Spring 2010 Portico
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university of michigan taubman college of architecture and urban planning spring 2010 portico i 1 letter from the dean Photo: Julia Reyes Taubman 3 college update 6 research through making 8 the future of urbanism 10 faculty update 18 student update 26 class notes 37 calendar Editor's note: As a cost-saving measure beginning with the 2010-2011 academic year we will be printing Portico twice each year, in May and November. We will increase our electronic outreach to our alumni and hope that alumni will continue to visit our website, and connect to the college through its presence on LinkedIn and Facebook. To add your email address to the Taubman College News group, send your request to [email protected]. Cover image: a model from undergraduate student Suguru Ogata's award-winning project, Flow, Time, and Architecture iv portico | spring 2010 letter from the dean Photo: Julia Reyes Taubman The ecstasy of the summer Olympics of 2008 in China—which served as catalyst for re-shaping Beijing—was immediately followed by the collapse of global economic markets. Despite their proximity in time, the contrast between these two events could not be more acute. As we complete the first decade of the 21st century, global economic uncertainty, social inequity, and environmental degradation have brought into question conventional wisdom, calling for a re-assessment of traditional notions of urbanity, a re-evaluation of the relationship between cities and regions, and a re-examination of the true meaning of public. While the last year and a half might have come as a shock to us, in hindsight, it should have come as no surprise. Many of the issues recently brought to the forefront have long been brewing, and were past due. In 2007 the earth’s population became more urban than rural. While today, more people than not live in urban areas, many cities are indeed struggling, and some have been doing so for quite some time. One only needs to take a closer look at the metropolis to understand that the success attributed to urban environments has not reached all. Most of the growth in cities is taking place in slums where today one third of the world’s urban dwellers reside—accounting for one sixth of the world population. At the same time, research has demonstrated that the carbon and ecological footprints are dramatically lower in vibrant urban places, and that the key to addressing climate change is to understand the morphology of our cities and towns. Cities remain powerful centers of creativity, diversity, and tolerance. Economic vitality and access to information, cultural assets, and services remain strongest in urban centers, and, as such, they can become the catalyst for shared prosperity. In the near future, scholars from all disciplines including planning, architecture, geography, history, law, urban design, and landscape architecture will have to work together with those who effect policy and create our cities, legislators, government officials, designers, and developers, in order to address their greatest challenges. We need to confront issues of urban inequity as a key for the future and determine 1 Detroit’s Cass Park (from Second and Temple). Photo: Julia Reyes Taubman if current legislative and physical structures enable “just cities.”1 At the center of this discussion we must consider emerging notions of “environmental justice” as well as a re- conception of housing as keys to social fairness. Our success in addressing environmental issues will depend on how we balance the struggle between urban and regional ecologies. The future of the metropolis will be very different depending on whether or not governmental structures continue to ignore the regional scale or begin to address it. In their sprawl, large-size urbanized regions have given rise to contrasting urban morphologies: the Megacity and the Shrinking City. The similarities and differences between them should give us pause and force us to take a close look at our ambitions for the future. We should also not forget that cities have often been and continue to be the site of social conflict and even warfare. The tools at our disposal have never been better. Geography and emerging technologies have laid at our fingertips the ability to access data and be able to analyze it with unprecedented dexterity. In addition, our ability to visualize the future and its experience brought about by advanced rendering software give planners, urban designers and architects a powerful voice and great responsibility in charting a future. However, our cities are complex entities, that face multifaceted problems, and only a multidisciplinary approach will lead to real and enduring solutions. Monica Ponce de Leon Dean and Eliel Saarinen Collegiate Professor of Architecture and Urban Planning Footnote 1 Thank you to Robert Fishman for a very lucid description of this idea for the future of Urbanism Conference. 2 portico | spring 2010 college update Richard K. Norton College News A Farewell to Anatole Senkevitch Associate Professor Richard K. Norton has accepted a Anatole Senkevitch, Ph.D., associate professor of architecture three-year appointment as chair of the Urban and Regional in the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Planning Program, effective July 1, 2010. Norton will succeed retired from active faculty status on January 10, 2010. Jonathan Levine as the program chair at the conclusion of Levine’s second term. Norton currently serves as the faculty Professor Senkevitch received his B.S. in architecture from the coordinator for the land use and environmental planning University of Texas, Austin in 1967, his M.A. in architectural concentration in the Urban and Regional Planning Program. history from the University of Virginia in 1970, and his Ph.D. He is also a faculty associate with the University of Michigan’s in the history of architecture and urban development from Program in the Environment. He is known as an integrative Cornell University in 1974. thinker who brings his interdisciplinary background to teaching and research. He joined the University of Michigan faculty in 1986 as an associate professor of architecture and as affiliated faculty in the department of the History of Art, College of Literature, Science and the Arts. He was also a faculty associate at the Center for Russian and East European Studies. Professor Senkevitch is a well-known figure in the field of Russian architecture and history. Weaving his lectures and seminars with his extensive knowledge and experience made him an invaluable teacher of Eastern European building and culture. Professor Senkevitch was actively involved in organizing Celebrating St. Petersburg: 300 Years of Cultural Brilliance, the multi-arts festival hosted by the University in 2003 to celebrate the city’s founding. He has been a Fulbright professor and visiting scholar as well as a sought-after international lecturer. Senkevitch has received a number of research and travel grants for his work in Russia. He is a board member and past executive director of the Iakov Chernikhov International Foundation. He has been a consultant for a number of institutions including the Ford Foundation, The Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humanities, and the Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation at the National Park Center. Professor Senkevitch has served on numerous committees, including Taubman College’s Committee on Space Planning, the Library Committee and, for a number of years, was Taubman College’s representative to the UM Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs. 3 college update Scholars and Patrons Brunch Scholarship donors and student recipients gathered this year in a different season but for the same reason—to celebrate donors’ generosity and the opportunities for student achievement and excellence their generosity fosters. Below is a list of scholarships currently awarded by the college as well as those “under construction.” AIA Huron Valley Scholarships James J. Sficos Scholarship AIA Michigan Foundation Scholarship Leonard G. Siegal Merit Scholarship Leon G. and Gloria Allain Scholarship Howard and Judith Sims Scholarship Architecture Alumni/ae Scholarships Linn and Grace Smith Memorial Scholarship Architecture Program Merit Scholarships SmithGroup Inc. Scholarship Charles W. Attwood Memorial Scholarship Ward Squires Disabled Student Fund Morris D. Baker Endowed Scholarship King and Frances Stutzman Endowed Scholarship Fund Alan G. and Cynthia Reavis Berkshire Scholarship Endowment Arthur C. Tagge Scholarship Guido and Elizabeth Binda Scholarships Peter and Helen Tarapata Scholarship Thomas Brooks Brademas Endowment for Community Service Joan and Calvin Jay Tobin Scholarship Fund Eugene T. Cleland Scholarship Tower Pinkster Titus Endowed Scholarship Colin Clipson Memorial Fellowship Undergraduate Need-based Scholarship Fund Doctor of Architecture Fellowship Fund Urban and Regional Planning Alumni/ae Scholarship Livingstone H. Elder Scholarship Fund Endowment Fund Lester Fader Memorial Endowed Scholarship Emmanuel-George Vakaló Endowment Norbert H. Gorwic Scholarship Hubert W. and Ann Van Dongen Student Aid Endowment William R. and Leigh Gustafson Undergraduate James A. van Sweden Endowed Scholarship Need-based Scholarship Endowment Raoul Wallenberg Scholarship Genevieve Hafner Endowed Scholarship Gaylord and Roberta Watts Architectural Awards HarleyEllis Devereaux Endowed Undergraduate Wheeler Family Memorial Scholarship Scholarship Fund Donald F. White Memorial Fellowship Harvey F. Hoeltzel Memorial