DEAN'S STATE OF THE SCHOOL ADDRESS
Showing off their Longhorn spirit, University of Texas at Austin students celebrate the beginning of the fall semester. Photograph by Julie Hooper.
On Tuesday, August 28, Dean Fritz Steiner made the following comments to the all-School assembly in Jessen Auditorium to open the 2007-08 academic year. The assembly was followed by a cake and pizza reception in the Goldsmith courtyard where students had the opportunity to get to know one another, along with members of the faculty and staff. The celebration officially kicked off the fall semester. To check out all the fun, visit the reception photo album.
Looking back at the past year, I am first impressed by the productivity of our faculty. The 42 tenure/tenure-track faculty produced nine books during the 2006-2007 academic year on topics ranging from landscape urbanism to bridges. Clearly, we have strong scholars in the School of Architecture. We also have inventive designers. For example, a team of faculty and students organized an exhibit at the Venice Biennale, which explored the topic of resilience on the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina. In addition, our faculty received four 2006 Texas Society of Architects design awards plus a studio award. Professor Juan Miro's firm (Miro Rivera Architects) received two TSA design awards, which were among their many recent recognitions including being selected as one of three 2006 Architectural Review Awards for Emerging Architecture.
Miro Rivera Architects' "Pedestrian Bridge" Project. Photograph provided by Miro Rivera Architects.
We faced transitions with three long-serving members of faculty retiring, including Richard Swallow who joined the School of Architecture in 1957, Dan Leary who returned to the University in 1966 after graduating in architectural engineering in 1962, and Gerlinde Leiding who came to Austin in 1968.
In addition, we lost two former colleagues: Martin Kermacy who passed away on June 8 at the age of 92 and Richard Dodge who was 71 when he died on August 10. Martin and Richard contributed much to our school well into their retirements. Martin generously funded a professorship and a research endowment. Richard served as interim dean at the University of Texas at Arlington. In addition, Lady Bird Johnson passed away in July. We continue to explore ways to advance her vision of natural beauty through the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
Three talented young designers will be joining the School: Michael Beaman, Cisco Gomes, and Liam O'Brien. All three have excellent design and studio teaching experience. In addition, one of the world's leading green building systems experts, Dr. Werner Lang from Munich, will become a member of the School in January.
Richard Dodge.
We continue to attract outstanding students to the School. Our 2006 entering freshman class again had the highest average SAT scores on campus (1376). We anticipate leading the University again this year. We continue to attract graduate students from the best universities in the nation, Texas, and the world, including Stanford, Cal Berkeley, Oberlin, Yale, Harvard, and Texas A&M. From outside the United States, we welcome new graduate students from McGill, Seoul National University, and the Beijing Forestry University.
Our goal is to provide leadership in design and planning education. The advancement of knowledge is always a challenge. As UT-Austin President Bill Powers observed, "This challenge has become greater in an environment of declining state support." For the past decade, the legislature has provided around a 1.8 percent annual increase in state funds for operations. As President Powers notes, "At the current inflation rate of more than 3 percent, this amounts to a budget reduction for UT-Austin." To advance quality, we have raised tuition and increased our funded research. Friends and alumni have been generous with gifts and our endowment has grown.
As we face these budget challenges, our programs continue to grow. For example, our Master of Architecture program had 91 students when I became dean in 2001. We now have 174 Master of Architecture students. Likewise our Community and Regional Planning graduate degrees and our new Master of Landscape Architecture program continue to attract more students. Many graduate students in disciplines across the School came to Austin with a strong interest in sustainability. They see our School as a place where good design and green design come together.
Martin Kermacy.
We are proud of the accomplishments of our students. Interior design senior Angela Lauer recently received a $30,000 Angelo Donghia Scholarship. Angela is the sixth UT interior design student to receive this generous scholarship in the past four years. Brett Wolfe [B.Arch. '07] was awarded a $5,000 George H. Mitchell Award for Academic Excellence from the University Co-op. Three of our Ph.D. in Architectural History students--Monica Penick, Timothy Parker, and Vladimir Kulic--recently signed a contract with the UT Press to publish their edited volume Sanctioning Modernism: Architecture and the Making of Postwar Identities. The book is based on the March 2007 symposium that the three doctoral students organized.
Sustainability provides unifying interest among students of various majors in the School. Students in Community and Regional Planning, Historic Preservation, and Landscape Architecture frequently mention their interest in learning more about sustainable development as a motivation for their graduate studies. Under the leadership of Associate Research Professor Carl Matthews, we sponsored a class for the fourth-year interior design students to prepare for the LEED exam. The Interior Design Program hired Rob Robbins, a LEED-accredited professional, to teach the course, and we paid for the students' exam fees (from a generous donation to the Interior Design Program). It was an eight-session course--no credit, completely voluntary--offered in the evenings after studio. Fifteen students participated in the course, and 14 students passed the LEED exam immediately after the course.
Clearly, sustainability is the major attraction for our M.S. in Sustainable Design Program. Our sustainability emphasis and the Solar Decathlon competition appeal to many Master of Architecture students too. Although we have significant strength in sustainable design, we also offer considerable depth in design, theory, and history. In fact, our sustainability offerings are distinct because of their context within a strong design school with humanities leanings.
Sustainability involves more than green building technologies. While such technologies are important, they must be advanced through good design and understood within their historical and social context. True sustainable development also involves social equity and economic prosperity. For that reason, I appointed Assistant Professor Liz Mueller to direct our Center for Sustainable Development. Her expertise in social equity and affordable housing complements the existing green building and environmental strengths of the Center.
Our students continue to be placed in the leading firms in the world through our Professional Residency Program. Our upper-level honors program for architecture students is now over thirty years old. During the last ten years, our School has maintained strong relationships with 179 offices in nineteen different countries. Our students have joined offices such as Renzo Piano Building Workshop, Behnisch Architekten, Sauerbruch Hutton, Sejima Nishizawa, Moneo Brock, Arup, SOM, KPF, David Chipperfield, Richard Meier, Tod Williams Billie Tsien, Pelli Clarke Pelli, among many others. This fall, we welcome back all of our residency students, including Elisabeth Keil from Sweden and the office Claesson Koivisto Rune and Lynn Peterman from Renzo Piano Building Workshop's offices in Paris.
Residency student Jessica Frick [B.Arch. '06] is one of several who completed residency at KPF London and has returned to that office as a full-time employee. In addition to her job as a designer of some of the tallest skyscrapers in the world, Jessica is also the coordinator of the all-London all-architects summer softball league! Our graduates have many skills!
As Jessica illustrates, our recent graduates continue to find work with interesting practices. A few examples from last year's class include: Trent Davies [B.Arch. '07], who accepted a position with David Chipperfield in London, where he completed his residency; I-Ping Yang [MLA '07], who is now with MESA Design Group in Dallas; Jeremy Maines [B.S.A.S. candidate], who has relocated to Santa Monica, California, for a position with Houck Design Build; Diana Siebenaler [B.S.I.D. '07], who accepted a position with Callison-Seattle as an interior architecture designer; Allison Phillips [MSCRP '07], who joined SvR Design Company in Portland, Oregon; and Bei Li [M.S.U.D. '07], who relocated to Washington, D.C., for a position with RTKL.
On average, our graduates receive higher offers than the national mean (as reported in the AIA Compensation Report). As a result, on balance, the state of the UT-Austin School of Architecture is very good. The prospects for architecture and allied fields have never been better. Still, we face significant challenges to realize this potential.
—Fritz Steiner
Excellence in Design award winner Matthew Montry.
After his address to the School, Dean Steiner and Associate Dean Louise Harpman acknowledged the following 2006-2007 Excellence in Design award winners. These awards are given in recognition of achievement of excellence in design degree programs.
Amanda Prins, Architecture, Design 1, fall 2006
Conner Callahan, Architecture, Design 2, spring 2007
Kai Pedersen, Architecture, Design 3, fall 2006
Matthew Montry, Architecture, Design 4, spring 2007
Shengning Zhang, Architecture, Design 6, spring 2007
Emily Russell, Interior Design, Design 4, spring 2007
Angela Lauer, Interior Design, Design 6
Jong Bum Kim, Advanced Architectural Design (Urban Design)
Michael Bricker, Advanced Architectural Design, spring 2007
Brian Bedrosian, Vertical, fall 2006
Jeremy Olbrys, Vertical, spring 2007
Tiffany Price, Landscape, Design 1, fall 2006
Sandra Veras, Landscape, Design 4, spring 2007
Sujin Hong, CRP, fall 2006
Meghan McCarthy, CRP, fall 2006
Caitlin Uzzell, CRP, fall 2006
Ladi Mosadomi, CRP, fall 2006
Adam Wood, CRP, fall 2006
Events
Check out the online UTSOA Calendar.
OPEN HOUSE: ALEXANDER ARCHITECTURAL ARCHIVE
August 27-31
Alexander Architectural Archive
Battle Hall
9:00 - noon and 1:00 - 4:00
The Alexander Architectural Archive is holding its annual fall open house to welcome our students back to campus. The Archive is located at the bottom of the stairs in Battle Hall.
Please come meet the staff and enjoy a selection of design drawings culled from our vast collections - truly a treat! Visit the Archive online for information and holdings.
EXHIBIT
"Resilient Foundations: The Gulf Coast after Katrina" exhibit in Goldsmith Hall.
June 11 - September 21
Mebane Gallery
Goldsmith Hall
"Resilient Foundations:
The Gulf Coast after Katrina"
Following the successful showing at the 10th Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale, September-November 2006, the exhibition, "Resilient Foundations: The Gulf Coast after Katrina," is now being shown here in our Mebane Gallery at the School of Architecture. Special thanks to Larry Doll for curating this exhibition.
The exhibition sets out the resilient foundations for the region's development. The term resilience refers to the ability for an urban area to rebound after disaster and arises from the disciplines of ecology and planning. In order to suggest responsible scenarios for the Gulf Coast, The University of Texas at Austin has gathered neither infallible science nor a singular answer, but rather the most reliable information about the region's natural hazards, important production areas, ecologically significant lands, and valuable cultural resources.
Ecological understanding can be advanced through mapping and design, but such generative prospects are part of a larger concept about people's interrelation with land and water. Katrina's lessons will reduce the loss of life and property only if we reduce the impact of that which nature will reclaim regardless of our permission. Marc Morial, former New Orleans mayor, notes that the challenge we face "is not only about rebuilding New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, it is about rebuilding a culture, a human system."
A symposium and design invitation, "counterMEASURES," will be held November 1-2 at the School, which will examine the role of design at the scale of architecture, landscape, and urbanism as a means of achieving resilience in the face of extreme environmental conditions. With a series of panels focusing on ecology, economy, and technology, the speakers will consider the possible future scenarios for the Crescent City.
Special thanks to:
Exhibition Underwriter
The Howard E. Rachofsky Foundation
Symposium Underwriters
Edward W. Rose III Family Fund of the Dallas Foundation
McCall Design Group
Andersson*Wise Architects
Urban Edge Developers, Ltd.
Boone Powell, FAIA
Gay Kokernot Ratliff
Dick Clark Architecture
Charles E. Lawrence
Laura Toups
Helen Thompson
Elizabeth Chu Richter, FAIA
LECTURE
Monday, September 17
Yolande Daniels
SUMO
New York, New York
Goldsmith 3.120, 5:00 p.m.
Sponsored by UTSOA Professional Residency Program
LECTURE
Monday, September 24
Yoshio Kato
Tamkang University
Taiwan
Goldsmith 3.120, 5:00 p.m.
Sponsored by The Henry Luce Foundation
Yoshio Kato is known as one of the pioneers of green architecture in his native Japan.
EXHIBIT
September 24 - October 19
Mebane Gallery
Goldsmith Hall
Sponsored by Hellmuth Obata Kassabaum
"2 x 2: An Exhibition of Work by Specht Harpman and designsubset"
GRADUATE PROGRAM IN LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE
OPEN HOUSE FOR PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS
Friday, September 28
Goldsmith Hall 2.308
Dean's Conference Room
10:00 a.m.
Registration Deadline: September 14, 2007
To register and view agenda: http://soa.utexas.edu/la/openhouse
EXHIBIT
Through October 2007
Architecture & Planning Library
Battle Hall
"Information, Technology, and the Public Library"
On display are drawings and models prepared by Professor Louise
Harpman's advanced design studio (spring 2006) for the new Blanco
Library in Blanco, Texas.
As part of the studio, the students presented their proposals in the
typical school of architecture jury format at school, but also in a
large "town hall" style meeting in Blanco. Local residents, planning
officials, and journalists from Blanco, Johnson City, and San Antonio
attended the session. The student projects were on display throughout
the summer of 2006 at the Blanco Library and were also featured in the
Blanco County News.
FACULTY SCHOLARSHIP
"Doctor Pangloss," sculpture by David Heymann and Sandra Fiedorek, at the entrance of the City of Austin's Household Hazardous Waste Collection Facility. Photo by David Heymann.
Eight artworks commissioned through the City of Austin's Art in Public Places (AIPP) program are being highlighted in the windows of the historic Scarbrough Building at Sixth Street and Congress Avenue during the month of August, including work by Professor David Heymann (with wife and partner Sandra Fiedorek). The artworks were selected for presentation from the City's AIPP collection of more than 150 artworks because they have received recognition from respected national art entities.
Each year, the Public Art Network (PAN) of Americans for the Arts and the Art in America magazine feature a "Year in Review" of the most exciting, compelling, and innovative public art projects completed during the year. Austin's public art program has garnered recognition for eight projects since 1995. These projects have been built in conjunction with city facilities such as the Town Lake Hike-and-Bike Trail, the Household Hazardous Waste Collection Facility, the George Washington Carver Library Expansion, and Austin's City Hall. The artworks range from public plaza areas and gazebo to an interior mural and glass building cladding.
The City of Austin was the first municipality in Texas to make a commitment to include works of art in construction projects when it established the Art in Public Places program in 1985. Other artists being recognized this month include Rodolfo Ybarra; Beverly Penn & Steve Wiman; R. Murray Legge & Deborah Eve Legge of Austin; Linnea Glatt and Freddie McCoo of Dallas; Andrea Legge and Nobuho Nagasawa of New York City; and Ann Adams of Fredricksburg, Texas.
For more on Austin Art in Public Places and to view the artworks, visit: http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/aipp/.
East 12th Street project, designed by Elizabeth Alford and Michael Young. Photo by Atelier Wong Photography.
Lecturer Elizabeth Alford has completed a project at 1200 East 12th Street in Austin that was featured in the July 2007 Architectural Record. Elizabeth and her husband/partner, Michael Young designed and built the project, which is a compound of studio buildings and contained outdoor spaces. Ingrid Spencer describes the project as "an inverse oasis" of cacti and succulents within the lush yards of this residential neighborhood. The project served as "a testing ground for assembling and detailing with inexpensive materials," including polycarbonate sheets, plywood, and structural corrugated steel. In a workshop building, striped patterning was created by filling the cells of the polycarbonate with a collection of sand from around the world. Lecturer Dason Whitsett collaborated on a photovoltaic shade structure in one of the courtyards.
Young Americans: New Architecture in the U.S.A., exhibition catalog, German Architecture Museum, Frankfurt, Germany.
Miro Rivera Architects (Associate Professor Juan Miro and Miguel Rivera, principals) is among the firms selected from across the country to be included in the exhibition, "Young Architects in the U.S.A.," June 27-September 2, at the Deutsches Architekturmuseum in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
The exhibit provides an impression of the new generation of architects in the U.S. A new trend is surfacing that is characteristic of a new, international architectural scene. The projects selected represent a mirror of the fields of activity of young all-rounders and designers.
Professor Miro attended the popular opening reception in Frankfurt. There, American Consul General Jo Ellen Powell spoke about the rich tradition of interaction between American and German architects from the Bauhaus to the present, followed by presentations by museum director Peter Cachola Schmal and exhibition curator Beate Engelhorn.
Bercy Chen Studio (Thomas Bercy [B.Arch. '00 and B.S. Arch.Eng. '00] and Calvin Chen [B.Arch. '98]), from Austin is also included in the exhibition, making Austin the second best represented city in the country after New York City.
The exhibition will be supplemented by the book, Young Americans: New Architecture in the U.S.A., edited by Beate Engelhorn, and published by DOM Publishers.
When Buildings Speak: Architecture as Language in the Habsburg Empire and Its Aftermath, 1867-1933, by Anthony Alofsin, The University of Chicago Press, 2006.
Dr. Anthony Alofsin, Roland Gommel Roessner Centennial Professor, has won the Vasari Award for his new book, When Buildings Speak: Architecture as Language in the Habsburg Empire, 1867-1933. Presented by the Dallas Museum of Art, the prestigious award recognizes the best work in art history by a scholar working in Texas. Dr. Alofsin previously won the award in 1989. Research on the book was supported by UT's Faculty Research Assignments and the Martin S. and Evelyn S. Kermacy Collection Endowment. An awards ceremony will be held later in the year at the museum.
Associate Professor Chris Long was interviewed by the Los Angeles Times recently while on a visit to the West Coast. In the article that appears in the August 16, 2007, edition of the Times, Long spoke about his new book, Paul T. Frankl and Modern American Design (Yale University Press), and described Frankl's lasting legacy in Los Angeles, in modern design, and in Hollywood films. View the entire article on their website.
ALUMNI NEWS
IN MEMORIAM
Zeb William Rike.
Zeb William Rike [B.Arch. '36] passed away at his home in McAllen, Texas, on May 9, 2007. He was preceded in death by his wife, Dorothy. He is survived by his wife Yvonne; and daughter, Toya Thompson; his stepchildren, Marilyn Filut, Helen Laffoon, Jimmy Fox, and Danny Fox; two grandchildren, nine step-grandchildren; four great-grandchildren, and four step-great-grandchildren. He was devoted to service and worked in the community for more than 40 years while completing over 600 architectural projects both at home and abroad.
Harry Ely Patterson, Jr.
Harry Ely Patterson, Jr. [B.Arch. '58] died on July 18 at age 76. His entire career was devoted to the practice and study of architecture. Mr. Patterson continued working until nine months before his death. He designed the administrative building for Portland Cement and many residences, including an extensive renovation of the Edison Dick House in Lake Forest, Illinois, that was originally designed by architect David Adler.
Mr. Patterson served in project leadership positions with several prominent Chicago architectural firms, including Perkins & Will and Skidmore Owings and Merrill. He also was principal of his own firm, Harry Patterson & Associates, for more than 25 years.
He was born on November 27, 1930, in Greenville, Mississippi, to Harry Ely Patterson, Sr., and Madamma Patterson, but grew up in Cloquet, Minnesota. After graduating from Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, in 1953, he served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War.
He is survived by his wife, Jane Deuble, of Glenview; his daughter, Sara Patterson of Chicago; his son, Scott Patterson of St. Paul, Minn.; and his brother, Tom Patterson, of Ogdensburg, N.Y.
ALUMNI CONNECTIONS
The School of Architecture is continuing its effort to find (and maintain) the most accurate contact information for all of our alumni. From young alumni receptions to 50-year reunions, and everything in between, we hope you will stay in touch. Would you like to mentor a student? Do you need to hire a fellow Longhorn? Looking for networking or continuing education opportunities? We can help, but we need to know how to reach you!
Alumni may update their records, contact preferences, and search for fellow graduates by logging on to the University's online alumni directory. Or, you may always contact Stephanie Palmer, Alumni Relations Director at stephanie.palmer@mail.utexas.edu or 512-471-0617.
Thanks for helping us improve our relationship with you. We look forward to hearing from you!
CAREER SERVICES CENTER: "WE'RE #1!"
According to a survey by The Princeton Review, students at 366 colleges rated their schools in dozens of categories. Students at The University of Texas at Austin ranked Career Services/Job Placement as #1. Other highly ranked categories are Great College Town, Best College Library, and Students Pack the Stadium.
FRIENDS OF ARCHITECTURE
In preparation for another exciting year, Friends of Architecture helped welcome School of Architecture students back to campus on Tuesday. Kicking the year off right, FOA provided a warm student welcome in the form of a delicious cake!
Besides showing off our baking skills (okay, we bought the cake), FOA is also hard at work organizing our first tour of the 2007-08 season. Whether you are from Austin or you look for any excuse to visit, mark your calendars for November 2-3! The FOA Austin tour, led by Associate Professor Juan Miró, promises to be yet another impressive sampling of fine residential design. Details will be presented soon, but this tour is guaranteed to sell out. Secure your space today by visiting us online.
If you are not already an FOA member, don't forget to click on our membership page and fill out our online membership application.
SUPPORT UTSOA
As a new school year begins, we want to send a big TEXAS thank you to all the many donors - individuals, foundations, and corporations - who have supported the School of Architecture during the 2006-2007 school year. Your gifts make so many things possible for our students and faculty: scholarships for deserving undergraduate and graduate students, faculty support to publish books, and support to produce our excellent exhibits and lecture series, just to name a few. So as we launch into the 2007-2008 year, we look back and say thank you to everyone who supports the School of Architecture.
CONTACTS
In this fast-paced world, there's a lot of news to keep up with. We know you are doing great things, and we rely on you to tell us your story. Students, faculty, and staff may send updates to eNews editor Pamela Peters at p.peters@mail.utexas.edu. Alumni, please send your news and contact updates to Alumni Relations Director Stephanie Palmer at stephanie.palmer@mail.utexas.edu.
UT-Austin School of Architecture
soa.utexas.edu
Dean's Office
512.471.1922, fax 512.471.0716
Center for American Architecture and Design
christinewong@mail.utexas.edu, 512-471-9890
Center for Sustainable Development
utcsd@mail.utexas.edu, 512.475.8013
Assistant Dean for Development
Julie Hooper, jhooper@austin.utexas.edu, 512.471.6114
Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Programs
Jeanne Crawford, jcraw@mail.utexas.edu, 512.471.0109
Graduate Program Coordinator
Rosemin Gopaul, gopaul@austin.utexas.edu, 512.471.0134
Publications Editor
Pamela Peters, p.peters@mail.utexas.edu, 512.471.0154
Director, Friends of Architecture and Alumni Relations
Stephanie Palmer, stephanie.palmer@mail.utexas.edu, 512.471.0617
Director, Career Services Center
Carrie O'Malley, carrie.omalley@austin.utexas.edu, 512.471.1333
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Architecture and Planning Library
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Webmaster
Christopher Rankin, crankin@mail.utexas.edu, 512.495.4620
UTSOA Mailing Address
The University of Texas at Austin
School of Architecture
1 University Station B7500
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