| Volume 2, No. 7 - May 20, 2008 |
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 The Katzen Arts Center, by Einhorn Yaffee Prescott (more info) |
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DesignDC: Leading ReNEWal by Ed Weaver, AIA |
By now it should be clear to all that, other than possibly a white sandy beach, the best place to be July 8th - 10th is at DesignDC. Being held at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center at the Federal Triangle Metro Station in Washington, DC, this year's theme is Leading ReNEWal, and focuses on how sustainable design and adaptive reuse, historic preservation and downtown revitalization can all work together. Your next move is to sign up soon, because the Early Bird registration prices end June 1st. Why spend more than you have to? Save that extra money for sunscreen.  This year's keynote address will be delivered on Tuesday, July 8th by Marshall Purnell, FAIA, the AIA's 84th president and design principal at Devrouax & Purnell. Throughout his career, Marshall has been instrumental in the creation of a number of notable Washington landmarks, including the Nationals' new stadium, the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial and the Washington Convention Center. Mr. Purnell is spearheading the AIA's goal of promoting sustainable design and resource conservation across the country.Co-sponsored by AIA|DC, AIA Potomac Valley and AIA Northern Virginia, this year's event promises to expand on the successful format of previous conferences, with more exhibit space, larger classrooms and more sessions. All this is geared toward making DesignDC the must-attend local conference for education and networking opportunities. Sessions and speakers will talk about the tools, trends and technology needed to ensure industry leadership. Whether you are an architect, designer, engineer, contractor, developer or just interested in the world of design, there is something for you to learn and apply to your professional or personal life. Educational sessions will be extensive, include topics such as:
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Design Awards Gala : June 7 |
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Come join us on the evening of June 7th to celebrate design and reconnect with fellow Chapter members at our biggest annual event, the Design Awards Gala. This year's Gala will be hosted at American University's Katzen Arts Center, designed by Einhorn Yaffee Prescott. Learn more about the building in the Featured Project section below. |
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AIA Honors Nominations by Marlene Walli Shade, AIA |
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AIA members are eligible for honors on three levels; Chapter, Society and National. Far too often our Chapter lets honors opportunities go by without a nominee being put forth. Don't let this happen this year. Don’t let your light hide under a bush. |
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In Its Element... Viewing Architecture Through Its Program by Matt Shuba |
Last month I traveled to Seattle with another architecture student to get away from school, eat salmon and of course see a new town and its buildings. We saw libraries, nightclubs, museums, brightly colored wood-cladded neighborhoods and the bizarre stacking of buildings that rises up from Puget Sound, crescendoing from waterfront blues clubs to Pike Place Market to skyscrapers in no more than three blocks. And there is perhaps no building in town more discussed around Virginia Tech's Architecture department than Steven Holl's Chapel of St. Ignatius on the campus of the University of Seattle. My friend and I ducked into our hotel on Saturday during a particularly rainy spell (even for Seattle) to make an afternoon plan, which consisted of trekking out to the Chapel in less-than-ideal weather to avoid visiting on a Sunday and having to work around mass.After a moment's reflection though I suggested that we consider not only going on Sunday but going to mass. We rifled through our suitcases to try and put together somewhat respectable ensembles (this required a trip to the store for me) and found another way to fill our afternoon. When we arrived at the Chapel the next morning we took a seat near the back, by the Blessed Sacrament Chapel. It was a remarkable room (in the photograph on the left), and I marveled at its delicate use of light, which came from a heavily textured window, a window near the roof obscured by a wall and an internally-lit marble relic case, which cast an eerie orange glow from the edges around its doors. I ran my hands over the unusual walls, which were made of concrete coated in some kind of resin; (Mr. Holl's office confirmed it was scratch coat plaster covered in beeswax). Taking it all in I missed an elderly woman in the corner sitting motionless in prayer and I quickly returned to my seat out of respect. I watched her from my seat and realized that the room meant something else all together to her. As the congregation filed in I remembered that this was just a chapel to its regular visitors; there were no plaques or boards about the architecture and I never saw the name "Steven Holl" anywhere in the building. The mass began and we were engrossed in readings, music and prayers. For that hour I ceased to marvel at the details and the building was once again a house of worship. Mr Holl's work is a very restrained effort, an edifice never to himself nor to architecture but to the needs of the congregation. In a manner no different from a charming but unimaginative Catholic church I visited here in Blacksburg, the Chapel welcomed worshippers to light candles in its Narthex, dip their fingertips into the baptistry and kneel in prayer in its pews.  We returned after a leisurely lunch to photograph and sketch (the photograph above was not taken near the time of the service), to study the building in a conventional sense. But reflecting with my friend we agreed that no building tour could have matched the experience of attending mass there.As I begin my thesis in the fall, I feel more aware of the experience of the user. Most of us are not architects, and a building's success or failure is in the eye of the people who are there every day. It is in this respect, not through academic praise nor acclaim that Mr Holl's Chapel is such an incredibly notable building. |
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The Katzen Arts Center |
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HSMM | AECOM's museum design team worked closely with The Smithsonian Institution to design the fully-enclosed, tropically-tempered house located on the Museum's second floor. The pavilion's structure consists of vertical aluminum ribs that form a curved shape in both plan and elevation. The diaphragm between the ribs consists of translucent polyester resin panels supported by T-shaped horizontal aluminum purlins. The interior features lighting that mimics outdoor daylight and curving walls to prevent butterflies from becoming trapped in corners and crevices.
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May 21 - AIA Northern Virginia Lunch Series: Hazard Mitigation Technologies for Windows June 1 - Deadline for Early Registration to Attend DesignDC : Leading ReNEWal June 4 - Virginia Society AIA Honors Program Workshop June 6-8 - ARE Structures Review June 7 - AIA Northern Virginia Design Awards Gala |
