The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture the Cooper Union For
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
ARCHITECTURE The Irwin S. Chanin AT COOPER School of Architecture The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art 1: 06-07 I am pleased to introduce the inaugural issue of Architecture There have been recent appointments to the proportional The School of Architecture continues to sustain Peter Cooper’s at Cooper, a yearly publication to coincide with the opening and continuing faculty and we have all benefited from their vision of enriching the intellectual and cultural life of New York of the Annual Exhibition of Student Work. In it you will find brief commitment to and passion for teaching. We are seeking to City through its public programs. Our ongoing lecture series descriptions of the design programs for the studios and new replenish the full-time faculty through searches at both the co-sponsored with The Architectural League of New York as courses, a summary of the principal events of the year, and tenured and non-tenured levels over the next five years. well as the Eleanore Pettersen Lecture and the Ellen and notes of faculty activities and recent student honors. We hope Sidney Feltman Lectures contributed greatly to the public and Professor Ricardo Scofidio retires this spring after more to expand its scope year by year, so that it becomes a more professional discourse about architecture. than forty years at The Cooper Union, but he assures us that comprehensive record of our work and academic life, with he is in no way retiring from engagement with the School. He Finally, The Cooper Union formally broke ground for its new reports of lectures and symposia, reviews of work, and was elected Professor Emeritus of Architecture by unanimous academic building, designed by Thom Mayne of Morphosis, interviews with visiting and continuing faculty. vote of the Faculty of the School of Architecture at their final on May 9th, launching the construction phase of a process that This is my fifth year as Dean and my sixth year at The Cooper meeting of the academic year. His enduring commitment to will result in a new home for the School of Engineering and the Union, during which time the dedicated work of faculty, staff, the school and his profound influence on the unique pedagogy Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, as well as studios and students has accomplished a great deal, both in preserving of our design curriculum, as well as on the broader context for the School of Art, an additional gallery, a public auditorium, the great traditions of the school and in developing these of architectural education, have affected two generations of and a series of shared school-wide classrooms and computer traditions to face the problems of a rapidly changing world. scholars and architects. facilities. During this period of construction, the Foundation Building will also be renewed, with improvements to its Architecture at Cooper is not, and never has been, simply a Aspiring students continue to apply to the school in ever mechanical and environmental systems, the installation of professional degree program. It is also a liberal arts program, increasing numbers; applications have doubled over the last a new energy-saving co-generation plant, the refurbishing and therein lies its special character. Of all the disciplines five years. This spring we offered admission to about 5% of of The Great Hall, improved accessibility throughout the that make their mark on and in the world, architecture is those who applied, and over 90% accepted our offer. This building, new quarters for the School of Architecture Archive, indissolubly linked to the widest possible cultural, social, September’s incoming freshman class will include recent and, mercifully, renovated elevator equipment. political, and artistic context, a context it finds in the other graduates from high schools in New York City as well as schools and faculties of The Cooper Union. In this context, students from ten other states and Canada, representing over While these changes have understandable put pressures on architecture at Cooper is unified around a belief in the qualities a dozen nationalities. the school community, the resilience and optimism of faculty, of architecture as a poetic and formal discipline, with its roots staff, students, and alumni have once again reinforced my sense Following the mandate of the School’s strategic plan of 2000 in the combination of the mind, the eye, and the hand, from of our strength, and the potential for the school to continue its and the approval of the Faculty, we registered our new Master studio, to classroom, to shop, emphasizing the importance of tradition of distinction and innovation into the future. of Architecture II (post-professional) program with the New the architect as a re-formulator of the program as a whole— York State Education Department of The University of the State its role, mission, and nature in society. This sense of of New York. We will begin accepting applications to the architecture as a profoundly social act, one fostered by John program in the coming academic year. This design research Hejduk in his twenty-five years as Dean, is today, more than degree program will be open to applicants who have completed ever, demanded in an increasingly consumerist world. a minimum of two years of work experience after attaining their Architecture has to be prepared to speak with its own critical first professional degree in architecture. The program will voice, one that stands for the political and social values serve professionals who wish to continue in practice with required for a task that is both local and global, as it concerns higher research and design skills in those areas in which the Anthony Vidler the sustainability of increasingly fragile environments, even program offers specialization as well as those with first Dean and Professor as it enriches society with its aesthetic powers. professional degrees who wish to develop parallel careers in The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture This past year, the curriculum of the school has continued teaching and/or continue to engage in research toward an to evolve. The teaching of history has expanded to study the appropriate Ph.D. degree at another institution. The program y h p architecture and building traditions of the world, and new seeks to address modern and contemporary issues in the a r g o elective courses include advanced seminars in comparative practice and theory of architecture and urbanism, incorporating p y T global practices. In addition to our rigorous course in freehand considerations from history as well as the present condition d n a drawing, students gain expertise in digital iteration through the of globalization and the demand to assimilate new scientific n g i s e Descriptive Geometry course in first year and an advanced developments and technologies into the profession. D r o seminar exploring the relationships between analog and digital f r e t strategies of analysis and description. Technological support Structured to be completed in three full-time consecutive n e C for the curriculum includes wireless access to servers and the semesters of research and study beginning in the fall, the n o i n internet in all studios, a student-monitored high-end digital program will culminate in a Thesis completed in the following U r e studio, and the beginnings of a three-dimensional workshop, summer session. The program will offer concentrations in p o o including a laser-cutter shared with the School of Art. one of three areas with a minor concentration in one other: C e h Theory, History and Criticism of Architecture, Urban Studies, T , v o and Technologies. k i n l o k h S a s s e n I y b n g i s e D LECTURES AND EVENTS FALL 2006 LECTURES In-Class Lectures In-Class Lectures Advanced Concepts: Tuesday 4/3 The Irwin S. Chanin Fermín Vázquez Huarte-Mendicoa School of Architecture/ Wednesday 11/29 Architect, b720 Arquitectos The Architectural League Michal Govrin of New York Shallow Depth Friday 11/10 Tuesday 10/10 Michael Webb History of Architecture II Cecil Balmond, Engineer and Building Technology Friday 2/9 Deputy Chairman, Arup, Crét Professor Steven Nelson, Professor of Art History, in Practice, The University of Wednesday 11/15 University of California-Los Angeles Pennsylvania School of Design, Roger Reed and Senior Design Fellow The Mousgoum Dome and Modern Design IV at the London School of Economics. Architecture in Africa Co-sponsored by The Architectural Wednesdays Friday 2/23 League of New York 10/4, 10/11, 10/18, 10/25, 11/1 Vikramaditya Prakash, Dean, Daniel Sherer The College of Architecture and Urban Tuesday 10/24 Planning, The University of Washington Paulo Mendes da Rocha, Architect Modern Architectural Concepts : and 2006 Pritzker Prize Laureate, Chandigarh The Struggle for Modernity Thursday 11/2 Sao Paulo in Postcolonial India John Calame Co-sponsored by The Architectural Friday 3/9 League of New York Town Planning Terry Smith, Professor of Art History, University of Pittsburgh: Monday 10/30 Tuesday 12/12 Renzo Piano, Principal, David Gouverneur Tradition and Modern Australia Renzo Piano Building Workshop, Paris Professional Practice Ulrich Franzen Lecture on Architecture SPRING 2007 LECTURES and Environment Tuesdays 3/20, 4/3 Co-sponsored by The Architectural Thursday 2/8 Lee H. Skolnick League of New York World Water: Perspectives On Freshwater Structures II Thursday 11/30 Resources In The 21st Century Co-sponsored by The Architectural Michael Rock, Professor, Yale University Friday 2/2 League of New York School of Art, and Creative Director John Maass, Owner’s Representative, and Founding Partner, 2x4 Design Albert F. Appleton The Glass Pavilion, Toledo Museum of Art, Studio, New York Senior Fellow, Institute of Urban Systems, by SANAA Co-sponsored by The Architectural City University of New York, Friday 3/16 League of New York International Consultant on Water Flavio L.