university of michigan taubman college of architecture + urban planning fall 2007 portico welcome 01 letter from the dean 04 the michigan difference updates 06 college 08 faculty 14 student 18 A Unity of Purpose: June Manning Thomas 20 Connecting Present & Past: The Lorch Column Project 23 Building Addition & Renovation—preliminary proposal 29 class notes calendar On the Cover: Early sketch of proposed rooftop addition by Robert Hull of the Miller/Hull Partnership. letter from the dean Abuilding we go… Our college has lived in the Art and Architecture Building on North Campus since 974. That’s a full third of its century of existence. I’m told it took a new building to entice the faculty to leave Central Campus. Some people would still like the College to return, but it’s now clear we’re here to stay. And we’re determined to improve both the North Campus and the building. Over the years there have been numerous interventions in the building, too many to describe. In the last decade alone, we’ve spent some $3 million to upgrade the auditorium, a half-dozen classrooms, college gallery, computer labs, and many offices, as well as reconfigured the building to include a new, large classroom, Media Center, faculty/staff lounge, IT offices, four student lounges, and two digital fabrication labs. The third-floor design studio, the largest in the country we think, has been redesigned and equipped with over Dean Kelbaugh with professor Jim Chaffers at his 400 new workstations. FAIA investiture at the Alamo in San Antonio It might sound like we’ve done enough to accommodate the needs and desires of our students and faculty, which have each grown about 20% during that period. To the contrary, we are over-crowded, with tighter studio space, classrooms, and faculty offices. Three dozen faculty offices are only 95 square feet, and many of them are shared by two or three lecturers! Most of our faculty offices are below university standards, not to mention the large number that are windowless. So, build we must! After a year of faculty and staff discussions with the program chairs and me about our needs and desires, we have hired an architect to do schematic design for an expansion. Four firms were interviewed—Pugh + Scarpa of Los Angeles, Shigeru Ban of Tokyo, Vincent James of Minneapolis, and Miller/ Hull of Seattle—and Miller/Hull was the overwhelming first choice of the selection committee of six university and college representatives. I am happy to say that Heidi Oien, B.S.’95 is the project architect and Elizabeth Moggio, M.Arch.’06 is a member of the design team. They are working with University Architect Doug Hanna, B.Arch.’73, M.Arch.’73 and Associate University Architect Doug Koepsell, B.S.’72, M.Arch.’75 who is the project manager. Based on earlier studies done by PLY Architects (whose principals Craig Borum and Karl Daubmann are faculty members), the architects generated the conceptual design work presented in this issue’s centerfold. The design will go through two more Regental reviews and, if all goes well, construction may begin within a year. Early in the process, it was determined that building on the south roof above the high-bay space was the preferred strategy. It keeps our studio space and the bulk of our faculty offices together on the third floor, as well as affording good views and maximizing daylight and solar gain for energy-efficiency. This location also allows the addition to fold over the south façade and transform the appearance of the utilitarian rear of the A&A Building, befitting the fact that it has become its de facto front. We want the addition to be a model of carbon neutrality and to have a green roof, passive solar heating, as well as natural lighting, ventilation, and cooling. We hope to make it 00% energy efficient with a geothermal heat pump and photovoltaic solar cells providing electricity. There is also a lightweight green roof, which can be installed in modular pans, that The third construction project is the renovation of our decreases run-off by detaining storm water. And it adds courtyard. The original wood paving is being replaced with thermal and acoustic insulation, turning a built-up roof concrete unit pavers and new lighting is being installed, into something alive and green. as well as accessibility improvements. “Sparkle” mini- lights in the trees will brighten up our winter darkness, as We have identified enough funds from the college will the “Sensitiles,” which were invented and developed resources, along with a major commitment from the several years ago in our research laboratory by Abhi Lath University, that will allow us to undertake the $3 million (M.Arch.’03). These large, concrete paving stones will estimated cost of the project. We’ve also been able to be interspersed among the smaller pavers in a random save and set aside another $ million to reconfigure and pattern. (Sensitiles are award-winning pavers and tiles that renovate three dozen existing faculty offices in a second use fiber-optics in a unique way to create changing light phase of the project. (Phase III is a café/commons that patterns. They have been utilized by Zaha Hadid, Norman students would like to see built in the courtyard.) However, Foster, and other architects as indoor flooring or outdoor we have no college or university funds for the geothermal paving material. Visit www.sensitile.com to find out more) heat pump, green roof, or the photovoltaic solar array. For With this -2-3 punch, the college is better positioned these critical components, we need to raise another $2–3 to meet the demands, desires, and opportunities of the million. We are hoping alumni and friends of the college next century, with a nod to our past. These projects will will contribute to this environmental cause. physically enhance the front, rear, and middle of the A&A building. We will design and build them as well as we can, We hope you will consider underwriting these efforts befitting a college that is dedicated to the improvement of with a contribution. It would be very much appreciated the built environment. if your gift this year were directed toward this project. Without your help we will fall short on these features and This coming year will be my 0th and last as dean. I hope the larger environmental imperative that besets the built to ensure that the addition and other initiatives are left environment. If you’d rather contribute to another aspect in good stead. A committee will be appointed by Provost of the project, there are other items on the menu for your Teresa Sullivan to commence a search for my successor consideration on page 28. In any case, we need your help! this fall. It has been a high privilege and wonderful experience to lead this venerable college. Many have Although the addition is the most critical and ambitious asked about what I intend to do next. I plan to stay on as in the building’s history, it is not the only design and a professor, after an administrative leave. With the energy, construction project afoot. As you can see from the photos talent, and cooperation of our faculty, students, and staff, on page 20 and on our website, we have moved the large we shall leave the college in top academic, fiscal, and classical column from its original location behind Lorch physical shape, poised for a future that is sure to be both Hall to the front of our building. It not only honors the exciting and challenging. memory of our founding director, Emil Lorch, and marks the entrance to the building, but it also is meant to be As always, an historic icon for the North Campus. This is a project I proposed in my first Portico letter nine years ago! It has received enough financial support from alumni and emeritus faculty to be finally realized. The design was a collaborative effort ofPeter Osler and Harry Giles, both professors of practice in architecture. (Peter, a landscape architect and the project designer, is, remarkably, Emil Lorch’s grandson.) The firm of professor emeritusRobert Darvas provided engineering services, including some on a pro bono basis. This project would not have been possible without the P.S. In keeping with the college’s design mission, Portico has generous donations of the late Henry “Hank” Ruifrok been redesigned by M/DTW, a multi-disciplinary design (B.S.A.A.’38), and Dan Swartz (B.Arch.’7), as well as studio led by Christian Unverzagt (B.S.’94), who is a lecturer contributions from David and Connie Osler (Emil Lorch’s in the architecture program. Let us know what you think. daughter) and income from the Lorch Endowment Fund. There were over 60 other contributions from alumni, faculty, and emeritus faculty. Thank you all! 2 portico | fall 2007 Seattle Center Pavilion Sisson Residence Work Lofts Seattle Miller/Hull Partnership Miller/Hull was selected for their long-standing record of design excellence and substantial body of green design, as well as their record of working cooperatively with the client (who in this case will have more hands-on involvement!). The 50+ person Seattle firm has been doing energy- and environmentally- sensitive design work for decades, going back to passive solar work in the 970s. They’ve won over 68 local and national design awards, more than any firm in the Pacific Northwest, a region generally known more for its high average of architectural design than for its signature designers.