Environmental
Designer Michael Singer to Speak
 Renowned artist
and environmental designer Michael Singer will present a talk
titled "Creative
Process: Environment, Infrastructure, and Aesthetics" Thursday,
March 2, at 7:30 pm in Gamble Auditorium. The presentation
is free and open to the public.
Building on
his fall 2005 visit, Singer will continue his dialogue with
the MHC community,
exploring how environmental
design and
artistry could be used to enrich the MHC landscape.
Singer’s
work has been instrumental in transforming public art, architecture,
landscape, and planning projects into successful
models for urban and ecological revision and renewal. By “putting
the land back into landscape” (New York Times), he
has redefined the practice of art and broadened its applicability
to the development
of public places, buildings, and infrastructure. His works
integrate community needs, sustainable building principles,
land-use planning,
environmental responsibility, and aesthetic design.
In 1993,
the New York Times chose Singer's design of a
massive waste recycling and transfer center in Phoenix
as one of
the top eight design and architectural events of the year.
By revealing
the process of recycling, the center invites involvement
in a facility
normally closed to the public. Renewal and transformation
are integral to all elements of the design: buildings,
roads, landscape,
water,
and wildlife habitat. The project won several awards, and
is credited with promoting aesthetic design excellence
in the
U.S.
Singer's design
of indoor and outdoor gardens for the Institute for Forestry
and Nature (Alterra, IBN),
Netherlands, has
also been featured as a leading example of outstanding green
sustainable design. The gardens work as the "lungs and kidneys" of
the institute’s headquarters, cleaning air and gray
water, as well as providing climate control without air-conditioning.
Among
Singer's many other works are a sculptural floodwall
and walkway that model river reclamation in Michigan,
a large interior sculpture garden for the Denver International
Airport, and cogeneration
power facilities. His plans define an "Urban Eco-Sustainable
Network," with habitat creation, education, recreation,
water preservation, and urban agriculture as part of
the electric generation
facility and site.
A graduate
of Cornell University, Singer has received fellowships and awards
from the John Simon
Guggenheim
Foundation, the
National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State
Council on the Arts,
and the Vermont State Governor’s Award for the
Arts.
The event is
presented by the Center for the Environment with support from
the Mount Holyoke College
Art Museum.
Related Links:
Center for the Environment
Michael Singer's Web site
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