Author Archives: Elaine Adams

Parachute Drop Into SCAD Lacoste – Oooh La La

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by Elaine Gallagher Adams, AIA, LEED AP

SCAD hosts more than 250 students annually to study les beaux arts in Lacoste, France, a town that in any other context would be considered a world class slowcation destination. This is a place that, upon arrival, calms the heartrate and demands your undistracted appreciative attention. As students wake and emerge from their hobbit holes the first morning, whispered declarations of “I can’t believe I’m in this place,” are sent out to the frosty valley below as they stand in wonder pausing on a 400-year old stone terrace.

Students are here to study though. It is a regular quarter term here in Lacoste, uninterrupted by hurricanes and green beer holidays. They attend class and do real work, take tests, and go on magnificent field trips to Roman ruins, textile studios, cemeteries, edgy art exhibits, Impressionist landscapes, and world class contemporary architecture. We spend one fantastic week in Paris visiting famous museums and lesser known gems. My architecture students thoroughly enjoyed the Louis Vuitton Foundation designed by Frank Gehry, which included a beautifully curated traveling exhibit from MOMA. Some class groups visited the Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature (Museum of Hunting and Nature – Taxidermy) and the Musée des Arts et Métiers (Museum of Arts and Trades), learning that sometimes our very best experiences are the unexpected finds. A spontaneous invitation to tour L’Ecole des Beaux Arts studios left our students both envious of those Parisian students and comparing SCAD’s own similar resources, as well as appreciative of our advanced technologies at SCAD.

We are fattened up by three French chefs in the school kitchen, spoiling us silly with tartes, coq-au-vin, eclairs, religieuse pastries, ratatouille, and legumes that make me long to experiment in my own kitchen. Yes, we walk ten thousand steps every day, climbing the equivalent of 53 stories, and we need those calories! Don’t expect to lose weight, but you will indeed get fit. Don’t bring dress shoes. You’re on a mountain, navigating Roman roads and quarries.

Lacoste offers SCAD students an extraordinary experience. Housed in 12th century buildings filled with creative people from varying programs, our architecture students are embracing game design, preservation design students are diving into print-making, and painting students are basking in European history. As a professor of architecture, this is one of the richest teaching environments I can imagine. The quarter comes to a poetic ending with Open Studio, a multi-gallery exhibit of students work, much of it for sale. You will see examples of animated films, ceramics, textile art, sketchbooks, painting, sculpting, architecture, print-making, and more. Hundreds of visitors regularly attend this event in this remote village, validating the high quality of the work created by SCAD students.

SCAD offers classes in five locations: Savannah, GA; Atlanta, GA; Lacoste, FR; Hong Kong, CH; and our newest campus Online. Tuition and fees remain the same for all locations, making seamless transitions from campus to campus. This means ALL students have access to these life-changing experiences, many traveling internationally for the first time. So come with us next year! You’ll never forget it.

Elaine Gallagher Adams, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, is a professor of architecture, urban design, preservation design, and sustainable design at SCAD [www.scad.edu], currently teaching in Lacoste, France.

The Integrated Path: SCAD and Georgia House Bill 41

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by Dean Ivan Chow, AIA, NCARB

The Integrated Path at SCAD is a first. Along with a small cohort of schools nationwide, SCAD has implemented an unprecedented and rigorous academic track that incorporates all three components of professional licensure for architects – education, experience and examination – within its B.F.A and NAAB-accredited M.Arch. programs that would provide a structured framework for dedicated students to graduate with a license to practice architecture. In as few as seven years.

Georgia state law required the completion of an accredited architectural program prior to gaining access to the Architect Registration Examination (A.R.E.). That means no one can commence taking any section of the A.R.E. until they have graduated with a NAAB-accredited degree. In order to allow pre-graduation access to the A.R.E. for students on the Integrated Path, Georgia state law needed to be amended.

Taking on this crucial legislative component of the Integrated Path is also a first for SCAD. Early in 2016, SCAD crafted an amendment that proposed the insertion of nationally-approved NCARB model language into existing state law that would allow IPAL students to take divisions of the A.R.E. while they obtain education and experience.

With the support of state components of the American Institute of Architects, the Georgia Board of Architects and Interior Designers, local and regional architects and both Georgia Tech and Kennesaw State University, SCAD submitted House Bill 41 on January 11, 2017.

On January 30, 2017, alongside other supporters, leadership from SCAD’s architecture program, testified at a house regulated industries sub-committee hearing on the merits of the Integrated Path at SCAD and the positive impact it would have on the profession of architecture, especially in the State of Georgia.

The house sub-committee reconvened and approved the bill on February 15th with minor changes to the language, and sent it to the full committee, which approved HB41 on February 16th. The full House of Representatives approved HB41 170-1 on February 22nd after which it crossed over to the senate.

The senate regulated industries committee heard testimony and approved the bill on March 6th. Subsequently, the bill passed through the senate rules committee on March 10th followed by full senate approval on March 13th. House Bill 41 was signed into law by Governor Deal on May 1, 2017.

With this change of law allowing pre-graduation access to the A.R.E., along with the rigorous preparation of dedicated students in a fully integrated academic program, the Integrated Path promises to pave new ground in providing the following benefits to the profession:

  • Provides a structured and expeditious path to licensure for motivated individuals aspiring to become architects.
  • Supports a more comprehensive understanding of the practice of architecture, better preparing graduates for immediate productivity.
  • Provides a fully integrated understanding of professional practice during the formative years of development, which will strengthen the chance of long term professional success.
  • Reduces the cost of becoming an architect by offsetting the cost of education through an aggressive schedule of paid internship work.
  • Allows design firms a more streamlined approach to identifying and employing graduating architects who might fit their business profiles.
  • Women comprise more than 50% of architecture students, but comprise only 20% of licensed architects. The IPAL provides dedicated women a way of achieving licensure before other important life obligations take place.

The Integrated Path at SCAD will be a unique opportunity for select students with the highest degree of discipline and dedication to the architectural profession. This pioneering national initiative will keep Georgia in the forefront and serve as a model of advancement for the profession of architecture and the highest standard for those aspiring to lead the profession into the future.

Postscript: Since the implementation of the Integrated Path at SCAD in 2016, over 70% of the first cohort of freshman IPAL students have secured paid AXP internship work this summer from firms partnered with SCAD on this groundbreaking initiative.

Ivan Chow is Dean of the School of Building Arts at SCAD.

Inspired School Design for Collaboration and Biophilia

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by Sarah d’Auriol

Photo Credit: Odyssey School, Asheville, NC

Photo Credit: Odyssey School, Asheville, NC

In recent years the education system has begun to change dramatically, influenced by research on how children learn and environments that nurture these new teaching techniques. I have researched these changes for my final undergraduate Architecture studio project at SCAD. Conventional education is modeled on the factory system where organization is linear both in the physical layout and in the progression of intellect.  Allison Zmuda describes this as the “do as told model,” in Breaking Free from Myths about Teaching and Learning. It is a system known for rules and rule following but does not allow much leeway for those with different needs than “the norm.” Newer models of education involve fluidity and social engagement.

Grade delineation is becoming less regimented in recent education changes.  With this children are introduced to topics informally at an earlier age and given the tools to progress at their own speed. Architecturally, this means clustering classrooms of similar age together with common areas in between. NAC Architecture describes this as “neighborhoods of three to four classrooms, anchored by a central communal area.” Breakout spaces should be incorporated in school design.  These common areas are used for group work and fun activities, which is a very important strategy in keeping children engaged.

Collaboration has become one of the most important aspects of this change in education layout.  Peter Lippman says, in Designing Collaborative Spaces for Schools, that “Flexible and fluid spaces allow for creative and critical thinking.” I believe this very strongly. The architecture of schools must nurture a learning environment, which is both efficient and adaptive.  For collaboration and group work, spaces must be malleable and underutilized spaces used for collaboration spaces. The Whole Building Design Guide (WBDG) describes these spaces as “connected visually with colors and patterns, with platforms, steps, and alcoves.” Understanding this aspect of education is important in designing spaces and choosing furniture, to best accommodate the needs of the changing education model. Breakout spaces can range from niches for one or two people to nodes where a larger group can spread out. Although spaces must be versatile, they must nonetheless have intention, to refrain from creating unsafe and chaotic spaces within the learning environment.

Biophilia is greatly influencing the architecture of schools as well. The WBDG states that “Researchers that study the neuroscience of learning have found that light, color, and scale can affect stimulation of the brain.” Natural light and views should be provided as much as possible without creating glare and are especially good for classrooms, hallways, and common spaces. The creation of structures and spaces with duel use helps with sustainability goals and optimizing resources. Windows not only provide natural light but also create views to the outdoors.  Operable windows allow for natural ventilation, which is healthier for all users and allows for more sustainable buildings. Classrooms can also include outdoor patios or learning areas, which help educate and engage students on the importance of natural resources. Outdoor spaces can dually be used for expending excess energy. Learning about the environment helps children understand the importance of community values and collaboration with not only students but also members of the general community.

This research has inspired my own school design project for studio, where I am creating a large lobby space serving as both lobby and library, delineated through color and elevation changes. For a small-scale school this has many advantages, including the need for fewer supervisors than a separate library and adding more presence and importance to the lobby space.

When implementing changes in school design we seek to understand the ideals of the school for which we are designing.  Understanding that, the importance of social relationship and cultural values can and should be expressed through the architecture.

Sarah d’Auriol is a fourth year Architecture student at SCAD.

Architecture Students, Get Your Super-Suits Ready

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by Elaine Gallagher Adams, AIA, LEEP AP

Architects will save the planet. Other keystone players are also critical to surviving climate change and resource depletion, but I’ll stick with my original statement and say that architects needs to be the superhero. You know the one … the masked (because few really know who we are unless we design a big shiny thing in the center of a world -class city) mega-muscled, hyper-focused oddball who flies straight at the metaphorical meteor and redirects it away from Earth in the nick of time. That’s us.

I teach architecture and urban design at SCAD. My students are ready to wear the super-suit, and it fits them well. They understand the urgency to design better buildings and cities and are starting to feel the responsibility as well as see the opportunities inherent in fixing our broken environment through mindful design. It’s a sure bet that our emerging architects will change the game. Most of the architecture and urban design students I talk with want to earn LEED credentials before graduating, and, if they’re in my Sustainable Design class, probably will. They’re also designing beautiful bio-climatic projects in studio to meet the Living Building Challenge, modeling energy consumption, and learning about topsoil science and the importance of nurturing healthy urban ecosystems. This isn’t your grandfather’s architecture school. We now teach and practice creative and integrative design that demonstrates the approach we must all pursue as part of a global solution to resource depletion and climate change.

The urgency is in the numbers. In 2013, 40 percent of total U.S. energy consumption was attributed to residential and commercial buildings (US Energy Information Administration, EIA.gov), and that number continues to rise due to the increasing efficiency of vehicles and increasing growth of population, consumption, and building size. North Americans still consume three and half times more than the average global energy per capita, with developing countries pursuing our consumerist lifestyle. Many scientists and policy makers agree we only have a decade to definitively reverse our CO2 emissions globally before hitting a point of no return. The urgency is here.

Energy Consumption Per Capita 2008-2011 (EIA.gov)

Energy Consumption Per Capita 2008-2011 (EIA.gov)

The architect’s responsibility is evident in our market impact. There are 5.5 million commercial buildings in the U.S., with a conservative renovation cycle of 30 years and an estimated 15 percent demolition rate during that period, creating a potential retrofit market of around 150,000 buildings each year. Additionally, over a million new commercial buildings will be constructed within that same 30 years. And who is designing these retrofits and new buildings? Architects. That’s a call to don our capes and tights and save the planet. The majority of all renovated and new buildings must be designed for current or near-future net zero carbon operations with minimal ecological footprint, or we could lose the game.

This is a HUGE opportunity for architects to make better buildings, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and save the planet. Mindfully designed buildings mean healthier people, happier clients, a robust economy, vibrant cities, and healing ecology. Opportunity emerges in specialization as well. Once you put on your super-suit, what’s your superpower? Designing hospitals that contribute to faster healing? Or schools that inspire better learning and nurture curious students? Maybe today’s architecture students will make a significant step toward moving residential design to high performance, low consumption, healthy environments for families.

If we’ve already reached the tipping point for sustainable design, then today’s architecture students are the beneficiaries of this momentum. To ride this wave, every architect need to understand not only how to make a beautiful building that will be loved, but also how to make it perform like a symphony of integrated parts—generating more than consuming while contributing to a vibrant sustainable economy.

Elaine Gallagher Adams, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, is a professor of architecture and urban design at SCAD [www.scad.edu].