05-13-13
LECTURE: Marika Shioiri-Clark on Dignifying Design
Marika Shioiri-Clark, principal of SOSHL Studio, will speak at the CUDC on “Dignifying Design” as part of AIA Cleveland’s 2013 Emerging Practitioner Lecture Series. Based in Cleveland, SOSHL Studio is dedicated to creating social impact through architecture and design. In response to Denise Scott Brown’s comments on her exclusion from the Pritzker Prize, Marika recently co-authored a CNN.com article on the continuing discrimination of women in architecture.
Marika Shioiri-Clark | Dignifying Design
Friday, May 31, 2013
5:30pm
Kent State CUDC
1309 Euclid Avenue, Suite 200
RSVP on the Facebook event page here
From 2007 to 2010, Marika was Co-Founder and Managing Director of MASS Design Group, an architectural nonprofit designing well-built environments that aid in the reduction of global poverty. Marika was a lead designer on the Butaro Hospital project in northern Rwanda in collaboration with Partners in Health, the Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative, and the Rwandan Ministry of Health, and lived on-site in 2008 developing the designs and overseeing construction.
Marika has received several awards for her work in reframing architects as global change agents. She was an invited Ideas Scholar at the Aspen Institute in 2009, and received a US National Commission for UNESCO Traveling Fellowship in 2008. Marika received her BA in Urban Studies from Brown University, and her Masters of Architecture from the Harvard Graduate School of Design, where her graduate thesis under advisors Jacques Herzog and Pierre DeMeuron focused on gendered public spaces in Cairo, Egypt. In 2011 she served in the first class of global residents at IDEO.org.
Watch Marika’s TEDxStellenbosch talk on Empathic Architecture:
The Emerging Practitioner Lecture Series is organized by AIA Cleveland’s Associates Committee in partnership with Kent State University’s Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative. Events are free and open to the public.
Questions can be directed to: angela.jayjack@gmail.com
04-28-13
2013 Capstone Final Review Schedule
We’re excited to announce the final review schedule for the 2013 Master of Urban Design capstone projects (see below). Graduate students at the CUDC enrolled in the Master of Urban Design or dual degree (Master of Architecture + Master of Urban Design) programs at the CUDC conclude their coursework with an individualized capstone project. Each capstone project is developed over two semesters, with the first semester focused on framing a research question and the second devoted to creating a design response. As can be seen from the project names below, the investigations span a wide range of topics and geographies.
The capstone presentations for this year’s class will be held at the CUDC (1309 Euclid Avenue, 2nd Floor) and are open to the public. If you are interested in pursuing a Master of Urban Design degree or just curious about one of the capstone topics, please feel free to attend any of the presentations. You don’t need to RSVP, but we ask that attendees arrive shortly before the designated start time. The presentation and discussion immediately following each project should run about an hour and a half. More information on the academic programs offered at the CUDC can be found on our website here. Contact us at cudc@kent.edu with any questions and we look forward to seeing you soon!
2013 Capstone Final Review Schedule:
4/30
10:00am
Antonia Marinucci | Erieview, Cleveland: Economic + Physical Reimagining
(Advisors: Charles Harker, Steve Rugare, Ellen Sullivan)
5/3
10:00am
Thom Nester | Public Space and the Effects of Digital Culture
(Advisors: David Jurca, Greg Stroh, Steve Rugare)
5/6
10:30am
Matt Provolt | TopoCity: Sheraden Neighborhood, Pittsburgh
(Advisors: Ellen Sullivan, Charles Graves, Sagree Sharma)
1:00pm
Brandon Young | Revising Richard Florida: Creative/Productive Space for Cleveland
(Advisors: Diane Davis-Sikora, Jonathan Kurtz, Terry Schwarz)
5/7
9:00am
Sarah Myers | From Waste to Pop Up: a Temporary Diversion from the Landfill
(Advisors: Jonathan Fleming, Charles Frederick, Terry Schwarz)
10:30am
Gabriel Fey | New Futures for the Infrastructural City
(Advisors: Steve Rugare, Jonathan Fleming, Jonathan Kurtz, Jacqueline Mills)
1:00pm
Troy Eklum | Transit Based Metropolitan Master Planning: Developing a Large Scale Strategy for Growth and Mobility Patterning
(Advisors: Ellen Sullivan, Charles Frederick, Steve Rugare)
5/8
1:00pm
Arthur Schmidt | Beyond Complete Streets: a Methodology for Designing a Complete Urban Street System
(Advisors: Steve Rugare, Jeff Kruth, Stephanie Ryberg-Webster, Daniel Vieyra)
5/9
3:30pm
Tommy Chesnes | Neighborhood Tuning: Waterloo Arts District, Cleveland
(Advisors: Terry Schwarz, Wayne Mortensen, Ellen Sullivan)
Download PDF: 2013 Capstone Final Review Schedule
04-19-13
Call for Abstracts | COLDSCAPES Urban Infill Volume 6 | Due May 31, 2013
Call for Abstracts : Improving livability in cold climate cities
Kent State University’s Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative (CUDC) invites writers, designers, artists and thinkers to submit abstracts for Volume 6 of our annual publication, Urban Infill. Urban Infill examines themes in contemporary urban design, architecture, and planning. Past volumes have addressed shrinking cities, temporary urbanism, urban hydrology, storytelling, and diagramming in an urban context. These can be previewed here: (www.cudc.kent.edu/publications/urban_infill/index.html)
Volume 6 is part of the CUDC’s 2013 launch of the Center for Outdoor Living Design (COLD), which is dedicated to improving livability in cold weather cities (www.coldscapes.org). We invite examples and perspectives that challenge common perceptions of cold urban environments and reveal the unique design opportunities that winter cities present. Writings and projects may span across various disciplines, including architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design. We are particularly interested in submissions that correspond to any of these five (5) themes:
CONCEPTUALIZATION
(historical / theoretical framework for understanding the winter experience in cities)
REPRESENTATION
(visualizations and multi-sensory communication techniques that evoke the atmospheric conditions and ephemerality of the winter season)
EXPERIENCE OF VULNERABLE POPULATIONS
(responses to the needs of homeless individuals and immigrants during winter weather conditions)
BUILT CASE STUDIES
(examples of successful constructed architectural or urban design projects in cold climates)
FUTURE WINTERS
(unbuilt projects and evocative possibilities for winter cities of the future)
Submission Requirements:
Abstract / Description (text) : 500 words or less
Images: no more than 5 thumbnails - total file size under 10MBs.
Please send abstracts and/or images via email to cudc@kent.edu no later than Friday, May 31st 2013. We welcome new, in-progress or pre-published, original work.
Relevant Dates:
- Abstracts due: Friday, May 31st 2013
- Notification to selected contributors: Friday, June 7th 2013
- Final entries due: Friday, July 19th 2013
- Expected publication: November 2013
Download Call for Abstracts PDF
Please feel free to share with your friends and networks!
- CUDC
04-16-13
LECTURE: The Professional Guide to Green Roofs with Co-Author Lisa Lee Benjamin
Lisa Lee Benjamin is a catalyst for the planet profoundly dedicated to altering the way we live. With a botanical background, her work focuses on international collaboration to open possibilities and challenge our ideas of sustainability and community. She has led and consulted on projects from California to Kenya.
Her new book, The Professional Guide to Green Roofs, is a collaborative venture with designers to aid practitioners in green roof design. Come hear her speak about vegetative roofs in our changing world.
12 - 1pm
Friday, April 19th, 2013
CUDC 1309 Euclid Ave., Suite 200
Free and open to the public
Directions
Lisa will also speak on the Kent State main campus the same day at 3:40pm in Rm 202 Taylor Hall.
03-25-13
Bellwether
Corine Vermeule ‘Movement’ (2012)
Discussion with Terry Schwarz and Corine Vermeulen
Thursday, April 11th, 7 p.m. at the Transformer Station.
Terry Schwarz, director of Kent State University’s Urban Design Collaborative, and photographer Corine Vermeulen will lead a discussion about their work and shared interest in art’s role as a catalyst for improving and enriching the urban landscape.
Corine Vermeulen photographed the citizens and landscape of Detroit in her 2005 project, Your Town Tomorrow. Recently, she contributed to thanks for the view, mr. mies: layfayette park, detroit, a volume of interviews and photographs about life in the largest collection of Mies van der Rohe buildings in the world. She says, “Detroit represents a unique and great vehicle for change where old structures are no longer in place and the possibilities of something different to happen are endless.”
Terry Schwarz launched the CUDC’s Shrinking Cities Institute in 2005 to address the implications of population decline and large-scale urban vacancy in Northeast Ohio. She established Pop Up City, a temporary use initiative for vacant and underutilized sites in Cleveland.
Bellwether is an open-ended series of discussions and events that aims to discover the possibilities and limitations of art as a transformative tool in the city of Cleveland. Bellwether is a project of the Contemporary Art Society of the Cleveland Museum of Art.
http://bellwether.clevelandart.org/
11-05-12
Just Released…Urban Infill Vol 5: Diagrammatically
* Order Diagrammatically from the CUDC Amazon storefront here.
The 2012 volume of Urban Infill is now available through Kent State’s Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative, local book stores, and Amazon. UI5: Diagrammatically applies the techniques of diagramming to urban design practice through critical essays, case studies, and examples. Over twenty contributors from the US and Europe discuss the ways that urban diagrams engage the public, reveal hidden agendas, and navigate uncertainty. The book features innovative and thought-provoking examples of urban diagramming, presented in a lively, full-color format.
A few examples of the work included in the book:
‘Re-cultivating the Forest City‘ is a must-read for Clevelanders. A design proposal developed by PORT Architecture + Urbanism, this series of diagrams and renderings offers a seductive glimpse at Cleveland’s future where urban vacancy leads to economic productivity, ecological regeneration, and increased public use of the Cuyahoga Valley.
image: PORT Architecture + Urbanism
image: PORT Architecture + Urbanism
‘Thinking + Talking Adaptability,’ a series of diagrams created by the Adaptable Futures project at Loughborough University in the UK, provides a toolbox of diagrams that communicate sustainable values and highlight aspects of building performance. This work is useful to designers and lay audiences alike, and provides the basis for a shared understanding of the components of sustainable design.
image: Adaptable Futures
image: Adaptable Futures
‘Strategrams‘ by Susan Rogers at the Community Design Resource Center in Houston and ‘Empowerpoint‘ by Interface Studio in Philadelphia present diagramming strategies in the context of community design practice.
image: Ryan Sullivan, Paste in Place
image: Susan Rogers
image: Leah Murphy, Interface Studio
image: Leah Murphy, Interface Studio
‘Through the Diagram…‘ by Kent State University faculty member Greg Stroh showcases recent work from the graduate studios at the College of Architecture and Environmental Design.
image: Justin Gantz, KSU Graduate Architecture Studio III
Diagrammatically will be of interest to architecture and planning students, urban design practitioners, and anyone interested in better, more livable cities.
Get your copy of Diagrammatically today: CUDC Amazon Store.
For more information about the Urban Infill journal series, please contact the CUDC at: cudc[AT]kent.edu
06-26-12
Postcard Underground Sends Their Love To Pop Up Rockwell
Over the past week, we’ve received at least eight handwritten postcards thanking us for Pop Up Rockwell. When we received the first one, written on an art gallery postcard, we figured it was from someone interested in promoting an upcoming art opening and just happened to hear about our project. After three cards arrived the next day, written in different hands, it was clear something else was going on.
Well, after a little googling, it appears we’re the (very grateful:) recipients of some handwritten love from Postcard Underground. There isn’t much information on this secretive group available - all we could find are blog posts from a few other postcard beneficiaries, like this one from Minnesota Public Radio. It seems a national network of note writers is coordinating efforts to shower individuals and groups with encouraging messages for doing good work. A pretty simple, yet lovely, idea.
Reading the postcards, it feels good to see that each note is different and the writers are actually familiar with the project. One note read, “Wow! ‘Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design.’ Win-win”, so we know he or she must have watched Rob (Homeland Security officer) enthusiastically mention this phrase on the Pop Up Rockwell video.
We feel very lucky to have experienced this “random (and simultaneously coordinated) act of kindness” and hope Postcard Underground continues to spread the love. But with so many deserving projects out there, it won’t be easy to avoid the hand-cramps.
♥, CUDC
03-11-12
Full Video + Slides from Susannah Drake’s dlandstudio Lecture
Thanks to everyone that attended Susannah Drake’s presentation at the CUDC. If you were in the audience, then we’re sure you found her dlandstudio projects to be as creative and inspiring as we did. Fortunately, for those unable to attend the presentation, we have the full video available online. The 1 hour 18 minute presentation is divided into 3 parts, including introductory remarks from CUDC Director Terry Schwarz and updates on the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District’s green infrastructure plans from Kyle Dreyfuss-Wells, followed by Susannah Drake’s detailed presentation of several public projects ranging from city-wide infrastructure plans to temporary pop-up parks. Enjoy!
02-26-12
Susannah Drake Lecture 3/2/12
Susannah Drake Lecture
Friday, March 2, 2012
8:30 AM - 10:30 AM
CUDC Conference Room
1309 Euclid Ave., Suite 200
Cleveland - PlayhouseSquare
Susannah Drake is founder and Principal of dlandstudio llc, an award winning multidisciplinary design firm. She will discuss dlandstudio’s recent public projects including the Gowanus Canal Sponge Park, a public open space system designed to absorb and remediate urban storm water, and the Brooklyn Bridge Pop-up Park, a temporary waterfront open space that attracted almost 200,000 visitors over six weeks of operation in 2008.
This event is free, but reservations are required. RSVP for the event on our Facebook page here, by email at cudc@kent.edu or give us a call at (216) 357-3434.
Continuing Education credits are available for landscape architects.
Sponsored by The George Gund Foundation, the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, and the Kent State College of Architecture and Environmental Design.
02-09-12
CUDC Temporary Staff Position
For additional information, please contact the CUDC at 216.357.3434 or cudc@kent.edu.
11-29-11
CUDC Receives 2011 Ohio Landscape Architecture Organization Award
photo credit: Dan Mosora | Great Lakes Publishing
We’re very grateful to the Ohio Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects (OCASLA) for recently presenting the CUDC with the 2011 Organization Award. The CUDC’s Director, Terry Schwarz, was in attendance at the award ceremony in Columbus to accept the honor.
A very colorful and well-illustrated program from the event can be viewed on-line, which contains descriptions and images of this year’s award winners.
The award ceremony program described the CUDC’s work surrounding design advocacy, vacant land strategies, applied research and temporary use initiatives. The OCASLA’s kind words can be read below:
“The Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative (CUDC) is a vital, innovative and unifying force in the continued re-imagining of Greater Cleveland and beyond. An influential organization for many years under distinguished leadership such as Ruth Durack, the CUDC has established and even stronger position of advocacy for planning policy and quality design under the guidance of Terry Schwarz.
The CUDC has an impressive portfolio of planning and design projects throughout the state and a reputation for promoting collaboration. Clients and collaborators include cities, regional agencies, higher learning institutions, private businesses, research institutions and arts organizations. Work ranging from neighborhood master plans to campus design studies and public space analyses has established the organization’s credentials throughout the region. Even more compelling are the new undertakings underway.
Through the Shrinking Cities Institute, Terry and the CUDC have taken a direct, research-based, no-nonsense approach to the problem of urban population loss. Instead of political grandstanding or mere civic cheerleading, the approaches devised to deal with the resulting vacant land in urban neighborhoods seek to establish hope through implementation of real solutions.
In addition, the CUDC has long been a leader in advocating sustainable approaches to design and redevelopment. In addition to incorporating sustainable practices on a site-by-site or neighborhood planning approach, the UDC plays an active role in the regional stormwater planning efforts currently underway.
Combining innovation and urban passion, Pop Up City is an investigation of the impacts of temporary cultural and arts uses on the city. Moreover, the effort seeks ways to facilitate larger neighborhood chance through the coordination of these “magical, ephemeral experiences.” By embracing the possibility of “what can be,” Pop Up City teaches us all about the potential of cities and reminds us, in a tangible way, of what our dreams for community can become.
Through a combination of design expertise and an applied research approach, the CUDC is having an immediate and ongoing impact on Greater Cleveland, on the entire region, and on understanding approaches to urban challenges throughout the country.”
11-17-11
Lecture: ‘Big Box Reuse’ Author Julia Christensen
Bring your lunch and join us at the CUDC Friday, November 18th from noon - 1 pm for a conversation with Julia Christensen, author of Big Box Reuse, published by MIT Press in 2008.
Julia Christensen is an artist who works in video, photography, networked media, writing, sound arts, sculpture, installation, and performance. Her work has exhibited at galleries and museums internationally, including the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Carnegie Museum of Fine Arts in Pittsburgh, Spaces Gallery in Cleveland, and The Lincoln Center in NYC. Recent solo exhibitions include: Your Town Inc., (which originated at the Miller Gallery at Carnegie Mellon University and was curated by Astria Suparak), and Surplus Rising (which originated at the Banvard Gallery, Knowlton School of Architecture at Ohio State University).
Julia is the author of Big Box Reuse, published by the MIT Press in 2008. This book is a product of her ongoing investigation into how communities are renovating and reusing abandoned big box buildings in the United States. Her project “Surplus Rising” will be published as a part of the 3rd Coast Atlas, forthcoming. Christensen’s writing has been published in magazines such as Orion, Print, and Slate. Her work has been featured in publications such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, Bookforum, The New York Review of Books, Bomb, Afterall, and Dwell Magazine.
Ms. Christensen is currently the Henry Luce Visiting Professor of Emerging Arts at Oberlin College and Conservatory, where she produces the Margin Release New Media Lecture Series. Christensen has a joint appointment between the departments of Studio Art, TIMARA (Technology in Music and Related Arts), and Environmental Studies. Before coming to Oberlin, she taught at Stanford University, Pratt Institute, California College of the Arts, and other colleges. She has been an invited speaker and critic at dozens of colleges and universities, including the San Francisco Art Institute, Cornell University, Yale University, and New York University.
In the fall of 2011, Christensen will take on the position of Assistant Professor of Integrated Media in the Studio Arts Department at Oberlin.
11-01-11
Public Intro Session for 2012 ULI Competition
2012 ULI competition poster
Do you want to design safer, healthier, sustainable and beautiful communities?
Do you have the planning, design or the economic acumen to create a comprehensively sustainable development?
Do you like working in multi-disciplinary settings and learning from your colleagues?
If so, then please consider joining us this Friday for an information session on the Urban Land Institute’s recently announced 2012 Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competition. Compete to design an innovative built environment as a multi-disciplinary team and try your luck at winning the $50,000 prize!
All students currently enrolled in their last year of undergraduate studies or a graduate program in architecture, landscape architecture, urban design, real estate, business or urban planning at any university are invited to attend the introduction session at the CUDC on Friday Nov 4th and meet other interested students to form your winning team!
ULI Competition Intro Session
Friday, November 4
12 - 1 PM
CUDC Conference Room
1309 Euclid Ave., Suite 200
Cleveland (Playhouse Square)
More information on the ULI competition can be found at http://www.udcompetition.org/
Please contact the CUDC for more information on the Intro Session at (216) 357-3434 or cudc@kent.edu
11-01-11
Open Urban Designer Position at CUDC
PLEASE NOTE: Application deadline has passed - we are no longer accepting resumes.
The Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative (CUDC) is currently seeking applicants for an Urban Designer position. The Urban Designer will be an emerging design practitioner with a deep commitment to working with community groups and public involvement in the design process. He or she will be involved in all aspects of the CUDC’s operations, working closely with CUDC staff on community design projects, research efforts, and technical service contracts. The successful candidate will hold an advanced degree in landscape architecture, architecture or planning, and have 2-3 years of professional experience in urban design or a closely related field. Strong graphic presentation skills, including hand drawing and digital methods, are essential. Knowledge of advanced computer applications and an interest in urban design teaching at graduate or undergraduate level are preferred, as well as a record of project work and/or research publication.
The Urban Designer will be a full-time employee of Kent State University, with a full benefit package. This is an administrative position, which does not include the possibility of tenure. Salary is dependent upon qualifications.
To apply for the position, please visit Kent State University’s Employment site here and search for position number 990632.
The Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative (CUDC) is a community design and research division of the College of Architecture and Environmental Design (CAED) at Kent State University. Based in a new facility in downtown Cleveland, the CUDC provides technical design assistance to communities throughout the northeast Ohio region, conducts research into urgent and emerging areas of design practice, and offers a variety of public education and design advocacy programs. CUDC staff participate in the graduate level architecture and urban design curriculum for the CAED, including studios and seminar courses that convene at the CUDC’s Cleveland facility.
For additional information, please contact the CUDC at 216.357.3434 or cudc@kent.edu.
10-28-11
EcoVillage Charrette Recap
Thanks to all those that participated in this year’s community design charrette, which took place in Cleveland’s EcoVillage neighborhood this past week (Oct 22-26, 2011). The CUDC staff and students worked closely with neighborhood residents and stakeholders, including Councilman Matt Zone and staff from Detroit Shoreway Community Development Organization, to assess community priorities, then develop design proposals that range from long-term visions to immediately implementable actions (see the presentation from the second Public Meeting below).
We were also fortunate to have eight students from Ball State University’s Master of Urban Design program work along side us for the busy weekend, led by their instructor Bruce Race. The Ball State students brought diverse backgrounds in landscape architecture, planning, as well as architecture, to the charrette, which served the collaborative process very well. Our Kent State students enjoyed the interaction with fellow urban design majors, so we hope to return the favor with a visit to Indianapolis sometime in the near future. The interdisciplinary approach to a community charrette is an area of interest we’re keen on exploring further.
Incorporating feedback from the second public meeting, the CUDC will create a charrette report, documenting the design process and clearly communicating the proposals developed over the intense three day work session. We’ll make the final report available to the public and neighborhood residents once it’s complete. Based on what we heard from community members and local leaders, there’s a strong sense of optimism around the feasibility of the recommendations and an excitement to get started. Check out a recap of the charrette from the perspective of an EcoVillage resident on The Thrifty Bon Vivant blog.