Deborah Berke

2 CONSTRUCTS YALE ARCHITECTURE Table of Contents 2 Conversation with Deborah Berke 4 Conversation with Kersten Geers 5 Conversation with Hans Kollhoff 6 Conversation with Kathleen Deborah Berke James-Chakraborty 7 City of 7 Billion exhibition reviewed by Gideon Fink Shapiro 8 “A Constructed World” symposium reviewed by Daniel Barber With Dean Robert A.M. Stern’s retire- 10 Pedagogy and Place exhibition reviewed by Richard Hayes ment after eighteen years at the helm 11 PhD Dialogues Fall 2015 Symposium: “Learning/Thinking/ Doing: Educating Architects in the of the Yale School of Architecture, 21st Century” 12 In the Field: we introduce Deborah Berke, founder The Masters Series: Michael Bierut exhibit reviewed by Luke Bulman Drawing Ambience: Alvin Boyarsky and of the New York City-based architec- the Architecture Association reviewed by Craig Konyk ture firm Deborah Berke Partners as “Is This for Everyone” reviewed by Tyler Survant Pedagogy and Diversity: Jessica Varner the School’s new dean. Over the past and Amber Wiley 16 Book Reviews: few months, she has been meeting Architect as Worker reviewed by Lori Brown The Architecture and Cities of with current and prospective students Northern Mexico reviewed by Karla Britton at various school events and “Open Public Natures: Evolutionary Infrastructures reviewed by Brian McGrath House.” In those meetings, and with The City that Never Was reviewed by Kian Goh Constructs, she shares ideas and Imaginary Apparatus reviewed by John Kriskiewicz 18 Peter Eisenman’s Palladio Virtuel goals she has for the school, which she review by Mark Rakatansky “Architecture and the Loss of Authority” will direct beginning in July. by Peter Eisenman 20 Fall 2015 Lectures 22 Fall 2015 Advanced Studios Nina Rappaport One of the pedagogical DB I do think the undergraduate and of view that we didn’t have as architects. Yale School of Architecture books approaches of past deans, from Everett Victor graduate experiences are different. On the At City College, I got a master’s in urban 24 Faculty News Meeks, in 1916, to Bob Stern, has been undergraduate level, I want to rethink the design in an incredibly diverse environment; Tigerman and Chicago pluralism in the selection of professors and major so that more students choose to take the valedictorian the year I graduated was 26 Alumni News the types of architecture students are encour- it—it’s that simple. I would like it to appeal the child of Vietnamese boat people. He Jim Vlock Building Project aged to explore. What does pluralism mean to people who don’t want to be architects gave his speech first in English and then in to you as you take on the school’s leadership? in the traditional sense, to attract students Vietnamese because his parents didn’t speak Deborah Berke I think the term plural- who want to engage a way of thinking that English; he grew up in a two-room apartment ism is used at Yale today with a capital P, they can learn at Yale and then apply in law in Queens. I experienced both the diversity as a way to define how the school sees school, public service, business school, of the schools and working with artists. I also itself—meaning, it is neither Notre Dame nor the arts, and so on. The way it’s structured took statistics and law-related classes, which Constructs Dean a trade school, nor does it have a particular now is so intimidating, and the word among enhanced my urban studies. To form by putting together Robert A.M. Stern parts; build; frame; devise. stylistic point of view, be it Modernism, Post- students is that it is overly daunting. Yale NR Who has influenced you intellectu- A complex image or idea Associate Dean Modernism, parametricism, or whatever. But College offers so many opportunities for ally, both in your education and as a practic- resulting from synthesis by John Jacobson I would posit that pluralism is not just about extracurricular activities, but it is perceived ing architect? How do you imagine making the mind. Assistant Deans style. Twenty-first-century pluralism includes that, if you study architecture, you can’t do students understand their roles in culture and Volume 18, Number 2 Bimal Mendis an expanded understanding of the issues anything else or take advantage of the many society as more than just architectural? ISBN:978-0-9862065-6-6 Mark Gage and forces that shape architecture and that other things Yale offers. We need to be much DB When I was lecturing at Tulane Spring 2016 Joyce Hsiang are shaped, in turn, by architecture. Yale’s more a part of Yale College. recently someone asked what I thought about Cost $5.00 Editor pluralism is a great tradition to build on, for NR What do you envision on the gradu- the long hours students spend in the studio. © Copyright 2016 Nina Rappaport twenty-first-century pluralism involves a ate level? I replied that after working on a project for Yale School of Architecture, broad engagement of architecture with other DB The situation for the graduate twelve hours in one day, the project doesn’t Yale University Graphic design Jeff Ramsey cultural, social, and scientific disciplines. The school is completely different, in that it is an get any better by hour fourteen. Leave your Yale School of Architecture topics in the long list include urban design, accredited degree program; we are training desk, go listen to some music, go to the P. O. Box 208242 Copy editor landscape, climate change, urban equity and future professionals. There, I just think lifting theater, read a novel, walk through a park— New Haven, CT 06520 Cathryn Drake access, local cultures and climate, building one’s eyes from the desk a little more often get away to learn more, go back, and be Telephone Proofreader information modeling, advanced building would be a benefit. It is ideal if a student better. Yes, I read about architecture. I have (203) 432–2296 David Delp technology, advanced digital technology, comes to the school with an undergradu- to—it’s part of my job description. But I sustainable design, resiliency, rapid urban- ate degree in architecture and can opt out also read outside of architecture: I go to Email Student editorial [email protected] assistants ization, and architectural history and theory. of some of the required classes to study art museums, I go to the theater, and I read Tess McNamara (’17) Architecture is inextricably linked to all of Shakespeare or film—or take a law class journals from other disciplines. My husband is Web site David Langdon (’17) these fields and practices; it is what makes about federal low-income housing programs. a doctor, and I occasionally read the weekly (Back issues available) architecture so exciting and so important. But that strikes me as something to solve on JAMA publication. I think it’s good to know www.architecture.yale.edu/ School constructs photographer NR How do you define architecture? an individual basis rather than saying, “We lots about other things; I think it makes you a Scott Parks (’16) Many academics don’t acknowledge that the used to have fifty courses in the curriculum better architect. Constructs is published study of architecture provides an amazing and now we have added ten more.” That is NR How does teaching inform your twice a year by the Dean’s Cover photograph of Office of the Yale School Minerva in Rudolph Hall knowledge base, similar to law and business. cool; that would be a great thing to do too. practice and vice versa? of Architecture. by Tess McNamara Do you see a way to enhance its foundation But I’m much more interested in making the DB Teaching has always informed as a broader realm of study? Even the defini- environment feel more porous. So we could my practice, and I see an interweaving of We would like to acknowl- tion of an architect, outside of the field of have a digital fabricator who’s making build- practice and teaching. Students ask good edge the support of the Rutherford Trowbridge architecture, is someone who can invent an ing parts come in, and maybe somebody questions. I often hire students, not neces- Memorial Publication Fund; idea or a policy, for example. from biomedical engineering who is making sarily my own, but those I’ve met through the Paul Rudolph Publi- DB I think architecture is a way of think- replacement valves or joints. My first goal is teaching. I’ve been teaching architecture cation Fund, established by Claire and Maurits ing; it is maintaining parallel, disparate, and porosity in both directions through collabo- since I was twenty-two years old, literally my Edersheim; the Robert A.M. often complex pieces of information simul- rations, lectures, and events and finding entire professional life. It is so wholly embod- Stern Fund, established taneously in four dimensions, and coming to ways to engage across disciplines through- ied in my DNA that I can’t conceive of being by Judy and Walter Hunt; a holistic resolution. The thought process, out the university, be it working with the any other way. To me teaching is a dialogue. and the Nitkin Family Dean’s Discretionary Fund the ability to think like an architect, is good School of Art, the Yale Art Gallery, the School I’m not the kind of teacher who says, “It must in Architecture. for doing lots of things. Yes, one can be an of Public Health, the Departments of Film look like this” or “It must look like it’s mine.” “architect” of a piece of legislation or of the and Media Studies, Philosophy, Divinity, and My goal as a teacher has always been to internet.

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