Fall 2001: Building Meaning:
Architecture and Public Space In The Third Millenium
Architecture is about building. But this is also about the entire
fabric of human interaction and expression. And architects-whether
Elizabeth Diller in her design for the "Blur Building"
in Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland, or Daniel Libeskind with his
remarkable Jewish Museum in Berlin-are among our most eloquent
and forceful purveyors of ideas about where we are going in the
new millennium. How do buildings and their surroundings get built
amid competing claims of utility, cost, beauty, and politics?
How can the design of buildings and public spaces shape society
and culture? In a year-long series of lectures and events, timed
to coincide with the implementation of a campus master plan at
Mount Holyoke College, students and faculty will engage these
issues with leading architects, critics, urban planners, and specialists
in adaptive reuse and historical preservation. The fall events
will focus on shaping the public realm. In the spring, when Diller
and Libeskind will be among the featured speakers, the focus will
shift to the architect as visionary.
October 4, 2001
Women and Public Space
Panel Discussion
What makes a space public? What are public spaces for? How do women produce, shape, and use public spaces?
Moderator Alma Tina Hogan '74, attorney and corporate
real estate advisor. A 1974 graduate of Mount Holyoke with a summa
cum laude degree urban studies and current trustee, Ms. Hogan
is a consultant in the areas of real estate development, portfolio
strategic planning, and project managment.
Sheila Kennedy, artchitect, Kennedy & Violich
Architecture, Boston. Ms. Kennedy is principle and cofounder of
Kennedy & Violich Architecture, specializing in projects that
integrate architecture with existing and emerging forms of infrastructure.
KVA has been awarded the commission for the new School of Art
Institure of Chicago. Kennedy directed the Advanced Studies Program
at the Harvard University of Graduate School Design from 1992
to 1996.
Paula Robinson Collins '71, founder and chief
executive officer, WDG Ventures, Inc., San Francisco. A 1971 Mount
Holyoke graduate in urban studies, Ms. Collins founded the real
estate development and investment firm WDG Ventures, Inc., in
1988. She is known for her work in large-scale commercial, industrial,
medical, and residential developments in the Bay Area. In the
public sector, Ms. Collins was part of the original project development
team for the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco. In March
2000, she was awarded the Entrepreneur of the Year Award by the
National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Inc.
Ann Forsyth, associate professor of urban planning,
Harvard University Graduate School of Design. Ms. Forsyth's work
focuses on the social aspect of physical planning and urban development.
Her publications include articles in planning, geography and design
journals as well as a book, Constructing Suburbs. Forsyth has
worked professionally as a planner, winning awards for her practice
in both the U.S. and Australia. She is currently writing a book
reevaluating three U.S. towns that were developed in the 1960s
as alternative to urban sprawl.
October 25, 2001
The Many Lives of Factory Buildings
Panel Discussion
This program will explore the many "lives" of factory buildings with a special focus on North Adams, home to MASSMoCA, one of the most celebrated "re-used" factory buildings in the United States.
Moderator Karen Koehler, Five College visting scholar
and professor of art history. Ms. Koehler teaches modern and contemprorary
art and architecture and is the chair of the Five College faculty
seminar on architectural theory and practice. Her research is
on the interaction of different mediums and different historical
methodologies, and she has publishes essays on Kandinsky, Gropius,
and Breuer.
John Mullin, professor of urban planning, University
of Massachusetts at Amherst. Mr. Mullin's reasearch during the
past decade has focused on the revitalization of New England's
mill towns. His articles have appeared in the Journal of American
Planning, Economic Development Quarterly, and the New England
Journal of Public Policy. Recently selected as a fellow of the
American Institute of Certified Planners, he is currently writing
a book titles The Once and Future New England Mill Town.
Simeon Bruner, founding principle, Bruner/Cott
& Associates, Inc., Cambridge; president, Cambridge Development
Corporation. A practicing architect for more than 25 years, Mr.
Bruner has pioneered the adaptive reuse of historic ninetenth-and
early twentieth-century buildings, including the Massachusetts
Museum of Contemprorary Art (MASS MoCa) in North Adams.
Anthony Lee, associate professor of art, Mount
Holyoke College. Mr. Lee teaches art of the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries. His books include Painting on Left: Diego Rivera, Radical
Politics, and San Francisco's Public Murals and Picturing Chinatown:
Art and Orientalism in San Francisco. He is currently working
on a book about photography and ethnicity in the nineteenth centry.
November 14, 2001
Contested Ground: Meaningful Landscapes and Cultural Conflict
in the Past
Panel Discussion
Conflicts and compromises of public space from a historical perspective will be the subjects of this panel discussion.
Moderator Robert Schwartz, professor of history,
Mount Holyoke College. Mr. Schwartz teaches European history and
is particularly interested in environmental and rural history.
His current research includes a study of railways and migration
in Vicorian England using geographcial information systems. He
is the author of Policing the Poor in Eighteenth- Century France.
Alastair Pearson, principal lecturer in geography,
University of Portsmouth England. Mr. Pearson is a historical
geographer with special interests in environmental history, landscape
evolution, and the application of geographic information systems
methoda to historical geography and archeology.
Brian Osborne, professor of geography, Queens
University, Kingston, Ontario. Mr. Osborn is a historical geographer
whose recent work has addressed the role of art, literature, and
communications (canals, railroads, postal systems) in the development
of Canadian national identity. His current project is titles Establishing
the Centre, Integrating the Margins: An Historical Geography of
Canadian National Identity.
Anne Kelly Knowles, Ph.D., independent scholar,
Washington, D.C. Ms. Knowles has taught historical, economic,
and cultural geography at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth,
and at Wellesley College. Her first book, Calvinists Incorporated:
Welsh Immigrants on Ohio's Industrial Frontier, examined the influence
of immigrants' traditions and social values upon their economic
behavior. She is now writing a book on the U.S. iron industry
that looks at the relationship between labor and technological
change.
December 5, 2001
Ecological Architecture, Design And Ethics
A Conversation with William McDonough
An internationally renowned designer and leader in sustainable development, Mr. McDonough is founding principal of William McDonough + Partners. Mr. McDonough has received numerous awards, including the Turner Leadership Award and the 1996 Presidential Award for Sustainable Development, the nation's highest environmental award. In 1999, Time magazine named him "Hero for the Planet." With Michael Braungart, Mr. McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry, a firm that works with corporates to develop new protocols for the design of products and systems. Acclaimed for his creative and effective building designs, he is also recognized as a leader in the field of ecologically intelligent architecture.
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