editorial staff would like to thank Executive Dean Barbara Klinkhammer and Architecture Director James Doerfler for their enthusiastic support for a student initiated and produced annual College of Architecture and the Built Environment publication. The publication would not have been possible without the additional support of the C_ABE Advancement Council, in particular, Advancement Council members Amanda Gibney Weko who provided critical guidance by editing the entire publication text, and Brian Corcodilos, Principal at Designblendz, whose additional generosity made the embossed cover design possible. Lastly, we would like to specially thank Professor Donald Dunham for his continual guidance.

CABE PRESS Barbara Klinkhammer, Dipl.-Ing. Executive Dean and Professor James Doerfler, AIA Professor of Architecture Director of Architecture Programs Ground Control Donald Dunham, AIA Assistant Professor, Architecture Major Tom

Donald Dunham

EXECUTIVE DEAN’S OFFICE Terry Ryan Lynda Irwin Sarah Miller

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