Conference Proceedings 2010 [pdf] - Art & Design Symposium ...

etween actual project costs and affordability may be a contributing limitation to fully meeting the broad gap
between means and ends related to housing low to moderate income people.
Through actions associated with events such as these house design competitions, the professional design
disciplines have demonstrated a desire to positively affect the quality and attainability of low and moderate
income housing. However, until financial attainability of housing is achieved more effectively with design
professionals’ contributions than without them, design professionals ability to affect widespread, positive
change is unlikely. Through comparisons of the houses resulting from the three design competitions studied
with houses built by the nonprofit housing organizations interviewed by the author, strategies are offered for
developing affordable house competitions that are more effective at positively affecting the attainability as well
as the quality of affordable, single-family housing. These strategies include cost estimating as selection criteria
and encouraging multidisciplinary approaches to integrating adaptable reuse, densification, site adaptability,
and industrial design into moderate income owner-occupied housing.
Moments of Peace
Valia Mhaish, Wayne State University
Valia Mhaish (l) Presenting her Poster to Deniz Hasirci
April 2007 is a date to be always remembered. I was 19 years old and in my first year at college when I
participated in the first Kids’ Guernica peace painting that took place in Tripoli, Lebanon. I had the honor to be
invited to paint with kids and to help as an art assistant.
On my first day, I was introduced to Mrs. Iman Murad, coordinator of the mural painting workshop in Lebanon,
and I was told about this fascinating peace-painting project. My first reaction to the project was fear; it was the
fear of a very big responsibility. To be honest, I was concerned about finishing the project with the very
condensed time we had, but then I remembered a quote said by the great painter Pablo Picasso: “I am always
doing things I can’t do; that’s how I get to do them.” This quote encouraged me to put all my potential into
finishing the painting in the few days we had.
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