Portico Fall 2023 by Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning

FALL 2023

Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning University of Michigan

Top: Celebrating A. Alfred Taubman’s impact on the college at the begining of Taubman College’s 25th Naming Anniversary Celebrations. Bottom: Paul Goldberger, Charles Renfro, Holly Deichmann, and Bobby Taubman discuss Blue Dream.

A MESSAGE FROM THE DEAN This issue of Portico explores the power of Al Taubman’s transformative naming gift to the college 25 years ago. I’m proud of the growth of the college and the work of our faculty, students, and alumni, including the many students and alumni who have benefited from Mr. Taubman’s gift over the last quarter century. We lost Al Taubman several years ago, but his children are foundational contributors to Taubman College and many other institutions in the arts, architecture, medicine, and education. As a member of my dean’s advisory board and an advisor to Michigan Medicine, Bill Taubman directly counsels and supports our work. As director of the family foundation, Gayle Taubman Kalisman engages with us, too. Bobby Taubman, who advises the university on its investment strategy, is deeply involved in architecture and the arts through his philanthropy and patronage. As I write this, we’ve just hosted an event celebrating Blue Dream, the brainchild of collectors Julie Reyes Taubman and Bobby Taubman. Designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R), it may be the most innovative and technological house of the century. A talk and panel discussion featuring DS+R partner Charles Renfro, associate principal Holly Deichmann, and architecture critic Paul Goldberger in dialogue with Bobby kicked off the year-long celebration of our naming anniversary. We hope that the generosity of our naming donor, his family members, and many others over the past quarter century inspires you, too. Celebrating this landmark year has inspired me to look toward the next 25 years and consider the power of our disciplines to build better futures. In that spirit, I’d like to share three invitations to the Taubman College community. First, model ways to align markets, technology, and policy with demands for justice and sustainability. This might involve exploring the convergence of urban technology with mobility to expand access to healthcare and locally sourced food. It could mean strategizing the shift toward renewable energy to ensure that vital climate initiatives foster inclusive economic progress. It might take the form of implementing reparative measures to narrow racial disparities in wealth, education, healthcare, and life prospects. Second, fuse aesthetic, sociocultural, technical, and logistical factors to design better futures. Architecture

and city-making mediate power. In giving spatial and physical form to institutions and processes, they transmit economic, political, and social imperatives. In doing so, though, designers and planners modulate and transform those imperatives. An architect, urban designer, or urban technologist shapes the future by giving form to infrastructure, configuring space, manifesting sensibilities, and supporting ethical supply chains — whether we are designing a room, a building, a product, a service, a neighborhood, or infrastructure. Finally, let’s evolve our ways of working and learning to create the more inclusive, accessible, and equitable professions we deserve. Taubman College every year goes further to foster diversity and belonging within architecture, planning, and education. In October, we launched our DEI 2.0 Strategic Plan focused on action items, measures of success, and accountability in the areas of recruitment and retention, teaching and learning, organizational culture, and collaborative community. Beyond standard DEI focus areas such as campus climate and the recruitment and retention of diverse community members, we are also piloting new approaches to teaching and learning that promise to make architecture and planning education more accessible and affordable. Whatever the next 25 years hold, our advancement should be a joint endeavor. In this issue, alumni, faculty, and students share their ambitions and hopes for the college and our professions. The dynamic thinking, creativity, and inclusivity inherent in the Taubman College community position us well to build a future that better serves people and the planet.

Jonathan Massey, Dean Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning University of Michigan 1

CONTENTS

AROUND THE COLLEGE / 04

FALL 2023 STORIES / 18

04 News from the Art & Architecture Building and Beyond

18 Community Conversation Duk Kim, M.Arch ’97, Senior Principal and Global Hospitality Leader at Stantec, and Mardy Hillengas, M.Arch ’24, discuss their shared love of Chicago

FEATURE STORY / 10 10 25 Years as Taubman College As Taubman College celebrates a quarter century since A. Alfred Taubman’s trans‑ formational naming gift, we honor the past and embrace a promising future

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20 Doing More with Purpose-Driven Architecture For Patricia Gruits, B.S. Arch ’04, M.Arch ’06, the process is every bit as important as the final product 22 25 Years of Taubman Scholars

24 Focus on the Future Taubman College faculty and alumni share their hopes and expectations for the future of their professions and of Taubman College

40 Paperspace Explores the Benefits of Slowing Down Dillon Erb, M.Arch ’14, and Daniel Kobran, M.Arch ’14, started Paperspace just after graduating from Taubman College; now it’s been acquired by DigitalOcean for $111 million

28 Work Spotlight: The School at Marygrove 30 Gradient Feed #3: Infrastructures 32 What Are You Thinking About? Ally Rees, Enzo Mignano, Dua Duran 36 Bridging the Gap Whether it’s translating design language to developers or sharing her career path with students, Whitney Kraus, B.S. Arch ’05, knows the value of connection and collaboration 38 Supporting the Thought Leaders of Tomorrow Rich von Luhrte, B.Arch ’68, funds Taubman College scholarships to continue his legacy of work to address climate change

42 From Michigan to Ghana to Michigan: Architecture as Culture, Collaboration, and Community The West African Design Studio, run by James Chaffers, professor emeritus, was a formative experience for many students, including Kuukuwa Manful, assistant professor of architecture, whose upcoming studio will once again take Taubman College students to Ghana

CLASS NOTES / 47 IN MEMORIAM / 51 CLOSING / 52

ON THE COVER: The distinctive Lorch Column that stands in front of the Art & Architecture Building blends old stone and modern steel, exemplifying how the past and present can come together to forge something entirely new. 3

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Top, from left: Bill Bubniak, Gabriel Cuéllar, Lauren Hood, Xiaofan Liang, Kuukuwa Manful, Sarah Mills. Bottom, from left: Madhavi Reddy, Lauren Williams, Matthew Wizinsky, Olaia Chivite Amigo, Ryan Ball.

New Tenure- and Practice-Track Faculty and Fellows Taubman College welcomes new faculty members and fellows who, along with established faculty, will offer students a wealth of learning and professional development opportunities. Bill Bubniak, Associate Professor of Practice in Urban and Regional Planning and Director of Real Estate Initiatives Bubniak joined NAI/Farbman in January 1988 and is currently an executive vice president. He is a licensed real estate broker in Michigan and Florida. He specializes in the investment in and sale of turnaround properties and structuring deals for user/buyers to purchase for their businesses. Before joining NAI/Farbman, he worked as an attorney specializing in tax and real estate law. Gabriel Cuéllar, Assistant Professor of Architecture Cuéllar is an architect, urban designer, and educator. With Athar Mufreh, he co-directs Cadaster, a spatial practice that develops design frameworks to support organizations driving institutional change. He has contributed to projects exhibited at the Canadian Centre for Architecture, the Netherlands Architecture Institute, the House of World Cultures, The New School Parsons School of Design, and the University of Michigan. Lauren Hood, Associate Professor of Practice in Urban and Regional Planning Hood is the founder and chief visionary of the Institute for AfroUrbanism (IAU), a think tank and action lab in search of what it means to be Black and to thrive.

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The American Institute of Architects (AIA) awarded her the Charles Blessing Award for thought leadership in planning and civic issues. She serves as the chairwoman of the City of Detroit’s Planning Commission, co-chair of the city’s Reparations Task Force, and trustee for the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History. Xiaofan Liang, Assistant Professor of Urban and Regional Planning Liang’s research interests are to support social life in cities and participatory/collaborative processes in planning through urban analytics. Her approaches are largely inspired by the field of network science, complex systems, and critical and participatory methods in GIS and planning, and therefore ground her research in the pursuit of authentic human connections and social inclusion in cities. Kuukuwa Manful, Assistant Professor of Architecture Manful is a trained architect and researcher from Ghana who creates, studies, and documents the history, theory, and politics of architecture in Africa. Her doctoral research at the Department of Politics and International Studies at SOAS, University of London, examined nation-building, social class, and modernity in Ghana through a study of the sociopolitical and physical architectures of secondary schools. Sarah Mills, Associate Professor of Practice in Urban and Regional Planning Mills conducts research at the intersection of energy

policy and land use planning — especially in rural communities. Her current work focuses on how renewable energy development impacts rural communities (positively and negatively), the disparate reactions of rural landowners to wind and solar projects, and how state and local policies facilitate or hinder renewable energy deployment. Madhavi Reddy, Associate Professor of Practice in Urban and Regional Planning Reddy is a Detroit-based community builder who works at the intersection of justice and place. Her work centers on leveling the playing field of public participation and creating opportunities for people across sectors to develop shared strategies for change. Her community-building practice includes multisectoral collaboration, creating strong civic infrastructure, and developing cross-cultural processes and initiatives. Lauren Williams, Assistant Professor of Architecture and Digital Studies Williams is a Detroit-based designer, researcher, writer, and educator working with visual and interactive media to understand, critique, and reimagine how social and economic systems distribute and exercise power. Their recent work titled “Making Room for Abolition” included an experiential installation of a living room from a Detroit (and world) without police and prisons.

Matthew Wizinsky, Associate Professor of Practice in Urban Technology Wizinsky is an internationally recognized designer, educator, researcher, and author of contemporary design practices. He has over 20 years of professional design experience, including design and consulting for digital start-ups, international commercial agencies, and in-house studios for major cultural institutions. His book “Design After Capitalism” was published by the MIT Press in 2022. Olaia Chivite Amigo, Architecture Fellow Chivite Amigo is a Spanish-Venezuelan architect, researcher, and educator. Her work uses graphic representation and mixed media techniques to develop spatial narratives highlighting how regulatory frameworks, intentions, or formal procedures shift or adapt through the continuous negotiation between public and private stakeholders, citizens, and users. Ryan Ball, Architecture Fellow Ball is a licensed architect in Ohio and New York. As a project architect at Adjaye Associates, he worked on mission-driven projects, including the D.R.E.A.M. Charter School in the South Bronx, Architects Newspaper winner of “Best Interior Workplace.” With “Ball Practice,” he returns to simple domestic projects that recognize everyday spaces as significant.

At the Opening Convocation, Dean Jonathan Massey joined students, faculty, and staff to celebrate the start of the new academic year.

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Kathy Velikov Recognized with ACADIA Society Award for Leadership

El Hadi Jazairy Awarded Graham Foundation Grant El Hadi Jazairy, associate professor of architecture and director of the master of urban design degree program, has been recognized with a 2023 Graham Foundation Grant along with Rania Ghosn, associate professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Jazairy’s partner at DESIGN EARTH. The award recognizes the project “Elephant in the Room,” a series of fables that address the elephant in the room — the climate crisis — by animating charismatic figures from natural history museums.

Kathy Velikov, professor of architecture and associate dean for research and creative practice at Taubman College, received the Society Award for Leadership from the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA). The jury’s citation stated, “This award recognizes the significant role that Kathy Velikov has played in ACADIA’s leadership and as a voice in the computational design community. Kathy is an exceptionally dedicated scholar who has brought invigorating and refreshing perspectives to the conference and the organization overall, demonstrating true community leadership.”

At the start of the fall 2023 semester, a group of Taubman College students gathered to write thank-you notes to scholarship donors.

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Booth Fellowship Recipient Collin Garnett Examines Architecture That Responds to Volatile Environmental Conditions Collin Garnett, M.Arch ’23, and intermittent lecturer of architecture, received Taubman College’s 2023 George G. Booth Traveling Fellowship. The fellowship provides a $10,000 stipend to recent Taubman College graduates pursuing architectural research that requires international travel. Garnett’s “In-Svalbard: Futurist Archives at Work Above the Arctic Circle” proposes travel along the northern coast of Norway and the island of Svalbard, visiting communities, infrastructures, and research centers that simultaneously reflect on the past and respond to the future.

Students, faculty, and staff gathered for a welcome picnic in the Commons after the 2023 opening convocation.

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Students attend orientation in the Taubman College Visualization Lab (TVLab).

Gina Reichert and Mireille Roddier Named Institute for the Humanities Fellows Gina Reichert and Mireille Roddier (below, from left) have been named Institute for the Humanities Fellows. Roddier, associate professor of architecture who also holds a joint appointment with Women’s Studies and a faculty affiliation at the Institute for Research on Women & Gender, was named a 2023-24 Hunting Family Faculty Fellow for her project “Radical Vernacular.” Reichert, lecturer in architecture, was named a 2023 Summer Fellow for her project titled “Marking Time.”

“Understanding vernacular forms through a range of disciplines enables contradictions, paradoxes, and discursive biases to emerge, finetuning our capacity to both make sense of our built environment and to practice with and within it.” — Mireille Roddier on “Radical Vernacular”

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Kathy Velikov and Charlie O’Geen Receive Sustainability Catalyst Grants Kathy Velikov (above, left), professor and associate dean for research and creative practice, and Charlie O’Geen (above, right), lecturer, are members of two project teams recognized with Graham Sustainability Institute Catalyst Grants. Velikov is a co-investigator on “Paradigm-Shifting Protection of Ancient Ruins: A Sustainable, Community-Based Plan to Preserve the Notion Archeological Site in Turkey.” O’Geen is a co-investigator, working with Roman Hryciw, PI (civil and environmental engineering) on “Dirt Cheap: Facilitating Earth-Building as a Path to Affordable Green Housing.”

Sarah Mills Named Director of Center for EmPowering Communities The University of Michigan’s Graham Sustainability Institute is launching the Center for EmPowering Communities to foster decarbonization solutions that advance community goals and priorities. Sarah Mills, Ph.D. U.R.P. ’15 and associate professor of practice in urban and regional planning, has been named the center’s director. “The Center for EmPowering Communities is designed to respond to stakeholder needs and catalyze research and education around renewable energy in a way that is communitycentered,” said Mills.

Fall 2023 studio balloting.

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F EA TU RE S TORY

25 YEARS AS TAUBMAN COLLEGE As Taubman College celebrates a quarter century since A. Alfred Taubman’s transformational naming gift, we honor the past and embrace a promising future IN 1999, WHEN REAL ESTATE DEVELOPER and investor A. Alfred Taubman gave $30 million to the University of Michigan College of Architecture and Urban Planning, the donation sent ripples not only through U-M, but across higher education. For one thing, the amount itself was unprecedented — in the words of then-President Lee C. Bollinger, it was “one of the largest gifts in the University’s history and the most generous single gift ever made to a school of architecture in the United States.” But the sum would also transform the school that soon became known as Taubman College in ways its faculty, students, and alumni — present and future — could only begin to imagine.

Left: A collage of notable moments from the last 25 years at Taubman College. Above: A. Alfred Taubman at the Taubman College naming celebration.

“ I owe the University of Michigan more than I could ever pay back in my lifetime. My experiences here as a young man helped shape every aspect of my life, and this university contributes so much to our state and our nation. I will be forever grateful.” — A. ALFRED TAUBMAN

“I was just learning the landscape of architectural education,” says Dean Jonathan Massey, who at the time was working toward his Ph.D. in architecture at Princeton University. “Even as a graduate student I heard about the naming gift, and it was my first introduction to the University of Michigan. It was such a strong commitment and such a big, game-changing investment — a vote of confidence in what was happening at the school.” A quarter century later, that vote of confidence has helped Taubman College earn and maintain a place among the country’s top schools of architecture and urban planning. Meanwhile, a generation of architects and urban planners has benefited from the increased opportunities that Al Taubman’s gift made possible. The son of Jewish immigrants from Poland, Al Taubman was born in 1924 in Pontiac, Michigan. He studied architecture at U-M, taking a break to serve in World War II before returning for another year. Al Taubman’s deep affection for U-M remained a constant throughout a long career in real estate development and investing. His eventual donations to his alma mater, including not only to Taubman College but also to Michigan Medicine and the University of Michigan Museum of Art, would total some $160 million.

Above: A. Alfred Taubman in 1963. Opposite, from top: A rendering of the A. Alfred Taubman Wing of the Art and Architecture Building. Studio in the A. Alfred Taubman Wing.

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“I owe the University of Michigan more than I could ever pay back in my lifetime,” Al Taubman once said. “My experiences here as a young man helped shape every aspect of my life, and this university contributes so much to our state and our nation. I will be forever grateful.” A self-made billionaire, Al Taubman made his first fortune in shopping malls, designing and building successful retail centers across the country, including Ann Arbor’s own Briarwood Mall and Arborland. He studied Americans’ changing habits, becoming an expert in consumer behavior during the booming post-war decades. And he was just as deliberate — and detail-oriented — when it came to giving his money away. Associate Professor of Architecture Melissa Harris, then the college’s associate dean for academic affairs, remembers visiting Al Taubman in his Bloomfield Hills office as part of a U-M delegation that was presenting designs for the college’s new A. Alfred Taubman Wing (funded by another, separate gift). Al Taubman, who sat in a swiveling chair surrounded by telephones, offered cogent criticism, including insights into the proper configuration of the building’s entrance. “He said, ‘You don’t turn to enter a building,’” Harris recalls. “‘The entrance should be perpendicular to your path.’ It seems like a really simple thing, but he knew how to move people around.” Al Taubman’s naming gift put U-M at the center of a wider conversation about the future of architecture and urban planning education, but it was also the subject of a heated debate on campus. Naming gifts were still a fairly new idea — after the Rackham Graduate School building, built in 1935 with a $6.5 million gift from the

F EA TU RE S TORY

Above, from top: Student travel in Mexico City, Teotihuacan. High Line NYC. Opposite: São Paolo metropolitan area.

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F EA TU RE S TORY

eponymous Detroit foundation, Taubman College was only the second school at U-M to be named for a donor. Al Taubman wanted the endowment’s proceeds to transform the college, so he made his gift without restrictions, knowing that over time the college’s needs would change. “His vision and understanding about the need for flexi bility as time moved has allowed the college to transform over time and into the future,” says Cynthia Radecki, Taubman College’s assistant dean for advancement. Soon after announcing the gift, Taubman College began expanding its faculty, sometimes branching out in new directions in research and teaching. The first hire was Robert Fishman, who brought the discipline of urban history to Taubman College. Fishman, who retired in 2022, “helped transform the way architecture students think about cities,” Harris says. “Really, he was the perfect first appointment.” The endowment distributions have continued to support many other key faculty through the years.

“My capstone project at Taubman was directly related to the work that I ended up doing,” notes Michael, who is now a senior executive in the Office of Future Mobility and Electrification at the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. “I know Mr. Taubman’s naming gift has helped a lot of people from different circumstances, people for whom that money let them go much further. So I’m definitely grateful for it.” The gift has also allowed Taubman College to expand travel opportunities for students, helping to make it a truly international institution.

“ That opportunity for students

“A lot of our travel is about seeing the relationship between different cultures and the built environment,” says Chair of Architecture McLain Clutter, who has taken students to megacities like São Paolo, Mumbai, and Mexico City. Such experiences are particularly valuable, he says, for students from the United States, who find themselves “completely outside of their known experience” for what may be the first time.

— ANYA SIROTA, Associate Dean for Academic Initiatives and Associate Professor of Architecture

Anya Sirota, associate dean for academic initiatives and associate professor of architecture, is heading the spring travel program in 2024. She agrees that the shift in perspective catalyzed by travel is vital for a budding architect or urban planner — and that works best when travel is guided by intellectual curiosity, unhampered by individual finances.

to share, and to be inspired by, alternate ways of doing things through a global perspective — that’s priceless.”

Meanwhile, the college established the Taubman Scholars program, which provided merit-based scholarships with the aim of attracting top talent from around the world. To date, the program has supported more than 1,800 students, including Ryan Michael, B.A. ’08 (LSA), M.U.P. ’10, for whom a scholarship helped reduce the cost of a master’s degree that launched his career in economic development. Like many other recent graduates, he has spent the past decade contributing to what has been termed Detroit’s renaissance.

“This gift allows us to be incredibly free, and it supports liberal thinking in a way that’s really unprecedented,” says Sirota, who plans to take a studio to France in the spring to study “Zones to Defend,” a series of militant occupations organized to oppose development in the French countryside. “That opportunity for students to share, and to be inspired by, alternate ways of doing things through a global perspective — that’s priceless.” 15

Above, from top: A. Alfred Taubman with students at the Taubman Thank-You Event. A. Alfred Taubman shaking hands with a student at a Taubman Scholars event. Opposite: A. Alfred Taubman at an event thanking him for his contributions to the college.

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“ If I make a donation, I have given once. If I then solicit monies, I gave twice. And if my contribution has inspired others to support a good cause, I will have given three times.” — A. ALFRED TAUBMAN

Al Taubman was not only a donor, but a fundraiser as well. At the time of his death in 2015, at 91, he was serving as vice chair for U-M’s Victors for Michigan campaign, a $5.28 billion fundraising effort to support student scholarships, among other priorities. “My father never intended for his donation to be the only large gift to Taubman College,” says Bill Taubman, Al’s son and member of the Taubman College Dean’s Advisory Board. “He understood the profound impact donors can have on the college’s future and was passionate about inspiring others to give generously in order to continue moving the college forward, while opening the door for more students to take advantage of the rich educational experience the college offers.” Student experience is also front-of-mind for donors like Randy Howder, B.S. ’99. “By opening doors to a design education, donors can ensure a future generation will have the critical thinking, creative solutions, and communications skills necessary to create a more equitable, just, and sustainable society through the built environment,” he says. “I hope to open doors to those who would not otherwise have the opportunity to attend a world-class institution like Taubman College and to bring more diverse points of view.” “Philanthropy will in the future, as it has in the past, make the difference between a good school and a great school,” agrees Daniel Swartz, B.Arch ’71, M.B.A. ’73, noting that his personal aim in donating to Taubman is to “make some yet unknown student’s life a little easier and less stressful.” That’s certainly something that current students appre ciate, especially as the cost of higher education in general continues to rise. Urban and regional planning master’s student Keiaron Randle still has loans from her undergraduate degree in social work at Baylor University.

This year, she’s a Taubman Scholar, and last year a scholarship funded by the Detroit-based infrastructure consulting firm AECOM helped the Texas native continue her education without much additional debt — a stroke of good fortune that also lets her make career decisions based on passion and principles, rather than on the need to pay back student loans. Katie Johnson, B.S. Arch ’03, M.Arch/M.B.A. ’10, a member of the Taubman College Dean’s Advisory Board and a former Taubman Scholar, was instrumental in establishing the scholarship. “AECOM have been amazing — they helped me find an internship over the summer, and I’ve also been to their offices in Detroit to network,” says Randle, who hopes to work in the city after graduation. “But it’s also been great just being able to focus on my studies and work a little bit less to cover expenses. I truly would not have been able to get this degree without it.” Al Taubman himself was philosophical about philanthropy, realizing that his gifts to U-M and other institutions were valuable beyond the dollar figure. In 2011, he recalled learning about the importance of giving back from his father, who had also built his own business before losing everything during the Great Depression. “When my father went out to raise funds for good causes, he used to say, ‘If I make a donation, I have given once,’” Al Taubman said. “‘If I then solicit monies, I gave twice. And if my contribution has inspired others to support a good cause, I will have given three times.’” — Amy Crawford 17

COMMUNITY CONVERSATION: WINDY CITY APPEAL Duk Kim, M.Arch ’97, Senior Principal and Global Hospitality Leader at Stantec, and Mardy Hillengas, M.Arch ’24, discuss their shared love of Chicago

Duk Kim M.Arch ’97

Mardy Hillengas Taubman Scholar, M.Arch ’24

KIM: Leaders in Chicago throughout the years have been keen on beautifying the city with public works, parks, and buildings. Chicago also has distinctive neighborhoods with tremendous character, like Lincoln Park, Lake View, Gold Coast, Hyde Park, Bronzeville, and so on. The architecture mixes old and new with work from talented local and globally renowned architects. You’ll find works from Renzo Piano, Mies, and many others who left their mark here.

The other thing I appreciate about Chicago is scale. It’s a very large city, but let’s compare it to another city. If you look at Manhattan from the water, for example, you’ll see that the buildings form a very hard wall on the water’s edge. When you look at Chicago from the water or the skyline from anywhere else, planners were keen to provide a buffer before any wall of buildings hit the lake. Thus, the scale feels better, and the city feels more approachable. HILLENGAS: I agree. I’m also from Chicago. When I talk to people who have visited Chicago, the scale is something that everybody feels, even if they don’t have the architectural words to put behind it. The urban planning makes it a city you can navigate through, whether it’s the grid, the CTA, or something else. It just has a different feel from other cities. I’ve visited New York and L.A., and it’s completely different. That has to do with how you move around the city. Chicago has a well-connected core in the loop which everything can branch out from, and all the access is concentrated, allowing it to be fairly tight.

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KIM: Even when I think back years and decades ago, there was a Borders bookstore on Michigan Avenue, across the street from Water Tower Place. That Borders used to be an I. Magnin department store that was mostly concrete, with very few windows on the street side. There wasn’t anything special about it, and it was rather dreary. When Borders came in, they lightened up the massive concrete with a large expanse of storefronts, bringing the scale down to promote a more pedestrian feel.

Around that time to now, the city developed Michigan Avenue into a boulevard with greenery between the opposing lanes of traffic. After that, they created Millennium Park and brought public works like Crown Fountain, The Bean, and the Pavilion. It became much more focused on the public realm and made an enormous difference in the appeal and scalability of the city and people wanting to be there. Now Michigan Avenue is a very pretty boulevard to walk through, passing along Millennium Park, where you’ll see locals and visitors alike hanging out. It wasn’t always like that. It took decades of planning and thought to make that happen. HILLENGAS: That’s true. Even though I live there, my family and I always go down to Millennium Park and The Loop. I think that’s true for a lot of Chicagoans. They use those public spaces and civic spaces. They’re not just for tourists. I think the only place that really is just for tourists might be Navy Pier. But the public parks and the civic space, especially being right by the water, is something that the urban planners did well. KIM: Our office is across the street from the Art Institute of Chicago. So a lot of times when I wanted to bury my head and just work and not be interrupted by people coming by my desk, I would just take my roll of trace and my bag and go to the Art Institute to sit in the members’ lounge and work there. Unfortunately, some people caught on and would look for me there. But it speaks to the city when you can do something like that when you want to. HILLENGAS: And this is less glamorous, but the alley system in Chicago is one of its defining features. Not only is it practical for waste management, but there’s also the way it impacts the flow of pedestrian and vehicular traffic. It gives the city a different feeling, having all the open space in front of the buildings and then this semi-private,

semi-formal space in the back that allows for a higher degree of flexibility in the use and design of buildings. I notice it when I walk down certain streets in New York, for example, where the alley system is either not there or different. Or even in places like Barcelona, which has these beautiful super blocks but produces a completely different type of urban feel than the arteries of alleys. KIM: You make a good and valid point. People underestimate the importance of having an alley system. Because Chicago has one, in the morning on garbage pick-up days, you don’t see garbage strewn around on the main pedestrian pathways in plain sight like you do on many streets in Manhattan, Hong Kong, or a host of other cities. I go to New York and Hong Kong quite a bit, and it just drives me up the wall when you’re taking the morning walk, and there’s garbage everywhere because that’s where the pickup is. It gets cleaned up, but when you’re walking in the morning, it’s not pleasant. In Chicago, it’s all hidden from public view, and there’s an infrastructure built into it, which I agree is grossly underrated. HILLENGAS: Definitely. It’s one of the first things I notice when I come to a new city, even as a tourist. It’s one of the first things I feel any newcomer notices when trying to get somewhere in a city. I was in New Orleans, and people were spraying down the sidewalks in the morning because they have to put the trash out on the sidewalk in the front. There are all these different aspects to urban planning that seem so important but maybe don’t get talked about that much. KIM: You’re absolutely correct. It’s just like when we work on a hotel building. You never cross your service path with the front-of-house paths, right? There’s a benefit to thinking about that at the urban scale in addition to the architectural scale.

Doing More with Purpose-Driven Architecture For Patricia Gruits, B.S. Arch ’04, M.Arch ’06, the process is every bit as important as the final product “DO YOU ACTUALLY NEED a building?” may seem like an unusual question from an architect. But it’s a central one for Patricia Gruits, whose education at Taubman College, where she was a Taubman Scholar, taught her an openness and way of thinking based on leveraging design to solve problems, not just design buildings. Gruits is forging her own path as an architect and leading the design field to expand its concept of what constitutes architecture and how impactful the profession can be. “Architects are trained to design buildings, but buildings are not always the solution for the challenges at hand,” she says. “Our role as designers is to accompany our partners to unearth their needs and elevate their goals. Then we can offer creative solutions, which may include buildings, but may be something entirely different, like a policy, a program, or an event. Architecture is about helping people see the potential of the built environment to have a meaningful impact in their lives.” Central to Gruits’ work at MASS Design Group is the idea that the process by which they deliver a project has as much impact as the final product. Since Gruits began at the firm in 2013, it has grown from around 15 to approximately 160 employees, including architects, landscape architects, filmmakers, engineers, storytellers, furniture makers, and builders. Gruits was recently named one of three co-executive directors of the firm. Their co-leadership model exemplifies the collaborative way the firm functions. Under Gruits’ leadership, MASS, the 2022 AIA Architecture Firm Award winner, applied its collaborative approach to creating the Ellen DeGeneres Campus for the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund in Kinigi, Musanze District, Rwanda. MASS worked with the international organization that studies and protects gorillas and helps communities build conservation capabilities to design a new campus to leverage their physical environment to serve their mission. 20

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The Fossey Fund’s previous headquarters were small, crowded, and far from the Volcanoes National Park, where they work. Relocating to Kigali, Rwanda, Gruits led a “Purpose Built” process with Fossey, and the team created a mission for the campus: for gorillas to be an entry point for people to engage in lifelong conservation. The new campus would provide a site for engagement of all kinds — research labs, an education center with classrooms and dormitories for students, and an interactive conservation gallery for local and international visitors. “One of the key pieces of our process is defining the mission and goals of the project upfront. We started by asking simple questions like ‘What impact do you want to have? What can the building do to create that change?’ When we dug into these simple but profound questions with their board and staff, it ignited a spark to think bigger — to not just replace a research lab but to think about a whole new purpose-built campus.” Over nearly five years, Gruits, MASS, and the Fossey Fund searched for the right site for the campus, incorporating Rwanda’s national ambitions for conservation, habitat restoration, and tourism. Ultimately, they chose the edge of the Volcanoes National Park. “We started with visioning, which led to the architectural and landscape design, followed by engineering, construction, furniture fabrication, exhibition design, and media,” Gruits says. MASS would go on to take on every aspect of the construction process. At Fossey, Gruits’ vision for “accompaniment” went way beyond delivering buildings.

Opposite: The campus buildings integrate into the landscape, transforming the site from an agricultural plot to a reforested, biodiverse landscape showcasing gorilla habitat ecologies.

With the new campus, the Fossey Fund is furthering its work to engage the next generation of African scientists in conservation work. The campus hosts hundreds of Rwandan university students and thousands of primary and secondary students every year. International visitors who come to see the gorillas leave with an understanding of the urgency of protecting them and their habitat. Dean Jonathan Massey, who attended the campus opening, says, “The scientists and students in training marveled at how the beautiful campus elevated their work. Women from the construction and furniture-building teams talked about the job skills and career opportunities the project had created. Visitors like me learned about gorilla habitat from the carefully designed landscape and the buildings that interpreted it. I’m thankful that our Longo interns get to work with such a purposedriven organization.” “When I came back to work in the U.S., I wanted to know how we could apply this expanded model of practice here,” Gruits says. “While almost 10 million nonprofits in the U.S. own or occupy buildings, most don’t have experience navigating the construction process and find design opaque and confusing. Taking on a building project can be a steep learning curve that limits organizations from seeing their

building as part of their strategic plan or as a means to have a greater impact.” To better understand this misalignment, Gruits led a team at MASS to research the experience of nonprofits who had taken on building projects; they compiled those lessons into a set of resources and tools to demystify the design process. They help organizations identify a mission for their project, leverage design decisions, and established a balance with what is feasible for the organization to build, operate, and maintain. MASS calls these resources its “Purpose Built Series.” They are available open source to help organizations, communities, funders, and architects engage in the building process and apply a mission-driven approach. Learnings from Purpose Built continue to shape MASS’ work, and in her new role as co-executive director, Gruits is supporting design teams across MASS’ U.S. offices, located in Boston, Santa Fe, and Poughkeepsie, to implement them. “In every project and partnership, I am thinking about how we can break down the barriers to design — ask good questions, engage more people in the process, and create a robust dialogue about what design and architecture can do — to change architecture from being only a building to a catalyst for change,” she says. — Liz G. Fisher

25 YEARS OF TAUBMAN SCHOLARS A. Alfred Taubman’s naming gift to the college created an endowment that has transformed Taubman College into one of the nation’s leading architecture and planning institutions. Nearly one in five of our 10,000-strong alumni community received scholarship support funded by this generous gift from Al Taubman. Taubman scholars past, present, and future are a living testament to Al Taubman’s investment in the future of the professions.

“I am very grateful for the generous donation by Mr. Taubman. My student experiences and multiple travel opportunities could not have happened without the scholarship. It makes me so much more grateful and proud of the University of Michigan, as a premier public institution, to make these experiences so much more accessible for all of its students.” 2011

— Greg Cheng, M.Arch ’07

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“ Coming from Ghana, a developing African country, there was no way I could have afforded the tuition and living expenses without the scholarship. It has been almost 18 years since I enrolled in the College, but the experiences, skills, friendships, and impact lives on daily for me.” — Donald Buaku, M.U.R.P./M.U.D. ’08

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FUTURE FOCUS ALUMNI

Where do you believe your profession is heading in the next 25 years?

Andrea Springer, MS-DT ’13 Director of Digital Technology & Innovation at Stantec The architecture industry is heading into a large-scale digital transformation. Architects will work with new digital tools, delivering high-fidelity 3D models instead of 2D sheet sets. The digital enablement of the profession will lead to much work in the realm of digital twins and smart cities and will include a greater focus on using technology in the built environment to improve awareness, safety, and sustainability.

Jessie Lawrence, M.U.P. ’04 Planner at Los Alamos National Laboratory The planning profession will have new opportunities to change our communities’ form from the model of the past 50+ years. Climate change will challenge us as planners to look at water use, utility use, and transportation/ non-automotive design in new ways, and housing affordability will continue to be a challenge. I think these factors will result in interesting new planning with increased density and increased walkability. Related to this, planners have the opportunity to think about how to change from single-family suburban housing models to new models that will still support different types of families and lifestyles where people will be happy to live.

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Dan Harmon, B.S. Arch ’91, M.Arch ’93 Vice President, Data Center Program Manager at Turner Construction Company Construction will shift dramatically over the next 25 years as we react to the aging and shrinking skilled craft labor pool in the United States. Today we are seeing significant market pressure to leverage new technologies and supply chains to drastically increase offsite construction — manufactured assemblies, modules, and products that can be built elsewhere and assembled onsite with fewer skilled hands than traditional construction. This approach is not new — but the enabling technologies are promising, and the sense of urgency is higher than ever.

Brian Adelstein, B.S. Arch ’89 Director, Transaction Management, Global Financial Services Client at Cushman & Wakefield Commercial real estate has changed dramatically over the last three years. I see that persisting for another 2-3 years until a better equilibrium is reached between working from the office and home. Following that, many factors will drive up the demand for commercial office space, as it had for many years before the pandemic. Office space dynamics will continue to be pushed to a more dynamic work environment and away from the standard office/ workstation model to create the desired sense of belonging to an inclusive, supportive community.

Michael Pukszta, B.Arch ’87, M.Arch ’89 Healthcare Practice Director at Cannon Design Architects should use this time to elevate our influence with our clients, our cities, and society overall. One significant factor of influence will be sustainability. In 25 years, carbon will be taxed, and financial and political incentives will align so we will be seen as the profession that is positively generating solutions as opposed to merely being aspirational advocates. Humans will flourish due to our influence over our planet’s future.

Damon C. Healey, M.U.P. ’10 Managing Principal at Eternal Companies The importance of how, when, and where investment capital is allocated into real estate assets has never been greater. Governments, economic development agencies, developers, investors, lenders, and community stakeholders have tough capital allocation choices to make, given changes in demographics, population migration, social sentiment, remote work, artificial intelligence, interest rates, inflation, geopolitics, and the banking system, particularly in the United States. These are significant challenges for capital allocators to face with scarce resources and an uncertain outlook. However, these challenges present collaboration opportunities among stakeholders to make thoughtful and strategic investments for our future.

Kartik Desai, B.S. Arch ’99 Founder & President at D&A Companies We will see the return of the Master Builder. As new technologies replace labor-intensive aspects of their work, architects will have no choice but to expand the boundaries of their profession to remain employed. As knowledge and skills that were once hard-earned over decades are replicated by non-human automatons, the profession will move up the intellectual and capitalist food chain to survive. Licensing authorities and professional organizations will be slowest to adapt but will eventually accept a more expansive and inclusive definition(s) of architect. Architects will increasingly engage in interdisciplinary practice, reversing the last century’s retrenchment of their professional scope. An entrepreneurial spirit will take hold as more architects become comfortable in their clients’ shoes. Marginalization and instability will thus lead to a renaissance for the profession.

Kyle L. Schertzing, B.S. Arch ’05 Principal at Safdie Rabines Architects Increasing concerns about climate change and environmental sustainability will push architects to prioritize sustainable design practices further. Buildings and spaces will need to go beyond just energy efficiency; they will need to become part of the natural world and produce and store energy. 25

FUTURE FOCUS FACULTY

What is one expectation or hope you have for the future of Taubman College?

Bryan Boyer Director of Bachelor of Science in Urban Technology, Assistant Professor of Practice in Architecture Looking forward to 2050, I expect and hope that the design and development of buildings and cities will look radically different: more dynamic, more informed by evidence, and less labor intensive to make more room for deliberation. Reinventing the tools, processes, and skillsets that shape the built environment is a huge part of this, and Taubman College’s investment in urban technology puts us at the forefront. Twenty-five years ago, computers were barely used in architecture and cell phones had physical keypads, so can I imagine what 2050 might entail? No, and that’s exciting!

Lan Deng Professor of Urban and Regional Planning I hope Taubman College will continue to be the place where the best and brightest come together to share and produce knowledge that addresses major societal challenges, but also a place where lifelong friendships are forged and those passing through can call home!

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Larissa Larsen Professor of Urban and Regional Planning One hope I have for the future is for Taubman College to be completely powered by renewable energy in five years (by 2028)!

Anya Sirota Associate Dean for Academic Initiatives, Associate Professor of Architecture Looking to the future, the only guarantee is the inevitability of radical change, the specifics of which are naturally unpredictable. It is my hope that the College will intensify its dedication to fostering the next generation of students, providing them with the essential critical acumen and practical capabilities required to confront change with steadfast ethics, heightened civic awareness, and a deep appreciation for difference within unity.

Matias del Campo Associate Professor of Architecture My hope for Taubman College is rooted in its extraordinary ability to sustain the leadership of intellectual excellence it has so brilliantly attained. It stands as a beacon among the nation’s architecture schools, radiating a profound vibrancy, diversity, and unparalleled prolificacy. It continuously generates groundbreaking ideas, unveils fresh possibilities, and nurtures transformative thoughts. Maintaining an unwavering commitment to delivering the highest quality of education, Taubman College skillfully hones the talents of its students. These future architects (or architects of the future?) are destined to become leaders and protagonists in the field, armed with innovative ideas and ingenious solutions, ready to confront the pressing challenges of our era. Challenges as daunting as the climate crisis, economic upheavals, and political turmoil. Taubman College, in its pursuit of excellence, empowers its students with the courage and capability to offer the world viable solutions and ideas that elevate the quality of life. Whether in bustling urban landscapes or serene rural settings, Taubman College’s legacy enriches lives. The College has carved a name for itself by nurturing human potential — the wellspring of creativity, inventiveness, and curiosity. It does so by seamlessly integrating advanced technologies like robotics, cutting-edge design tools, and artificial intelligence into its pedagogy. This harmonious blend of human ingenuity and technological prowess has set Taubman College apart as a trailblazer in the field.

Lesli Hoey Director of Doctoral Studies in Urban and Regional Planning, Associate Professor of Urban and Regional Planning My vision for Taubman College is that we center our practice, scholarship, and teaching around communityrooted, restorative planning and ecological design.

Left: AI-generated study for a rooftop remodeling project in Vienna, Austria. Matias del Campo 2022.

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Work Spotlight: The School at Marygrove A collaborative effort between Detroit Public Schools and the University of Michigan School of Education, the School at Marygrove provides professional training with a social justice and engineering focus across all grades, all ages, and all backgrounds to support graduates preparing to pursue their passions and contribute to the creation of a more just and equitable future. As part of this transformation, the Elementary Building renovation serves grades K-5. It employs strategic design details to foster a teaching environment where critical thinking and community-minded service are central to the pedagogical approach. Classroom spaces facilitate focused group learning but are reduced in size to allow more generous common spaces at various scales. Visual transparency supports the project-based curriculum and fosters a community of learners. As students progress through the grades, they encounter increasingly open and flexible common spaces that allow educational activities to expand from the defined classroom spaces into open and dynamic group settings. Color plays an important role in establishing unique identities for individual classrooms, signaling the vibrancy and joy of collaborative learning, and meeting the project’s budgetary constraints. Craig Borum, professor of architecture, and Jen Maigret, associate professor of architecture, served as principals of the PLY+ project, which has been recognized with a Society of American Registered Architects National Design Award of Excellence and an AIA Michigan Design Honor Award. Ana Morcillo Pallarés, associate professor of architecture, and Jon Rule, assistant professor of practice, of Morcillo Pallares + Rule Arquitectos were design partners and IDS was the architect of record.

GRADIENT FEED #3, INFRASTRUCTURES Gradient is an online platform for architecture and urbanism from the University of Michigan Taubman College. The journal aspires to lean into the potentials of digital media formats, elevating nascent disciplinary conversations at Taubman and beyond. Editors: Malcolm McCullough, Cyrus Peñarroyo, Vyta Pivo, Jono Bentley Sturt

WHY STUDY INFRASTRUCTURES? What do we talk about when we talk about infrastructures? These questions are timely to ask. As you read, Russia is attacking critical infrastructure in Ukraine, chipping away at the country’s political independence. China has spent the last decade erecting highways, bridges, and buildings at unprecedented rate and scale, much of that in Africa. The U.S. has recently passed major infrastructure and climate bills at a scale that suggests a major shift in public priorities, even worldviews. Within the mainly North American scope of this journal and the college it repre sents, the latter seems enough of a prompt. For far too long, major public works have been presumed to be inevitable and value neutral. Academics, practitioners, and users claimed that infrastructures become visible only when they crumble and fail. In other words, infrastructures are meant to be invisible. We push against this long-held assumption and argue that infrastructures are not inherently invisible, but they are made to be invisible. And it is not just infrastructures as objects that we learn to un-see, but infrastructures as people, as maintainers, as caregivers, who are made to disappear into the background. Design has a role in this, for design is a negotiation, and design can make larger abstractions like social policies and technological networks more usable — and sometimes more culturally visible. So there is something very positive about a new appreciation and participation, not only in design futures or policy debates, but also then in more conscientious everyday use of infrastructures. Here cultural values do start to shift, whether around food and water, energy, mobility and broadband and not only around so much hard infrastructure-building on the agenda but also with concern for the soft infrastructures that make those more resilient, knowable, and equitable. 30

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The question of whose infrastructures does seem vital. Without it, too many projects serve some and not others. Too few systems imposed from afar match very well with local social practices on the ground, or as an engineer or policy analyst might put it, in the wild. Alas, seldom can the big disinterested money of governments or transnational corporations understand and uphold the more enactive kinds of knowledge that reside in places. Seldom does the galaxy of local advocacy groups and nonprofit/ nongovernmental organizations have enough clout to uphold nonfiscal values of social practices. But if that sounds like the same old urban politics (think Jane Jacobs versus Robert Moses), it is not. Amplified by media, driven by the planet, and with a vastly more diverse set of players, the perennial work of getting infrastructures right has new dimensions, new opportunities, and new design challenges. (Not just incidentally has the college launched an urban technology degree to probe some such prospects.) Infrastructure is an obviously pressing contemporary issue, but also a historical one. As a system that organizes, builds, governs, and sustains everyday life, infrastructure has long been wrapped up in politics of imperialism, settler colonialism, and racial capitalism. In the 20th century, hard infrastructures were at the center of the New Deal and the military industrial complex alike. The interstate highways were instigated and later named for a wartime general turned president. The internet began as a defense solution. In the 19th century, soft infrastructures of work organized slavery and indentured labor, and everyday uses of urban infrastructures like water and transit paved the way for Jim Crow and segregation. What any of this means today may not be what it meant back then. So it is worth reciting, in a somewhat longer global historic voice, how back then (and somehow all the more questionably today) the technological advantages

of the industrialized North were too easily mistaken for cultural advantages. It is worth repeating that technological change was (and somehow sometimes still is) considered obvious and inevitable. Yet as social historians of technology have so well explained, the adaptive path was seldom linear. Even for infrastructures so incontestably advantageous as electricity, different cultures built and operated it differently. For of course electric power was also political power. The question “whose infrastructures?” now invites fresh critique. Whereas New Deal projects came from the left, today privatization comes from the right. Where in the 20th century what was salient was how many more people could connect, by now what stands out is those still somehow left behind. Where technologies have disappeared into normalcy globally, their originators no longer control quite so much about them. Today when so many

Newton D. Baker Village, new defense housing project under construction by the housing authority of Columbus, Georgia Near Fort Benning. © Library of Congress

Architects are crucial interlocutors in conversations about infrastructures because they work at a multiscalar level, balancing both global systems approaches and small, site-specific projects.

technologies have global reach, if nowhere near universal access, the earlier lead of the global north or AngloAmerica industrialization no longer constitutes as much advantage, cannot remain a template, and indeed has worldview shifts of its own at home. Here in North America, in the scope of this journal, and certainly in this college, this cultural value shift shapes up mainly around the egalitarian city. Scan the QR code to read the full editor’s letter and feed. 31

Q: What Are You Thinking About? the ability of citizens to influence urban appropriation are central to addressing issues like affordable housing, gentrification, and community development.

ALLY REES

Taubman Scholar, M.U.D. ’23 A: Property rights and the ways citizens can work within existing land policies to shape urban appropriation. Why is this interesting to you? After taking the UD 722 - “Justice” course, which focused on property rights, making land relations, and spatial justice, I was inspired to continue my research. I deeply desire to actively engage in my community and contribute positively to urban development. Understanding property rights and citizen involvement in urban design is a way to channel my civic-mindedness into tangible actions that can impact my surroundings. Through my work at Taubman, I hope to highlight how concerns about social justice and equitable access to resources and opportunities in urban areas can be a driving force. Property rights and

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Growing up outside the post-industrial city of Pittsburgh, PA, I witnessed many urban changes in my neighborhood and property-related challenges. This further motivated my interest in property rights and citizen involvement. As Pittsburgh continues to experience economic growth and revitalization in various neighborhoods, I hope to use my knowledge of urban design to understand how property rights intersect with the city’s development goals, especially in terms of attracting new businesses, fostering innovation, and balancing these interests with existing property owners’ rights. I believe the status quo in urban development can be improved. My interest in this area is fueled by a desire to contribute innovative ideas and solutions to make cities more inclusive, sustainable, and vibrant.

A: Fixing city networks and infrastructure through user interaction and data. Why is this interesting to you? Why do we choose where we live? Why take an e-scooter instead of a bus or driving to work? Why do our eyes gravitate toward this street sign? Why did that pedestrian not press the crosswalk signal button? People constantly come in contact with the infrastructure that makes a city function. However, there are a variety of disparate factors that motivate our decision on how we interact with these systems. I am interested in understanding the “why” behind our decisions because this can be the key to making equitable and efficient urban landscapes. Cities produce vast amounts of data, but the convoluted and chaotic nature of current city infrastructure obscures valuable information. Data without purpose makes it difficult to

DUA DURAN

Taubman Scholar, M.Arch ’24 A: Domestic space, gendered space, communal housing, resource distribution. Why is this interesting to you? After taking Collectives Studio this last winter semester, I’ve been

find a problem, let alone begin solving the issue. But with the right “why” questions, we can narrow our focus, strip down and separate the systems involved, and look at the problem from a new perspective. Asking these questions acts almost as a cipher to the information produced by our cities — revealing patterns and correlations that were not visible before. The right “why” also allows planners and designers to tailor their solutions to meet the city’s needs. Asking questions like “Why did our users do that instead of this?” when testing highlights flaws and focal points the next iterations can be built upon. Designs cannot be created to mimic the complexity of the problem; rather, they need to simplify the situation and easily communicate their intended function. That way, solutions can be scaled from individual people to communities to metropolitan areas and adequately serve their purpose.

thinking more about the concept of domestic space and how it has been redefined generationally based on our new understandings of domesticity and the development of communal housing practices. Traditionally, domestic space would be defined as a fixed dwelling that provides protection and familiarity but operates and is organized under stereotypical gender and class-based labor. There has almost always been an expectation for women living within residential spaces to take on domestic responsibilities and obligations — this, in turn, heavily defined the architectural organization, spatial configurations, and social dynamics within a dwelling space. These lines are heavily blurred when defining domestic space in contemporary society because our concept of “family life” has also been changing.

ENZO MIGNANO

Taubman Scholar, B.S. Urban Tech

With architectural developments such as communal housing practices, queer housing, temporary housing, and this surge of independent living, this model of a “typical” family residing in a gendered home is beginning to disintegrate — and the spatial organization of residential spaces reflects that. I’m interested in seeing this growth and the different domestic atmospheres, practices, and aesthetics it’s been able to provide. Additionally, this extension into communal housing allows domestic responsibilities, resources, and labor to be distributed among neighbors and communities. It offers a new domestic space that isn’t confined to four walls inside a home and a patriarchal structure but expands the possibility for homes to multiple people. Very exciting! 33

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HELP US BUILD TOMORROW During the pandemic, Martin Rodriguez Jr., M.Arch ’25, moved from Houston, Texas, to Berkley, Michigan. “I was doing commercial and hospitality design, and I knew exploring new techniques and ideas would help me be more creative in my work,” Rodriguez says. “I was interested in adaptive reuse architecture design and wanted to explore new things. Living in Michigan, I went to Detroit often, and I started to see many cool things that were all leading me to Taubman.” “The master of architecture program at Taubman provides a space to experiment with different forms of representation to rethink how we see architecture and the built environment,” says Rodriguez, who has been flexing his creativity through projects like “Rodeo, My Gay Rodeo,” in which he created “a queer space for inclusiveness, community, and equality to celebrate shared Southwest American passions and interests.” Rodriguez is the first in his family to receive two higher education degrees. Supporting himself throughout his academic career has often meant working multiple jobs. He’s grateful for this time to focus on his studies and the scholarship that has made it possible. Rodriguez is a Taubman Scholar and recipient of the AECOM Architecture and Urban Planning Scholarship. “The funding helped me decide to accept the offer and provided me the opportunity to continue my education,” he says.

A gift to Taubman College supports the next generation of leaders in architecture and planning — including Martin. taubmancollege.umich.edu/give

Bridging the Gap Whether it’s translating design language to developers or sharing her career path with students, Whitney Kraus, B.S. Arch ’05, knows the value of connection and collaboration

AS UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN FOOTBALL coach Jim Harbaugh says, “Winning as a team is better than anything.” It’s a principle that holds true in Whitney Kraus’ planning and design director role at Compass Development Marketing Group, where she serves as a liaison between sales and development, translating sales data into design strategies. “My favorite projects are not necessarily the most beautiful ones, but the ones with the best teams. Everything we do is so collaborative — it’s the developers, the architects, the designers, the contractors. There are so many people involved in getting a big building done,” Kraus says. “When we work together, it’s to everybody’s benefit.” Kraus’ team is often part of a project from the time a developer purchases a site. They collaborate with the developer on zoning issues, data analysis of the market, and unit mix. From there, they’ll work closely with architects and interior designers on floor plans, finishes, and amenities. Brokers and data analysts understand the market for a particular site. Architects and interior designers have the skill to build something beautiful and functional. Kraus’ job is to bridge the gap between those areas of expertise and help assemble the puzzle pieces into an architecturally sound project that will serve the area’s population and generate profit. “The advice you would give someone for a project in midtown Manhattan is very different from what we would give them in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, or Austin, Texas. It’s very location-specific, and market-specific. Buyer profiles help us get an idea of who we think will live there,” says Kraus.

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With that information in hand, it becomes a design problem. The team wants to fit a certain number of units on a parcel of land a certain size and have those units sell well. In an iterative process, Kraus’ team at Compass works with architects, focusing on factors that will be pivotal to how the project performs in the end, such as views from units, available outdoor and amenity space, and wellness considerations like air and water filtration. “I like seeing the buildings go up and seeing how they hit the market,” says Kraus. “And then once people start moving in, hearing what they like or don’t like; it’s a fair amount of both. There’s an understanding that what we’ve been working on for so long is actually going to be real and is someone’s home. That’s why we spend so much time discussing how people live and what they want. It’s more than just checking boxes. It’s understanding that people and families will be living there.” Her focus on people and relationships also drives Kraus in her engagement with Taubman College. As a donor and Alumni Council member, it’s important to her that current students know they have the support of a vast network of Taubman College alumni.

Above: Kraus’ parents swear this photo of her as a three-year-old is proof she was destined to be an architect.

“I love doing things like portfolio workshops with the students and speed networking, getting to engage with the students and hear what they’re up to and what they’re interested in,” she says. Kraus also hopes the variety of careers and career paths represented on the Taubman College Alumni Council serves as an example to students that Taubman College is preparing them for whatever future lies ahead. “My takeaway from a lot of the networking events is to calm students down,” she says. “I remember feeling this too when I was younger, that there’s one perfect trajectory and one path that will lead you to the right place. I tell them not to worry so much about that, things tend to fall into place, and you might try a few different things. I would have benefited from someone saying something like that to me when I was a student.” “What the Alumni Council and the alumni body in general show students is that there isn’t one set path based on their degree program. For an architecture student, the only option isn’t going to work in an architecture firm. There are so many paths where you can use your education. I hope that comes across in everything the Alumni Council is doing. Taubman College teaches a way of thinking that applies to anything you may want to do.” — Liz G. Fisher 37

SUPPORTING THE THOUGHT LEADERS OF TOMORROW Rich von Luhrte, B.Arch ’68, funds Taubman College scholarships to continue his legacy of work to address climate change “I’M PASSIONATE ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE,” says Rich von Luhrte. “If I were 25 again and going back to school, I might study to be an ecologist or an environmentalist.” As the architect of the Solar Energy Research Institute, which won 42 awards and was named the most energyefficient building in the world, von Luhrte knows how something is built is just as important as what is produced and why. That knowledge and his passion for addressing climate change have led him to establish a scholarship supporting students studying urban design. In addition to completing many high-profile and awardwinning projects throughout his career, he is a member of the AIA College of Fellows, the AIA’s highest honor, given to only five percent of the profession. He says he didn’t think he could do anything to top his accomplishments as an architect until he began thinking about supporting current and future Taubman College students. “I knew I wanted to do something in terms of climate change as a gift,” he says. “It is an existential problem in our society, and I think Taubman College and the University of Michigan can play a role in solving it.” Von Luhrte, who retired as a senior principal at RNL, now Stantec, in 2020, views this gift to Taubman College as a continuation of the work he did in his nearly 40 years at RNL and more than 50 years in architecture practice. “Very early on, I started the urban design department of our firm, and it changed the whole culture of the practice towards the idea of building as place rather than building this object. We did award-winning buildings, but we did them in the context of their benefit to the community,” he says. 38

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Throughout his career, he also lectured extensively on the “Return to Town Square” and the importance of placemaking in planning and urban design. “Whether it be heat island effect, walkable streets, or reduction in automobile use, how we plan the mixed-use environment and the form of a city has an undeniable impact,” he says. He also joined several other alums to fund the Rocky Mountain and Western States Scholarship, which supports undergraduate architecture students from Colorado, Montana, California, Wyoming, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. By combining their efforts, von Luhrte and the other founding donors created a larger scholarship endowment than might have been possible independently of each other. To von Luhrte, it’s another way of ensuring students have the education they need to combat global problems. “Our problems in the West are so different from those in the Midwest,” he says. “When you look at the water shortage, the Colorado River, the desertification — for Taubman College to continue to be a world leader, they need students from places like Colorado to enrich the program and bring a different perspective,” he says. “That’s one reason I give because I’m taking action on an issue of great importance to the place I live. The other reason is to give someone who might not otherwise have it an opportunity to study at a school as great as the University of Michigan.” Studying architecture at the University of Michigan was a life-changing experience for von Luhrte, and he recognizes the value of ensuring students today have the same opportunities.

“I was the first student in my family to go to college. Just getting accepted to a prestigious school like the University of Michigan was amazing. But equally amazing was my experience there and how the architecture program and the school taught me so much about problem-seeking and problem-solving that I would say grew me up and prepared me well for my career,” he says. “I formed foundational relationships there as well. Professor Carl Johnson’s Saturday morning studio in site planning started my quest for urban design, and he became a lifelong mentor to me.” Since graduating from the University of Michigan, von Luhrte has remained impressed with the quality of students graduating from Taubman College. He started a culture in his firm of attending the Taubman College Career Fair and other recruiting events at the University of Michigan every year to hire graduating students. In his experience, he found University of Michigan graduates were prepared to tackle real-world problems in a way that other recent graduates weren’t. “The culture of problem-seeking and problem-solving has led Michigan alums to become thought leaders in ever-changing issues,” he says. It’s why he hired students from Taubman College and the University of Michigan every year and is focusing his giving on Taubman College now.

“I WOULD LOVE FOR THESE SCHOLARSHIPS TO ENRICH THE OPPORTUNITY TO STUDY BOTH ARCHITECTURE AND URBAN DESIGN IN TERMS OF THE CURRENT ISSUES THAT ARE BEFALLING OUR COUNTRY AND OUR PLANET.” — RICH VON LUHRTE, B.ARCH ’68

“I would like to have a greater awareness of the issues confronting the place I’ve chosen to live. I would love for these scholarships to enrich the opportunity to study both architecture and urban design in terms of the current issues that are befalling our country and our planet,” he says. “I think you create scholarships because you want to lend your perspective on issues of importance at the university while, at the same time, enabling students to have the same enrichment that you had at the University of Michigan.” — Liz G. Fisher 39

Paperspace Explores the Benefits of Slowing Down Dillon Erb, M.Arch ’14, and Daniel Kobran, M.Arch ’14, started Paperspace just after graduating from Taubman College; now it’s been acquired by DigitalOcean for $111 million

NOT LONG AFTER THEY GRADUATED FROM Taubman College in 2014, Dillon Erb (top) and Daniel Kobran (bottom) walked to the Ann Arbor post office to file paperwork for their new software-as-a-service (SaaS) company, Paperspace. They had no idea that, nine years later, DigitalOcean would acquire Paperspace for $111 million. After filing that paperwork in 2014, Erb and Kobran grew Paperspace from a two-person company to one just shy of 50 employees before the acquisition. Their client list has included HBO, Deloitte, Dropbox, and more. When they were last profiled in Portico in 2021, Paperspace was navigating the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. “The pandemic accelerated the shift to remote work and distributed teams, which is right in our wheelhouse,” said Kobran at the time. “Although we, of course, wish it hadn’t happened in such an unfortunate way.” “The pandemic was rough,” Erb says. “We had to cut our team down and took a reduced salary for about a year and a half because we just had to stay alive. But we came out of it a stronger company.” Their ability to navigate the challenges that came their way and their success unlocking the next generation of accelerated cloud applications made Paperspace a perfect 40

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“I think it’s fair to say that

fit for DigitalOcean. It’s a company Erb and Kobran had long admired, that is designed to meet the needs of developers looking for simple and affordable cloud computing solutions. The acquisition has opened up new avenues for Erb, Kobran, and Paperspace, which has remained a standalone business unit under the DigitalOcean umbrella. Going from running their own company with around 50 employees to DigitalOcean with over 1,000 employees means many more resources at their disposal. “Before, we were on call 24 hours a day. Now, there are many more people to help out. DigitalOcean has a massive infrastructure team, operations team, and HR, things we didn’t have. That’s huge. But it’s also weird to have been going a thousand miles an hour and then suddenly being at regular speed,” says Erb. Slowing down has allowed Erb to shift his focus. He’s now spending more time working with the Advanced Technology Group, which brings in grad students working in AI or related fields to do research with Paperspace. “That type of collaboration was my favorite thing about Paperspace before we got acquired,” says Erb. “Now I can spend a lot more of my time just working with people who are building out amazing applications.” “I’m also taking more time to read about AI in architecture and design. It’s moving so quickly, and I’m in the middle of it, and I still feel like I can’t keep up. Having more time to focus on that has been great,” says Erb. “I’m still obsessed with architecture and design and would like to spend as much time as possible in that space.” Kobran points out that Erb anticipated today’s AI advancements as a student. He says, “Dillon’s master’s thesis at Taubman essentially predicted the entire generative AI explosion we’re seeing right now where AI models can hallucinate photorealistic imagery based on simple prompts.”

being Taubman Scholars made it possible for us to attend and thrive at Taubman College, and, if not for that, we wouldn’t have met, and we’d have been on a very different path.” — DILLON ERB, M.ARCH ’14

While theirs may not have been a traditional path after architecture school, Erb and Kobran credit much of their success to what they learned at Taubman College. “There were so many things about architecture education that helped us. One was critique. You have to get in front of people and explain what you’re working on. And that’s still almost 80% of what I do, just convincing people to do something by getting in front of them and laying it out for them whether we need money, time, resources, or something else.” “Another piece is that, as an architecture student, you put in such crazy hours because you’re passionate, you love it. When we went to Y Combinator, an accelerator, we realized we could just work harder. We had done fast iterative work for many years at Taubman.” “And finally, there’s such value in being a visual communicator. The fact that we could quickly put decks, graphics, or diagrams together was incredibly helpful.” Erb and Kobran were also both Taubman Scholars, an honor funded by Mr. Taubman’s naming gift. Erb had the chance to meet Mr. Taubman as a student. Looking back, both realize that, if not for the serendipity of them being in the same studio, Paperspace likely wouldn’t exist. “We’re very grateful. I think it’s fair to say that being Taubman Scholars made it possible for us to attend and thrive at Taubman College, and, if not for that, we wouldn’t have met, and we’d have been on a very different path,” says Erb. — Liz G. Fisher 41

From Michigan to Ghana to Michigan: Architecture as Culture, Collaboration, and Community Kuukuwa Manful participated in James Chaffers’ StudioAFRICA as a student, and now, as a faculty member, she’ll continue connecting architects in Michigan and Ghana KUUKUWA MANFUL JOINED Taubman College as an assistant professor of architecture in the fall of 2023, but her connection to the college goes back much further. As a student at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi, Ghana, she came to Taubman College in 2008 as part of the UM-KNUST West African Design Studio Exchange — StudioAFRICA. Soon, Professor Manful will be starting a new chapter in the legacy that the program began. StudioAFRICA, founded by James Chaffers, professor emeritus, ran for a decade and took 88 Taubman College students to Ghana. In addition, the studio brought 14 Ghanaian students to Michigan — three completed their graduate studies at Taubman College. “The biggest impact was interacting with Professor Chaffers,” says Manful of her experience in the studio, which took Taubman College students to Ghana and 42

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brought students from KNUST to the University of Michigan. “I had just started to study architecture. As with many architecture schools, mine greatly emphasized studios, designing, and building. Professor Chaffers thought on a different plane. He talked about things like the place of spirit and spirituality in architectural practice. Interacting with him, other architects, and architecture scholars showed me different possibilities. I saw firsthand that there were other things to consider in the built environment beyond building something.” The studio didn’t focus only on Ann Arbor and Michigan. Manful’s cohort traveled to Pennsylvania to see Fallingwater, a house designed in 1935 by Frank Lloyd Wright. They also traveled to Chicago, taking an architectural boat tour on the Chicago River. The trip, which also included a visit to New York, was a formative experience for Manful as a budding architect. “One thing that stuck in my head was the African Burial Ground National Monument in New York,” says Manful. “It was a memorial to enslaved people that had just been built, and seeing it on that trip was pretty impactful.”

Opposite, from left: Kuukuwa Manful, James Chaffers. Below: A football game on the KNUST campus.

A History of Collaboration Manful isn’t the only one with fond memories of StudioAFRICA. Anya Sirota, associate professor of architecture and associate dean of academic initiatives at Taubman College, and Łukasz Stanek, professor of architecture, recently traveled to Ghana to connect with colleagues. “Everywhere I went, colleagues remembered Professor Chaffers and his exceptional program,” said Sirota. “It catered in equal parts to Michigan students and Ghanaian students, a real achievement for a pedagogy that centers on exchange. People had copies of his studio book in their offices, and they radiated positive sentiments around what was accomplished.” On his first visit to Ghana in 1998, Chaffers was hosted by Nii Quarcoopome, now curator and department head of Africa, Oceania & Indigenous Americas at the Detroit Institute of Arts. With Quarcoopome as a guide and collaborator, Chaffers delved into the landscape of Ghanaian architecture. He came back to Michigan determined to create opportunities for University of Michigan students to explore Ghana and its architecture. For many of the Taubman College students participating in the studio, it was their first international trip. For all,

it was their first trip to Africa. Having Ghanaian students and faculty from KNUST serve as guides allowed the Taubman cohort to quickly immerse themselves in the culture and architecture of Ghana. “What the students said repeatedly was how welcome they felt,” says Chaffers. “You arrive at a place where the sights and sounds are unfamiliar, and you don’t speak

Above: The KNUST campus. Opposite, right: A seminar co-taught at KNUST by Ghanaian architect Ruth-Anne Richardson and Łukasz Stanek, professor of architecture at Taubman College.

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the local language. The host students and faculty showed us the true meaning of being greeted and welcomed. We counted on them to show the way.” “The StudioAFRICA experience made it clear that these lines of national boundaries are all in our heads,” says Chaffers. “We just happened to live 6,000 apart. We had architecture in common. We had similar ambitions, dreams, and talents. The students would have late-night sessions, just talking, sharing, and sketching together. They formed life-long relationships.” Chaffers shared the following quote from Marty Mechtenberg, who participated in the studio in 2005,

“It has been a whirlwind of experience… the details of a new culture, the food, the heat, the kindness of the Ghanaian people. We traveled from the burgeoning global metropolis of Accra on the Gulf of Guinea to traditional farmsteads in the north, resourceful plains, and places where we felt like we were stepping into some ancient, deeply prideful time. Negotiating the climate change, infrastructural hurdles, water supply, and daily pace of life has been challenging — at least we could be grateful that English is the national language! The Ghanaians we met, traveled with, and spent time among were uniformly generous, polite, and caring. Memories of the people met resonate as strongly as the unique architecture and stunning landscapes. Professor Chaffers has introduced us to a wide variety of passionate folk — teachers, students, artists, farmers, entrepreneurs, chiefs, and priests. It is not a trip any of us will soon forget.” The studio was an opportunity to explore how architecture differs due to climate, environment, and culture. The temperature in Ghana is often around 90 degrees Fahrenheit during the day, with high humidity. Chaffers and his students had the opportunity to explore how Ghanaian architecture utilized natural cooling techniques to keep buildings much cooler than the outdoors. “I think that’s even more pertinent these days,” says Manful. “We’re seeing more starkly the effects of climate change. Certain things have already changed, even in temperate climates, regarding factors like heat and humidity. But in places in Africa, this is how the weather has always been. For instance, people already know how to build in ways to address the heat.” “I also think beyond technical things like heating and cooling, it’s how we live together. We need different approaches to community and caring for one another or designing spaces to care for one another. Those things don’t come by accident. Much of the variety in ways people look out for each other comes from the spaces we inhabit. If you’ve built single apartments with no communal spaces, of course, people will not commune with each other. In African countries with courtyards and lots of indoor communal spaces, it’s easier to develop the culture of working together.” Chaffers adds that students in his studio also observed the difference in communal spaces, “We saw a fundamental principle of collaboration and trust in how Ghanaians

created their living and learning spaces. A group of neighbors might say, you need a house, I need a house, let’s work together and share resources. This enriching endowment of trust and collaboration was widely evident throughout the landscape.” Building Future Communities When Manful saw a posting for a faculty position at Taubman, the pull of returning to the place where she’d had such a transformative experience as a student, coupled with the idea that she could provide her students with an experience as enriching as the one she had with Professor Chaffers, lead her to apply. Manful says, “I saw the job posting, and it was like it was written for me. Part of me thought it wasn’t the right time. Part of me thought, ‘How full circle would it be?’ That’s a sign; there’s something poetic. I wanted to do a postdoc and build my research profile because I wanted time to find a place to support the work I wanted to do. Knowing that Professor Chaffers had been at Taubman College and done the West Africa Studio was evidence that something like what I wanted to do had happened here before and could be done again.” In 2024, Manful will lead a travel course that allows current Taubman College students to study in Ghana. She knows that, as it did for her, the global perspective will make them better designers. “It’s about seeing other ways people can live in a town, city, or a house. There’s this idea of taking students from the global north to design for the global south. But for me, it’s the other way. It’s learning how people design elsewhere so you become a better designer and come back with a new perspective.” — Liz G. Fisher 45

Leave a Lasting Legacy Including Taubman College in your estate or financial plans is one of the easiest ways to make a lasting impact. You can even generate income for yourself and your family while benefiting the college and generations of students. Types of planned gifts include gifts from a will or trust, beneficiary designations, and property. Making a planned gift is a rewarding way to support your alma mater. Contact the Taubman College advancement team at taubmancollegeadvancement@umich.edu or 734.764.4720 to learn more about establishing a planned gift for Taubman College or to let us know if you already have included the college in your will or estate plans.

DEFERRED GIVING OPTIONS GIFT TYPE

BASIC DESCRIPTION

BENEFITS

BEQUEST

Transfer property (including cash, securities, or tangible property) through a will or trust. A bequest can be a speciﬁc dollar amount or a designated percentage of your estate.

• Legacy • Simple and ﬂexible

HOW IT WORKS Will DONOR

ESTATE Fixed $ or Fixed %

HEIRS

BENEFICIARY OF RETIREMENT ACCOUNT(S)/ LIFE INSURANCE POLICY

Name Taubman College as a beneﬁciary of your retirement account(s) or life insurance policy.

• Legacy • Simple and ﬂexible • Tax savings

RETIREMENT ACCOUNT(S)/LIFE INSURANCE POLICY

DONOR

HEIRS

CHARITABLE REMAINDER TRUST (CRT)

CHARITABLE GIFT ANNUITY (CGA)

A life income gift that benefits you and Taubman College. You choose the fixed percentage rate of return and transfer cash, an appreciated asset, or other property to a trust that the university manages to generate payments to you. Payout amount fluctuates based on market value of investment. Upon the passing of income beneficiaries, the balance comes to Taubman College.

• Legacy

A life income gift that benefits you and Taubman College. Based on your age at the time of the gift, the university sets a fixed percentage rate of return. The university then invests your gift and makes fixed payments to you. Upon the passing of income beneficiaries, the balance comes to Taubman College.

• Legacy

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$$$

• Tax savings • Lifetime income to donor

TRUST

DONOR Donor receives payments for life

• Variable payments • Irrevocable

receives remainder

DONOR

$$$

• Tax savings • Lifetime income to donor • Fixed payments

ANNUITY

DONOR Donor receives payments for life

• Irrevocable DONOR

receives remainder

Class Notes

Share your news with your fellow alumni in a future issue of Portico. Send your class note (along with a high-resolution photo, if you would like) to taubmancollegeportico@umich.edu or complete the online form at taubmancollege.umich.edu/alumni.

Hills Nature Center in St. Louis Park, MN. The project also earned a Zero Energy Certification from the International Living Future Institute in 2022. The building’s flexibility and visitor flow allowed it to open safely in 2020 when most museums were still closed.

1970s  William Waterston, M.Arch ’74,

was inducted into the International Institute of Building Enclosure Consultants (IIBEC) Jury of Fellows. The designation of “Fellow” is an honorary title bestowed upon individuals who have demonstrated meritorious service to the organization. IIBEC also presented Waterston with its Joe F. Hale Lifetime Achievement Award — the group’s most prestigious award, given to those individuals who have provided a lifetime of service to IIBEC. During his 21 years as an IIBEC member, Waterston has served IIBEC in various capacities and has been a longtime advocate, volunteer, and active member of the IIBEC New England Chapter, serving as chapter president and treasurer.

Kimberly Nelson Montague, B.S. Arch ’87, M.Arch ’89, was elected as Albert Kahn Associates’ new president. Montague will be the firm’s 12th president and first woman to lead the 128-year-old A/E firm. “Kahn is continuing its legacy of innovation as a leader in personcentered environments, the alternative energy industrial revolution, and the advanced technology that pushes the boundaries of the human experience,” explained Montague. “I am honored to be the next President and look forward to being a champion for our teams to continue to deliver environments that revolu-

tionize our clients’ businesses and grow Kahn’s markets.” Montague received the 2022 Gold Medal from AIA Detroit, and Healthcare Design Magazine previously recognized her as one of the Top 25 Most Influential People in Healthcare Design.

1980s Marc L’Italien, B.S. Arch ’84, design principal in the San Francisco office of HGA Architects and Engineers, has won a 2023 AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE) Award for the Westwood 47

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Jewish Book Award and Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award in the autobiography and memoir category for her memoir, Like a Drop of Ink in a Downpour. The memoir tells the story of her childhood in Russia and her mother and grandmother’s fight to leave the country and save her grandfather Felix Lembersky’s timeless art. In October 2023, Lembersky delivered a lecture at the opening of an interactive virtual exhibit on the art of Felix Lembersky as part of the University of Michigan’s “Arts & Resistance” theme semester.

 John Ronan, B.S. ’85, and his

firm John Ronan Architects completed the new Chicago Park District (CPD) Headquarters building, which opened in June 2023. The 80,000-square-foot facility sits in a new 17-acre park space on a former brownfield site. It consists of office headquarters for the Chicago Park District and a fieldhouse with a gymnasium, fitness rooms, and club rooms. The building is designed to “make CPD staff feel like they are working in a park and put them in direct contact with the public they serve,” according to Ronan.

1990s Justin Finnicum, B.S. Arch ’96, M.Arch ’99, was promoted to director of professional practice at Sasaki. Finnicum focuses on AI with a deep overlap at an interdisciplinary level with landscape, civil engineering, planning, and urban design. Most recently, Finnicum managed interdisciplinary projects at the Lawrenceville School and joint venture design projects with 48

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Hopkins architects at Colby College and Herzog and de Meuron at Amherst College. Michael Guthrie, M.Arch ’98, is a principal and partner at INFORM Studio, where he focuses on projects that impact communities. His recent focus is urban design projects, specifically pedestrian bridges that can become world-class destinations, economic drivers, and places for people to reconnect with their communities and the surrounding ecologies. He was principal-in-charge for the Van Leesten Memorial Bridge in Providence, RI, which was awarded the 2023 AIA Award in Urban and Regional Design. Randy Howder, B.S. Arch ’99, started a new role as co-regional managing principal for Gensler’s Northwest Region, which includes the firm’s offices in San Jose, Oakland, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver. Yelena Lembersky, B.S. Arch ’91, was a finalist for the 2022 National

David Eugin Moon, B.S. Arch ’98, along with N H D M partner Nahyun Hwang, shared the firm’s project “Migrating Futures” at the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale. The project investigates the historical and contemporary geographies of diverse diaspora communities and transnational migrant workers in Korea and across Asia. The project brings forward essential conversations by engaging themes of migrancy, climate crisis, and racial subjections in the often neglected non-western setting. Karin Morris, M.U.P. ’99, and David Zipf, M.U.P. ’88, served on the host committee for the 2023 APA National Planning conference in Philadelphia. The conference welcomed more than 4,000 planners from around the country and the English-speaking world in April. Morris and Zipf worked to plan mobile tours, special events, and other conference tasks. Zipf also co-chaired the merchandise committee, which raised funds for student scholarships. Liz Swanson, B.S. ’95, has been named the associate dean of student affairs in the College of Design at the University of Kentucky. She is an associate professor of architecture and recently named TEK Fellow

who has been teaching at the University of Kentucky since 2001. Her research centers on the built environment’s social, cultural, and spiritual import and explores the intersection of architecture, art, and storytelling. Much of her work focuses on drawing as a mode of visual representation, and the role images play in the development of identity and community. Her projects range in scale from illustrations, children’s books, and experimental drawings to public artworks, installations, and urban planning proposals that aim to create meaningful experiences for people.

2000s Peter Z. “Zeb” Acuff, M.U.P. ’05, started a new position as the director of planning at MetroParks of Butler County in Ohio. Linda Bailey, M.U.P. ’01, started a new position as program manager for technical assistance at the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation. Bailey will work with cities and states to establish electric vehicle charging for cars, transit, and school buses. Sonia Hirt, Ph.D. ’03, was honored by the Board of Trustees of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation with a 2023 Guggenheim Fellowship. Hirt is dean of the College of Environment and Design at the University of Georgia. She studies the intersection of society, culture, and space to advance understanding of the relationship between cultural values and urban forms and to create opportunities to make cities more equitable, prosperous, and sustainable. Jessica Kavanagh, B.S. Arch ’00, has been named business center practice leader for the Philadelphia region in the buildings practice at Stantec.

Komal Kotwal, M.Arch ’06, was recognized by the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) with an IWBI Rising Star Award in the WELL Faculty Category for exceptional contributions to the WELL movement in 2022. Jason S. Myers, M.U.P. ’05, started a new position as the rail programs manager for the North Carolina Department of Transportation, Rail Division. Melissa Pesci, M.Arch ’06, has been appointed as the 2023-24 IIDA Northern California Chapter president-elect. The board comprises elected volunteers responsible for governing and developing the IIDA Northern California Chapter programs. Pesci is a principal at HGA. Demetria (Irwin) Wambia, M.U.P. ’04, started a new position as communications manager at the Center for NYC Neighborhoods. Wambia will be working on dynamic programs that deal with issues including clean energy, Black homeownership, and anti-scamming efforts. Angela Wyrembelski, B.S. Arch ’07, has been promoted to senior associate in Quinn Evans’ Detroit office. Her projects include the rehabilitation of Michigan Central Station in Detroit, Michigan, and the renovation and expansion of the Ann Arbor Municipal Center. Jessica Zgobis, M.U.P. ’05, started a new position as executive director, team lead, and senior permanent lending relationship manager at JPMorgan Chase & Co. Zgobis is an affordable housing credit certified professional with experience designing, implementing, and managing affordable housing programs, compliance, and debt solutions among non-profit, government, and corporate sectors.

2010s Daniel Clunis, B.S. Arch ’14, M.Arch ’18, has been promoted to associate in Quinn Evans’ Ann Arbor office. He has been a designer for the renovation of the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC, and the new State Street Dining Pavilion for The Henry Ford in Dearborn. Shaoxuan Dong, M.Arch ’13, has been promoted to senior principal at KPF, an award-winning global architecture firm designing well-crafted, sustainable, impactful buildings of all types and scales. Leah Gerber, M.U.R.P. ’17, was named a 2023-24 German Chancellor Fellow by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. The fellowship supports recipients for one year as they work in Germany to implement a societally relevant self-chosen project that supports their career development and has a lasting public impact. Maggie Hummel, B.S. Arch ’13, has been promoted to principal at Baxt Ingui Architects, P.C., an architecture and interior design firm with extensive experience in residential, institutional, and commercial projects. Aditya Inamdar, M.U.D. ’11, was named as one of Mass Transit magazine’s Top 40 Under 40 Class of 2023. Inamdar is an urban designer and planner at Kittelson & Associates, Inc., where he applies his background in urban planning and architecture to develop creative design solutions that leverage transportation to create sustainable and livable communities. Ruoshui Liu, M.U.R.P. ’19, started a new position as a transportation planner with infrastructure consulting firm AECOM. 49

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Alumni Reunite in Ann Arbor In September, alumni from across the country gathered for Homecoming festivities. Highlights of the weekend included a tailgate, Alumni Council Speed Networking session, milestone reunions for the Class of 1998, Class of 1973, and alumni emeritus, and celebrating alumni award winners, Ken Knuckles, B.S. ‘73, and Ujijji Davis Williams, M.U.P. ’17, who will be highlighted in our next issue.

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Florent Mettetal, M.U.R.P. ’19, joined Marquee Development and the Chicago Cubs organization as a project manager.

Gabrielle Porter, M.Arch ’23, started a new position as an architectural designer in the Boston office of Page Southerland Page, Inc.

Julia Roberts, M.U.P. ’12, started a new role as planning and innovation director at the Regional Transit Authority (RTA) of Southeast Michigan. The RTA’s mission is “to manage and secure transportation resources that significantly enhance mobility options, to improve quality of life for the residents, and to increase economic viability for the region.”

Areej Shahin, M.Arch ’23, was chosen as one of the 16 fellows for the HKS, Inc. Detroit Design Fellowship. The fellows will focus on resilience, ranging from the built environment to its profound influence on the broader community.

Pete Robie, M.U.D./M.U.P. ’10, was named deputy director of active transportation and station access for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA). Daniel Sommerville, M.U.P. ’12, was promoted to active city planner supervisor and will supervise the new capital planning team in the City of Philadelphia Streets Department. The team’s objective is to more efficiently prioritize transportation capital funding and project development streams. Sara Timberlake, M.Arch ’18, was promoted to designer at Quinn Evans. Timberlake has been at the firm since 2019 and was previously a staff designer. Jess Wunsch, M.U.R.P. ’19, started a new position as director of city engagement at the NYU Furman Center, which advances research and debate on housing, neighborhoods, and urban policy.

2020s Eilís Finnegan, M.Arch ’23, joined Auburn University College of Architecture, Design and Construction as an assistant professor – tenure track in the Environmental Design program.

Brittany Simmons, M.U.R.P. ’20, was featured in the American Planning Association (APA) Planning Magazine article “Follow the Next Generation of Planners on Social Media” for helping young people find a passion for urban planning through TikTok. She was quoted in the article saying, “I want to show folks that if they’re interested, they can be involved in what happens in their communities and what [those actions] look like, whether that’s as a working planner or as an engaged resident.” Danielle Wallick, M.U.R.P. ’23, started a new position as a housing data analyst at the Detroit Housing and Revitalization Department.

In Memoriam Joseph J. Wehrer, B.Arch ’54 May 10, 2023 Robert A. Reid, B.Arch ’56 April 7, 2023 Thomas Fegan, B.Arch ’59, M.C.P. ’64 July 31, 2023 Richard L. Gould, B.Arch ’60 March 5, 2023 John S. Keelean, B.Arch ’63 February 25, 2023 Donald J. Meneghini, B.Arch ’69 May 29, 2023 Donna L. Vlasak, M.U.P. ’73 May 13, 2023 Robin G. Guenther, M.Arch ’78 May 6, 2023 Anselmo Canfora, M.Arch. ’96 October 3, 2023

Lauren Ashley Week, M.U.R.P./ JD ’23, earned first place in the APA Planning and Law Division Smith-Babcock-Williams Writing Competition for “Climate Change in Unincorporated California: The Consequences of Limited Regulation for Land Use, Lodging, and Livelihoods in the Wildland Urban Interface.” Week works as a judicial law clerk for the Hawai`i state judiciary. Arin Yu, M.U.R.P. ’22, has been named the City of Ann Arbor’s Housing Commission planning specialist. Yu focuses on creating more affordable and sustainable homes in Ann Arbor.

“This gift represents both my deep respect for the University of Michigan and my commitment to the study of architecture and urban planning. It is an honor and pleasure for me to be able to provide this support to the College.” — A. Alfred Taubman on his 1999 gift to the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning

A. Alfred Taubman speaking to a crowd at the Taubman Thank-You Celebration in 2014

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P ORT ICO VOL . 23, NO. 2 FA L L 2023 University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning 2000 Bonisteel Blvd. Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2069 USA taubmancollege.umich.edu

Jonathan Massey Dean Cynthia Enzer Radecki, A.B./B.S. Arch ’87, M.Arch ’88 Assistant Dean, Advancement Kent Love-Ramirez Director, Marketing and Communications Liz G. Fisher Editor Liz Momblanco Senior Graphic Designer

Contributing Writers: Amy Crawford, Liz G. Fisher Image Credits: Iwan Baan (p. 21), courtesy Bentley Historical Library (p. 12), James Haefner (p. 13, bottom), Lon Horwedel (inside front cover), Daryl Marshke / Michigan Photography (p. 34), Devin O’Neill (cover, pp. 5 + 6, bottom + 7, bottom + 8, top + 9, bottom), Marion Post Wolcott / Library of Congress (p. 31), Peter Smith (p. 17), Scott C. Soderberg / Michigan Photography (pp. 16, top + 52)

Portico is a semiannual publication for alumni and friends of Taubman College, produced by the Office of Advancement. This issue was printed by University Lithoprinters.

We welcome alumni news, letters, and comments at taubmancollegeportico@umich.edu. You also can submit class notes online at: taubmancollege.umich.edu/alumni/portico Has your address or email address changed? Submit your new contact information online at taubmancollege.umich.edu/alumni or call 734.764.4720. Postage paid at Ann Arbor, Michigan. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Editor, Portico, University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, 2000 Bonisteel Blvd., Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2069 USA

© 2023 Regents of the University of Michigan The Regents of the University of Michigan Jordan B. Acker, Huntington Woods Michael J. Behm, Grand Blanc Mark J. Bernstein, Ann Arbor Paul W. Brown, Ann Arbor Sarah Hubbard, Okemos Denise Ilitch, Bingham Farms Ron Weiser, Ann Arbor Katherine E. White, Ann Arbor Santa J. Ono (ex officio)

Nondiscrimination Policy Statement The University of Michigan, as an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer, complies with all applicable federal and state laws regarding nondiscrimination and affirmative action. The University of Michigan is committed to a policy of equal opportunity for all persons and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, disability, religion, height, weight, or veteran status in employment, educational programs and activities, and admissions. Inquiries or complaints may be addressed to the Senior Director for Institutional Equity, and Title IX/ Section 504/ADA Coordinator, Office for Institutional Equity, 2072 Administrative Services Building, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1432, 734.763.0235, TTY 734-647-1388, institutionalequity@umich.edu. For other University of Michigan information call 734.764.1817.

University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning 2000 Bonisteel Boulevard, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2069

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MAKING A DIFFERENCE

GIVE TO TAUBMAN COLLEGE Gifts from alumni, parents, and friends are transforming the student learning experience inside the classroom and studio, in our award-winning research labs, and through scholarships and financial support that helps students reach their academic and professional goals. Now more than ever, we count on donations from our alumni community that equip students to shape the future through architecture, planning, and urban design. donate.umich.edu/1wdbq

CAREER & PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

YOUR GLOBAL NETWORK Taubman College Career Network is your resource to: CONNECT with Taubman College and U-M alumni SEARCH and post jobs/internships SCHEDULE career strategy appointments REGISTER for career events FIND resources for your job search and career development Join today: umich.peoplegrove.com/hub/Taubman Have questions? taubmancollegecareer@umich.edu