Spring 2009 Lecture Series
Trimjoist Competition announcement, Troy Peters – February 4, 3:30 Giles auditorium
Troy is a professor at UC Poly San Luis Obispo
NOMAS Symposium, Rodney Leon – February 27, 3:30 Giles auditorium
Rodney is the designer of the African American Burial Ground memorial in lower Manhattan, among other projects http://www.aarris.com/
Jackson Lecture, Michael Sorkin – March 5, 5 PM, venue to be determined
http://www.sorkinstudio.com/ is his website. He is the chair of the urban design program at City College, a critic and architect.
Rick Joy – March 25, 3:30 Giles auditorium
Arizona architect. His website has nothing on it, but he is widely published.
Robert Mangurian and Mary-Ann Ray – April 8, 3:30 Giles auditorium
California architects and educators, they have been doing a lot of schools and other projects http://www.studioworksarchitects.com/
Street Chalk Campetition
Saturday April 18th cre8tivewarehouse & Starkville Area Arts Council brings you the Street Chalk Competiton!!!
It all kicks off at 10am with the little ones k-6th grade competiton $3dollars and all participants recieve a kiddie Cre8tive Pack! @ 11am til 12pm 7th thru 12th get to chalkin' 7$ entry fee: First Place: $50 Gift Certificate to the Chalet, second place: drawing baord and sketch pad, third place: Cre8tive Kit, @12pm to 1pm 18& up compete for $150dollar cash prize for first place, one month free space at the ware house for second, and third recieves a Cre8tive Kit made just for the starving artist! Winners will be Announced After Soul Gravy on the Col. Muldrow Stage.
click here to get your sign up information!
LET'S CHALK THE STREET UP!
Helvetica Movie
Not have any pressing deadlines to work on? Got a love of movies based on famous typefaces? Love watching movies with a hundred fellow design geeks?
Stop by the jury room in Giles Hall Wednesday, April 15th at 8PM for a viewing of the movie Helvetica. Bring a snack and learn something new!
Interior Design Senior Exhibit
Come view the graduating senior design exhibit!
Interior Design Senior Exhibit will be held in the Giles Hall Gallery on April 17, 2-5 p.m. and on April 18, 10-12 noon. Come by and view senior work from our 2009 senior class.
GCCDS featured in Architectural Record
Biloxi Clues
-written by James S. Russell
Almost three years after Hurricane Katrina pushed a 30-foot-high surge of water through East Biloxi, Mississippi, tall weeds grow along streets once lined with houses. Biloxi's casinos have been reconstructed, larger than their former selves. Many residents have returned to neighborhoods that missed the worst of the flooding. But those weeds rise in the easternmost part of the city. on a low-lying peninsula where almost half the houses were destroyed. It was a neighborhood of modest cottages and bungalows, with longtime residents who lived in the same houses for decades shopping and attending church alongside newer residents, primarily Vietnamese, who had revitalized the city's fishing fleet. Many lost everything.
Rebuilding after the disaster has been slow here, but no community has handled the recovery of the worst-hit neighborhoods better. its success has been due to a unique partnership between the Gulf Coast Community Design Studio (GCCDS) and the East Biloxi Coordination Center.
Since London's Great fire in 1666 architects have seen disasters as opportunities to cast off the mistakes of the past and build bigger and better. The GCCDS, which has taken on most of the architectural-design duties of the partnership, views its mission as considerably more modest. "We work like a design practice," says David Perkes, who heads the studio. Yet he rejects the big-picture role designers often choose. "You can't have any impact without partnering with people already there." The key question, Perkes underlines, is not what needs to be designed, but "How can we help?"
Perkes is an associate professor of architecture at Mississippi State University's College of Architecture, Art, & Design, based in Starkville. He has been helping low-income communities for seven years already, running the Jackson Community Design Studio. But as the enormous scope of Katrina's devastation became clear, Perkes and his dean at Mississippi State decided to move the studio to the coast within weeks of Katrina's landfall.
As the Biloxi move was being planned, local city councilman Bill Stallworth and Sherry-Lea Bloodworth—whom Architecture for Humanity (AFH) hired as its Gulf Coast coordinator—set up the East Biloxi Coordination Center in a flooded African Methodist Episcopal church to synchronize the work of dozens of relief organizations. "I meet Bill Stallworth early on," Perkes explains, "and he saw the benefit of having the architecture school involved. For us, it proved a really important decision." The center not only coordinated the work of dozens of volunteer organizations, but it also surveyed the conditions of homes and helped local residents with cleanup. Since then, it has assigned case managers to hep with paperwork for insurance and government grands, and assisted people in scoping out needed reparir work and work with contractors. Nowhere else in the post-Katrina landscape do you encounter any government or nonprofit agency offering such systematic and comprehensive aid of the kind residents—especially those of limited means and education—have needed most.
At the start, the work ranged from "GIS mapping to crawling under a house," Perkes says. The tasks were unglamorous but key: "If you help a community group make, say, a map, they see that architects have design skills. It intorduces to people the possibility of improving their own environment." As they faced utter devastation, many didn't know they could do better than buy plans fro hardware stores or use drawings that church groups had downloaded from the Internet. "It opened opportunities o do things people had't thought about before," Perkes said.
Only when homeowners' needs are understood and financing is in placed (cobbled together from savings, insurance, and grant programs from state, federal, and private sources) do center case managers refer them to the GCCDS for architectural services. Perkes says he typically has about $70,000 to build a house from the ground up, which means that the house must be small and exceedingly simple to erect, since volunteer labor is essential to stretch such limited funds.
Most of the new home designs subtly upgrade the hiproofed cottages and small bungalows commonly found in the area. An attractive wheelchair ramp wraps some houses such as Edward Parker's, since as many as a third of the residents, many retired, need mobility aid. In other houses, a few carpentry flourishes dress up a screened porch. Studio designers often push ceilings to the underside of rafters and add clerestory windows to aid ventilation and brighten the interiors.
"We're not looking to make a sweetened vernacular," Perkes explains. "If anything, we're looking for something energetic or a bit more robust." A string butterfly roof allows the house for Le and Nghia Tran to fit gracefully under mature trees and directs runoff to a cistern to water the garden. Working with students from Penn State University, as well as University of Texas, Austin professor Serge Palleroni and Bryan Bell of the Charlotte-based social-outreach organizations Design Corps, the studio designed a fretwork of wooden braces to enliven the underside of a house for Patricia Broussard, which is raised 13 feet. "I love my garden," Broussard says. Even though it's not a flight of stairs away? "You learn to adapt."
One of the toughest problems owuld be easily overlooked by designers less attuned to the way people live. "We worry that neighborhoods with elevated houses may not be so socially active as when they had porches on grade," Perkes says. Porches or generous landings at intermediate levels ease the transition. The designers try to program the ground level and encourage the gardening culture that has long flourished locally. "That's important here, with the lush plantings and long growing season," Perkes adds.
In contrast to the studio's low-key pragmatism, in the months immediately after Katrina's landfall AFH gave the GCCDS a $25,000 grant and provided vital support in establishing operations in Stallworth's Center, and then, in the summer of 2006, it launched a high-profile model-home program. The prototypes had an ambitious agenda: to be wind- and floo-resistant and to lower environmental impact, and yet be attuned to the owner's specific needs at an affordable cost. Studio Gang, Huff & Gooden, Marlon Blackwell, CP + D Design Workshop, and MC2 architects participated.
These prototypes were indeed innovative, but most cost too much to be built as designed. AFH, too, had to rely in part on volunteer labor, including the GCCD's: The studio created construction drawings for CP + D and designed a house for Louise Odom, her daughter, and grand-nephew, which replaces a more complex scheme by Studio Gang but retains the gestures of the original. Regardless of AFH's helpmate, realizing the model homes required design simplification. "It's hard to reconcile making a housing model for the future with the needs of a family still living in a FEMA trailer," reflected AFH program manager Michael Grote on a visit last year.
AFH's Biloxi houses are not alone in having to pare down their aspirations. A similarly ambitious prototype in New Orleans built by Global Green was completed largely as designed, but only because fund-raising covered much higher than anticipated costs. Make It Right, also in New Orelans, intends to build 150 model homes designed by prominent architects. It is likely to face similar barriers since government support—scandalously absent—or large-scale charitable funding would be needed to realize innovations yet to be embraced by market builders.
AFH's seven-house prototype program is nearly finished, and it is winding down work in Biloxi to concentrate on its core mission of immediate disaster relief. "The AFH houses had somewhat larger budget, and we have been able to learn from what they could devote more resources to," says Perkes, citing beffed-up foundation designs. The East Biloxi Coordination Center now calls itself the East Biloxi Coordination, Relief, and Redevelopment Agency as it changes its focus to ongoing social services as well as rebuilding.
Grote is now working for the GCCDS, which relocated to larger headquarters on the grounds of the East Biloxi Church in spring 2007. The redevelopment agency's case managers share the studio space as well, tracking their clients on large blackboards. About a dozen people—a mix of full-time Mississippi State staff, interns, and volunteers, mainly from universities all over the country—share drawing boards and computers. Now the studio, having helped rehabilitate hundreds of home and built about 30 new houses with the Biloxi Housing Authority, the local Back Bay Mission, Mercy Housing, and Habitat for Humanity, is growing. It's opening branches with local partners in nearby Bay St. Louis and Moss Point, supported by expanded state funding.
With more than 2,000 empty lots in East Biloxi, the work of the studio so far, Perkes admits, "is a small chip ouf of a huge obligation." He adds, "We're trying to get our head around the fact that this could be a fragmented community for quite a while." In the meantime, the studio is planning on a larger scale, mapping bayous and other vulnerable areas to assist the city of Biloxi in encouraging owners of risky sites to trade their property for plots on higher ground.
Perkes urges architects to "break down the professional structure" that tends to keep citizens at arm's length. "It often gets in the way of being useful to the community." The rewards can be different and perhaps more gratifying. Edward Parker says that the many people who designed and built his house "are in my prayers every night. Bless them and their families."
Read the article online here
Bachelor of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition
Come see the graduating senior thesis show: US & THEM
March 30 - April 17, 2009
Work will be on display in the McComas Department of Art Gallery and the Union Gallery.
Opening Reception : April 2
Department of Art Gallery (McComas Hall) 5:30 - 7:30 PM
The exhibit is sponsored by the Department of Art Gallery, Department of Art, College of Architecture, Art, & Design, and Mississippi State University.
Vicenza Poster Exhibit
Vicenza! An exhibition of Drawings, Paintings and Posters created by CAAD students during the CAAD 2008 Italy Study Abroad Program.
Monday, March 8 through March 25th in the Giles Hall Gallery. Closing reception is Wednesday, March 25th at 6pm. Free and open to the public.
CAAD Professors Jamie Burwell Mixon and Greg Watson taught 6 hours of studio during the six-week Vicenza, Italy Study Program. 16 CAAD students produced drawings, paintings and posters in the Vicenza studio and visited significant art and architectural sites in central and northern Italy. The program included multiple day trips to Rome, Florence and Milan. Full day trips included Venice, Padua, and Verona. Additionally, students traveled during the weekend breaks to Austria, Switzerland, Spain, France and England. This CAAD program is
offered each summer in conjunction with the Vicenza Institute of Architecture in Vicenza and the University of Florida. For more information about the program, contact Jane Lewis at 325.2202.
Summer Italy Trip
TO ALL WHO ARE INTERESTED IN SPENDING SIX WEEKS IN ITALY NEXT SPRING, GREETINGS!
Below is an outline of the program which will run from early May to mid-June next year. It covers the basic description and gives the most current cost estimates. For those who attended the first meetings and signed-up, you just need to re-read the details and plan on attending our next meeting on the 9th of January.
If you are interested and did not make the meeting we need you to contact us so we can put you on the list. This is important since enrollment is limited and will be offered on a FIRST-COME-FIRST SERVED BASIS. So...if you're interested you need to get on the list! Send your NAME, MSU EMAIL ADDRESS, MAJOR, YEAR LEVEL, AND PHONE NUMBER to:
gwatson@caad.msstate.edu
PLEASE INCLUDE "ITALY 09" IN THE SUBJECT LINE!
Review the attached description and IF ANY OF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS PLEASE CONTACT ME.
Have a great break and we'll see you in the Giles Hall Jury Room on the 9th of January at 5:30.
*** Note on the attached under "WHAT?!" the first sentence should read, "A 6-week course of study offering 6 hours of credit = 2 CAAD electives with . . . ."
VICENZA PROGRAM
SUMMER 2009
study abroad in Vicenza-Italy
WHAT?! A 6-week course of study offering 6 hours of credit = 2 Art studio electives with Professors Hans Herrmann,(hherrmann@caad.msstate.edu) and Greg Watson, (gwatson @caad.msstate.edu)
WHERE?! The beautiful city of Vicenza in the Veneto region of northeastern Italy. Vicenza is located 40 minutes from Venice, 20 minutes from Padua, 3 hours from Florence, and 5 hours from Rome. The city was the home of Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio and the site of many of his more famous works including the Teatro Olimpico and the Villa Rotunda (Villa Capra), the model for Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello
WHEN?! MAY 4 - JUNE 13 (dates are currently being set and may vary by a week or less) Along with the course work the program includes excursions to neighboring cities, museums, monuments, and places of interest will take students, quite literally, through the history of Italian art and architecture, examining works from periods such as Ancient Rome, the Late Antique/Early Christian, Byzantine, Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque. Last year students took side trips to Barcelona, Spain, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Italian Alps (hiking at 9,000 ft.) Cinque Terra (fabulous hikes) Pompeii, Lake Como and beyond.
COSTS Current estimate of $5800 to $6000, based on enrollment. The cost of the trip will include:
–MSU Summer Tuition for 6 hours of credit (Plus non-resident tuition for those who are not Mississippi residents. Tuition will be directly applied to your account at the time of summer registration for Study Abroad course)
–Accommodation in Vicenza, Italy at either Albergo Due Mori or Albergo Palladio
–Board consisting of 2 meals per day M-F
–Planned excursions including transportation, hotels, admission to museums, exhibitions, etc.
–Admission or Entrance Fees to all organized trips to museums, exhibitions, places of interest, tour guides, etc.
Note: Cell phones will be provided for each student.
A $200 deposit (non-refundable) is required by February 1. Fees do not include travel to and from Italy.
SO...NOW WHAT?
1. If you did not attend one of the initial interest sessions you will need to supply us, by email, with your name and contact information AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! Enrollment is limited and will be available on a
first-come-first-served basis. There will be at least two more meetings at the beginning of the next semester. If interested you should plan on attending. THE FIRST MEETING WILL BE FRIDAY, JANUARY 9TH AT 5:30 PM IN THE JURY ROOM AT GILES HALL. PIZZA WILL BE SERVED.
2. Anticipate a cost of the program in the range of $5,800-$6,000 plus the cost of travel to Italy. The actual cost may be less than this estimate, but it’s better to aim high, plus, you might want to do some travel or shopping too.
3. Secure a valid passport—this process could take a few months, so it’s better to do it immediately. Pass- port applications are available at most US Post Offices, including the MSU Post Office.
4. Fill out an application form for the program in early January and pay non-refundable application fee of $200 on February 1st.
5. Be academically eligible to study abroad 2.5 overall GPA;
6. Complete payment deadlines in timely manner (more information to come on cost and payment schedule)
HAVE A GOOD BREAK AND WE’LL SEE YOU ON THE 9TH OF JANUARY!
CAAD Ambassadors
This is an opportunity for you as a student to showcase your leadership abilities, be a representative for a discipline that you are passionate about, and connect with high school students and others who might be interested in CAAD's design professions. In addition this position would be a great chance to network with prospective students, alumni, and other professionals. We are accepting applications now.
Deadline March 5th
Design Discovery
Design Discovery
Design Discovery is an eight day summer camp intended to answer many of the questions about architecture and design as fields of study and as professions. The major goal of the workshop is to simulate the information, skill, and intensity required for an architectural education and to give clear insight into the practice of architecture. With this experience, it will be possible for the participants to make an informed career decision about architecture and its related disciplines.
