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TRANBERG MASTER STUDIO AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
Professor Peter Cohan
June 27, 2011
During spring quarter 2011 Danish architect Lene Tranberg taught a master architecture studio at the University of Washington while serving as the Scan|Design Foundation Visiting Distinguished Professor in the College of Built Environments. Professor Tranberg is a founding partner of Lundgaard & Tranberg Architects, an award-winning firm based in Copenhagen, Denmark. She has also taught at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen.
The studio, co-taught by Assistant Professor Peter Cohan, proposed to examine how architectural ideas can reinforce the human scale of the city; and how private and public spaces can work together to create new ways of experiencing it. The quarter was structured around two weeklong design charrettes that occurred during Tranberg's visits to Seattle. Analysis for the project was approached at a variety of scales, based upon three different modes of painting - landscape, still-life and portrait. This analysis at three scales eventually led to individual proposals for the design project, which were also explored in the same way.
Another important aspect of the studio was an exploration of architectural character. The goal was to discover potential sources of inspiration that might lead to a richer, more nuanced and less "reasonable" approach to design. For this purpose each student was asked to choose a still-life painting that would serve as the source of inspiration for their project and influence its realization at every scale.
At the conclusion of Lene's final visit students presented their work to a distinguished panel of reviewers, including Patricia Patkau, Peter Cardew, Jay Deguchi, Jennifer Dee and department chair David Miller.
The final projects varied widely in scope, scale and intention. Thanks to the inspiring provocations of Professor Tranberg, as well as the hard work and dedication of the students, they formed of a rich and imaginative array of responses to the questions posed by the studio brief.
*Photo credit : John Stamets
Dilemmas of Multiplication
Assistant Professor Rob Corser
May 2, 2011
In mid-April I was honored to be selected as one of six international architects and educators invited to lecture and lead intensive 5-day workshops at the American University of Sharjah’s (United Arab Emirates) annual Design Week. The American University of Sharjah, located near Dubai, is the only NAAB accredited architecture program outside of North America. Other invitees included Swiss Architect Michele Arnaboldi, Cal-Poly Professor Michael Fox (who founded MIT’s Kinetic Design Lab), Cornell University’s Graduate Program Director, Prof. Jim Williamson, and the Director of the University or Arkansas’ award winning Community Design Center, Steve Luoni. Significant global design consultancies like Gehry Technologies were also in attendance.
My lecture: “Dilemmas of Multiplication” addressed the growing tendency of digital fabrication projects to sacrifice economies of labor, often due to the seductive ease of multiplying parts and connections in pursuit of digitally engendered complexity. The project I undertook with students was called “Stress Active” and it challenged students to design a furniture piece or material composition whose form and structural stability are generated by opposing internal forces activated through bending and internal stresses. Material was limited to one 4 by 8 foot sheet of ¼ inch thick Lexan, and only one fastener was allowed. Working in teams of two, my group of 16 students from all around the Middle East and North Africa created unique and functional responses in only 5 days. The work of all of the workshops was exhibited in a concluding celebration on April 22nd.
My stay in the UAE also included extensive touring of Sharjah, Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Because of the extreme heat of the Arabian Peninsula, most public life these days is conducted in elaborate and air conditioned shopping malls where familiar chain stores from the US and Europe vie for retail space with local vendors like “Switch” a restaurant that specializes in Camel burgers. One highlight of the tour was visiting the 124th floor observation deck of the Burj Kalifa (formerly called the ‘Burj Dubai’ until the original investors had to be bailed out by the Sheik of Abu Dhabi and the name changed accordingly). Still holding the record for the world’s tallest building, at over 200 floors this is a fine example of SOM Chicago’s mastery of the skyscraper form. Our touring also included a new high rise by NY firm Reiser-Umemoto, and a hotel in Abu Dhabi by Asymptote. Although I was eager to get a feel for street life in these Persian Gulf cities, our time was largely spent with faculty and students, and evenings found us in restaurants most often housed in shopping malls –the main haunt of well-to-do Emerati’s and middle class ex-patriots alike.
In their post-event press release the American University of Sharjah described “Design Week” in this way:
The College of Architecture, Art and Design (CAAD) at American University of Sharjah (AUS) has concluded a successful Design Week 2011 by opening an exhibition of the work done by students during the week. This unique five-day series of events included specialized and experimental workshops, presentations, critiques, round table debates and public lectures on inspiring work by high-profile professionals and academics of Architecture, Art and Design. Design Week 2011 addressed, among other topics, emerging design processes and techniques, both at the global and local context. The CAAD Design Week offered students a unique opportunity to work across disciplines and express themselves beyond their curricular requirements. Peter Di Sabatino, Dean of CAAD, expressed his views on the success of the week. “Design Week was very successful this year in terms of bringing in a vast diversity of faculty and design experts from around the world. The people we brought in shared their expertise in various areas and discussed recent strategic initiatives like design fabrication, interactive objects and spaces and Arabic type.”
Sheila O'Donnell Visits the University of Washington
Peter Cohan
November 2011
Sheila O'Donnell, a partner in the Dublin-based architecture firm O'Donnell + Tuomey Architects, visited the Department of Architecture in November as this year's Mahlum Endowed Lecturer. The Mahlum Lecturer typically engages with students at the UW in a number of different ways over a two-day period. The highlight of her visit was a public lecture given on Thursday, November 4th, in which O'Donnell presented the work and philosophy of her award-winning practice.
During the week of her visit the department mounted an exhibition of small watercolor sketches that Sheila typically produces at various stages in the design process. At an exhibit reception prior to her lecture O'Donnell spoke about the value of these highly evocative hand-produced images in an age of digital representation.
The watercolors ranged in scope from abstract early concept sketches, to soft-edged interior perspectives drawn over a digitally-created base, to highly detailed material studies of a brick wall or a concrete window frame. The texture of the heavy paper and the subtle variations of the watercolor wash lend the drawings a richness of color and luminosity of surface that give them an atmospheric depth impossible to achieve using digital means. In her lecture following the reception Sheila was able to place these drawings in the context of the specific project and the phase of the design process for which they were conceived.
The following day O'Donnell also participated in a schematic design review for Peter Cohan's Arch 500 graduate architecture design studio, along with fellow critics Rick Zeive of the SRG Partnership and JoAnn Wilcox of Mahlum. Sheila was also in Seattle to serve as a juror for the 2010 Seattle AIA Honor Awards, which concluded with and awards ceremony on Monday evening, November 8th.