Kim Yeager, writing for the Star Tribune, covers Good Design: Stories from Herman Miller, opening at the Goldstein Museum of Design Friday, November 20, 2009. Yeager writes the exhibition "includes four case studies -- on ergonomics, the 'action office,' graphic communication and midcentury classics, or how good design explores, inquires, engages and endures."
The Center for Sustainable Building Research's Minnesota Building Materials Database is mentioned in Green Building Matters' wrap-up of the GreenBuild 2009 conference. The site's authors say the database "provides a wide array of technical information on building materials, including location and distance traveled for manufacturing."
Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) covers the work the College of Design's Greenlight student group did to help the Brave New Workshop make its theater space greener. The Greenlight students traded their expertise for training in improvisation methods.
Amanda Kushner, writing for Downtown Journal, reports College of Design students are helping with the landscaping and site improvements at the Hennepin Energy Recovery Center (HERC). Sustainable landscaping -- the first improvements to the site in 20 years -- will reduce storm water runoff and includes more than 250 trees, 1,375 shrubs, and 3,200 perennials according to Kushner.
A design charette was held in February 2008 and CDes graduate students Ben Beery (MArch), Cassandra Meyer (MS Sustainable Design), Matt Sand (MArch), and Ashley Sommer (MLA) where hired as graduate research assistants to work on the project under Virajita Singh (Center for Sustainable Building Research). Singh's workgroup created the "HERC in My Backyard" report in August 2008.
Sommer told Kushner the workgroup created three tiers of design with Meyer focusing on a green roof, Sand and Beery working on the sustainable skin and messaging, and Somer herself working on the landscaping.
Amanda Kushner, writing "Development update: Alliance Addition" for Downtown Journal reports Aeon Management is partnering with the Center for Sustainable Building Research (CSBR) to develop housing for the formerly homeless in the Elliot Park neighborhood.
The 2010 education rankings from Design Intelligence have been published. The College of Design's School of Architecture is recognized as a "hidden gem" of architectural education, Landscape Architecture is recognized with notable distinction, Dean Tom Fisher (Architecture) is ranked as one of the most admired educators, and the publication carries Renee Cheng's (Architecture) article, "Thinking Ahead: Educating Now for the Profession of the Future."
Mic Johnson (Architecture) and his graduate students are undertaking an exercise on redeveloping Washington Avenue. The effort of Johnson and his students are featured in "Reconnecting Minneapolis' Seven Corners and the West Bank" by Jon Commers for the Star Tribune. "We focused on that land because we knew that LRT was coming in, we knew there was a real disconnect between Seven Corners and Cedar-Riverside," Johnson told Commers. "You can look at the history of that place and see its transformation over the last forty or fifty years from a really cohesive neighborhood into something that had a huge gash running through the middle of it. So... what would be the transformation that might take place if you really reengaged the street?"
Dean Tom Fisher's (Architecture) essay, "Fracture Critical," appears in Places: The Forum of Design for the Public Realm, published by The Design Observer Group. In the essay, which is an adaptation of an essay that will appear in a University of Minnesota Press anthology on the collapse of the I-35W bridge, Fisher identifies four key characteristics of a fracture-critical design: lack of redundancy, interconnectedness, efficiency, and sensitivity to stress.
The first permitted straw-bale construction project since the ill-fated straw-bale house was demolished by Minneapolis officials several years ago will debut this weekend. Lucas Alm (Architecture) collaborated with Sunny Day Earth Solutions and Mark Morgan of Bear Paws Design and Construction on the project, a garage, "that will also serve as a training, demonstration, and data-collection site" according to Kim Palmer's account in the Star Tribune. Alm will work on the project's data collection.
Dean Tom Fisher (Architecture) is cited in Inside Higher Ed's "New Blueprint for Architecture," on the changes surrounding the studio culture in architecture programs around the US. Architecture students have traditionally spent many nights in their studios working on designs. Recently that's begun to change as architecture programs move to more appropriately schedule project intensive courses and broaden students' education.
The article's author, Jennifer Epstein, quotes Fisher as saying the changes reflect "a trend toward allowing students more flexibility in their studies, a chance to focus on their areas of interest." Fisher notes that students are driving the change, having "grown up in the Internet age and are open to all kinds of knowledge. They want to connect things, move more laterally across disciplines."
The debate continues over architecture undergraduate education and the role of interdisciplinarity. "Some students want to learn design thinking but may apply it in business, law, construction, something else. Others may want to become architects. Our degree offerings should reflect these differences," Fisher tells Epstein, speaking not only as the College of Design dean and School of Architecture faculty member but also as president of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ASCA).
The University of Minnesota's entry in the US Department of Energy's Solar Decathlon, ICON house, took fifth place overall in the competition. The German team took first place, followed by Illinois, California, and the Canadian team. ICON house was judged to be the top entry in the lighting design and engineering categories and third in appliances and home entertainment. Sharon Schmickle, writing for MinnPost.com, quotes lighting juror Ron Jurtz praising ICON house's lighting design. "'The array of LED lighting in the home and its control system is intuitive and easy to operate,' lighting juror Ron Kurtz said about the U of M's home. 'The team's use of adjustable shading panels provides excellent natural day lighting, with no difference in sunlight entry into the home, from summer to winter.'"
In one of the most extensive articles yet seen on the Solar Decathlon, Jim Dawson and Devin Powell cover the competition for MinnPost.com from Washington DC. The article includes a video interview with Architecture graduate student Shengyin Xu on the design of the University of Minnesota's entry, ICON house. "We've skewed [the roof] to the north for a larger south-facing surface for [the] solar cells," Interior Design senior Shona Mosites, told Dawson and Powell. "And we've build it specifically for Minnesota." The University's entry currently remains in fifth place, even after taking first place in the lighting design category.
Popular Mechanics also has extensive coverage of the Solar Decathlon entries by a variety of authors. The article on the University of Minnesota's ICON house was written by Jennifer Bogo.
WCCO-TV published an article focusing on the lighting design competition. "Ron Kurtz, a lighting juror, noted that the U of M's home featured an array of LED lighting that was both intuitive and easy to operate," writes the CBS affiliate. "He went on to compliment the way the team used adjustable shading panels to provide natural day lighting."
Henry Fountain, writing for the New York Times, covers a few of the entries in the US Department of Energy's Solar Decathlon competition, including the University of Minnesota's entry, ICON house. Fountain focused on the recycled materials used on the exterior of ICON house, "battens made from pressed paper and wood." As of this morning, ICON house had moved up one place, to sixth, in the overall competition.
The Huffington Post has published ThienVinh Nguyen's photographs and brief overviews of each of the 20 competing entries in the US Department of Energy's Solar Decathlon competition. The publication is also running a poll for readers' favorites; the University of Minnesota's ICON house is currently rated number two among Huffington Post readers.
Sunlight reflecting off neighbors' energy-efficient windows may be causing vinyl home siding to melt in the Twin Cities suburbs reports Lora Pabst for the Star Tribune. Pabst cites Kerry Haglund (Center for Sustainable Building Research) as saying "the high temperatures could be caused by several factors within the window manufacturing process, including a coating that is meant to increase the reflection. Window industry experts are working on adjustments that could be a solution." A comment on the Star Tribune article reveals evidence from a glass manufacturer (.pdf; 139KB) indicating that the Vinyl Siding Institute has been aware of the potential problem since February 2002.
University of Minnesota Solar Decathlon team leader, and Architecture graduate student, Shengyin Xu was interviewed by WCCO-TV from the Solar Decathlon site on the National Mall in Washington, DC. The University of Minnesota's Solar Decathlon entry, the ICON house, was one of the nine houses cleared to compete in the first day.
Get Energy Smart! NOW!!! has published a cheat sheet on the Solar Decathlon entries. The publication makes note of the challenges faced by the University of Minnesota team, writing that the ICON house requires a different angle for the solar photovoltaic panels and overhangs to cut heat gain in the summer.
Twin Cities appliance retailer Warners' Stellian has an article on its weblog about the appliances used in the Solar Decathlon team's ICON house. Dan Handeen (Center for Sustainable Building Research) gave three Warner employees a tour of the solar house. Warners' Stellian was involved in the Solar Decathlon project and the article focuses on how well the appliances were integrated into the small kitchen space. "Perhaps the most strategic choice of appliances in the kitchen was the Wolf 30-inch induction cooktop," writes Julie Warner. "Each team competing in the Solar Decathlon must perform the same set of tasks, which mimic things people do in every day life. One task is to boil 5 pounds of water. Induction cooking is extremely efficient because energy is only supplied to the pot. And no wasted heat means water generally boils faster on induction cooking surfaces," Warner concludes.
Twin Cities Twitter, a Twitter aggregator that keeps tabs on Twin Cities tweeps, is the brainchild of Michael Fraase (Communications) and Dave Winer, a fellow at Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet & Society.
The aggregation of local Twitterers is valuable to users who often find it hard to follow those with something to say and to politicians, advertisers, and marketers, Fraase told City Pages blog The Blotter.
Local Twitterers who would like their tweets to show up on Twin Cities Twitter can send a Twitter @reply message to @mfraase requesting to be added to the list.
Making changes in neighborhoods now, such as those envisioned by the University District Alliance Vision and Planning Committee, is key to facilitating future advanced sustainability. For example, "by 2030, it is expected that there will be 25 percent more residents in the district, 31 percent more households and 15 percent more jobs," writes Brittany Storoz in Finance and Commerce.
John Carmody (Center for Sustainable Building Research) tells Storoz "though the University District will continue to boast convenience as a powerful magnet for residents, a growing interest in protecting the environment will be another strong challenge when developing a sustainable neighborhood." Early last year the Minnesota Legislature passed guidelines requiring builders and developers to reach certain renewable energy and carbon emission elimination goals by 2030. Carmody maintains that while these guidelines will eventually become mandatory, they don't ensure that everything possible is being done to meet sustainability goals. "Just because we go do these checklists does not mean we're getting to the goals and the outcomes that we want to have," Carmody told Storoz. "They're a good start ... but it doesn't mean that we're going to really affect these other issues the way we would like to."
Carmody says these initiatives seemed radical three years ago but are already being globally realized.
On September 21, 2009, the World Health Organization (WHO) called for stronger action against indoor radon, the leading cause of lung cancer among US and Canadian non-smokers. The WHO recommendation calls for lowering radon levels by one-third below current US guidance.
"The WHO recommendations more strongly emphasize the importance of radon testing by all home owners and home buyers and reduction of high concentrations of the radioactive gas," says Bill Angell (Housing Studies), president of the American Association of Radon Scientists and Technologists (AARST), in the WHO media release. "The World
Health Organization's strong stand is based upon new evidence of the risk
posed by toxic radon," added Angell from the 2009 International Radon Symposium.
Laura Musacchio (Landscape Architecture) is guest editor for a special October 2009 issue of Landscape Ecology. The theme of the issue is "The Ecology and Culture of Landscape Sustainability" and includes articles by leading landscape researchers and practitioners from China, the Netherlands, Australia, and the United States.
Media coverage of the University's Solar Decathlon effort has recently begun heating up.
On September 16, 2009, coverage of the ICON house led the Fox9 evening newscast (video). The piece focused on the energy-saving aspects of the house, including the solar-thermal system to heat water, photovoltaic roof panels to generate electricity, silicon-embedded windows on the deck, and triple-pane, electronically-charged Sage glass windows throughout the house that darken at the flip of a switch.
On September 17, 2009, MinnPost.com published Sharon Schmickle's "Chasing the sun: U of M enters energy decathlon." Schmickle points out an interesting bit about the house's roof ridge: "Because the winter sun in the Twin Cities rises only 54 degrees above the horizon, designers had to pull the ridge of the roof north, thereby expanding the surface area on the southern side for maximum efficiency of photovoltaic and solar thermal panels."
On September 18, 2009, Minnesota Public Radio broadcasted a story by Cathy Wurzer entitled "U of M hopes to win solar house competition." Wurzer notes that the fully-equipped house is "powered entirely by solar energy and is designed to use less power than it generates." Ann Johnson, project manager of the Solar Decathlon effort, tells Wurzer during a tour of the ICON house that the entire house -- including the deck -- is lit using only 500 watts of electricity.
Emigre was a cutting-edge graphic design magazine and type foundry. A total of 69 mostly irregularly produced issues of the magazine were published from 1984-2005. The first 63 issues were self-published and self-distributed. Issues 64-69 were copublished and distributed by Princeton Architectural Press. The magazine was added to the permanent collections of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, and the Design Museum in London.
The college's Goldstein Museum of Design maintains a complete set of all Emigre issues in its collection as noted by Jamirdesign.com.
Emigre is back with issue 70, which is actually a book published by Gingko Press, with a selection of reprints from past issues of the magazine.
The University's Solar Decathlon team has finished its initial assembly of the full-featured, completely solar-powered ICON house and will hold its first public viewing from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Wednesday, September 16, 2009 on the Saint Paul campus on the north side of Buford Place just east of Gortner Avenue.
The house also will be open for public tours from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. on Thursday, September 17, 2009 and Friday, September 18, 2009. Visitors are encouraged to park in the Gortner Avenue Ramp (1395 Gortner Ave., Saint Paul), follow the signs past Buford Ave. and turn right on Buford Place to reach the site.
"These public tours give the U of M community and the public a chance to see the solar house in completed form before competition," said Ann Johnson, team project manager and faculty member in civil engineering. "We can't wait to show off the results of our many months of hard work and preparation."
Bob Von Sternberg, writing in the Star Tribune, offers an overview of the public preview and the Solar Decathlon competition next month in Washington, DC.
WCCO's Darcy Pohland reports on the greenness of the TCF Bank Stadium, on the verge of becoming the first LEED-certified football stadium in the US. Jason Lamers (BED, 2007; MLA, 2009) designed an eco-friendly storm water drainage system for the stadium. "We're routing it into a half-acre of turf grass," Lamers told Pohland. "In this turf grass we have the capacity to store 132,000 gallons of water."
UMNews has a video about the stadium's storm water management system and additional information about the stadium's LEED certification.
Lucy Dunne's (Apparel Design) work is featured in the Fall 2009 issue of SWE, the magazine of the Society of Women Engineers. The article, entitled "Function Meets Brainwaves," discusses three women working in wearable computing, including Dunne's current smart clothing research.
The Goldstein Museum of Design will host "Good Design: Stories from Herman Miller," a traveling exhibit featuring the work of furniture maker and designer Herman Miller Inc. Pieces on display include the first George Nelson marshmallow sofa, potato chip chairs, and the famous Aeron desk chair.
Visitors attending the show will also have the opportunity to view sketches, production notes, models, prototypes, and original examples of Herman Miller's work from the past 80 years. The aim of the exhibit is to "help others see how design can be very much about economic gains, how it can be about developing your market," John R. Berry, an author and guest curator of the exhibit, told Associated Press writer James Prichard.
The show opened Aug. 21, 2009, at the Muskegon Museum of Art in Muskegon, MI, and runs there through early November. The traveling version of the show opens at the Goldstein on Nov. 21, 2009, and will run until March 8, 2010, before it makes its way to several other art and design museums, including the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, NY, and the San Francisco Museum of Craft + Design.
Related articles: Associated Press, Merced Sun-Star, The Grand Rapids Press, UnBeige
The Rapson Hall solar panels are mentioned in an EarthFirst spotlight on the University of Minnesota's sustainability efforts, including requiring all new construction and renovation to meet sustainability guidelines.
Dean Tom Fisher was cited in Brian Johnson's article, "Minneapolis church celebrates historic landmark designation," for Finance and Commerce, a business daily serving Minnesota.
In the article, Fisher discusses Christ Lutheran Church, a building dating back to the late 1940s that was recently selected as one of nine new National Historic Landmarks by the U.S. Department of the Interior. "Like many churches, they have their challenges in terms of maintaining their buildings," Fisher tells Johnson. "We are hoping this attention will help this community recognize the value of this building, and make sure we all - whether we are members of that church or not - take care of it."
The church's sanctuary was designed by Finnish-American architect Eliel Saarinen in 1949, and his son, Eero, designed the education wing which opened in 1962. In all, there are fewer than 2,500 sites in the United States designated with a "National Landmark" title, according to the Department of the Interior.
Mary Pappajohn, a 1955 graduate of the College of Home Economics with a degree in related art, and her husband, John, have funded a new sculpture park in Des Moines, Iowa.
The John and Mary Pappajohn Sculpture Park will encompass 4.4 acres in the heart of downtown Des Moines, and will feature 24 pieces donated to the Des Moines Art Center by the Pappajohns.
Built within an urban setting, the park will add to the continued revitalization efforts of the surrounding neighborhood, and "will contribute to the dynamism of the city and add a new dimension of the museum experience," Jeff Fleming, director of the Des Moines Art Center, said.
Mary is a University of Minnesota Alumni Association life member, and she, along with John, have provided significant scholarship support to Design, Housing, and Apparel (DHA) students over the past nine years. Additionally, the Pappajohns are avid art collectors, and in 2003, were named among the top 200 art collectors in the world by Art News magazine.
Related: Des Moines Art Center to Open New Sculpture Park in Heart of Downtown Des Moines in August 2009, Art Daily
Pioneer Press writer Allison Kaplan features Margot Siegel and the new Goldstein Museum of Design exhibit, "Intersections: Where Art Meets Fashion," in her article "Margot Siegel is one designing woman who went straight for the art."
In the article, Siegel tells Kaplan, "A lot of fashions end up being more important historically than in a fashion sense. They tell you what we were like at that moment in time."
Many of Siegel's personal items inspired and are featured in the exhibit, including a Campbell's soup "Souper Dress" and one of pop-artist Andy Warhol's famous "Marilyn" paintings.
The exhibit runs through November 1.
"Speaking of cutting-edge residential design, the ICON Solar House, designed and constructed by a large, interdisciplinary team of University of Minnesota students, will soon be making its way to Washington, DC, for the prestigious Solar Decathlon competition. We take you inside the two-year project," Camille Lefevre writes in the September/October 2009 issue of Architecture MN, a publication of the American Institute of Architects Minnesota.
The article is not available online.
Jason Lamers (BED '07, MLA '09) and Mark Apfelbacher (MLA '09) of Rehbein Environmental Solutions, Inc. (RESI) recently worked on implementing a storm water runoff system for the new TCF Bank Stadium.
The stadium's plaza will double as a storm water filter, and will employ the use of an underground filtration system rather than a holding pond. 
Above: CDes alumni Mark Apfelbacher and Jason Lamers.
"The EPIC (Environmental Passive Integrated Chamber) System can be designed to hold rain water or pump water from the stored water tanks that could be in the bottom drainage area before being discharged via the under drain system," Apfelbacher said.
Continue reading "Landscape arch alumni help plan storm water system for TCF Bank Stadium" »
Lonnie Broden (DHA) and her artwork are profiled by Karlee Weinmann in the Star Tribune. Broden will participate in the Uptown Art Fair for the first time this year and one of her pieces has been selected as this year's commemorative print.
Billy Weber (Center for Sustainable Building Research) is featured in a documentary on innovative housing projects around the state of Minnesota. The documentary will be broadcast on Twin Cities Public Television on August 23, 2009, 7 p.m. Weber was interviewed about his work at the Viking Terrace Apartments in Worthington.
The Goldstein Museum of Design has received a $150,000 Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) grant. The grant in the collections stewardship category is for the "Design for Everyone: Increasing Access to Collections" project. It will be used to develop a new collections database with digital photographs for an online resource.
The Goldstein also received the 2010 Institutional Support grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board (MSAB).
Wartime has, in the past, heavily influenced fashion in the US, but this doesn't seem to have been the case with the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The two current wars "have not been impactful," Kathleen Campbell (Goldstein Museum of Design) tells Associated Press fashion writer Samantha Critchell. Campbell says the impression may change with perspective: "I think we're too close to analyze the effects now," she tells Critchell. "It's much easier to see in retrospect." Campbell offers an example when she says, "I have often thought in these past few years, if Yves Saint Laurent was still alive and designing, he'd take the beautiful Afghani layered looks and interpret them beautifully on the runway. They wear a tunic over pants, a vest over tunic -- it's really quite beautiful and I don't think anyone has really picked up on that."
This AP story was also picked up by the San Francisco Chronicle and the Detroit Free Press.
The Solar Decathlon is highlighted in a feature in the Minnesota Daily written by Katherine Lymn. Architecture graduate students Shengyin Xu and Jake Wollensak are both cited in the article.
While the Brave New Workshop may make fun of sustainability in its new show, "The Brave New Workshop Saves the Planet, or Yes We Can, But Do We Have To?," the comedy troupe is serious about greening its own activities. So reports Gradyon Royce for the Star Tribune. College of Design graduate student group, Greenlight, was brought in to "shake out inefficiencies" in the Brave New Workshop's Minneapolis building. Graduate students Katie Dale and Amber Sausen bartered for improvisational training. "Zero waste was a key principle," writes Royce. "So when office walls were torn down to allow more flexibility and natural light, the studs and paneling were used to build tables and bookcases."
Star Tribune writer Kristin Tillotson profiles the current exhibition at the Goldstein Museum of Design, Intersections: Where Art Meets Fashion, and Margot Siegel, who inspired the exhibition. "Fashion has always had a place in art," Siegel tells Tillotson in her piece, "Pop art meets fashion." "You look at a Sargent painting and remember how beautifully the subjects are dressed. Art has a place in fashion, too. You read profiles of designers and they're always saying they were influenced by so and so, the artist. They say that Dior used to check which colors a painter friend of his was using and then use the same ones in his collection that season."
Barbara Heinemann (Ph.D. DHA, 2008), co-curator of the exhibition, who has recently finished a dissertation on Siegel is also cited: "In the age of pop art, a dress could just be a dress, and speak for itself without all these layers of identity. The think she's [Siegel] proudest of is her ability to pick out, in the art world, what was going to be important before it was, like Warhol."
Siegel has lent one of Andy Warhol's "Marilyn" portraits to the Goldstein exhibition. Speaking of the pop artist, Siegel told Tillotson, "When Warhol came along, my friends said, 'How can you like this artist? Soup cans?' I told them he was the artist journalist of the '60s. What others said with words, he said with pictures."
Several College of Design faculty members are recipients of 2009 Imagine Fund awards:
The Imagine Fund, created with a major McKnight Foundation gift with additional support from the Graduate School and the Office of the Vice President for Research, is an annual $1.3 million program supporting faculty in the arts, humanities, and design, regardless of rank or tenure status. The fund provides up to 250 awards of $3,000, which recipients can use to enhance their research or teaching.
Placing trees strategically around buildings can save up to 56% of air conditioning costs while also reducing storm-water runoff and removing carbon dioxide according to the US Department of Agriculture Forest Service. In locations where it's impractical to plant trees, or in cases of less mature plants (it can take up to 15 years to realize benefits from newly planted trees) fabric awnings and canopies are an energy-saving alternative.
"Energy efficiency is really the number one concern with green or sustainable buildings, and awnings can directly affect energy use by simply blocking the sun," according to John Carmody (Center for Sustainable Building Research) cited in a Professional Awning Manufacturers Association (PAMA) media release. "Heat gain through the windows is one of the main reasons why buildings need air conditioners.... We found that awnings make quite a difference in the cooling energy equation. In some climates you can save 20 to 25 percent of your cooling energy just by using awnings."
To promote the benefits of adding awnings to landscape designs, PAMA, a division of the Industrial Fabrics Association International, launched the Design with awnings Web site.
Architecture graduate student Shengyin Xu gave WCCO-TV anchor Don Shelby a tour of the University's entry into the Solar Decathlon competition. The competition, sponsored by the US Department of Energy, pits entries from 20 universitites from all over the world to see which one can create the best solar house. This year is the first time the University has competed.
"What we did was we worked with all the engineers, the architects, designers and came up with a shape that integrates both aesthetics and function," Xu told Shelby, "So the shape is actually a great shape for collecting solar power."
The University of Minnesota Foundation has produced a video profile of architect Bill Pedersen (BArch, 1961), including an interview with Dean Tom Fisher (Architecture). Pedersen is designing the University's Science Teaching and Student Services building currently under construction overlooking the Mississippi River on the East Bank.
Other notable Pedersen designs include the Shanghai World Financial Center, 333 Wacker Drive in Chicago, the Procter & Gamble World Headquarters, the World Bank in Washington, DC, and the Gannet/USA Today Headquarters in Virginia.
The Foundation has also published the Pedersen profile in Legacy, it's print magazine for University donors and friends.
College of Design students are participating in the Solar Decathlon, a US Department of Energy competition between 19 universities to design and construct a solar-powered house. The effort was profiled by Tim Post for Minnesota Public Radio today. Solar panels built into the roof of the student-designed solar house generates more power than it uses, adding power to the grid during the day and taking power from the grid when the sun goes down. "We're still working on getting the materials to frame out the roof, so what you see is the lower half of the house," Architecture graduate student Shengyin Xu told Post.
Adam Overland, writing for the University's Web site, has published a feature on Dean Tom Fisher's (Architecture) new book, Architectural Design and Ethics: Tools for Survival. Overland's feature, entitled "Design for the other 100 percent," examines Fisher's take on various "fracture critical" systems that have recently collapsed, including the I-35W bridge, the US auto industry, and the US banking system. "I look at ethics as a survival tool, not as something to moralize about," Fisher tells Overland. "We have to enter into anything that we depend on for our very survival with the idea that there is a high likelihood that something will go wrong... we need to build resiliency back into the systems."
Dean Tom Fisher (Architecture) served as an advisor to the Minnesota Orchestral Association's search for an architect to design a rennovation of Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis. The Orchestra selected Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects (KPMB) for the project. "KPMB has a gerat deal of experience in performing arts facilities, especially in adding to and renovating existing buildings," Fisher told the Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal.
Gina Czupka, writing for examiner.com, calls the Goldstein Museum of Design a "hidden gem." Referring to the current exhibition, "Expressions of Stability and Change: Ethnic Dress and Folk Costume," Czupka writes, "seeing these clothes and the intricate workmanship and symbolism that imbue them with meaning is a great inspiration for travel."
The Univeristy's comedy team recently won Rooftop Comedy's 2009 National College Competition. Andy Erikson (BS Graphic Design, 2009) was named the team's MVP. In 2008, Erikson won Rooftop Comedy's Rusty Nail Award. Erikson tells the Pioneer Press she'll spend most of July in San Francisco at a Rooftop Comedy internship.
John Carmody (Center for Sustainable Building Research) has published a viewpoint (scroll down) in the May-August 2009 issue of momentum magazine, published by the University's Institute on the Environment. Carmody writes about the need to extend LEED to "focus on real performance metrics and outcomes, not just on best practices." He cites Sustainable Building 2030 and Architecture 2030 which aim to get to net-zero carbon or net-zero energy buildings by 2030 on the state and national levels, respectively.
Dean Tom Fisher (Architecture) has published "Our Fracture-Critical World" in the May-August 2009 issue of momentum magazine, published by the University's Institute on the Environment.
Fisher writes that recent collapses -- from the I-35W bridge to the global banking system -- could be avoided in the future if we better understand how ecosystems work. Elements of an ecosystem "can become so interconnected and efficient that the ecosystem can lose its resilience and rapidly decline," writes Fisher.
The article is an abbreviation of a chapter of Fisher's forthcoming book on the I-35W bridge collapse, to be published by the University of Minnesota Press in spring 2010.
Ever wonder how the garments donated to the Goldstein Museum of Design are restored for exhibition? Mostly the work is done by Stillwater restoration specialist Duane Schumann, of Treasured Garment Restoration, who's profiled by Mary Divine in the Pioneer Press.
Mpls St Paul magazine says "you'll feel virtuous while ogling the gorgeous clothes" at the current Goldstein Museum of Design exhibition, Expressions of Stability and Change: Ethnic Dress and Folk Costume.
Clint Hewitt (Landscape Architecture) is featured on the University's home page for his service of almost three decades as the University's associate vice president for campus master planning. Hewitt will be retiring in September. "He is quick to point out his admiration for the U's visionaries of yesteryear," writes Rick Moore. "Including the famous architect Cass Gilbert (who originally conceptualized Northrop Mall), Anthony Morell and Arthur Nichols (the landscape architects who brought it to life), and landscape architect H. W. S. Cleveland, who believed that the physical landscape of a campus was of critical importance for students—a vision Hewitt seems to have channeled."
Leonard Parker (BArch, 1948; Architecture, retired) was featured on Minnesota Public Radio's (MPR) Midday program earlier today. The segment, "Remembering D-Day," examines the upcoming 65th anniversary of the allied landing at Normandy, France and includes the narration of a letter written by Parker, who helped liberate Dachau. Parker was on the faculty of the School of Architecture for more than 30 years, worked with Eero Sarinen, and established The Leonard Parker Associates (now known as PDI World Group) in Minneapolis in 1958.
The University's Solar Decathlon team, which includes students from various College of Design programs, hosted a preview event today, May 27, 2009, 12:15 p.m., at the ReUse Center. Faculty and student project leaders led a guided tour for members of the Solar Decathlon Advisory Board and media. The Advisory Board includes local business leaders -- from companies such as 3M, Mortenson Construction, and the Science Museum of Minnesota -- that have donated money, time, and construction materials.
"The construction process is well underway, and we're eager to show off what we have completed so far," Ann Johnson, faculty project manager, told Ryan Maus of the University News Service. "We believe our house has a good chance to place highly come October, and none of this would have been possible without the generous support of these local organizations. We're happy to give them a 'sneak peek' as the competition grows closer."
Dean Tom Fisher (Architecture) will be a guest on Minnesota Public Radio's (MPR) "Mid Morning" program on Thursday, May 28, 2009, 10:30 a.m. Fisher will examine technology and living space within the broader discussion of homes of the future.
Marc Swackhamer (Architecture) and his HouMinn practice partner Blair Satterfield have entered their design for Draft House to Hometta. Hometta is a company founded by a Houston real estate developer and builder that commissions and sells plans for "compact, sustainable homes designed by leading modern architects," according to Dwell magazine.
The home plans will cost up to a few thousand dollars -- structure sizes are capped at 2,500 square feet -- and Hometta will pay the original designer a royalty for each plan sold. According to Dwell, that represents a significant savings over the customary 10%-15% of construction cost fees for an original design.
Hometta will be at Dwell on Design 09 in Los Angeles, June 26-28, 2009.
Jeanne Schacht (Communications) co-teaches the Magazine Editing and Production class in the University's School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Her students' magazine, Mettle, is currently featured on the University's home page.
Fashion historian Kathleen Campbell (Goldstein Museum of Design) is featured in a UMNews video interview on Michelle Obama's fashion choices, her impact on the US fashion industry, and the importance of Vogue editor Anna Wintour choosing Obama for the March cover of the magazine.
The Mrs. O weblog cites the Campbell video and credits Michelle Obama for "the potential 'dressing up' of our country’s increasingly casual approach to dress."
Vladowsky's Choice weblog also cites the Campbell video.
An upcoming Goldstein Museum of Design exhibition, Intersections: Where Art and Fashion Meet, is featured on The Curated Object. The exhibition, which runs from July 11-November 1, 2009, is inspired by University alumna Margot Siegel and features works of art from her personal collection and designer fashions from the Goldstein's collection. Siegel was one of the founders of the Friends of the Goldstein and currently serves on the College of Design's Advisory Board.
A letter by Lance Neckar (Landscape Arch) published in the Friday, May 8, 2009, Star Tribune advocates for the metro area to get its fair share of the funding Minnesota citizens voted for in fall 2008 elections to save natural land and water.
"Some assume that 'natural areas' only exist in rural areas," LA department head Neckar wrote. "Many are surprised to learn there are 255,000 acres of high-quality natural land in the seven-county metro area -- wetlands, forests and grasslands."
A cross-disciplinary team of University students tasked with designing and building a fully-functioning solar-powered house have, after 15 months of planning, entered the construction phase of the project. The Solar Decathlon team will re-build the house on the National Mall in October, competing with 19 other universities on all aspects of the project -- from communications to interior design.
Conor Shine, writing for the Minnesota Daily, provides an update on the progress of the team, which hopes to have the house finished by July 1, 2009 for campus display in August. "Construction manager Craig Hohensee said when completed the house will cover 800-square feet and will include a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, living room, and porch. The house is being constructed in three modules to make it easier to transport to Washington," writes Shine.
After the three-week competition in Washington, DC, the house will be placed in UMore Park. Ann Johnson (Civil Engineering), the team's project manager, told Shine that the student team focused on making the house's design look like it could fit in most neighborhoods.
One of the more interesting aspects of the house is its integrated solar system. Because the house was designed from scratch, electrical engineering graduate student Brian Henke told Shine, "the team has been able to build the panels into the roof instead of mounting them on brackets."
The Daily story was subsequently picked up by Fox News.
Additional coverage, all sourced from the Associated Press's "U of M students team sprint to finish solar house:"
Richard Koshalek (B.A. Arch, 1965, MA Art History), the new director of the Hirshhorn Museum, was profiled by Blake Gopnik in the April 29, 2009 issue of the Washington Post. "The 67-year-old chuckles at the memory of guerrilla shows he organized, way back when he was an architecture student at the University of Minnesota, that were so 'edgy and controversial' that he refuses to divulge what they were," writes Gopnik.
Niels Diffrient's lecture at the College of Design is featured in the April 27, 2009 issue of OfficeInsight's weekly newsletter (.pdf; 2.2Mb). "The hour-long session detailed Mr. Diffrient's career, including his time with Henry Dreyfuss Associates where he designed John Deere tractors, the AT&T Trimline phone, Polaroid Instamatic cameras, and aircraft interiors and corporate identity elements -- still in use today -- for American Airlines," writes OfficeInsight.
Richard Murphy (Landscape Architecture; BLA, BED, 1975) -- a member of the College of Design's advisory board -- and his company, Murphy Warehouse Company, are featured in Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak's weblog article, "Green jobs on black pavement." On Earth Day, 2009, Murphy was rolling out a new system using engineering and prairie plantings to keep stormwater runoff on his company's site instead of flowing into the Mississippi River.
"The event showed me again that the real frontier of the GreenMovement is in the workplace," writes Rybak. "Enlightened companies like Murphy can show we can grow the economy AND protect our planet. And in doing it they create new green jobs for the growing number of companies who help Murphy and others make these changes."
Karl Frankowski's (BS Graphic Design, 2002) video, ID processes: Rapid Prototyping, is featured on both industrial design Web site Core77 and on boingboing Gadgets. Frankowski's video explains rapid prototyping processes for industrial designers and was originally shot for the 2007 Goldstein Museum of Design exhibition, Here by Design 3 (scroll about halfway down the page).
College of Design student group Greenlight has been offering "Greenscreen," weekly environmental film screenings on Wednesdays since March 2009. The group and its film screenings are featured in "Earth Day meets the U" by Elizabeth Sias in the Minnesota Daily.
"New norm" is a multimedia presentation on the University's home page profiling seven nontraditional students across the institution who are pursuing degrees in different ways. Graphic Design junior Eduardo Cortes came to Minnesota from Mexico three years ago and was recently accepted into the School of Journalism to study advertising as a minor. Cortes works as a guide at the Goldstein Museum of Design (and worked on the museum's new logo) and as a translator at the Jane Addams School. He hopes to either pursue a graduate degree or move back to Mexico upon graduation.
Dean Abbott (Landscape Architecture) is cited in an article in the October 2008 issue of Landscape Architecture magazine on a project he did while at Lawrence Halprin Associates, a concept and design for Main Street in Charlottesville, VA.
Abbott was also featured in the April 2009 issue of Landscape Architecture magazine with a two-page spread on his process hand drawings.
The Morris Sun Tribune reports speakers from the College of Design's Center for Sustainable Building Research (CSBR) "will discuss green building techniques and programs, opportunities for local economic development, and ways to reduce the negative impacts of building construction" in Morris, MN on Earth Day, April 22, 2009.
Expressions of Stability and Change, on view in the Goldstein Museum Gallery until June 14, will be included in the May/June 2009 issue of Piecework Magazine.
C1993.022.001
Bethlehem Dress
Made in first half of 20th century
Palestine: Bethlehem
Hand-woven cotton and silk with embroidery and applique
Collection of Goldstein Museum of Design
Gift of Jean (Mrs. Arthur) Oberg
Tom Elko, writing for the Minnesota Independent, reports that the superstructure of the new I-35W bridge in downtown Minneapolis is composed of 25 percent coal fly ash, a byproduct of coal-fired electrical generation. Fly ash has a reputation as a green building material because it can be used in place of Portland cement, which is notorious for using huge amounts of energy and releasing large amounts of CO2 during its production.
"If you use a 25 percent fly ash content instead of the standard nine percent, you get an 11 percent reduction in CO2 emissions," Dan Handeen (Center for Sustainable Building Research) tells Elko. "A fly ask content of 35 percent reduces CO2 potential 21 percent."
But coal fly ash contains toxins -- including arsenic, dioxins, lead, and mercury -- which may be of concern.
Handeen tells Elko that, "There are tradeoffs to anything: there's no perfect material. Fly ash, in a way, is still solving a symptom. In one sense, yes, you're using up this waste material. In another way it's justifying the burning of coal as a fuel source. Until we find better ways to produce energy, it is a good use of the byproducts."
Diane Hovey (MS DHA, 1993) and her wheelchair-bound daughter, Sonia, were profiled in the Pioneer Press by Megan Boldt. Sonia suffered severe brain damage when she was 14 months old and Diane set out to write a fairy tale based on her daughter. The fairy tale was recently published as Princess Sophia's Gifts.
Pauline Oo, writing for UMNews, covers the current Goldstein Museum of Design exhibition, Expressions of Stability and Change: Ethnic Dress and Folk Costume, in an article entitled "Identity in clothes." An "outfit from Mexico, which supposedly tells the story about magical leaves, flowers, and feathers swooping in to protect a princess's modesty after an admirer chances upon her bathing," Oo writes, "is one of 30 ensembles of ethnic dress and folk costumes chosen to represent how apparel is used a a form of cultural expression and unification." The exhibition runs in the Goldstein through June 14.
Dean Tom Fisher (Architecture) will participate in the Expanding Architecture: Design as Activism panel discussion taking place today, Thursday, March 19, 2009 at 6 p.m. at the Steelcase WorkLife Center at the Chicago Merchandise Mart. The event is free and open to the public, but registration is required and seating is limited.
Rosalie Cooke, writing in Art You Wear, (scroll down) covers the current exhibition at the Goldstein Museum of Design, Expressions of Stability and Change: Ethnic Dress and Folk Costume. "Garment ensembles from Bhutan, India, Afghanistan, China, Somalia, Cameroon, Egypt, Norway, Portugal, Laos, Mexico, Guatemala, and other countries to illustrate how traditional costume is used as a form of cultural expression and unification." The exhibition runs through June 14, 2009.
Expressions of Stability and Change: Ethnic Dress and Folk Costume, the current exhibit at the college's Goldstein Museum of Design is featured on The Curated Object Web site. The exhibit runs through June 14, 2009.
John Carmody (Center for Sustainable Building Research) is cited in Ryan Schuster's article for Prairie Business Magazine, about the advantages and disadvantages of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification for regional projects. "It is unclear whether LEED will be the dominant standard in the future or if competitors will emerge addressing regional and other issues," Carmody told Schuster. "One important trend is the need to move from strictly point-based rating systems toward requiring performance-based outcomes. Architecture 2030 is an example of this where there is a specific metric that must be met for energy and carbon emissions. Another trend will place greater emphasis on actual performance during operation, not just the design phase. LEED and other guidelines and rating systems are all adapting to address these issues."
John Dwyer (B.Arch. 1996, M.Arch. 2002) is profiled by Linda Mack in the March 7, 2009 issue of the Star Tribune. Dwyer has most recently been in East Biloxi, MS where he's been building six sustainable model homes developed by Architecture for Humanity. Since Hurricane Katrina hit the gulf coast almost four years ago, Dwyer has taken Architecture students to New Orleans to build a gallery for two photographers in the city's Ninth Ward, led a community design center, and has overseen delivery of the Clean Hub, a shipping container that he and his students retrofitted for solar energy and rainwater collection.
Dean Tom Fisher (Architecture) is quoted in Mack's article, saying, "John's a really good model for our students. He learned that you can transform the world: Just start doing it."
Expressions of Stability and Change: Ethnic Dress and Folk Costume, the current exhibit at the college's Goldstein Museum of Design is featured on the Twin Cities Fine Arts Organization Web site (scroll down; second from bottom). The exhibit runs through June 14, 2009.
"Since this is the first time that friends and family will see [the last four years of work]," apparel design senior Tessa Druley told the MN Daily, "everyone wants everything to be perfect." As a result, several of the seniors were still sewing garments hours before the show's opening. Each student presented four garments in the show.
Missy Bye (Apparel Design) told the student paper, "I'm delighted. This show will be the best so far. The bar keeps raising [each year], and the students rise to meet it again and again."
Sustainable design is becoming an important part of the architecture curriculum and throughout the College of Design's course offerings. The School of Architecture's graduate sustainability track is one of the first in the US. "We talk about sustainability in various coursework throughout every program in the college because the design disciplines are responsible and have such an impact on the environment, Dean Tom Fisher (Architecture) told Connor Shine writing for the MN Daily. Fisher went on to say that sustainability is "probably the single biggest area of student interest in the college," and said the college is pushing a holistic approach to sustainability.
Senior architecture student Brad Gelschus is also quoted in the article, telling Shine, "If we formulate a plan to reduce heating and cooling costs, then building can be an effective way to reduce a lot of our energy consumption."
Russell Huffer, chairman and chief executive of Apogee Enterprises, Inc., cited a book co-authored by John Carmody (Center for Sustainable Building Research) in his keynote address to the Building Envelope Contractors Conference on February 17, 2009. Huffer cited Carmody's co-authored book, Window Systems for High Performance Buildings, as providing crucial evidence that greater use of daylighting is one of the most effective ways to reduce energy use in commercial buildings. "Using coated, insulating glass that manages both the light and heat has a big impact on reducing energy consumption," Huffer said. "It can reduce lighting, heating and air conditioning consumption in a typical commercial building by over 25 percent compared to single-pane uncoated glass."
Camille LeFevre, writing for MinnPost.com, covers tonight's discussion between John Carmody, director, and William Weber, senior research fellow, Center for Sustainable Building Research, "Sustainable Housing: Research and Practice."
"According to 'The Green House: New Directions in Sustainable Architecture & Design,' a panel exhibition in Rapson Hall until March 8, 'the mainstreaming of sustainable design' has occurred..." writes LeFevre. "Now, there's no disputing we've all become more eco-conscious since 2006, when the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., opened the full version of this eco-exhibition (the one at the University of Minnesota is a traveling panel show) to critical and popular acclaim."
The discussion on sustainable housing design is free and open to the public and takes place Monday, February 23, 2009, at 6 p.m., in 100 Rapson Hall.
Exposed: 41st Annual Clothing Design Senior Fashion Show is highlighted in a UMNews media release. Twelve student designers will present their original collections during two separate exhibitions, at 5:30 and 8:00 p.m., Saturday, February 21, 2009 in the Rapson Hall courtyard. The exhibitions will feature office wear, avant-garde designs, sustainable clothing, and theater costumes. The event also features a standing exhibition of work by the sophomore class and a pre-runway show from the junior class. Advance-sale tickets are no longer available, but will be available at the door.
"I'm not convinced that sustainable design is, in any meaningful way, mainstream yet." That's one of the eye-openers in Camille LeFevre's essay for mnartists.org, "'The Green House' -- Not Quite Mainstream (But Getting Closer.)" Yet, she goes on to note, "Sure, my uncle built an adobe house of mud bricks. Two friends have installed energy-efficient furnaces. Various neighbors now heat with wood, have added insulation, installed double-paned windows, started composting, use low-flow plumbing, have native plantings, rain gardens and vegetable plots. And who hasn’t replaced their light bulbs?"
The Green House: New Directions in Sustainable Architecture & Design runs through March 8, 2009 in Rapson Hall's HGA Gallery.
The current Goldstein Museum of Design exhibition, "Expressions of Stability and Change: Ethnic Dress and Folk Costume," is selected as one of Secrets of the City's Today's Secrets for February 10, 2009 (scroll down to last item).
Renee Cheng (Architecture) and president, American Institute of Architects (AIA) Minnesota has written the lead article (.pdf; 1.2Mb) in the February 2009 issue of AIA Minnesota's newsletter, Matrix. In the article, entitled "Rethinking, Renewing," Cheng notes the three profound changes that have confronted the architecture profession in the past eight years: the shift to sustainable design; the acknowledgement of integrated project delivery; and the current volatile economy.
Kristin Tillotson, writing for the Star Tribune previews the Goldstein Museum of Design exhibition, "Expressions of Stability and Change: Ethnic Dress and Folk Costume," opening Saturday, February 7, 2009. An opening party is being held on Friday, February 6, 2009, 7-9 p.m., at the Goldstein.
Tasoulla Hadjiyanni (Interior Design) and her family were forced to flee their home in Cyprus during the 1974 Turkish invasion. The experience informs Hadjiyanni's research of housing needs of Minnesota's immigrants. "The Twin Cities has three times the national average of refugees," Hadjiyanni tells the Star Tribune's Kim Palmer. "I started to study how living in a typical American home can impact refugees' adjustment." As a result, Hadjiyani challenged her students to design homes to meet immigrant needs. The students' designs will be part of the "Building Ties '09: Culturally Sensitive Housing Design for Mexican and Somali" exhibition opening next week at the Hennepin History Museum. The exhibition runs February 8-March 8, 2009. An opening reception will be held February 8, 2009, 1-3 p.m.
The Twin Cities Fine Arts Organization (scroll down) has recognized the College of Design's current exhibition in Rapson Hall's HGA Gallery, The Green House: New Directions in Sustainable Architecture & Design. The exhibition runs now through March 8, 2009.
The Minnesota Department of Health earlier this month reported that 150 surgical mixups have taken place across the state since 2003. Multiple measures have been taken to curb such incidents, including requiring surgical teams to remove a "timeout" towel covering their instruments before performing a surgery. The towel is meant to remind the team to make sure they're doing the correct procedure on the correct patient.
Maura Lerner, writing for the Star Tribune reports that researchers from the College of Design's Center for Design in Health "observed more than 50 operations at eight Minnesota hospitals to study the 'timeout' ritual." The findings were alarming: "'in most cases,' staffers simply ignored the timeout or went about their work, rendering the exercise virtually meaningless," Lerner reports.
Kathleen Harder (Center for Design in Health) led the center's study and told Lerner, "I think there was an underlying assumption that it was functioning just fine. But it was not effective.... There's this idea out there, that I'm doing my best to refute, that multitasking in complex systems is something we can do. It simply isn't the case." Hence the timeout towel. Harder says it serves as a memory trigger. "It signals to the surgeon that this is something they need to do," Harder told Lerner.
"For Mary Guzowski (Architecture), painting is an opportunity to witness and engage the changing qualities and moods of the seasons. They are intended to capture an ever changing spirit and quality of time and place. For Virajita Singh (Center for Sustainable Building Research), the art of drawing objects from the nature gives a sense of spiritual link between human existence and nature." That's the Agweek.com events calendar on Horizons: Paintings by Mary Guzowski; Nature's Wonders: Drawings by Virajita Singh, the exhibition that opens today and runs through Thursday, April 30, 2009 in the Architecture and Landscape Architecture Library in Rapson Hall.
Architecture MN checked in with the new College of Design in its Jan/Feb 09 issue. It found students and faculty eagerly embracing the many new opportunities for interdisciplinary study and collaboration.
The eight-plus page spread includes sidebars on the solar decathlon, the Malawi learning abroad project, a list of departments and centers, and a day-in-the-life of B.A. in Architecture student Jessica Haverstock.
The college's Center for Sustainable Building Research (CSBR) is featured in a Sustainable Design Forum article entitled "The greening of architectural education."
In May 2007, authors of the Locus Architecture Blog travelled with 10 College of Design students on a design/build project for a park pavilion in Biloxi, MS. The purpose of the design was "to provide shade, the most coveted physical commodity in coastal Mississippi" after Hurricane Katrina.
Tony Angelo notes on minn-Donkey that the college's Center for Sustainable Building Research (CSBR) is deeply involved with implementation of the Minnesota Sustainable Building 2030 law. The law requires that all new and renovated buildings that receive state funding be designed and built to progressively reduce fossil fuel inputs so as to be carbon neutral by 2030.
Angelo analyzes the problems inherent in the voluntary compliance and patchwork nature of the state's legislation.
Dean Tom Fisher is cited in a Linda Mack article in the Star Tribune profiling architecture firm Vincent James and Associates (VJAA). Fisher, noting that the firm is better known outside of Minnesota, told Mack that the VJAA-designed student center at the American University in Beirut had already become "part of the essential fabric" of the city. "Part of their genius is finding such clear ideas that it makes their work seem inevitable," said Fisher.
Alumni Jennifer Yoos (B.Arch 1995) and Nathan Knutson (M.Arch 1995) are also featured in the article.
Brian Johnson, writing in Finance and Commerce, provides an overview of the Solar Decathlon, a competition sponsored by the US Department of Energy to design and build a solar-powered house on the National Mall.
Experts will judge the houses based on market viability, architecture, engineering, communications, energy balance, and other factors.
Architecture student Shengyin Xu, the team's project manager, tells Johnson that a "core group of students has been working hard on the house plans throughout the school year and summer, putting at least 20 hours a week into the effort." Xu adds that her team is incorporating a lot of technology in their effort, including using highly efficient solar panels that are "embedded in the envelope of the house and in the exterior cladding."
Keith Hovis, writing for the Minnesota Daily, quotes Virajita Singh (Center for Sustainable Building Research) on efficient renewable energy research discussed at the fifth annual E3: Premier Energy, Economic, and Environmental Conference this week in Saint Paul: "Early on it seemed like you had to make a case, propose an economic argument rather than an environmental argument, now it is changing," Singh told Hovis. "[G]iven the economic downturn, how are we going to continue our aggressive efforts?"
"Designing for Good"
By Mary Winstead, Legacy, Fall 2008
Design in the 21st century, Winstead writes, is a "socially conscious discipline that is aiming to improve quality of life, solve problems of global significance, and sustain a healthier world."
Winstead focuses on the college's involvement in the Solar Decathlon, led by architecture student Shengyin Xu; the Metropolitan Design Center's Direct Design Assistance (DDA) program; and the work of architecture students and faculty in the Gulf Coast area following Hurricane Katrina (including a narrated slide show about architecture teaching assistant Catherine Sandlund's efforts).
Sum of the Parts: Surface Design Association Membership Exhibition 2007, the upcoming exhibit at the college's Goldstein Museum of Design is featured on the Twin Cities Fine Arts Organization Web site (scroll down). The exhibit runs November 22, 2008-January 18, 2009.
"Good Question: Are Homes Built Tough Enough?"
By Jason DeRusha, WCCO-TV, May 27, 2008
When a tornado struck Hugo last spring, destroying more than 50 homes, WCCO's Jason DeRusha interviewed Steve Weeks (Architecture) about the build quality of metro-area homes. "People are accustomed to building in a certain way," Weeks said. "And maybe that way needs to adjust." Weeks noted that newer developments don't have mature trees that absorb some of the energy in wind storms.
In Minnesota, the residential building code calls for builders to make a house's roof strong enough to handle a "90 mile per hour updraft of a three second burst," Weeks told DeRusha. The commercial building code is stronger. DeRusha asked if houses could be built to withstand 150 mile per hour winds. "Yes you could," replied Weeks. "But you couldn't afford the extra engineering that would go into it."
"Storm windows may address single pane woes"
By Anne Vazquez, Today's Facility Manager, October 2008
Research from the Efficient Windows Collaborative, part of the College of Design's Center for Sustainable Building Research, is cited in this Today's Facility Manager article. The Efficient Windows Collaborative defines a window's U-factor as a "measure of the rate of non-solar heat loss or gain through a material or assembly...." The lower a window's U-factor, the better it's insulating value.
"Public-Interest Architecture"
By Kristi Cameron, Martin Pedersen, and Stephen Zacks, Metropolismag.com, October 15, 2008
Dean Tom Fisher is credited with coining the term "public-interest architecture" as the practice of architecture intended to improve conditions through localized, independent, small-scale efforts. These projects are beginning to be recognized in exhibitions including the Cooper-Hewitt's Design for the Other 90% and Into the Open: Positioning Practice at the US pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale. The article package is a collection of how-to pieces by leaders in the emerging field.
The Center for Sustainable Building Research's (CSBR) Minnesota Green Affordable Housing Guide is listed as a resource on the Green Eco Services weblog (scroll down or search for "Minnesota Green Affordable Housing Guide").
"Critical Ommissions"
By Rick Poynor, Print, October 2008
Steven McCarthy (Graphic Design) was quoted in "Critical Omissions," a Print magazine article by Rick Poynor about the budding critical design movement and its relationship to graphic design. The article concerns the exhibition Forms of Inquiry: The Architecture of Critical Graphic Design, which took place at the Architectural Association in London and was organized by Mark Owens and Zak Kyes. Owens and Kyes responded to Poynor's article, to which both Poynor and McCarthy provide rebuttals.
"Deep North"
By Diane Hellekson, Landscape Architecture, September 2008
How to sustainably reclaim northern Minnesota's open-pit iron ore mines? That's the question John Koepke and Chris Carlson (Landscape Architecture) are trying to answer. One proposed solution is to integrate the reclamation process into the mining process itself, rather than working to reclaim individual mines after they're abandoned. This is something Koepke and Carlson are exploring in a new course for mine engineers to be offered next year.
Koepke and Carlson have completed a plan for part of a new mine outside Biwabik that uses natural slopes, drainage swales, and a 500-foot long figurative earth sculpture in a process meant to be integrated into the mining operation.
Diane Hellekson, the author of the article, is a Landscape Architecture alumna.
"Making the house a home"
By Pauline Oo, UMNews, October 1, 2008
Tasoulla Hadjiyanni's (Interior Design) DHA 3605 class is featured in this UMNews article. Third-year students are learning how to design home interiors that support different lifestyles, something Hadjiyanni refers to as "culturally sensitive housing." "Culturally sensitive housing," Hadjiyanni tells Oo, "is housing that supports diverse cultural needs, diverse ways of li[f]e."
Displacement drives the need for culturally sensitive housing. Hadjiyanni's research indicates that residents will "transform the significance and function of individual rooms" to reflect their cultural identities. "The Somalis will put triple layers of curtains because they like their rooms to be darker, and they will decorate their walls with rugs that have koranic verses," she explains. "The Hmong will put up tropical scenes and use the color green to remind them of the mountains they came from. Illegal Mexicans who cross the Rio Grande by foot—and can't bring anything with them—would hang a calendar with the Virgin of Guadalupe to create a sense of home in the house they end up sharing with four or five strangers."
Hadjiyanni's students will show design proposals illustrating how cultural groups can preserve their traditions at the Building Ties exhibition at the Hennepin History Museum.
"Fashion Weekend Rocks: SUGAR and Swank at the Aloft Hotel"
By Kate Iverson, The Rake, September 19, 2008
The Goldstein's current exhibition, From Sportswear to Streetwear: American Innovation, is featured in this article in The Rake (scroll down to second item).
"Five architects who shaped learning at UMD"
By Jane Hollingsworth, Duluth News Tribune, September 19, 2008
"What UMD has done is in many ways the future of higher education," said Dean Tom Fisher in regard to selecting entrance points at the Duluth campus and totally altering them. "Using the best possible architects for buildings and landscape is part of how you compete for the best students and faculty."
"Finnish-American architect's work to be featured"
By Staff, DL-Online, September 18, 2008
Dean Tom Fisher comments on an exhibition of David Salmela's hand-made models and photographs of his finished buildings, that opened Wednesday a the New York Mills Regional Cultural Center. Fisher explores the architect's "propensity to draw from regional roots as he creates designs particular to individual places and cultures yet with universal appeal."
"Energy Efficient Windows"
By Staff, Charlottesville Homeowner Services, September 13, 2008
Center for Sustainable Building Research information on the efficiency of different types of windows is highlighted.
"Wearing Tech: Where Fashion Meets Technology"
By Ashley Laurel Wilson, CIO.com, September 11, 2008
New faculty member Lucy Dunne's (Apparel Design/Wearable Technology) work is cited in this article about wearable technology. "The wonderful thing about the position is that it's actually titled a 'wearable technology position,'" said Dunne. "That might be the first time I've ever seen that, so it's definitely new and definitely an exciting development."
"Dorm sweet dorm: Students decorate small space to make it more like home"
By Holly Miller, Minnesota Daily, September 12, 2008
Caren Martin (Interior Design) is cited in this Minnesota Daily article on how students decorate their dormitory rooms. Martin credits television channels like Home & Garden Television for bringing design down to the consumer level and notes that how a space is designed effects its occupants behavior.
"After construction, LEED certification pays for itself"
By Claude Solnik, Long Island Business News, September 4, 2008
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) was created by the US Green Building Council to set construction standards for sustainable ecological and health priorities in building. LEED designations cover a range of designations: certified, silver, gold, and platinum.
Jonee Kulman Brigham (Center for Sustainable Building Research) is used as a source for the article, saying she sees LEED as a "flawed but beneficial force." "It's a net good, she told Solnik. "It has succeeded in part in transforming the market. It's created a common language and demand for green buildings. By translating into points and medals and a standard, it made it more accessible to people who didn't understand green."
The current Goldstein Museum of Design exhibition, From Sportswear to Streetwear: American Innovation, was publicized in the current issue of Ornament magazine (volume 31 no. 5, 2008).
Welcome Week debuts strong, but with some kinks
By Holly Miller, Minnesota Daily, September 2, 2008
Incoming College of Design freshmen were challenged to "rethink and redesign everything in the environment," by Dean Thomas Fisher at the University's new Welcome Week. After Fisher's welcome, the students left for a tour of the east and west bank milling districts, learning from faculty at each stop.
Assistant dean for student affairs Kate Maple, Holly Halter, a retail merchandising sophomore and Welcome Week leader, and first-year pre-graphic design students Debbie Brzozowski and Shawn Donahue are also quoted.
"A blueprint for good"
By Francie Latour, The Boston Globe, August 24, 2008
Dean Tom Fisher is cited in this feature article on the social impacts of free architecture. "If doctors said they were only going to treat the medical needs of the wealthy, we would be outraged," Fisher told Latour. "But that is what architecture has done. And it's not acceptable."
Fisher is quoted in the final paragraph of the article, speaking about the clean hubs project (self-contained ecosystem structures that generate electricity, provide water, and process human waste currently being used in New Orleans): "I actually think what we're about to see is the emergence of almost two different professions. The reality is that no amount of pro bono can come close to meeting the needs out there that exist, because the needs are so vast. A public health version of our field is going to have very different clients and a very different business model. You'll be designing different things, but they'll be things that can potentially be replicated millions of times to benefit millions of people."
Art spotlight: 'From Sportswear to Streetwear'
By Mary Abbe, Minneapolis Star Tribune, August 14, 2008 - 2:32 PM
The new show at the Goldstein Museum of Design shows why the U.S. is the fashion leader in the the realm of sportswear, thanks to technological innovation and the country's preferences for casual styles. The show features items from the Goldstein's collections.
"Solar Decathlon team begins drawing up plans"
By Devin Henry, Minnesota Daily, August 13, 2008
President of the Solar Decathlon team, and Architecture student, Shengyin Xu, tells the Daily that the Solar Decathlon student "team has put in more hours per week during the summer than it did during the school year." The preliminary designs for the solar-powered home, which will cost about $350,000 were due in June and the project's Web site must be finished later this month. The team will unveil the final designs in September.
"Block direct radiant heat with awnings"
By James Dulley, San Jose Mercury News, August 10, 2008
The Center for Sustainable Building Research's study, "Awnings in Residential Buildings: The Impact on Energy Use and Peak Demand," is cited in this article, although it merely references "studies by the University of Minnesota." The study found that in cold and mixed climates, the highest energy savings occur when awnings are used in the summer and retracted or removed in the winter.
"Arts events this month"
By Staff, Twin Cities Fine Arts Organization, August 2008
The upcoming Goldstein exhibition, From Sportwear to Streetwear: American Innovation, is featured on the Web site of the Twin Cities Fine Arts Organization.
"U of M class examines 35W bridge collapse"
By Staff, KMSP-TV, July 31, 2008
Patrick Nunnally's (Mississippi River Design Initiative) class about the I-35W bridge collapse is featured in this news brief.
"Global design comes home to roost"
By Linda Mack, MinnPost.com, July 29, 2008
Dean Tom Fisher is quoted in this overview of the Cooper-Hewitt "Design for the Other 90%" exhibit currently at the Walker Art Center. Mack reports that the Twin Cities has become a "hub of humanitarian design efforts" and quotes Fisher as saying, "Architects have to take responsibility for more than the two to three percent of the world's population who can afford to hire them."
Dean Tom Fisher is featured on page 116 of the August issue of Mpls. St. Paul magazine as one of the region's forward thinkers by columnist Steve Berg.
"'Momentum' explores fantasy and identity"
By Camille LeFevre, MinnPost.com, July 15, 2008
This article features Chris Schlichting's (Student Services) dance, "Love Things," part of the Momentum series, a co-commission with the Southern Theater and the Walker Art Center.
"Style news"
By Evelyn Theiss, Cleveland Plain Dealer, July 15, 2008
Associate Dean Marilyn DeLong is cited in the "KSU museum wins honors" section of this weblog article covering a Kent State University Museum costume exhibition series award. DeLong praised the exhibition series, telling Theiss it "epitomized excellence in history-based costume exhibitions and was 'a tour de force from a single curator.'"
"In search of better (and greener) building blocks"
By Amy Cortese, New York Times, July 13, 2008
Blaine Brownell (Architecture) is profiled in this New York Times Spotlight article. Brownell, just out of graduate school, was frustrated by the lack of information about new building materials. As a result, he launched a Web site -- transmaterial.net -- to "collect and share information on innovative new [building] materials" like smog-eating concrete and zero-energy media walls. Brownell also wrote a companion book, Transmaterial, published earlier this year by Princeton Architectural Press.
"Strides made in energy policy"
By Sue Schreurs, letter to the editor, Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin, July 11, 2008
Sue Schreurs notes in her letter to the editor that the college's Center for Sustainable Building Research is developing cost-effective, energy-efficient building standards that will result in a 90 percent reduction in energy consumption by 2030.
"Commuter-rail reading: 'Architectural Design and Ethics: Tools for Survival'"
By Scott Carlson, Buildings & Grounds, July 9, 2008
Dean Tom Fisher's latest book, Architectural Design and Ethics: Tools for Survival, is reviewed in the Chronicle of Higher Education's architecture weblog.
Carlson notes that Fisher "has a special appeal to journalists who cover architecture, because he is a former journalist. And as such, he can write, which is an uncommon talent among the designer set."
"Furnishing a solution"
By Pauline Oo, UMNnews, July 10, 2008
Kevin Groenke (W.L. Hall Workshop) and his CDesK are profiled in this University News Service article.
"'Architecture students have different needs than most students,' says Groenke. 'They're in their studios for 40, 50, 60 hours a week working on projects for their architecture classes. Their desk is their home away from home. It's where they draw, build models, use the computer, eat food, and have their entertainment systems. So, the table must accommodate a lot of different activities, effectively.'"
"A little shade makes a green difference"
By Jake Kulju, Green Building Elements, July 2, 2008
The Center for Sustainable Building Research's study, "Awnings in Residential Buildings: The Impact on Energy Use and Peak Demand," is cited in this article. The study found that in cold and mixed climates, the highest energy savings occur when awnings are used in the summer and retracted or removed in the winter.
"Demise of Vegas public housing 'projects' sought"
By Timothy Pratt, Las Vegas Sun, July 1, 2008
Jeff Crump (Housing Studies) is briefly cited in this article examining the demolition of subsidized housing in Las Vegas, planned to be replaced with mixed-income, low-density housing. Crump told Pratt the demoltion "doesn't really address the root causes of poverty, and just moves people around."
"Interesting videos on YouTube highlighting association work"
By Joann V. Ciatto, The Forum Effect, June 24, 2008
This article mentions a YouTube video interview with John Carmody (Center for Sustainable Building Research) discussing the Awning Energy Study, Awnings in Residential Buildings: The Impact on Energy Use and Peak Demand.
"College of Design builds on course offerings"
By Clarise Tushie-Lessard, Minnesota Daily, June 25, 2008
The College of Design's product design program, scheduled to be added fall 2009, will distinguish itself by focusing on the "idea of design, health, and well-being," according to Dean Tom Fisher cited in this Daily article.
"'One way to immediately be a competitor internationally is to go with what we're already strong in, and focus on areas where we have strengths,' he [Fisher] said, referencing the connection between the medical, business, and engineering schools."
"Summer activities at the University of Minnesota"
By Amanda Lutz, KSTP-TV, June 19, 2008
The Goldstein's current exhibition, "Techno Textiles: Inner Space to Outer Space" was mentioned in this roundup of things to do this summer at the University.
"Summertime, summertime, sum, sum... in Edina"
By Jason Kroeker, Sun Newspapers, June 18, 2008
The Highlands Design Camp, a collaboration between the College of Design and Highlands Elementary School in Edina, is featured in this roundup of summer activities for kids in the inner-ring suburb. The article notes that while the college's Design Camp has been run for high school students before, this is the first time it's been offered for elementary students.
Wendy Friedmeyer (Design Institute) is quoted in the article as is one of the building structure group students, who told Kroeker, "I just thought it would be fun. We made mini-sculptures first, and decided tepees were the best."
"Are you a sheet snob or a sheet slob? Take this quiz"
By John Ewoldt, Miami Herald, June 15, 2008
John Ewoldt's article on bed sheets, originally published in the Star Tribune, has been republished by the Miami Herald. Missy Bye (Clothing Design) is cited as a source for the article.
"Techno Textiles"
By Ben Palosaari, City Pages, June 2008
In this brief overview of the current Goldstein exhibition, "Techo Textiles," Ben Palosaari notes how engineers combine technology and textiles to change the way we live and our built environment. As examples, Palosaari points out exercise clothing that have integrated heart-rate monitors and fabric architecture like the Beijing Olympic aquatic center that has a textile membrane exterior.
The "Techno Textiles" exhibition runs through July 17 at the Goldstein in McNeal Hall.
"U of M embraces products design"
By Katharine Grayson, Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal, June 13, 2008
Tom Fisher talks about the College of Design's plans to launch an industrial- and product-design graduate program in the 2009-10 academic year.
Fisher said "the new program would help fuel a growing demand for design from Minnesota's cadre of product-focused companies, ranging from med-tech firms to 3M Co. and Andersen Windows."
The four-paragraph-long article is available only to the publication's paid subscribers.
"Michelle Obama adds a little flash to the campaign trail"
By Amy Carlson Gustafson, Pioneer Press, June 7, 2008
Marilyn DeLong (Associate Dean; Clothing Design) is quoted in this article about Michelle Obama's personal style. Disagreeing with Washington Post fashion editor Robin Givhan who described Obama's style as "Camelot with a tan," in reference to Jackie Kennedy, DeLong tells the Pioneer Press that while "there is some resemblance, there are major differences of precedence and context. Jackie Kennedy was an icon of a 'Camelot' administration. She represented an elegance and style -- simple, direct, smooth -- and we took notice because her appearance was consistently impeccable, but also a bit unapproachable. Michelle is much more approachable in her appearance." DeLong adds that both Obama and Republican presidential candidate John McCain's wife, Cindy McCain, have "impeccable style."
"Richfield to builders: Don't skip the garage"
By Mary Jane Smetanka, Star Tribune, June 7, 2008
Inner-ring suburb Richfield followed the classic post-World War II development pattern: rambler + garage + breezeway between the two. But now Richfield will require new single-family homes to have garages, raising concerns about affordability.
"It's another form of exclusionary zoning through codes, basically, upping the price of what it takes to live in a community," Becky Yust (DHA Department Head; Housing Studies) told Smetanka. "If a garage adds a minimum of $20,000 to the price of a house, that could be $150 more a month interest."
"Spotlight: "Techno Textiles" at the Goldstein"
By Mary Abbe, Star Tribune, June 7, 2008
The Goldstein's current exhibition, "Techno Textiles" is highlighted in this Star Tribune brief.
"Techno Textiles -- Exhibition for innovative & specialty textiles"
By Staff, fibre2fasion, May 10, 2008
fibre2fasion, an Indian publication, offers a two-page overview of the textiles featured in the Goldstein's current exibition, "Techno Textiles."
"Civil liberties on display, in color"
By Suzanne Ito, ACLU Blog of Rights, May 28, 2008
Richard Ross's collection of photographs dealing with civil liberties issues, "Architecture of Authority," comes to the Goldstein Museum of Design February-April, 2009. The collection includes shots of the United Nations headquarters, the US prison in Abu Ghraib, several US prisons including a Louisiana capital punishment chamber, US immigration detention facilities, and Guantanamo Bay Naval Base.
The collection is currently on exhibition at the Aperture Gallery in New York through July.
"Hemlines, silhouettes highlight May meeting"
By Staff, The [Fergus Falls] Daily Journal
Jean Crandall McElvain (Goldstein Museum) spoke at the Battle Lake Art of the Lakes May meeting. The address was titled, "Length and width: Hemlines and silhouettes from the 1920s through the 1970s."
The Goldstein Museum exhibition, Techno Textiles: Inner Space to Outer Space, was featured on a WCCO-TV news broadcast. The exhibit examines the way new textiles are being used in a variety of areas, from space to medicine.
"Transformit's Moonray sculpture featured at Goldstein Museum of Design"
By Staff, Exhibitor Online, May 15, 2008
Cynthia Thompson's sculpture, "Moonray," and the Techno Textiles: Inner Space to Outer Space exhibition of which it is a part are featured in this Exhibitor Online news piece.
"Expert says multi-family housing can be a positive for Brooklyn Park"
By Natalie Spray, MN Sun, May 14, 2008
Dan Marckel (Metropolitan Design Center) is cited in this piece about the positive design of multi-family housing in the northern suburb. Marckel's key point is that "design character matters more than density or affordability."
"Upcoming Goldstein exhibit at the U of M to highlight textiles of the future"
By Luisa Badaracco, UMNnews, May 9, 2008
Media release coverage of the Goldstein's upcoming Techno Textiles: Inner Space to Outer Space specialty textiles exhibition that runs Friday, May 16 through Thursday, July 17. An opening party and panel discussion takes place at the museum 7-9 p.m. Thursday, May 15.
"Going green a breeze with natural ventilation and light"
By Staff, North American Precis Syndicate (NAPS)
John Carmody (CSBR) is cited in this natural ventilation and light article: "Natural ventilation created by venting skylights is much more effective than opening a window. A venting skylight can reduce the need for air-conditioning, especially in Northeastern climates, and most green building guidelines encourage homeowners to provide more natural ventilation, primarily because it reduces energy consumption."
"No pace like home"
By Kim Palmer, Star Tribune, May 6, 2008
Dean Tom Fisher is cited in this article covering slow design, an emerging design movement centered on handmade quality elements. "Architects and designers are under such pressure that it's more like super-fast design," Fisher told Palmer. "But if you call it sustainable design, green design, participatory design, that is going on locally." Fisher also got the last word in the article: "We're in the middle of a huge transformation in attitude. We're so materialistic, yet we dispose of the things we have. We can't continue to consume and waste resources on things we're going to throw away."
"Staycation options"
By Bill Ward, Star Tribune, April 27, 2008
The Goldstein Museum of Design is suggested as a vacation destination for out-of-town guests.
"'Green' architecture expert to lecture"
By Kari VanDerVeen, St. Olaf College News, April 21, 2008
Dean Tom Fisher will present a lecture, "Architectural Design and Ethics: Tools for Survival," at St. Olaf College on Wednesday, April 23, 2008 at 7 p.m. in Holland Hall 501. The event is free and open to the public.
"Looking at the intersections of ethics and aesthetics in a world facing immense environmental problems," VanDerVeen writes, "Fisher challenges architects and designers to respond creatively to the opportunity for creating a culture of permanence."
"An apprenticeship with Ralph Rapson"
By Kay Lockhart, MinnPost.com, April 21, 2008
Kay Lockhart (Architecture emeritus) recounts working on the exterior design of the original Guthrie Theater with Ralph Rapson.
"Livin' large"
By Kim Palmer, Star Tribune, April 15, 2008
Minnesota is apparently a hotbed for McMansions and is currently ranked fifth in the nation for the percentage of new homes with four or more bedrooms.
Dean Tom Fisher is quoted in the article as saying many people are building more house than they need:
"I cringe when I go to the suburbs and see excessively large homes with wasted space. People think they can't afford an architect, but a good architect will talk you out of doing unnecessary things. People used to raise a family in 800 square feet. Now they feel deprived with under 2,500 square feet -- 5,000 square feet is absurd."
"Voltage '08: The veteran + the rookies"
By Jahna Peloquin, vita.mn, April 10, 2008
Current clothing design students Luci Kandler, Ashley Wokasch, and Brianne Jones as well as alumni are featured in Peloquin's coverage of this week's Voltage fashion show at First Ave.
"Taking shape with osteoporosis"
By Karlee Weinmann, Star Tribune, April 4, 2008
Karen Ryan's and Karen LaBat's (Clothing Design) research in the college's Human Dimsnsioning Lab on designing garments for those with osteoporosis is highlited in this feature article.
"The hand of Ralph Rapson"
By Linda Mack, Star Tribune, April 4, 2008
Dean Tom Fisher's lecture, "Ralph Rapson: Playful Modernist," (scroll down about half the page) is highlighted in a sidebar to Linda Mack's extensive feature on Ralph Rapson.
"International designer presents lecture on mapping"
By Brittney Moore, Tennessee Journalist, April 4, 2008
Jan Abrams (Design Institute) presented a well-received lecture on mapping at the University of Tennessee's College of Architecture + Design Robert B. Church Memorial Lecture Series.
"Artist in residence"
By Kim Yeager, Star Tribune, April 4, 2008
Amy Michielle Freeman (Retail Merchandising graduate) is profiled in this Star Tribune feature.
"Rapson memorial on April 21; Fisher lecture on April 15"
By Todd Melby, Building Minnesota, April 5, 2008
Todd Melby mentions both the Ralph Rapson memorial service (and the School of Architecture/Landscape Architecture reception) and Dean Tom Fisher's upcoming lecture on Rapson.
Fisher's lecture, "Ralph Rapson: Playful Modernist," (scroll down about half the page) is part of the Working through architecture lecture series at the Minneapolis Central Library.
"More 'great ideas' offered for West Broadway makeover"
By Felicia Schultz, Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder, April 2, 2008
News coverage of the Great Idea! Exchange where 16 CDes students offered ideas to address the problems and opportunities along West Broadway in north Minneapolis. Marcy Schulte (Design Institute) is quoted as telling Schultz, "Students have come up with some really interesting ideas. We believed we could make some of these ideas happen by bringing arts organizations together."
"Guthrie design lifts architect to center stage"
By Mary Abbe, Star Tribune, March 30, 2008
Jean Nouvel has won architecture's highest honor, the Pritzker Prize, partly for his design of the Guthrie Theater. Five Minneapolis buildings have been designed by a Pritzker winner: Philip Johnson's IDS Tower, Kenzo Tange's addition to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Frank Gehry's Weisman Art Museum, and Jacques Herzog's and Pierre de Meuron's addition to the Walker Art Center.
Dean Tom Fisher was quoted in the Star Tribune piece, saying the Guthrie was the "premier new project of the past several years" in the Twin Cities.
"Nouvel 'quite literally thinks outside the box,' Fisher said. 'In the case of the Guthrie, he put the ramp/bridge outside the building, the scenery shop atop the parking garage across the street, and stacked the theaters up in the air. Those are indications of the way he thinks; he comes up with surprising, innovative solutions to common problems.'"
"Foreclosure scourge hitting the suburbs"
By Mary Jane Smetanka, Star Tribune, March 20, 2008
Jeff Crump (Housing Studies) is cited in this article examining the growth of suburban foreclosures of homes financed with near-prime mortgages. Crump told the Star Tribune that foreclosures had previously been driven mostly by irresponsible lending but now people are starting to lose their homes as a result of job loss. The housing studies expert said that these loans were sold with the idea that the finances didn't matter because the borrower would eventually refinance. But now house values are falling and borrowers can't refinance because they might owe more than the house is worth.
"Human interest"
By Jeanne Mettner, Minnesota Medicine, March 2008
Kathleen Harder (Center for Human Factors Systems Research and Design) is profiled in this Minnesota Medicine "Quality Rounds" column.
"Harder, a cognitive psychologist at the University of Minnesota, is an expert in human factors research and design, the focus of which is creating systems, work processes, and technologies that facilitate better human performance at work and elsewhere. Typically, human factors experts work with government or industry. Harder is one of the first to work with health care systems."
"How can errors be found before surgery begins?"
By Josephine Marcotty and Maura Lerner, Star Tribune, March 18, 2008
Kathleen Harder (Center for Human Factors Systems Research and Design) is cited in this article about the Methodist Hospital surgeon who accidentally removed a healthy kidney from a patient with kidney cancer last week. Harder works with Minnesota hospitals to reduce errors and believes it's possible to design ways to make hospitals better, but cautions against expecting to completely eliminate human error.
"Designing duo"
By Susan Maas, Minnesota Medicine, March 2008
The work of Karen LaBat (Clothing Design) and Karen Ryan -- a design professor and a physician -- to design clothes for women with osteoporosis is featured in this article. LaBat has spent nearly three decades studying clothing fit and sizing and is now using a three-dimensional body scanner that renders an image providing more than 80 body surface measurements in eight seconds.
"Dream maker"
By Jim Buchta, Star Tribune, March 17, 2008
Dean Tom Fisher is featured in a sidebar to this article as a speaker at "Good Design Makes a Difference," a Home of the Month event sponsored by the Star Tribune and the AIA Minnesota. Fisher will speak on how design can help us adapt to climate change. The event takes place on March 25, 5-7 p.m., at International Market Square. Registration is $15 through the AIA Minnesota Web site or by phone at 612-338-6763.
"Foreclosure situation different outside Twin Cities"
By Marisa Helms, Bemidji Pioneer, March 15, 2008
The foreclosure crisis affects all of Minnesota, although experts say those outside the Twin Cities area apparently face issues other than the concern with subprime lending. Jeff Crump (Housing Studies), subprime lending and foreclosure expert, agrees that subprime lending is less of a factor in greater Minnesota.
Crump's research indicates 25 percent of households in greater Minnesota have subprime mortgages, and a "significant federal response" will be required to resolve the crisis.
"'The federal government needs to move quickly to try to establish a program to refinance people out of loans they can't pay,' Crump said. 'They did this in the 1930s - the Homeowners Loan Corporation."'I'm afraid it should have happened a year or two ago, and I'm afraid it won't happen until after January. That worries me -- the longer this goes on, the more we get in trouble. Foreclosures depress the housing market in general and that's costing everybody their home equity.'"
Design your future
By Lori Rothstein, minnesota.communityblogs.us, March 10, 2008
Rothstein reports on a College of Design community partnership program, Designing the Future: Community Strategies, that brings an outside perspective on what rural Minnesota communities have to offer.
The Goldstein Museum of Design is featured in a listing on museumstuff.com:
"The Goldstein is an internationally recognized teaching museum and research center for interpreting the vital role of art in everyday life. The museum collects, preserves, documents, and exhibits clothing, textiles, and decorative and graphic arts, with an emphasis on objects of the late 19th and 20th centuries."
"Students shine green light on garbage burner"
By Melissa Slachetka, Twin Cities Daily Planet, February 23, 2008
Hennepin county and the College of Design's student group Greenlight are collaborating to educate the community about the Hennepin County Energy Recovery Center (HERC) and improve its appearance. HERC burns household trash to generate electricity for about 26,000 homes. County officials say the trash burner outputs mostly steam and its emissions don't pose a health risk.
"College of Design podcasts"
By Staff, With Respect to Architecture, February 2008
The Minnesota Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians (MNSAH) features the College of Design's Telling river stories and Fall 2007 lecture series podcasts in its February newsletter.
Jeff Crump (Housing Studies) recorded a U of M Moment spot (.mp3; 1.4Mb) for University Relations after his appearance on Minnesota Public Radio last week.
Housing market continues to falter
In today's uncertain economy, the status symbol might not be how many bathrooms you have in your home but whether or not you have the mortgage paid off. Jeff Crump, University of Minnesota associate professor in the Housing Studies program, explains how the housing market got to this point.
"Green Building Initiative celebrates milestones at international builders' show"
By Green Building Initiative staff, EARTHtimes.org, February 14, 2008
The Green Building Initiative will introduce two new online tools for builders and home builder associations at the International Builders' Show in Orlando. One of the new online tools is the ATHENA EcoCalculator for Assemblies, a free life cycle assessment tool that was developed by the ATHENA Institute in consultation with the College of Design's Center for Sustainable Building Research and Morrison Hershfield Consulting Engineers.
Abandon Your Threads: U senior fashion show
By Jahna Peloquin, Vita.mn, February 2008
Peloquin covers the 40th annual senior fashion show specifically mentioning College of Design senior Kate Troutman's line inspired by biodiversity.
Jeff Crump (Housing Studies) will be a guest on Minnesota Public Radio's Midmorning show, tomorrow, Feb. 14, from 9-10 a.m. The topic is foreclosures and subprime lending, plus current federal/state initiatives to address the housing crisis. Other guests will be Peter Coy, editor of Business Week and Alexa Milton, organizer for ACORN. MPR is at 91.1 FM and streams live online.
James Boyd-Brent's (Graphic Design) home is featured in a slide show and he's interviewed by The Environment Report about the energy efficiency (or lack thereof) of his historic home. Homeowners like Boyd-Brent are, according to the story, "often forced to balance their interests in historical integrity and aesthetics against their environmental principles."
"Uptown goes red"
By Staff, KMSP-TV, February 11, 2008
As part of the American Heart Association Go Red month, stores are working with College of Design students making Uptown red. Sixteen businesses throughout the whole fingerprint of Uptown are going to be decorating their windows with the students using elements from the Go Red campaign. From February 11 to midnight on February 29, folks can come to Uptown and vote for their favorite window. Anyone who votes gets a coupon for a free heart health screening visit.
Wesley Martin, student show chair for this year's senior fashion show, was interviewed Saturday, February 2 on a segment of FM107's Shopgirls program.
"Budding fashion designers show their creations"
By John Reger, WCCO-TV, February 2, 2008
John Reger reports on the 40th annual senior fashion show, this year entitled "Abandon Your Threads."
"Show spotlights U design seniors"
By Allison Kaplan, Pioneer Press, January 31, 2008
The College of Design's 40th annual fashion show, "Abandon Your Threads," features the work of 17 graduating seniors.
"Library to begin nine-part lecture series on architects"
By Linda Mack, MinnPost.com, January 31, 2008
Former architecture critic for the Star Tribune, Linda Mack, previews the School of Architecture's lecture series, Working through architecture, at the Minneapolis Central Library.
"Rethinking the runway"
By John Sand, Kara Nesvig, Becky Lang, Minnesota Daily, January 31, 2008
The Daily covers the College of Design's 40th annual senior fashion show, "Abandon Your Threads," scheduled to take place February 2.
"In preparation for this ambitious undertaking, the student designers lent their creative magic to Nike, re-imagining its women's yoga line; their agile fingers also fashioned unique garments for the Weisman Art Museum. The designers even concocted cocoa-inspired confections for the Chocolate Extravaganza, including a mocha-hued cocktail dress cleverly titled 'Swiss Miss.' They've created sweet sheath dresses from logo tags, found muses in everything from fabrics to nature to 'Star Trek,' and have the right to be completely proud of everything their dedication and desire has made a reality."
The article is available for download (.pdf; 5.2Mb).
Two of the senior designers are profiled, Andrea Vargo and Wesley Martin.
"U of M, Uptown Business Association partner to fight heart disease"
By Luisa Badaracco, UMNnews, January 31, 2008
Eighty-five students in the College of Design's retail merchandising class are teaming up with the (Minneapolis) Uptown Business Association to decorate store windows during February to raise awareness about heart disease. A collaboration with the American Heart Association (AHA), each of the 16 window displays will feature a red dress and retailers' merchandise as part of the AHA's "Go Red for Women" campaign. Jaeha Lee (Graphic Design) is quoted: "This is a great project on many levels and we are honored to be working with the American Heart Association for it. When students are able to directly connect community service with their academic curriculum, they are able to consider how their skills, their education, their time, and their effort can truly make a visible impact on those around them."
"A Wright turn"
By Kim Yeager, Star Tribune, January 29, 2008
The Star Tribune offers up an overview of the Goldstein Museum of Design's upcoming exhibition on industrial designer Russel Wright, which runs February 9 through April 20, with an opening reception 7-9 p.m. on February 8.
"U.S. Department of Energy asks students to compete"
By Devin Henry, Minnesota Daily, January 30, 2008
Architecture graduate student and president of the University's Solar Decathlon team, Shengyin Xu, is quoted in this article as saying the team is in the research and designing phase of the project, with design plans due in early June.
Jonee Kulman Brigham (Center for Sustainable Building Research) is also quoted about the integrated design of the project: "It's not just a matter of sticking technology on a building. It's a very integrated approach." Kulman Brigham pointed out that the design approach is looking at biomimicry, using nature as a model, and lifecycle analysis which intends to find an actual purpose for the house.
"Design translations"
By Weta Ray Clark, News & Observer, January 26, 2008
In this article on the details of an annual home show, Christine Albertsson (Architecture) is quoted about the image of the historical driving housing designs. "Everybody wants to live in a modern way," says Albertsson. "Nobody comes to an architect and says, 'I want a tiny kitchen, with a few rooms and six to eight windows throughout.' The image of the historical is more of what they are interested in preserving. The problem is that to create that image from scratch is more expensive."
"The Greening of the U. of Minnesota"
By Scott Carlson, Chronicle of Higher Education Buildings & Grounds, January 24, 2008
President Bruininks had refused to sign the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment until January 8, when the University became the first Big 10 school to make the commitment. The University administration believed that some of the goals, specifically climate neutrality, weren't feasible. Deborah Swackhamer, interim director of the Institute on the Environment, a College of Design partner, is cited in a Chronicle of Higher Education Buildings & Grounds article, expressing her previous concern about the commitment's "fuzzy language and its push to include sustainability in the curriculum, which is set by faculty members, not the University president."
"Visualizing change: Upcoming workshops blend design & civic engagement"
By Colin Kloecker, Blog Like You Give a Damn, January 23, 2008
Colin Kloecker covers the upcoming third annual Greenlight Design Workshop as a way for Twin Cities designers to get involved with the community.
"Do no harm? Hospitals are at least doing less"
By Maura Lerner, Star Tribune, January 17, 2008
Kathleen Harder (Research and Outreach) is quoted in this article about a nearly 20 percent drop in errors reported by Minnesota hospitals in 2007. "Everybody is working on information overload," Harder told the paper. "A surgeon might have many different cases during a day [and] might be thinking about another case. People aren't as vigilant as they should be when everything's routine. You just get into the flow and then something happens," Harder said in an attempt to diagnose the breakdowns in the operating room. Harder, who worked with Fairview's University of Minnesota hospital to reduce the number of objects left in patients during surgery, believes the solution is to "create a work environment that helps people catch mistakes before they happen."
"Typography psychology: What does your typeface say about you?"
By Christina Capecchi, MinnPost.com, January 9, 2007
Carol Waldron (Graphic Design) is cited as being marginally convinced that a person's choice of typography reflects their personality: "In some sense, any time we make a decision from a selection of options, yes, it reflects on personality."
"Doin' The DEED (AEC Insight Column)"
By Jerry Laiserin, cadalyst, January 1, 2008
Renee Cheng (Architecture) is cited in this article about digital design tools. Cheng says today's students "come in with great fluency in digital tools, so that schools of architecture no longer need to teach computer skills or specific software." She goes on to note "students don't choose tools well and often stick with them too long -- they get stuck but don't always know enough to know that they're stuck." Therefore, Cheng says, the role of the educator is "to push students to use different tools and media... to ask different questions about the design. Any tool is more powerful if it is part of a cycle of digital and analog, going back and forth, rather than a linear progression from sketching first, then digital modeling, with no return."
"Delving deeper"
By Erin George, continuum, the magazine of the University of Minnesota Libraries, Fall/Winter 2007
Erin George, investigating the Borchert Map Library, cites a class Laura Musacchio (Landscape Architecture) and John Koepke (Landscape Architecture) were teaching, Ecological Dimensions of Spacemaking. George quotes Musacchio extensively:
"Musacchio explains, 'Our students worked on a master plan project that sought to breathe new life into Lake Sarita, a degraded wetland that is located off the Transit Way and Steam Plant on the (University's) St. Paul campus. The goal of the project is to use Lake Sarita as a living laboratory for environmental education, stormwater management, and wildlife habitat by restoring its wetland features.' Students used the Borchert Map Library to document how wetlands, lakes, and streams near the St. Paul campus were altered, buried, and destroyed by urban growth. Using resources from Borchert, the class 'found that Lake Sarita was once a good-sized lake, but it was filled in over time and only a small remnant wetland now remains,' Musacchio says. Several students, as a result of their field work and research in Borchert, were selected to present their master plan projects to the Stormwater Linkage Committee and provide important creative inspiration for future planning."
"Dollars & Sense: Sheet Dreams"
By John Ewoldt, Star Tribune, January 3, 2008
Missy Bye (Clothing Design) provides textile expertise for a story on selecting sheets.
Update Tuesday, January 15, 2008, 1:35 p.m.: Ewoldt's article is picked up by the Jackson, Mississippi Clarion-Ledger.
Update Tuesday, January 22, 2008, 11:22 a.m.: Ewoldt's article is picked up by the Northwest Arkansas edition of the Arkansas Democrat Gazette.
"St. Paul Stops a Waterfront Developer From Crossing the Mississippi"
By Lisa Chamberlain, New York Times, January 2, 2008
Chamberlain's piece in the New York Times examines the proposed Bridges of St. Paul development including this quote from Dean Tom Fisher:
"By building a parking deck and creating this faux urbanism up in the air on the wrong side of the river from where all the infrastructure is, it made every mistake that we've come to learn over the last 30 years," said Thomas Fisher, dean of the College of Design at the University of Minnesota. "It doesn't connect to existing streets or the rest of the fabric of the city." Objections to the project focused not only on the size, he said, but also on its placement. "This would work fine on the other side of the river," he said.
The American Association of Museums (AAM) has published The Digital Museum: A Think Guide. The chapter entitled "Technology's No Tea Party for Small Museums" documents a 2006 AAM panel including Lin Nelson-Mayson who spoke on planning for technology projects in a small museum.
"U of M students show off Ford site designs"
By Staff, KSTP-TV, December 17, 2007
The designs of graduate students in Lance Neckar's (Landscape Architecture) and John Comazzi's (Architecture) studios is featured in this KSTP-TV news segment. One of the students, Derek Petersen, says he hopes people will be inspired by the ideas for redeveloping the site, which is the size of 11 Metrodomes.
Elizabeth (Missy) Bye (Clothing Design) gave KARE-11 television an extensive interview on the quality of cashmere sweaters. Bye's tips include looking at the number of stitches per inch and comparing the tightness of the weave (the tighter the better).
"Insider guide: Tom Fisher"
By Tom Fisher, Minneapolis.org, December 2007
Dean Tom Fisher lists his top architecture picks for the Twin Cities.
"U of M students showcase design ideas for Ford's assembly plant"
By Staff, University of Minnesota News Service, December 12, 2007
Final-year graduate students of Lance Neckar's (Landscape Architecture) and John Comazzi's (Architecture) studios will showcase their design ideas for Ford's Saint Paul assembly plant:
Both reviews will take place in Rapson Hall.
Focusing on remediation of the site, the students have considered in-situ processes such as phyto-remediation, bio-remediation, engineered solutions, and ground and surface water cleaning. The designs feature alternative programs such as alternative energy and fuels research and development, environmental education facilities, transit infrastructure, urban farming, and cultural and leisure landscapes.
"U pledges $32 million to recruit and retain faculty"
By Emma Carew and Ahnalese Rushmann, The Minnesota Daily, December 12, 2007
College of Design Chief of Staff Kathy Witherow was cited in a Daily article about faculty turnover at the University. Witherow noted the college received investment funds for three new positions in 2007 and two more in 2008. Witherow told the paper that the college's recruiters are using techniques like inviting candidates to present guest lectures and having faculty call query their alma maters about top graduate prospects. "(The faculty) are the most important recruiting tool we have," Witherow told the Daily. "They have the best connections and have a good sense of who's doing what."
"Documentary: Murphy's Law"
By Andrea Myers, Reveille magazine, December 10, 2007
Todd Pitman (IT) and his documentary, Murphy's Law, are featured in Reveille magazine. Pitman's film follows Twin Cities indie rock band Look Down on their first tour. The tour, "quickly derails into a series of mishaps and disappointments, and it provides an intimate look at a young and inexperienced band whose friendship and camaraderie keep them alive as one show after another is canceled and the tour unravels before their very eyes," writes Myers.
Myers opines that Murphy's Law has some minor flaws, "however Pitman has a lot to be proud of. Murphy's Law showcases a new and talented filmmaker who is easy to root for, just like the underdog band his film portrays."
"Zubaz: They're wild. They're weird. And this time, they're retro."
By Elizabeth Mohr, Pioneer Press, December 10, 2007
Marilyn DeLong (Clothing Design; Associate Dean) is cited in an article about the relaunching of Zubaz, the wild-animal-print pants company. "Now, they look kind of crazy and new, and the kids who wear them probably feel very with it," DeLong told Pioneer Press reporter Elizabeth Mohr, pointing out that fads always have come back potential and that this might be perfect timing for the outrageous pants. "If you think about it, we've gone through a long period of black and blue jeans. Here we are, after this period, and Zubaz really could take off."
"Green Prairie Living and Learning Community to open in Fall 2009"
By Judy Riley, UMM News, November 29, 2007
Richard Strong (Center for Sustainable Building Research) praises the University's selection of LHB as the design service provider for the Green Prairie Community project on the Morris campus: "LHB is known for sustainable architecture and is an early founder of Minnesota’s green building movement." Strong is assisting the project's planning team also told Riley, "LHB infuses sustainable building principles into all their work. Their design team truly understands building green from a very deep and integrated approach. They are perfect to partner with the University of Minnesota, Morris in its excellent work of campus sustainability and climate neutrality. I am excited about Morris becoming the very first campus to sustainably attain carbon free living and showing Minnesota the abundance that comes with that decision."
"The Professional Awning Manufacturers Association launches revamped, user-friendly Web site"
Media release, Business Wire, November 27, 2007
The Professional Awning Manufacturers Association (PAMA) has launched a revised Web site that features an awning energy study, "Awnings in Residential Buildings: The Impact on Energy Use and Peak Demand," conducted by the Center for Sustainable Building Research (CSBR).
"Design for Design's Sake -- Design Authorship in Experimental Publications"
By Staff, AIGA, November 2007
AIGA spotlights Steven McCarthy's (Graphic Design) upcoming presentation on works from the Goldstein Museum's graphic design collection.
"USA: New PAMA website with improved user-friendly navigation" (last item)
By Staff, Technical Textiles, November 21, 2007
The Technical Textiles weblog features the Center for Sustainable Building's awning energy study, Awnings in Residential Buildings: The Impact on Energy Use and Peak Demand, showing the energy savings of residential window awnings in 12 cities across the United States.
"New housing on University Ave. offers suite-style living"
By Joy Petersen, Minnesota Daily, November 20, 2007
A new housing development on University Avenue, Jefferson at Berry, offers affordable student housing in a residence hall-like setting. Per student-cost is $615 to $750 per bedroom. Jeff Crump (Housing Studies) said affordable housing is usually calculated as 30 percent of the total average income in a given region. "Student incomes are not concrete, Crump said, so the studies depend on a community's average income. 'The trick is that it depends on the median you use,' he said."
"InformeDesign - A Designer's Database"
By Steven Bell, Designing Better Libraries, November 15, 2007
Steven Bell, Associate University Librarian for Research and Instructional Services at Temple University has written an article about how he finds InformeDesign useful in his work. Specifically, Bell refers to one article, "Closing the Research-Design Gap" (.pdf; 364Kb) as providing an interesting perspective on the concept of evidence-based design and the mental process of design.
"Urban designers critique Minneapolis and offer this idea: Tear down all those horrible skyways"
By Steve Berg, MinnPost.com, November 15, 2007
Minneapolis has eight miles of skyway, and chances are slim that any of it will be removed, even though two of the world's top urban designers -- Jan Gehl and Gil Penalosa -- offer just that advice.
Dean Tom Fisher was asked for his reaction. He told Berg that "skyways pose an 'extreme challenge' for Minneapolis, but one that should be turned into an opportunity." Fisher also noted his involvement with the Walking Minneapolis initiative, seeking to revive street-level activity. "One suggestion is to spread the city's best asset -- parks -- onto some downtown sidewalks in order to connect condos to jobs and shopping, and to create a pleasant, more walkable atmosphere at street level," Fisher told Berg.
"Explorer presents on global warming"
By Alex Robinson, The Minnesota Daily, November 2, 2007
Polar explorer Will Steger spoke during the College of Design's international three day conference focused on how the environment can be incorporated into teaching. Conference co-chair, John Koepke (Landscape Architecture) told Robinson that the college is "starting to integrate sustainability issues into all of its classes." Similarly, Dean Tom Fisher (Architecture) said he was "hopeful the college would make changes to cut down on global warming and make an impact."
"U designers use chocolate for fashion"
By Staff, KMSP-TV
The University of Minnesota College of Design put on their annual fashion show. This year, the designers used chocolate as a way to create their clothing.
"Medicine, massage, and meditation"
By Sarah Moran, StarTribune, October 27, 2007
A profile of the University's cross-disciplinary Center for Spirituality and Healing including the College of Design's participation in creating physical spaces that enhance healing.
"At design workshop for new Minneapolis bridge, a ho-hum reaction"
By Martiga Lohn, Associated Press
The designers of a new Interstate 35W bridge offered their vision up for public input Wednesday, and the public mostly yawned. "The process is very, very controlled," said Tom Fisher, dean of the University of Minnesota's College of Design.
Andrew Comfort has written an overview of how he came to develop his Q-BA-MAZE, featured in the current Goldstein Museum exhibition, Here by Design III. Comfort credits Dean Tom Fisher for setting the process in motion by organizing a gathering of New York City-based architecture alumni.
Here by Design III: Process and Prototype, the Goldstein Museum's current exhibition, is featured on the Mpls St. Paul magazine Web site: "The third installation of the Here by Design series examines the process and nature of digital fabrication in the state of Minnesota. Digital fabrication refers to the use of computers to create physical objects."
Andrew Comfort, one of the designers featured in the Here by Design III exhibition, writes that the entire design process behind his Q-BA-MAZE -- inspiration, sketches, CAD drawings, and rapid prototypes -- will be shown. Comfort will also be participating in one of the panel discussions.
l'etiole magazine (scroll down or search for "Goldstein") features a link to the Here by Design III exhibit, identifying it as "exploring excellence in Minnesota design."
"Goldstein Museum to simultaneously display digital fabrication innovations at two campus locations"
By Staff, UMNnews, October 16, 2007
The University's news service covers the Goldstein's Here by Design III: Process and Prototype exhibition which opens October 19. The release features a quote from James Boyd-Brent (Graphic Design) who curated the exhibition: "There's been a huge shift in design technology in terms of digital fabrication and rapid prototyping. It really wasn't on the radar six years ago and now it's unavoidable."
"Minorities bear biggest load of subprime loans"
By Jennifer Bjorhus, Saint Paul Pioneer Press, October 16, 2007
Jeff Crump (Housing Studies) is sourced in this article about the subprime loan crisis and Genworth Financial, Inc.'s Annual Minority Lending Report. According to Crump, "the report offers something of a map to where foreclosures will hit hardest as the housing downturn deepens."
Aaron Britt has written a profile of Ralph Rapson (former head, Architecture) for the November issue of Dwell magazine. Rapson was the head of the former College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture from 1954-1984.
"Today, Rapson is still at work with his son Toby at his Minneapolis practice, Ralph Rapson Architects. He's working on some low-income prefab housing based on the Greenbelt House (he also contributed one of the 16 entries to the Dwell Home Design Invitational a few years back). His pace, however, has slowed. 'I have a lame back from bending over a drafting board my whole life,' he confesses with a touch of pleasure. 'But I still go in three or four days a week.'"
"Residents divided on design for new span in Minneapolis"
By Christina Capecchi, New York Times, October 13, 2007
Patrick Nunnally (Mississippi River Design Initiative) is quoted in this New York Times article as saying that he gives the design and construction of the proposed replacement I-35W bridge a B-plus. "There are tweaks still to be made, but it's a very good start."
Jennifer Vry (undergraduate architecture student) was also quoted:
"[T]he design fell short on the 'elegant' part of the transportation department's goal of 'elegant simplicity' for the bridge. 'It's a little utilitarian for the area, which is historically layered,' Ms. Vry said. 'I think they would've been better off doing a Calatrava bridge to stand out and mark our generation.' Ms. Vry was referring to Santiago Calatrava, architect of the transportation hub planned for the World Trade Center site in Manhattan."
"Thomas Fisher: Failure of inspiration"
By Tom Fisher, StarTribune, October 14, 2007
In this StarTribune op-ed piece, Dean Fisher writes that the design chosen for the new I-35W bridge is the best among the four offered, but that we've missed an opportunity:
"If the Flatiron-Manson proposal clearly outshone the other three, its relative timidity in comparison to other bridges being built around the world still makes it somewhat disappointing. The last few decades have seen a number of inspired and inspiring bridges go up, not just in major American cities, but in less-affluent countries such as Spain, Argentina and Greece. The best of these have used advanced computer software to minimize materials while maximizing strength and durability, with forms that, in many cases, have become public icons that help make their cities memorable."
"A design to respect more than love"
By Staff, StarTribune, October 11, 2007
Dean Tom Fisher is cited in a StarTribune editorial this morning on the plan for the new I-35W bridge. Fisher told the newspaper that the new bridge "is going to be a memorial bridge whether we want it to be or not. People died there."
"Rybak visits bridge class"
By Patrick Anderson, The Minnesota Daily, October 10, 2007
Patrick Nunnally (Mississippi River Design Initiative) is quoted in this article about the mayor of Minneapolis addressing the class Nunnally is teaching this semester about the I-35W bridge collapse.
"The lecture series is a vehicle for us to reach the public with what we're doing," Nunnally told the Daily. "You don't really know how the University can be helpful in the community until you sit down and have a conversation between the University and the community."
"Critics give new I-35W bridge design good marks"
By Jason Hoppin, Pioneer Press, October 10, 2007
Patrick Nunnally (Mississippi River Design Initiative), who is teaching a class about the bridge collapse this semester, is quoted in this article as saying that the new bridge "requires striking a delicate balance" which is achieved with the proposed design.
"I think the design as proposed and developed is an important balance between something that's just off the shelf, that's just a sort of garden variety thing that you could put up anywhere, and a thing that's such an outstanding object in its own right that it draws attention to itself and not to the river, not to the ensemble of historic ... components that are there," Nunnally told the Pioneer Press. "It takes a tough effort to strike that balance, and from what I've seen, it does."
"Foreclosure research shows scope of crisis"
By Bill Clements, Finance and Commerce, October 4, 2007
Jeff Crump (Housing Studies) is cited in this article about the mortgage foreclosure crisis. Crump knew in 2003 that foreclosure trouble was brewing because the data said so.
He claims that predatory lending is the main culprit: "As I see it, many high-cost subprime lenders, although they claim to be providing increased opportunity for homeownership, have systematically stripped the wealth of vulnerable communities, leaving in their wake a trail of financial distress that will likely take years to recover from."
"Results of Second Energy Study Reinforce that Awnings Save on Cooling Costs"
By Staff, ad-hoc-news, October 4, 2007
"By expanding the study's research base to five additional cities, we were able to evaluate the effectiveness of awnings in more diverse climates," said John Carmody, director of the Center for Sustainable Building Research. "Holding true again, the second study reinforced that awnings can reduce home cooling energy consumption."
"Guest post: Another double shot of China"
By Paige Bromen
RandBall weblog, StarTribune
June 1, 2007
"After a quick lunch, we headed to Ager Company, a landscape architecture firm owned by Minnesota graduate, Ma Xiaowei. The 70-strong firm handles projects dealing with urban greenscapes, resorts, and golf courses. After a quick 20 minute presentation by the owner, associate Thomas Payne, a 55 year-old native of Boston, continued the talk and gave us a tour. Overall, the meeting had little to do with sports and centered mostly on how the company aims to make the world more sustainable and aesthetic at the same time. The buzz words thrown out multiple times were that, “the world is flat;� and that we should “only connect.� Payne wanted to drive home the point that China is where the money is and if we were smart, each of us would use the trip as a springboard for future business opportunities."
Ma Xiaowei is a graduate of the college's landscape architecture program.
"The weeHouse comes to Linden Hills"
by Roseanne Pereira, Minnesota Public Radio, September 12, 2007
At first glance, it looks like a box. But up close, it sports modern design and progressive green technology. Many weeHouses arrive in just one piece, and the smallest are less than 500 square feet. The Dean of the University of Minnesota's College of Design, Tom Fisher believes the weeHouse could offer a new option for middle class homeowners. "It offers a very inventive alternative solution that enables people who can say, afford a car, but can't afford a house," Fisher says. "Maybe we should start making homes like cars, so ordinary people can afford them."
"Disaster on U's doorstep is topic of new class"
by Jim Foti, StarTribune, September 10, 2007
Pat Nunnally (Landscape Architecture; Institute on the Environment) is teaching a new class on the "social, design and environmental issues" related to the I-35W bridge collapse. Nunnally told the StarTribune that one of the goals for the course is to prepare students to question leaders and act as citizens.
"The Rapson Cube"
by Jane King Hession, Rip Rapson, and Bruce N. Wright
Architecture Week
For Ralph Rapson, the 1970s was a busy decade, full of projects that varied in size, scale, program, locale, and complexity — in addition to his position as head of the School of Architecture at the University of Minnesota.
"The pitfalls of designing for designers"
by Scott Carlson, Chronicle of Higher Education, September 5, 2007
Various architecture buildings get a thorough evaluation in a new book, Designing for Designers: Lessons Learned From Schools of Architecture, written and edited by Jack L. Nasar, a professor of city and regional planning at Ohio State University; Wolfgang F.E. Preiser, a professor of architecture at the University of Cincinnati; and Thomas Fisher, a professor and dean of design at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities.
InformeDesign is profiled by Braulio Agnese in the July issue of Architect magazine.
Caren Martin (DHA) tells Agnese that she and Denise Guerin (DHA) are "trying to make research accessible and fast and a normal part of practice."
"InformeDesign's main product is research summaries, which distill design and human-behavior research articles from academic, peer-reviewed journals into language and concepts practitioners can understand. But this isn't research lite, and findings are not skewed in any way. [The University of Minnesota] is a top research institution, and 'it's important that the University owns the site,' says Martin, because it underscores InformeDesign's serious, objective mission. 'Our goal is to publish all research,' she says. 'We do not make value judgments.'"
"Taking child's play to another level"
by Todd Nelson
Star Tribune, September 2, 2007
Andrew Comfort (Architecture alum) took inspiration from a toy from his childhood, founding Q-BA-MAZE to build and market his new creation -- a modular construction toy.
Dean Tom Fisher told the StarTribune's Pam Louwagie and Jim Foti that a well-known designer should be involved in the I-35W bridge replacement. According to Fisher, the bridge collapse got international attention and "whatever we do there is going to get international attention. ... If you have to hire a bridge designer anyway, why not hire a good one? ... I just think it's a no-brainer."
After the I-35W bridge collapse, some have been asking about a memorial at the site. Dean Tom Fisher discussed the role of public memorials on Minnesota Public Radio's Midmorning program this morning.
"Wilder Center: Extreme makeover"
by Allie Shah, StarTribune, August 2, 2007
The Wilder project is an example of a larger trend toward environmentally friendly building in Minnesota and elsewhere, said John Carmody, director of the Center for Sustainable Building Research at the University of Minnesota's College of Design.
"The whole green-building movement has advanced so rapidly that now there are a lot of buildings that incorporate green elements," he said. "My guess is what they're doing at Wilder goes a level above that. It's been quite a sea change in the last couple years from being this unusual thing to getting into the mainstream."
"Ancient meets modern"
by Mary Hudetz, StarTribune, July 24, 2007
Three CDes students -- Maria Thor, Linda Thao, and Choua Yang -- were among five young Hmong-American fashion designers profiled for blending Hmong traditional dress with western designs.
"Curators, Critics, and Historians. Oh My!"
by Phillip Koski, Architecture Minnesota, July-August 2007
At an international design conference at the University of Minnesota in April, elite critics and historians pulled no punches in their observations about Minneapolis' new architectural icons.
"Plant Life"
by Lance Neckar, Architecture Minnesota, July-August 2007
The Ford Assembly Plant has anchored St. Paul's Highland Park neighborhood for more than 80 years. Now, with the plant closing in 2008, the city readies for a once-in-a-lifetime redevelopment opportunity. Which current scenarios and design goals hold the most promise for reinvigorating the community? Our expert panel offers insight.
"University Of Minnesota / U's 3D model wins Google award"
by Julio Ojeda-Zapata, Pioneer Press, July 11, 2007
The University of Minnesota's architecture department is among the winners of a Google "Build your Campus in 3D" competition, which challenged colleges to create three-dimensional computer renditions of campus buildings and landmarks.
"Google Picks Winners In Campus-Building Contest"
by Doug Caverly, webpronews.com, July 11, 2007
Google likes young people, and young people like Google; the company reports that its "Build Your Campus in 3D Competition" received around 4,000 entries. Seven winning teams have now been selected.
"InformeDesign Surveys Small-Town Retail Design"
by Mairi Beautyman, Interior Design, July 11, 2007
Big box discount retailers are here to stay, but small retailers can stay in the game with the right shopping experience, according to a survey released by design and human behavior database InformeDesign.
"Study Looks At How Small Retailers Can Compete Against Discounters"
by Staff, Furniture World magazine, July 9, 2007
Authors Kim Johnson, Ph.D., a professor in the department of Design, Housing, and Apparel in the College of Design at the University of Minnesota, and doctoral candidate Jaeha Lee give retail designers, store planners, and independent retailers an in-depth look into the consumer preferences and expectations of people living in small towns. More than half of the 328 participants in their study shopped with independent retailers several times a week.
"Screen Capture: www.informedesign.umn.edu: A clearinghouse of design-related academic research"
by Braulio Agnese, Architect magazine, July 2007
In design, as in many professions, practice and research exist in mostly separate worlds. Caren Martin has lived in both -- the former during her 20 years as an interior designer at Minneapolis architecture firms, the latter at the University of Minnesota's College of Design, where she earned a Ph.D. and has taught since 1995 -- and she understands that academics and nonacademics have different priorities and use different jargon.
"BIM and Sustainable Design, Part 1"
by Heather Livingston, cadalyst, June 21, 2007
Renee Cheng (Architecture) is interviewed about building information modeling (BIM) and its promise to ease interoperability, save time, and reduce mistakes in sustainable design.
"U of M's Wall of Discovery earns international design award"
by Staff, University News Service, June 18, 2007
The University of Minnesota's Wall of Discovery won an Honor Award from the Society for Environmental Graphic Design (SEGD), an international non-profit educational foundation, in the highly competitive SEGD Design Awards Program. Gary Fishbeck (BLA '80) of HGA Architects created the idea and concept for the wall.
"Good looking and affordable"
by Pauline Oo, UMNnews, June 15, 2007
If you think low-cost or affordable housing is ugly and poorly built, and such a development is crawling with unsavory characters, then you're in for a surprise at the current twofer exhibit at the Goldstein Museum of Design.
"Goldstein museum is 30"
by Pauline Oo, UMNnews, June 12, 2007
Star Wars isn't the only thing turning 30 this year. The Goldstein Museum of Design at the University of Minnesota is also celebrating the big 3-0. The museum recently held a shindig on the Twin Cities campus in St. Paul to mark its anniversary.
"Bringing the Mississippi River to life"
by McKenna Ewen, Minnesota Daily, June 6, 2007
Mississippi River Design Initiative coordinator Patrick Nunnally is sourced for the story about a $45,000 planning grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
"Goldstein Gallery has designs on affordable housing"
by Anne Holzman, Park Bugle, June 1, 2007
The Goldstein has brought in a national exhibit, "Affordable Housing: Designing an American Asset," that originated in Washington, D.C., and has added a Minnesota component, "Leading from Policy to Practice: Minnesota Affordable Housing," curated by Marilyn Bruin, associate professor of housing studies at the University.
"College students spruce up Biloxi park"
by Staff, WLOX, May 30, 2007
Since Katrina neighbors like Jackson have seen a lot of changes for the better. Kaboom put in new playground equipment. Hands On Gulf Coast began renovating a historic home into a community center. There is also a flower and vegetable garden. Over the last few weeks, college students from the University of Minnesota have been designing and building a gazebo.
"Architects experience virtual reality"
by Kelly Gulbrandson, Minnesota Daily, May 30, 2007
The departments of architecture and computer science and engineering started working together five years ago in the Immersive Design Research Program in Walter Library's Digital Technology Center. The Digital Design Consortium sponsors the initiative, in which architecture students design structures on computers, then computer science students use the research lab to create virtual renderings of the buildings.
"Integrated practice in perspective: A new model for the architectural profession"
by Staff, Architectural Record, May 2007
Renee Cheng, AIA, associate professor and head of the School of Architecture at the University of Minnesota, says, "While design remains central, critically important for studio and other courses are the ability to work successfully in interdisciplinary creative teams, write and speak effectively on professional topics, and be skilled in the arts of negotiation and facilitation."