Sculpting the Architectural Mind

This sounds like a conference worth attending, taking place at Pratt Institute in early March:

Sculpting the Architectural Mind
Neuroscience and the Education of an Architect

In recent years, architects have been mining new research in neuroscience, cognitive psychology, object-oriented philosophy, and experimental biology for design concepts and for accounts of the new conditions of materiality. Architects borrow from these discourses to formulate and justify a wide range of design processes, especially digitally-driven ones. But we have failed to discuss how neuro-scientific knowledge can impact architectural pedagogy. This conference considers the roles that applied neuroscience has played and might play in the education of architects.

The symposium is structured around invited presentations and panel discussions with neuro-scientists, architectural theorists, historians, philosophers, and artists. Hosted by Pratt Institute’s School of Architecture in collaboration with the Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture. It is free and open to the public.

The conference is co-organized by Dan Bucsescu (Pratt), Michael A.Arbib (ANFA Liaison) and Ralph S. Steenblik.

Speakers will include:
Michael A.Arbib
Philip Beesley
Lawrence Blough
Dan Bucsescu
Edward Eigen
Michael Eng
Thomas Hanrahan
Deborah Hauptmann
Duks Koschitz
Sanford Kwinter
Eduardo Macagno
Harry Francis Mallgrave
Ralph Steenblik
Meredith TenHoor

Conference Schedule

Friday, March 6th

Opening Session 9:30AM -12:30PM
What the Hand Tells the Architect’s Brain

12:30- 1:30 PM Lunch

Afternoon Session 1:30 - 5:30 PM
Experiencing the Built Environment

5:30-6:30 Exhibition /Opening Reception

Saturday, March 7th

Morning session 9:30 AM - 12:00 PM
The neuroscience of the design process for architecture

Lunch 12:00 -1:00 PM

Afternoon session 1:00 - 4:15 PM
Neuroscience of architectural experience

Closing Keynote 4:15-4:45
Closing Panel Discussion 5:00 - 6:00 PM

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Going Underground in DC

It seems appropriate that the drive to transform a unused underground trolley station into a venue "for presenting, producing, and promoting cutting-edge arts, architecture, design, and creative endeavors" should take place in Washington, DC. The city, after all, is home to Harry Weese's beloved METRO stations, which won last year's 25-Year Award from the AIA. And let's not forget that DC was home to one of the most important underground music scenes of the late 1970s and early 1980s, with bands like Bad Brains and Minor Threat and a DIY attitude that extended to the latter's Ian MacKaye's Dischord label. Dupont Underground, inadvertently perhaps, respectively embodies the desire to have something beautiful under the street level and a bottom-up means of accomplishing it.


[All images courtesy of Dupont Underground]

The non-profit Arts Coalition for the Dupont Underground describes their mission as "working to transform the unused Dupont Circle trolley station into an institution highlighting the District’s rightful place on the cultural map." The choice to focus on a piece of unused (since the 1960s) piece of urban infrastructure puts it in line with projects like the High Line, which is primarily a park, but which also serves as a canvas for artworks and performances, stemming appropriately from its location cutting through Chelsea's gallery district. Of course, unlike the High Line that threads its way over streets and between buildings, the old trolley line sits below and around Dupont Circle, the park and traffic feature that gives the historic district its name. Further, unlike the Low Line, which proposes to transform the micro-climate and experience of an old underground trolley station in New York's Lower East Side via innovative light scoops, the DU players treat their station with reverence, like a found beauty. The preliminary, informational renderings show minimal changes to the underground spaces.




The non-profit's efforts have resulted in signing a 5.5-year lease on the 75,000-square-foot space with DC's Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development. Although this is admittedly a step in securing a long-term lease, the widespread support of the project is visible in DU's surpassing of its $50,000 crowdfunding goal – with 56 days left; even this early, earning the long-terms lease looks promising. Their initial transformation of the station will focus on the eastern platform, which makes up about a third of the total square footage. Once the space is brought up to code, the "blank canvas" will serve as a host for exhibitions, installations, performances, all sorts of events as a means of exploring what works underground. If those events parallel what DU has envisioned remains to be seen, but organizations in DC needing a unique venue won't be at a loss for where to look.




One area where I see potential is architectural lighting. The renderings clearly show how the ambiance of the spaces will depend upon the lighting – the type, location, intensity, etc. Why not invite lighting designers and artists into the space to explore how to illuminate the underground spaces, both to exploit the qualities of the old station and take it in unexpected directions? Then the usual exhibitions, pop-up shops and the like can follow. However it plays out, it's clear the Dupont Underground offers lots of potential for creativity on the DC scene.

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Today's archidose #806

Here are some photos of Emerson College in Los Angeles, California, by Morphosis Architects, photographed by Riley Snelling; see more photos on the photographer's website.









To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just:

:: Join and add photos to the archidose pool

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:: Tag your photos #archidose

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2015 Driehaus Prize Winner

David M. Schwarz is the 2015 recipient of the Richard H. Driehaus Prize. But, if the website of his firm, David M. Schwarz Architects (DMSAS), is any indication, the $200,000 prize is just a step below gracing the cover of a phone book. Which begs the question, "Are Yellow Pages and other phone books still being printed?"


[Screenshot from DMSAS Awards page]

In case you can't read the lower-left corner of the screenshot above, it says:

If a community is defined by its significant buildings, then there is no greater testament to the status of any one building than to make the cover of the phone book. The book is to architecture, what Rolling Stone is to rock n' roll – a testament to a building's stature, its symbolism, its place within the community.

The buildings of DMSAS have been so honored numerous times. We consider it our highest accolade.

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2015 Mumford Lecture: Rebecca Solnit

Mark your calendars: Thursday, April 2 is the 2015 Lewis Mumford Lecture on Urbanism, to be given by writer, historian and activist Rebecca Solnit. The 11th annual lecture is presented by the Graduate Program in Urban Design, Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture at City College of New York (CCNY), and will be held in the Great Hall of Shepard Hall at CCNY, Convent Hall at 138th Street. It's free, open to the public, and no reservations are necessary.



Previous Lewis Mumford Lectures:

2014 - Theaster Gates: "Place Over Time"
2013 - Marshall Berman: "Emerging from the Ruins"
2012 - Janette Sadik-Khan: "It's Not Impossible To Change a City" (audio podcast available)
2011 - Richard Sennett: "The Edge: Borders and Boundaries in the City" (video archive available)
2010 - No lecture
2009 - Paul Auster: "City of Words"
2008 - David Harvey: "The Right to the City" (audio podcast available)
2007 - Amartya Sen: "The Urbanity of Calcutta" (audio podcast available)
2006 - Enrique Peñalosa: "A New Urban Paradigm: Building a Just and Sustainable Metropolis"
2005 - Mike Davis: "Planet of Slums"
2004 - Jane Jacobs

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Slat Happy

Earlier today I did two microblogging things:

1. I deleted my "archidose" Tumblr page/account, and
2. I set up a new "Slat Happy" page on Tumblr

"Huh?" you ask, "You had a Tumblr?" Yes I did, and I'll admit it wasn't anything special, something I set up as an outlet for very short, image-based posts, featuring whatever struck my fancy. But over time – and I think I had the page for two years, tops – it got neglected, unlike the Unpacking My Library blog, which I started in July and is more focused and more interesting for me to do on a regular basis.

Yet I still like the idea of microblogging, so I decided to go the route that most good/successful Tumblr blogs go, which is finding a very specific niche and maintaining that focus over time. (Just think about all of the "F*!k Yeah" and "____ porn" – stair porn, bookcase porn, etc. – sites to see what I mean.) And although I'm not aiming for the levels of apparent excitement and overload in those sites, I like the idea of having a microblog focused on something I really like, and the first that came to mind was wood slats, a topic I wrote about for Houzz a few years ago.

So I set up Slat Happy*, loading it up with a handful of projects that put a smile on my face. The first one is one of my favorites, the Herman Miller/Holdrege Avenue Building by Lynch/Eisinger/Design.


(What's not to love? Photo: Amy Barkow)

 So visit, bookmark, follow Slat Happy. I'll be updating it as long as doing it makes me, well, happy.

*No, I did not see this Dwell article before deciding on that name. It just came to me and seemed to work well, and only later did I Google the phrase to see where "slat happy" has been used.

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Today's archidose #805

Here are some photos of models from the architectural competition for an overall refurbishment and extension of the “Badisches Staatstheater” theatre in Karlsruhe, Germany, photographed by Frank Dinger. The two first prize winners will develop their designs for the competition's second stage.

Delugan Meissl, Vienna, Wenzel + Wenzel, Karlsruhe, first prize:


Dietrich | Untertrifaller, Bregenz, first prize:


GMP Architekten, Berlin/Hamburg:


ALA architects, Helsinki:


Benthem Crouwel, Aachen:


Wulf Architekten, Stuttgart:


Dominique Perrault, Paris:


Vasconi architectes, Paris:


BHBVT Architekten, Berlin:


Rudy Ricciotti, Bandol:


LRO - Lederer Ragnarsdottir Oei, Stuttgart:


To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just:

:: Join and add photos to the archidose pool

To contribute your Instagram images for consideration, just:

:: Tag your photos #archidose

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