Episteme and Techne

WPA 2.0: an open design competition for working public architecture organized and sponsored by cityLAB

cityLAB, an urban think tank at UCLA’s Department of Architecture and Urban Design, announces a call for entries to “WPA 2.0: Working Public Architecture.” WPA 2.0 is an open competition that seeks innovative, implementable proposals to place infrastructure at the heart of rebuilding our cities during this next era of metropolitan recovery. WPA 2.0 recalls the Depression-era Works Projects Administration (1935-43), which built public buildings, parks, bridges, and roads across the nation as an investment in the future—one that has, in turn, become a lasting legacy. We encourage projects that explore the value of infrastructure not only as an engineering endeavor, but as a robust design opportunity to strengthen communities and revitalize cities. Unlike the previous era, the next generation of such projects will require surgical integration into the existing urban fabric, and will work by intentionally linking systems of points, lines and landscapes; hybridizing economies with ecologies; and overlapping architecture with planning. This notion of infrastructural systems is intentionally broad, including but not limited to parks, schools, open space, vehicle storage, sewers, roads, transportation, storm water, waste, food systems, recreation, local economies, ‘green’ infrastructure, fire prevention, markets, landfills, energy-generating facilities, cemeteries, and smart utilities.

Deadline Extended for SE Fall Conference Call for Posters

2009 ACSA Southeast Fall Conference
Architecture is a Thing of Art
October 8-10, 2009 | Savannah, Georgia
Host School: Savannah College ofArt and Design, School of Building Arts, Department of Architecture
Co-chairs: Matthew Dudzik & Alexis Gregory

August 3, 2009: Poster submissions due to ACSA website
August 17, 2009: Authors of posters notified of acceptance status
September 10, 2009: Accepted poster presenters must register for conference by this date

For complete details please visit:

http://www.acsa-arch.org/conferences

Dwell Magazine and Inhabitat.com are pleased to announce the first ever Reburbia competition: a design competition dedicated to re-envisioning the suburbs.

Congratulations to SCAD Department of Architecture faculty member Professor Julie Rogers Varland who will be presenting at the annual SECAC conference in Mobile, AL. Prof. Rogers Varland’s proposal was accepted for the Liminality Panel, and she will present her research titled, “Engawa and More: Japanese Concepts and Architectural Behaviors of Liminal Space”. Prof. Rogers Varland’s travel to Japan in the summer of 2008 to conduct research was partially supported by the SCAD Presidential Fellowship program. The SECAC conference will take place October 21-24, 2009.

Art vs. Design

An international Open Call for Unique Talent
Details: http://www.artistswanted.org

Images are power. In this dynamic era compelling design can move millions and transcendent art can inspire a generation. From cave paintings of early man to today’s industrial designers, art & design has uniquely shaped the world around us, each in its own distinct way. This contest is designed to answer the age old question: What shapes our world more, art or design?

Join thousands of creative people in this visual dialogue.

Mark Mothersbaugh, acclaimed artist and lead singer of art-rock band DEVO leads a panel of judges including Jarrett Gregory (curator at NYC’s New Museum) and Donwan Harrell (founder and creative director of Akademiks clothing) in selecting the top artist or designer to be featured at a gala reception at the New Museum in June. The public also plays judge – determining the most powerful medium of the moment – in an online face-off that pits art submissions against design submissions.

Opportunities will be created for everyone who participates and we are awarding over $11,000 in prizes.

Grand Prize & Student winner will be awarded with:
A gala reception at the New Museum in New York City

$2009 cash grant
International Publicity, including a feature in Filter Magazine and work shown through Gawker Artists exposing the winners art or design to hundreds of thousands of visitors across 190+ website galleries

$500 in gear from Akademiks
Plus the Red Bull Prize: Offering a choice of: A vintage Vespa OR a trip to London to visit the Tate Museum and the Design Museum OR a fully loaded Mac Book Pro

Every participant gets:

An online portfolio and international exposure
A $70 “Thank You” package with gear and discounts to help further your work

Registration is open now and continues through Midnight May 31st.
Details: http://www.artistswanted.org/

Art VS Design was put together by a handful of Brooklyn based artists and designers who have experienced first-hand the difficulties of achieving national attention. We believe both Art & Design hold a powerful place in our society and it is our intention to break-out new talent through a process that is dynamic and open-ended.

Don’t forget to submit your abstracts for the 2009 ACSA Southeast Fall Conference hosted by the Savannah College of Art and Design Department of Architecture. Abstracts are due Monday May 4th, and there are several outstanding paper sessions! Complete conference information, descriptions of the session topics, and session topic moderator information is available on the ACSA website.

As part of the SCAD Style event, Clive Wilkinson will be lecturing today…

April 20
“Creativity and the Workplace” Lecture by Architect Clive Wilkinson
Monday, 3 p.m., Student Center, 120 Montgomery St., Savannah, Ga.
Fast Company deemed Google headquarters, Clive Wilkinson Architects’ most recent notable project, a “paean to boundless ambition and nonconformity.” Since founding his firm in 1991, Wilkinson and his team have developed an international reputation for workplace design through such projects as TBWA/Chiat/Day’s “advertising city” headquarters and JWT. Wilkinson understands the impact of a person’s surroundings on creative work, and his firm’s influential and perceptive ideas celebrate architecture as a wonderful life support system for a rapidly changing world. SCAD Style events are free and open to the public unless otherwise noted.

Swiss architect Peter Zumthor named the winner of the 2009 Pritzker Prize.

Links:
NYTimes
Chicago Tribune
BBC

to the SCAD Department of Architecture’s
Urban Design Studios
Wednesday, October 8, 1:00-3:30p; River Club (downstairs)

The panel will provide information to the students regarding:

- what it takes to ‘deliver’ a design idea at the urban level
- ways to effect positive/constructive change in a city
- demonstration of working collectively, across municipal and private agencies
- the spectrum of scales that need to be addressed for any urban project
(infrastructure to human-scale factors and details)

The Panel

Overall message: Urban design cannot happen in a vacuum.
Presentations followed by moderated discussion and questions from the students.

ZONING – Tom Thomson and Charlotte Moore
Message: An understanding of Zoning is fundamental to any successful design process.
What is it? Why is it? How can it be changed? This presentation will provide a conceptual understanding of zoning and its process. Students will learn about online resources or references they can use as they begin their designs.

Case study – how a change of zoning was needed for a particular project and how will be presented, and why it succeeded or failed.

PUBLIC / PRIVATE FINANCE – Chris Morrill
Message: Municipalities must be partners in most large scale urban development projects.
How does one approach a municipality about an idea? What motivates local government to assist or partner in developments?

Case Study – News Place and Savannah River Landings

PUBLIC INPUT – Susan Broker
Message: Build a public input process into your plan from the beginning.
How has the public input process changed? How do you get meaningful input and buy-in from the public without negatively affecting the design process? Why should this process be built in from the very beginning?

Case Study – Project DeRenne

THE DESIGNER – Christian Sottile
Message: They aren’t kidding.
How do you utilize zoning to enhance a project.
How does a private / public partnership affect the design process.
How do you successfully use public input in design?

This looks to be an exciting exhibition. It was brought to my attention by our friends at Marble Fairbanks…check out the link to the MoMA website on the exhibition