Steven EHRLICH
Architect, Los Angeles
Wednesday, 7 pm
21 September 2011
Horchow Auditorium, DMA
For over thirty years Steven Ehrlich’s firm has approached design with a deep sensibility for people and place. This was nurtured in the 1970s by Ehrlich’s six years practice and teaching in Morocco and Nigeria. From private houses to the recently won competition for the new United Arab Emirates parliament, his projects span scales and cultures with a constant attention to the facts of building. Eight national AIA Honor Awards and several dedicated monographs speak to the work.
www.s-ehrlich.com
Thomas J. CAMPANELLA
Landscape Architect + Planner, Chapel Hill, NC
Thursday, 7 pm
29 September 2011
The Magnolia Theatre, West Village
As author of the book The Concrete Dragon: China’s Urban Revolution and What It Means for the World, Thomas Campanella introduces the Forum’s China Series. A Fellow of the American Academy in Rome, he holds a masters degree in landscape architecture from Cornell and a PhD in urban planning from MIT. Currently at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he has taught at Harvard, Columbia, and the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
planning.unc.edu/people/faculty/thomascampanella
Pei ZHU
Architect, Beijing
Thursday, 7 pm
6 October 2011
The Magnolia Theatre, West Village
Parallel to China’s gaining a primary place in world affairs, her architecture is doing the same. Educated at Tsinghua University and UC-Berkeley, Pei Zhu brings his long concern with both Chinese philosophy and contemporary architecture to his award-winning designs—such as the control center for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Other recognitions include a Design Vanguard Award from Architectural Record, WA China Architectural Prize, and an award of special merit from UNESCO.
www.chinese-architects.com/pei-zhu
WANG Shu
Architect, HangZhou
Thursday, 7 pm
13 October 2011
The Magnolia Theatre, West Village
Brilliant at viewing modern architecture in light of China’s deep culture, Wang Shu incorporates vernacular, traditional, and recycled construction into thoroughly current buildings. His seeking a re-establishment of Chinese contemporary architecture can be seen in works such as two museums in Ningbo and the Ceramic Houses. Wang received the Shelling Architecture Prize in 2010 and the French Architecture Academy’s Gold Prize in 2011.
www.chinese-architects.com/amateur/awards.html
Qingyun MA
Architect, Shanghai + Los Angeles
Thursday, 7 pm
20 October 2011
The Magnolia Theatre, West Village
As a young generation assumes leadership in ancient China, this transformation includes architecture. With degrees from Tsinghua and Penn, Qingyun Ma works effectively in both China and the US, where he is currently dean of the School of Architecture at University of Southern California. The projects of his firm MADA s.p.a.m. have received worldwide recognition in publications and at exhibitions at the Venice Biennale and the Centre Pompidou.
archinect.com/features/article/68561/qingyun-ma-part-i-the-idea-behind-s-p-a-m
Julie Vandenberg SNOW
Architect, Minneapolis
Wednesday, 7 pm
16 November 2011
Horchow Auditorium, DMA
Very adept at finding elegance and clarity within the constraints of any project, Julie Snow has built a singular practice in the cities and landscapes of the upper Midwest. Her firm has been recognized by an American Architecture Award, a Progressive Architecture Design Award, several General Services Administration Design Excellence Awards, and most recently by a national AIA Honor Award for the gracious and green Warroads Port of Entry facility on the US-Canada border.
www.juliesnowarchitects.com
Mark SEXTON
Architect, Chicago
Thursday, 7 pm
19 January 2012
The Magnolia Theatre, West Village
Working for three decades in the demanding architectural culture of Chicago the firm of Krueck and Sexton has set a standard by melding a lively and generous vision with craft and precision. Among their major works is Crown Fountain, done with artist Jaume Plensa, a centerpiece of Chicago’s magnificent Millenium Park along Lake Michigan. Educated at IIT, Mark Sexton brings to today’s work ideas and attention that reflect Mies’ long legacy.
www.ksarch.com
James CARPENTER
Artist + Designer, New York
Wednesday, 7 pm
8 February 2012
Lone Star Auditorium, Maverick Activity Center, UT Arlington
Glass is the most characteristic and telling material of modern architecture. And as a master in working with glass, James Carpenter helps bridge the gap between art and architecture. After RISD he worked with Corning Glass Works on innovative products, then in 1978 began his independent studio practice. A MacArthur Fellow and recipient of many major design awards, Carpenter created the exquisite moving glass screen in Dallas’ Rachofsky House.
www.jcdainc.com
Jason ROBERTS
BETTER BLOCK, Dallas
Wednesday, 7 pm
29 February 2012
The Magnolia Theatre, West Village
Opposite to the ‘top down’ concept of urban design is BETTER BLOCK, founded in Dallas’ Oak Cliff by Jason Roberts and Andrew Howard. The Better Block project is a demonstration tool that temporarily re-visions an area to show the potential to create a walkable, vibrant, neighborhood center. The idea and the charrettes to realize it have quickly spread to cities like Memphis, St. Louis, New York, and Boston. National media coverage includes NPR, the Washington Post, and the New York Times.
www.BetterBlock.org
Mohsen MOSTAFAVI
Dean, Graduate School of Design, Harvard
Wednesday, 7 pm
22 March 2012
The Magnolia Theatre, West Village
Guiding one of the leading design schools through our problematic times demands experience and knowledge. Mohsen Mostafavi brings both, as former dean at Cornell and chair at London’s Architectural Association, and as a scholar of urbanism and architecture. His books include Structure as Space, On Weathering (with D. Leatherbarrow), and most recently Ecological Urbanism. His research and design projects have been published widely in major international journals.
http://www.gsd.harvard.edu/#/people/mohsenmostafavi.html