Taubman College ACSA National Conference in Detroit Features Faculty Research from Haar, Bigham, Herrmann, Jazairy, Kulper, Mankouche, Miller, Moran, Morcillo Pallares, Ng, Vance, Lettieri, and Reyes
The Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture is hosting its 105th Annual Meeting in Detroit, March 23rd-25th, 2017. The conference, titled Brooklyn Says, “Move To Detroit,” takes the creative class’ move out of New York as starting point to discuss Detroit’s reinvention and the how educators and students engage with the city. In addition to serving as a host school, several Taubman faculty are presenting their research at the conference or moderating sessions, including Architecture Chair Sharon Haar, Lecturer Ashley Bigham, Assistant Professors Ana Morcillo Pallares, Tsz Yan Ng, Ulysses Sean Vance, El Hadi Jazairy, Meredith Miller, and Thomas Moran, Associate Professors Amy Kulper and Steven Mankouche, Walter B. Sanders Fellow Erik Herrmann, and Michigan Mellon Design Fellows Paulina Reyes and Suzanne Lettieri.
Morcillo Pallares is featured on Thursday’s “Whither Public Space?” session which looks at how contemporary public spaces manifest larger cultural, socio-economic, ecological and political processes, and how their design and configuration impacts the nature and character of public experience. From her paper “128th Street Harlem: An Open Approach to Social Inclusion,” Morcillo Pallares will be sharing a theoretical debate between citizen demands and municipal regulations in understanding the social, economic, architectural and urban conditions of the public space from her doctoral dissertation titled: “New York: the revitalization of public space from 1950.”
Bigham will present “Trade Secrets: An Architectural Enclave” on Thursday’s “Design Research in the Studio Context” session looking at the now transdisciplinary nature of design and how this has influenced the architecture studio. She will also be presenting “Safety Not Guaranteed: The Future of Defensive Architecture,” work from her 2015-2016 Walter B. Sanders Fellow project, at Friday’s “In Practice: Material Manipulations” session as well as serve as the moderator for the “Urbanism” session also taking place that day.
Friday’s events also include a session on Materials which features “Concrete Lattice | Unitized Architecture of Assembly” presented by Assistant Professor of Architecture Tsz Yan Ng and her former students and recent alumni, Ryan Goold and Daniel Fougere. The 2016-2017 Walter B. Sanders Fellow Erik Herrmann will present “Unfinished Business” at Friday’s “Media Investigations” panel looking at how theories and practices of media and representation are important to the production of architectural ideas.
Michigan Mellon Design Fellows Paulina Reyes and Suzanne Lettieri will both also present work on Friday. Reyes is featured on the “Is Another Architecture Possible” panel where she will present “Mexican Civil Society Organizations: How the Pursuit of Formal Housing Undermines the Vision of a Just and Equitable City.” The session explores new architectural practices, where performative, political, activist, and/ or cultural approaches support transformative civic and social change. Lettieri will present “Flowerpots: Objects of Misuse” in the “Open II: Urban Interventions and Their Consequences” session.
On Saturday, Chair of the Architecture department Sharon Haar will participate in a special focus session on designing for social impact; Associate Professor of Architecture Steven Mankouche will share is Detroit greenhouse project, “Afterhouse” at an Open Projects session; and Associate Professor of Architecture Amy Kulper will moderate a special focus session on “JAE ‘Environments.’” Assistant Professor Ulysses Sean Vance will also present “Move Detroit: An Active Class Space Intervention” with Rebecca Hasson, Darin Stockdill, and Ben Ransier in the “Health + Design: Paper Session 1.”
On Saturday afternoon, the conference will close with a panel features three Taubman College faculty members who are recipients of this year’s design awards. First, assistant professor El Hadi Jazairy will present “Pacific Aquarium” with partner Rania Ghosn. Then, assistant professors Meredith Miller and Thom Moran will present “Post Rock.” The Faculty Design Award provides a venue for work that advances the reflective nature of practice and teaching by recognizing and encouraging outstanding work in architecture and related environmental design fields as a critical endeavor.
Read more about the conference here.
