In recent years, the building envelope has received increased attention by architects and engineers. Innovative construction techniques, new materials, and the need for improved performance have contributed to a new architectural language. While the envelope’s primary task is to regulate the external climate conditions in order to provide comfortable internal conditions for the occupants, it also constitutes the aesthetic face of the building.
Jerold S. Kayden, an urban planner and lawyer, is the Frank Backus Williams Professor of Urban Planning and Design at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, where he previously served as Co-Chair of the Urban Planning and Design Department and Director of the Urban Planning Program. His teaching and scholarship address issues of land use and environmental law, public and private real estate development, public space and cities, and the impact of climate change on land development.
Lunchtime screenings:
Something new every week.
M - F, 12 - 12:50
WMB 3.102
Past films:
The University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture hosts a regular lecture series pertaining to urban planning issues, among other related topics, called City Forum.
Dr. Michael Holleran is the Director of the Graduate Program in Historic Preservation at the University of Texas at Austin. He is a renowned expert on historic preservation. His research interests include the history of urban design and development, vernacular landscapes, and water history. He is the author of the award winning book, Boston's "Changeful Times": Origins of Preservation and Planning in America.
"A Layered Approach" is a snapshot of an independent studio focused on issues of materiality and scale in the design process. Nic Allinder, Taylor McNally-Anderson, and Tyler Noblin organized their studio around a non-linear trajectory. A broad range of scales were considered from the outset; material constructions were developed simultaneously with urban strategies. Central to this process was the iterative production of physical models testing sensorial experiences at a variety of scales.
RECORDING HERE
Cinthya Garfas Galvan discusses water issues in the peri-urban communities north of Mexico City, and how participatory processes can play a critical role in galvanizing change.
William Niendorff, MLA '15, led a workshop to revitalize our living wall. The living wall was designed and fabricated by Sophie Monahan, M.Arch '14, as part of an independent research project in the Materials Lab.
RECORDING HERE
Immaculata Ifunanya Nwokoro discusses Lagos, Nigeria's massive growth into a megacity and the challenges of planning in such context.
CURTAINS is a multi-site installation, exhibition, and publication event designed to explore the use of fabrics in contemporary art and architecture—not in the form of rigid tensile structures, nor in the form of cladding or upholstery, but in their more relaxed, natural forms: curtains associated with windows, yes, but also defining and activating spaces indoors and out, billowing overhead as canopies, catching and using wind like sails, creating shade, diffusing light, holding color in their folds, filtering views, absorbing sound, showing the wind, and making theater of the everyday