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School of Architecture and Planning continues spring lecture series
By PATRICIA DONOVAN
Contributing Editor
The School of Architecture and Planning will continue its Spring 2005 Lecture Series with talks by several noted architects, among them Peter Dreier, a nationally recognized figure in the field of urban and community planning who is the school's 2005 Clarkson Chair in Planning.
With one exception, the lectures will take place at 5:30 p.m. in 301 Crosby Hall. South Campus. The lecture by Steven Holl on April 1 will take place at 5:30 p.m. in 147 Diefendorf Hall, South Campus.
All of the lectures will be free and open to the public. Each will be followed by a reception for the speaker.
Seattle Library stairway
On March 2, the guest speaker will be architect Joshua Ramus, who with Rem Koolhaas directs the Office for Metropolitan Architecture—OMA—in New York City. Ramus was project director for the recently completed, $165-million Seattle Library, a dazzling effort that Herbert Muscamp, architecture critic for The New York Times, described as "the most exciting new building" that he has reviewed in "more than 30 years of writing about architecture."
Thom Mayne will speak on March 3. In addition to being cocreator of the Southern California Institute of Architecture, or SCI-Arc, Mayne is founder of Morphosis, an architectural practice that has won many awards for its design of new buildings in North America, Europe and Asia that explore radical ideas in form-making and sustainability.
Diamond Ranch High School
Among his award-winning projects is the stunning Diamond Ranch High School in Diamond Bar, Calif., a 72-acre hillside campus laid out in cascading terraces. Architect Alice Kimm calls the school "a place where social conscience coexists comfortably with creativity and imagination."
Kevin Daly of the firm Daly Genik of Santa Monica, Calif., will speak on March 23. He and his partner, Chris Genik, have designed significant new buildings, among them several unique residences and the Camino Nuevo Charter Academy in Los Angeles, which was created out of an abandoned mini-mall and was recognized by the American Institute of Architects for design excellence. Recent Daly Genik projects include the comprehensive design of structures in nine parks in Santa Monica, Calif.
Peter Dreier, the 2005 Will and Nan Clarkson Visiting Lecturer in Urban and Regional Planning, will present his talk on March 30.
Dreier is E.P. Clapp Distinguished Professor of Politics and director of the Urban and Environmental Policy Program at Occidental College in Los Angeles. He served as a senior policy adviser to Boston Mayor Ray Flynn from 1984-92.
He is the author of several influential books in his field, including "Regions That Work: How Cities and Suburbs Can Grow Together" (University of Minnesota Press, 2000), coauthored with Manuel Pastor, Eugene Grigsby and Marta Lopez-Garza, and "Place Matters: Metropolitics for the 21st Century" (University Press of Kansas, 2004), coauthored with John Mollenkopf and Todd Swanstrom.
On April 1, architect Steven Holl will deliver the inaugural Christopher and Sally Martell Visiting Lecture. Martell, an award-winning architect and UB alumnus (M.Arch. '01, B.P.S. '96) and his wife, Sally, established the visiting lecture program to bring architects of international significance to the school each year to work closely with graduate students in the design studio and give a school-wide public lecture.
Kiasma, Helsinki
Holl, a prolific architect of international distinction, has designed a series of significant new buildings, including Kiasma in Helsinki and Simmons Hall at MIT. Projects under construction include the Contemporary Art Exhibition Hall in Nanjing, China; the Linked Hybrid Building complex for the Beijing Modern Investment Group in Beijing, China, and a marina, public space and an 80-unit apartment building for the old harbor in Beirut, Lebanon.
On April 6, the School of Architecture and Planning will host a lecture by another important American architect, Yvonne Szeto of Pei Cobb Freed and Partners, New York City. She is partner-in-charge of the firm's master plan for the Beijing Central Business District, the design of several university projects—at Virginia Technical Institute, City University of New York and Drexel University—and the new Illinois State Museum.
Allied Bank Tower, Dallas
She also was responsible for some of the firm's corporate headquarters buildings, most notably the head office for ABN-AMRO Bank, Amsterdam (1999), and played a leading role in the design of First Bank Place in Minneapolis; Le Grand Louvre in Paris, and the Allied Bank Tower at Fountain Place, Dallas.
George Baird, dean of the University of Toronto School of Architecture and founder of the architecture and urban design practice of Baird Sampson, will present a lecture on April 13. Professor emeritus in the Harvard University School of Design, he is the author of "The Space of Appearance" (MIT Press, 1995) and "Alvar Aalto" (Thames & Hudson, 1971), and editor with Charles Jencks of "Meaning in Architecture" (Braziller, 1970).
Baird has been closely involved with planning in the City of Toronto. He is a fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada and won the 1992 Toronto Arts Foundation Award for Architecture and Design. His firm won Canadian Architect Awards of Excellence in 1985, 1986, 1992 and 1998.
ADJAYE
The series will close on April 20 with a talk by David Adjaye, an architect born in Tanzania who practices in England. Known for his showmanship and determined charm, he is an architect, says the Guardian Unlimited, who makes buildings as if they were conceptual artworks. Among them are new studios for artists, new libraries and the headquarters of inIVA (Institute of International Visual Arts) in London. Adjaye recently was appointed to design the Museum of Contemporary Art in Denver.