Parsons School of Design
Department of Architecture, Interior Design and Lighting

Fall 2006 Public Program Schedule

All lectures take place at 6.15pm in the Glass Corner, 2nd Floor, 25 East 13th Street except as noted. Exhibition opening receptions follow at 7.30pm. Gallery hours Monday-Saturday 10am-9pm. Please check website or call the Department on 212 229 8955 to confirm.
www.parsons.edu/architecture

September 14
LightEnergyImpact: Margaret Maile and Matthew Tanteri on the Legacy of
Richard Kelly
An analog to the exhibit LightEnergyImpact: the Legacy of Richard Kelly, on
view at the Center for Architecture, Maile and Tanteri will discuss the
collaborative relationships between this pioneer in lighting design and the
architects with whom he worked.

Photograph by M. Tanteri C 2006

 

September 21: Karrie Jacobs: The Perfect $100,000 House

Her new book, The Perfect $100,000 House, chronicles Jacobs's coast-to-coast
search for the seemingly unavailable: a well-built, intelligently designed,
decent-sized house.

 

September 28-October 30:
infowash

In January 2006, The Design Workshop at Parsons The New School for Design
was approached by SHoP Architects to join a rebuilding effort in DeLisle,
Mississippi. Spearheaded by local resident and client Martha Murphy, the
project began with her vision to create a place that could meet both the
physical and emotional needs of a community devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

The team was asked to design a facility that functions as both a laundromat
and information center. The simple task of washing one's clothes would
provide immediate relief while exposing community members to critical
information necessary in the complicated process of recovery.

The program is contained within two volumes separated by a breezeway which
functions as a gateway between future development and SHoP's recently
constructed business incubator. The building's form was inspired by its dual
role as refuge and information exchange. A wrapping of materials conveys a
sheltering atmosphere while the open south elevation draws visitors toward
the information. A luminous north elevation facing future development serves
as a beacon.

A 2,000 square feet freestanding building, this is the most ambitious
project undertaken by The Design Workshop to date. Throughout the spring
semester the team worked swiftly through a series of collaborative efforts
to arrive at their final proposal. They have spent the summer tackling the
many challenges inherent in the transition from a projected design to a
built reality.

The Design Workshop is honored to be part of this effort and hopes its work
will have a lasting impact on the community of DeLisle.

Opening lecture: September 28

 

October 5
Min-suk Cho
Mass Studies

Mass Studies was founded in 2003 by Minsuk Cho in Seoul, Korea, as an
investigation of architecture in the context of market-privileged culture of
mass production and intensely over-populated urban condition. Mass Studies
explore building materials/techniques, space matrixes and building
typologies on a wide range of scales to focus on a vision specific to each
project.

 

October 12:
Charles Rose
Liberation and Deliberation: Recent Work of Charles Rose Architects

 

October 20th: Paolo Soleri

On the occasion of receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award at the National
Design Awards, Paolo Soleri will speak at Swayduck Hall, 65 Fifth Avenue.
The lecture is sponsored by Parsons the New School for Design in association
with the Italian Cultural Institute.

The Italian-born architect came to the United States in 1946 to study
with Frank Lloyd Wright at Taliesin West, eventually making Scottsdale, Arizona his home, where he
established the Cosanti Foundation in 1956. Soleri's career has spanned seven decades,
including work in ceramics and bronze, as well as pioneering the earthcasting process. The
bulk of his career, however, has been dedicated to addressing the ecological and social concerns
raised by modern urban existence, through his exploration of arcology.

Arcology is Soleri's concept for urban environments that embody the
co-presence of architecture and ecology. It advocates compact, dense multi-use structures for human
habitat that rise three dimensionally, as opposed to the horizontal suburban sprawl that dominates the landscape of modern society. Since 1970, Dr. Soleri has focused his efforts on the design and
construction of Arcosanti, the world's prototype arcology situated on a mesa in the high desert of central
Arizona. Arcosanti is a laboratory dedicated to unearthing potential answers at a time when there are increasing questions regarding the future of the planet and the sustainability of our highly consumptive lifestyles.

Tuesday, October 24
A | L Light and Architecture Design Awards Roundtable
Wollman Hall, 65 West 11th Street, 5th Floor

 

October 26
Alex Wall: Commerce is the engine of urbanity: new images and new spaces for
the city. Victor Gruen and the Transformation of the American Cityscape and
Landscape

 

November 2:
Edward Eigen: Conjuring Comfort: Robert-Houdin's Electric House and Other
Modern Illusions

 

November 9 - December 1
Smith-Miller + Hawkinson Architects
Recent Work

Opening Lecture: November

9