APDesign Newsletter 10.24.11
2012 DESIGN INTELLIGENCE RANKINGS ARE OUT
APDesign received an advance copy of the Design Intelligence’s America’s Best Architecture & Design Schools 2012. Our Landscape Architecture program is ranked third in the nation. Architecture is ranked fifth and is the highest ranked public institution. Interior Architecture & Product Design is ranked seventh overall.
Here is a summary of where are programs are listed in several categories:
Architecture:
#5 - Graduate Program
#2 - Analysis & Planning
#2 - Cross-Disciplinary Teamwork
#3 - Design
#3 - Communication
#4 - Computer Applications
#1 - Sustainable Design Practices & Principles
#2 - Construction Methods & Materials
#2 in the Midwest
#1 by firms in the Midwest
Landscape Architecture:
#3 - Graduate Program
#3 - Design
Interior Architecture:
#7 - Graduate Program
#3 - Communication
#2 - Cross-Disciplinary Teamwork
Congratulations to all our programs!
ERIC SANDERSON TO LECTURE WEDNESDAY
Dr. Eric Sanderson is coming to Manhattan to discuss what “the other Manhattan” was like before it was the Big Apple.
Sanderson, senior conservation ecologist at the Wildlife Conservation Society and director of the Mannahatta Project, will be lecturing at Kansas State University at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 26 in Forum Hall at the K-State Student Union. The lecture is free, and everyone is welcome.
Students attending the Sanderson lecture will receive a coupon for a slice of pizza in the Pierce Commons in Seaton Hall after the lecture.
The Mannahatta Project is an effort to reconstruct the original ecology of Manhattan Island at the time of European discovery in the early seventeenth century. In 2009 Sanderson published the book, “Mannahatta: A Natural History of New York City,” illustrated by Markley Boyer. Sanderson also curated an exhibition based on the Mannahatta Project at the Museum of the City of New York in 2009.
After a decade of research, the Mannahatta Project at the Wildlife Conservation Society uncovered the original ecology of Manhattan, one of New York City’s five boroughs. The next project, the Welikia Project, goes beyond the Mannahatta Project to encompass the entire city, discover its original ecology and compare it what we have today. The Welikia Project embraces the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island, and the waters in between, while still serving up all we have learned about Mannahatta.
Through the Mannahatta Project, it was learned that the center of one of the world’s largest and most built-up cities was once a remarkably diverse, natural landscape of hills, valleys, forests, fields, freshwater wetlands, salt marshes, beaches, springs, ponds, and streams, supporting a rich and abundant community of wildlife and sustaining people for thousands of years before Europeans arrived on the scene in 1609. The place celebrated for its cultural diversity, was acclaimed by early settlers for its biological diversity and fertility: home to bears, wolves, songbirds, and salamanders, with clear, clean waters jumping with fish, and porpoises and whales in the harbor. In fact, with over 55 different ecological communities, Mannahatta’s biodiversity per acre rivaled that of national parks like Yellowstone, Yosemite, and the Great Smoky Mountains.
Sanderson received his Ph.D. in ecology from the University of California, Davis. In 2002 Sanderson and colleagues created the Human Footprint map, the first look at human influence globally at less than one-square-mile resolution. He is also an expert on species conservation planning and has contributed to efforts to save lions, tigers, Asian bears, jaguars, tapirs, peccaries, American crocodiles, North American bison and Mongolian gazelle; and landscape planning conservation efforts in Argentina, Tanzania, Mongolia, and the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and the Adirondack Park, in the U.S. He has edited two scientific volumes and written numerous scientific papers. His work has been featured in the New York Times, National Geographic Magazine, CNN, NPR, and the New Yorker.
To read more about the Mannahatta Project and the Welikia Project, go to http://welikia.org/.
SEGER PARK MODEL ON DISPLAY
The model of the Seger Park Water Feature will be on display briefly at 4:30 p.m. this Tuesday in the Link. This is the last chance to see the model before it is packed up and shipped to Philadelphia on Wednesday morning.
Assistant Professors Nathan Howe and Sam Zeller, with the help of fourth-year students Ethan Rhoades, Hana Havlova, Matthew Whetstone, and Scott Davis, entered the Seger Park Water Feature Competition in Philadelphia. This international competition asked participants to look at the site of the existing water feature in Seger Park and envision a design that would be contemporary, interactive, and iconic for the park. The APDesign group’s sculptural design of concrete and water, which creates an effect of art, performance, and play, was chosen as the unanimous winner by the jury.
ESA LAAKSONEN LECTURE
Esa Laaksonen will be delivering the lecture “Architectural Ataraxis - Finnish Examples” at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 26, in the Pierce Commons. Laaksonen is an architect who has acted as the first director of the Alvar Aalto Academy since its inception in 1999. He has his professional practice in Helsinki together with the architect Kimmo Friman. His main responsibilities at the academy are organizing the yearly Alvar Aalto architecture symposiums, design seminars, and meetings. He also acts as the editor of the Aalto Architecture Monograph series and as the editor-in-chief of ptah, English language journal on architecture, design, and art. Laaksonen was the editor-in-chief of the Finnish Architectural Review, Arkkitehti from 1996-1999, the head of the exhibition office at the Museum of Finnish Architecture from 1998-1999 and the regional artist of the southern part of Finland during 1994-98. He has been actively teaching architecture at the University of Technology in Helsinki since 1982. In 1998 Laaksonen was the Norman Moore visiting professor of architecture at Washington University in St. Louis, and he worked as an invited guest professor of architecture at the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia, in 2002 and at the University of Adelaide, Australia, in 2007. Laaksonen has designed several buildings, among them the Swimming Hall in Siilinjärvi (winning competition entry, 1992), the Border Station at Niirala (1994) and he has been the architect responsible for the design of the Helsinki University Siltavuorenpenger campus area projects.
Laaksonen has received about 30 prizes in national and international competitions for architecture. He has given several lectures at architectural conferences and worked as a visiting critic in many universities in Europe and the USA. He is the editor of several books on architecture. He has well been jurying several architecture and art competitions in Finland and abroad.
WOMEN IN DESIGN EVENT
Today at 7:30 p.m. in the Pierce Commons, the Women in Design will host Amy Slattery of BNIM Architecture, Emerging Professional of the Year — AIAKC 2008, and Young Architects Award Winner — AIA 2011.
Amy Slattery, AIA, is an Associate at BNIM with nine years of professional experience. She is currently working on a new engineering facility at the University of California, Los Angeles, in collaboration with Moore Ruble Yudell, that promises to continue the advancement of sustainable design research.
In 2005, Slattery initiated Women in Design Kansas City (WiDKC) to reach out to established professionals in the community, learn from their success, advance the work women are doing and improve the way our lives intersect that work. WiDKC was one of ten programs selected for the first annual AIA National Diversity Recognition Program in 2009 and the only program to receive that recognition for the second time in 2010. WiDKC was a supporting contributor to the first Women’s Leadership Summit in Chicago in 2009, and Amy is personally involved in the planning of both the 2010 and 2011 summits. Amy was asked to help establish the Women in Architecture and Design AIA Knowledge Net Community and was featured on the AIA homepage during the month of September 2010.
The Women in Design Chapter of Kansas State University is a new student organization that celebrates women in the design fields, but welcomes both male and female members. The organization’s goals include hosting scholastic and social activities with design professionals, offering events for students across campus to mingle and connect, and celebrating design through contributions to the community.
ALUMNI HONOREE EXHIBIT
The Chang Gallery’s newest exhibit opens today. Check out the work of our Alumni Honorees who will be in town at the end of next week. The 2011 Alumni Honorees are: Addie Johnson Abushousheh (ARCH), Amie Keener (IAPD), Lynn Oliver (LA), and Jess McNeely (RCP).
DAY OF THE DEAD
APDesign Diversity Committee will celebrate Day of the Dead on Oct. 31, 2011. The committee invites APDesign students and faculty to join in the celebration.
The festivities will start at 11 a.m. with an introduction and presentation on the importance of this festival followed by altar installation and face painting activity.
The evening festivities will include presentations, music and dance, and food tastings.
LINEL DESIGN AWARDS
Entries for the First Annual Linel Design Award are due June 5, 2012. Cash awards of $5,000, $2,500, and $1,000 are available in the Architecture Student category.
The head juror for the competition is Thomas Phifer.
For more information, or to apply online, visit www.lineldesignaward.com.
UPDATED HELIODON INSTRUCTIONS
The College’s mobile heliodon is on casters and fits through standard width doors and inside the west wing elevator. As a result, it can be used in your studio, crit space, or its temporary storage room (until a more suitable location is identified). The heliodon can be adjusted to any latitude, month of the year, or hour of the day. Following is a link to a brief video demonstration:
http://www.hpd-online.com/heliodons.php
The heliodon is stored in Seaton 320C and can be used in this room by small groups or checked out for 48 hours and kept in a studio or crit space. Check out of the heliodon and its key occurs through the Dean’s Office.
Since improper use can damage this device, only faculty who have been trained are allowed to check it out and transport the heliodon. Don Crawford, Dereatha Cross, Lisa Shubert, or Lance Klein can train you along with Professors Gabbard, Jani, McGlynn, and Skabelund. It is simple to operate and training requires only five minutes of your time. Faculty can train their students or training sessions for groups of students can be scheduled. Students are free to use the heliodon after they have been trained. Because of its smaller size, the light source is closer, and model size becomes a consideration for accurate readings. The Model 126 Heliodon has been optimized as a teaching and demonstration tool. When is it being used to evaluate models for their solar responsiveness, certain procedures should be followed to achieve the highest accuracy. Although the table size is 48 inches, heliodon designers recommend that the most accurate readings occur in the center six inches. With regard to height, they recommend accurate readings occur with models four inches or less. Larger models can be used and repositioned so that the area of interest is located in the center six inches. The second attachment is the User’s Guide and provides additional suggestions regarding architectural models and accuracy, along with suggestions for teaching and demonstration models. An electronic copy of the Heliodon Instructions and User’s Guide can be found on K-State Online’s APDetails. If you have questions about the heliodon or training contact Lance Klein (532-1092 or lklein@ksu.edu).
CALL FOR ABSTRACTS: INTED 2012
Faculty are invited to submit abstracts and participate in the sixth International Technology, Education and Development conference, INTED2012, that will be held in Valencia, Spain, on the March 5-7, 2012.
It will be an international forum to present and share your experiences in the fields of education, technology, and development.
The attendance of more than 600 delegates from more than 60 countries is expected, being an annual meeting point for lecturers, researchers, academics, educational scientists, and technologists from all disciplines and cultures.
You can present your contributions in two modalities:
- In person: oral and poster presentations.
- Virtually: if you cannot attend in person.
INTED2012 Abstracts CD and Proceedings CD, both with ISBN, will be produced with all accepted abstracts and papers submitted.
We look forward to seeing you in Valencia!
