The alumni newsline for the University of Pennsylvania School of Design
Published by PennDesign Alumni Association (PDAA)
Volume 7, Number 1
September 2006

 

WELCOME BACK AND FAREWELL

The 2006-2007 academic year begins September 6 and PDAA is planning many programs for this year. Stay tuned to the alumni website for details!

This newsletter is the last one you will receive from me, as I have resigned from my position in Alumni Relations to spend more time with my new daughter, who was born in May. I have greatly enjoyed getting to know so many alumni over the years, and I look forward to keeping up with you by reading future editions of PennDesign Online. If you'd like to keep in touch, you can reach me by email or via my website.

Please send future PennDesign emails to Julia Moore Converse (left) and Heather Butz (right) in Development & Alumni Relations: pdalumni@design.upenn.edu

 Regards, Maura Matthews

 

GREAT RESULTS!

Thanks to the generous support of more than 1,000 alumni, we raised $204,438 for the PennDesign Annual Fund this year, and alumni participation reached an all-time high of 14.9%, a tremendous increase over 2001 when participation was at 7.6%. Check out the 2005-2006 Annual Report to read more about our successful year!
2005-2006
Annual Report

 

"H_edge" EXHIBIT OPENS IN NYC

PennDesign students are on the assembly team for the "H_edge" exhibit at Artists Space, New York, NY, from September 14 - October 28.

London's Advanced Geometry Unit (AGU) invites PennDesign alumni to the private preview on Tuesday, September 12, 6-8pm. RSVP to Anna.Wharton@arup.com

Visit the PennDesign website for details about the exhibition, designed by Cret professor Cecil Balmond, lecturers Daniel Bosia and Jenny Sabin MArch'05, and Charles Walker and Frances Archer of AGU.

 

ATTN: SOUTHERN REGIONAL ALUMNI

Regional director Jim Williamson MArch'73 and Robert Tom MArch'77 MCP'77 CRT'77 have developed a Southern Region chapter webpage to enable alumni in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee to communicate with each other. Jim Williamson has served as regional director since the chapter's inception and would like to step down. If you are interested in leading the effort to bring together alumni in the Southern region, please contact the Alumni Office for more information.

ON THE LINE

Please note: some alumni names are hyperlinked to email addresses

2000s
Jennifer Correia MS'05
has been working with professor Frank Matero on the restoration of the San Jose Mission's Rose Window; their conservation effort was featured in an article by David McLemore in the July 16 issue of the Dallas Morning News.

Yeong H. Lim MArch'02
has been appointed assistant professor of architecture at Hongik University in Seoul, Korea. He recently returned to Korea after spending six years in the States.

1990s

Urshula Barbour MFA'94
reports that 3 projects designed by her studio, Pure+Applied, were named in the June 26 issue of Newsweek as "Must See" design. They are the book Design Like You Give a Damn by Architecture for Humanity; "The High Style of Dorothy Draper," an exhibition on the early 20th century decorating icon; and "The Green House: New Directions in Sustainable Architecture and Design," an exhibition designed with Lewis.Tsurumaki.Lewis.

Mark Cameron MArch'91 MLA'91
was featured in the "Shared Wisdom" article in the May issue of Landscape Architecture, and the Neighborhood Design Center, the Baltimore non-profit which he heads, was the subject of an article on community design in the June issue.
Chris Reed MLA'95
reports that his firm, stoss, designed the recently inaugurated Perkins Park, Somerville, MA, and the firm's installation, "Safe Zone," was featured in the 7th International Garden Festival at the Jardins de Métis / Reford Gardens, Québec, Canada. "Safe Zone" is the pleasure garden reformulated, utilizing an array of safety products in unconventional ways.

1980s

Stephen Glascock MArch'88 and Barbara van Beuren MArch'87
are pleased to report that as of April 5, they have completed the conversion of the former Intercontinental Hotel at 110 Central Park South. The building, originally designed by James Carpenter in 1927, has been renovated into 60 luxury cooperative residences, including a newly-constructed duplex penthouse with dramatic views of Central Park. As sponsor/developers, Glascock and van Beuren used their backgrounds in the design of all parts of the building, and teamed up with Costas Kondylis Architects, building architects. The development is 75% sold out. They look forward to starting on their next development, a 16-story new-construction with 25 condominium residences on West 72nd Street.

David E. Gross AIA MArch’80 and Leonard Fusco AIA March ’80
are pleased to announce that their firm, GF55 Partners LLP, won the New York State Association of Affordable Housing's 2006 Project of the Year Award, for their work on Manhattan Court, New York. Also, GF55 won the commission in an open competition from the GJDC to build a new multi-building mixed-use project in Queens, NY totaling 143,000 SF.
Marsha Wooley MFA'88
had a solo exhibition of her recent landscape paintings at Prince Street Gallery, New York, NY, from August 1-19.

1970s
Don Erwin MArch'79
has established a new firm, Erwin Lobo Bielinski PLLC, specializing in forensic architecture and engineering, along with Sharon Lobo and Ron Bielinski, his former partners at LZA Technology. Based in the New York metropolitan area, the firm will focus on investigating and analyzing building performance defects for the real estate, construction, design and legal communities as part of problem-solving efforts, as well as litigation and dispute resolution proceedings.

Ronnie Swire Siegel MLA'78
is celebrating her 24th year as principal of Swire Siegel, Landscape Architects, first located in New York City, then Charlottesville, VA and for the past 19 years in Los Angeles, CA. Last year she committed her formerly diverse practice into one specialized in addressing the lack of healthy and natural play environments for urban children. She is working with the Child Educational Center in La Canada Flintridge, CA on their government-funded 5-year grant to instruct over 1,000 preschool facilities in LA as to how to better utilize outdoor spaces through creative design. She has completed designs throughout the LA-area for parks, school campuses and playgrounds that encourage children to explore and bond with nature. Nostalgic in her old age, Ronnie would like to hear from her landscape architecture classmates.

Donal Simpson MArch'71 MCP'71
director of urban design and planning for HNTB's Charlotte office, has received the North Carolina Chapter of APA's Outstanding Plan of the Year Award for regional projects for the 35-mile NC73 Transportation/Land Use Corridor Plan.

James Williamson FAIA MArch'73
and his partner at Williamson Pounders Architects recently joined forces with Askew Nixon Ferguson Architects, also of Memphis. WPA and ANF share complementary backgrounds in institutional, religious, educational and commercial work. The new arrangement will allow Jim to spend more time combining design with teaching in the University of Memphis' architecture program.

1960s

John Keene MCP'66
retired from his position as professor in the department of city and regional planning in the spring and has been appointed to a two-year term as ombudsman of the University of Pennsylvania. Read more in the Almanac.

 

HAPPENINGS

LECTURES

September 7
A. EUGENE KOHN BArch'53 MArch'57
JORDAN GRUZEN MArch'61
"Planned Communities of the Future"

September 14
MIRA NAKASHIMA-YARNALL
"Nature, Form and Spirit"

September 18
PAULA MARINCOLA
"Real World"

September 20
PETER EISENMAN
LAURIE OLIN
JULIA CZERNIAK
"Fertilizers: Eisenman/Olin in Conversation"

September 21
KENNETH FRAMPTON
"The Tectonic Sensibility of Antonin Raymond"

 

EXHIBITIONS

Through September 24
CRAFTING A MODERN WORLD: THE ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN OF ANTONIN AND NOEMI RAYMOND
Meyerson Galleries  

Through October 2
FACULTY EXHIBIT: WORKS ON PAPER
Addams Gallery; Opening: Thursday, September 7, 5-7pm

September 9 - December 17
FERTILIZERS: OLIN/EISENMAN
ICA; Opening: Friday, September 8, 6-8pm

EVENTS

September 10
PENN/PENNDESIGN ALUMNI PICNIC @ LINCOLN PARK ZOO
Register via the Penn Club of Chicago website!

November 2, 7:30pm
PENN ALUMNI GATHERING @ NTHP-PITTSBURGH
 Palomino, Four Gateway Center

Check out Alumni Events to learn about other upcoming programs on campus and in your area.

Join Penn's Online Community to find classmates and update your contact information.

Catch up with Penn's Building Simulation Group by reading the spring 2006 issue of their newsletter, InnovativeInsight.

 

KEEP IN TOUCH 

SUBMIT brief news items (3 sentences or less) for this newsline by the 25th of the month prior to publication; include your name and degree/year; we will publish your email address unless told not to.

VISIT the PennDesign website to learn more about alumni resources and benefits.

SUPPORT the 2006-2007 ANNUAL FUND!

SEND a PENN ALUMNI E-CARD.