The Great Efficiency Debate

Arguing FOR the proposition are Fiona Cousins, PE LEED (Principal, Arup) and Tim Love, AIA (Principal, Utile, and Graduate Director, Northeastern University School of Architecture). Arguing AGAINST the proposition are Nat Oppenheimer, PE LEED (Executive VP, Robert Silman Associates and Visiting Lecturer, Princeton University) and Leslie Van Duzer, MArch (Director, School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, University of British Columbia).

The audience will play an important role in this Oxford-style debate. Audience members will be polled on their positions regarding the resolution at the start and end of the debate, and have an opportunity to question the speakers after the first of the debate’s two rounds. The team that sways the audience most wins the debate. Similar in spirit to the intelligence2 U.S. Debates heard via NPR podcasts (http://www.intelligencesquaredus.org), the discussion will be lively, pointed, and fun, but also aim to get to the heart of the question: is efficiency the prime mover of great design?

Moderated by School of Architecture Professors Richard Cleary and Matt Fajkus under the auspices of the Center for American Architecture and Design, the debate will take place at 3:00 p.m. on Friday, April 10th, in the Goldsmith Lecture Hall (GOL 3.120). A reception will follow in the Goldsmith Courtyard. As seating in the lecture hall is limited, overflow seating will be available in the Main Jury Room (GOL 2.110), and the event will be live-streamed via this website.

Tickets ($0) became available at noon on Monday, April 6th and sold out in ten minutes. However, only 60 seats are reserved, so there will be more available seats the day of the event. Remaining seats will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. Overflow seating will also be available in the Main Jury Room (GOL 2.110) during the event.