THE STUCKEMAN ANNUAL - Stuckeman School

URBAN DESIGN STUDIO BUILDS ON ARTIST’S VISION TO
ESTABLISH BROADWAY AS CITY’S ‘GREEN CORRIDOR’
ABOVE:
Fourth- and fifth-year students in architecture and landscape architecture
visit New York for the “Broadway: 1000 Steps” urban design studio. The studio
is the result of a partnership with the artist-led Mary Miss Studio and includes
Penn State faculty critics Ray Gastil, Lisa Iulo, and Madis Pihlak.
In spring 2012 Penn State’s Stuckeman School partnered with seven other schools and artist
Mary Miss for the BROADWAY:1000 Steps project.
The resulting interdisciplinary Stuckeman School studio, “Broadway 1000 Steps, Designs
for Incremental Urbanism,” is led by Ray Gastil, Stuckeman School visiting professor and Chair
in Design Innovation. Gastil has focused recent research on urban design and the evolving
relationship between cities and university campuses worldwide.
Mary Miss has collaborated closely with architects, planners, engineers, ecologists, and
public administrators on projects as diverse as creating a temporary memorial around the
perimeter of Ground Zero, revealing the history of the Union Square subway station in New York
City, and turning a sewage treatment plant into a public space.
The Miss vision for Broadway—a “green corridor” where “sustainability is made tangible”—
inspired a first phase of mapping and analysis, leading to a second phase of developing projects
responsive to community priorities, from bilingual education centers to artist live work housing
to a new range of landscapes responsive to the “green infrastructure” priorities of New York City.
The dynamic relationship between the community and Columbia University generated projects
that addressed evolving definitions of community, public space, and sustainability.
A selection of works from the project will be showcased in a November 2012 exhibition
hosted by the AIA Center for Architecture. The other participating schools are Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, Parsons New School, University of Virginia, Boston Architectural
College, Marymount, Pratt Institute, and City College of New York.
The Mary Miss BROADWAY:1000 Steps project will be implemented at five “hubs” dispersed
along the length of Broadway. Each hub will serve as a site for installations that reveal the urban
infrastructure, decode the environment, and suggest the city’s future. This project is intended as
a catalyst for interventions and projects at additional sites in NYC, and cities across the country.
According to the Mary Miss/City as Living Laboratory website, the central message is that
“nature is everywhere and in action at all times, that the city is an urban ecosystem, that an
innumerable number of small decisions over time have shaped the environment to be the one
we inhabit today, and that our decisions (behavioral choices) impact the future of all of nature.”
Marcellus Environmental Planning Workshops Aim
to Help Residents Visualize Potential Landscape Changes
INTERDISCIPLINARY
BIM STUDIO
WINS NATIONAL
HONOR
INTERDISCIPLINARY
BIM STUDIO
WINS NATIONAL
HONOR
Penn State’s Interdisciplinary Collaborative Building Information Modeling (BIM) Studio,
an initiative of the Stuckeman School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture and the
Department of Architectural Engineering, has won its second award from the American Institute
of Architects’ Technology in Practice BIM Awards Program. The studio is the 2012 winner in the
Academic Program/Curriculum Development category.
“Based on our benchmarking, we believe this is the only university design studio that involves
students from all of the major design and construction disciplines,” said Bob Holland, who has a
joint appointment in Architecture and Architectural Engineering and leads the BIM Studio. “We
are very proud that Penn State has become a leader in the teaching of collaborative design and
BIM technology. This studio should help make our students strong candidates for entry into the
rapidly changing fields of design and construction.”
Each BIM Studio student team includes representatives from Architecture, Landscape
Architecture, and the four Architectural Engineering options. The students work in a
collaborative environment using BIM technology. BIM incorporates 3D modeling technology to
visualize complex geometry, allowing for better integration of building systems and the sharing
of design information, as well as providing analytical tools to create more sustainable buildings.
Additionally, the BIM Studio projects are “real projects,” allowing for significant interface with the
actual design consulting team and client. The BIM Studio has also been recognized with awards
from Autodesk and the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB).
The BIM Awards Program is administered by the AIA Technology in Architectural Practice
(TAP) Knowledge Community and honors “best of breed” case studies that promote BIM
technology and processes to further design, construction, and project excellence. The award
was presented on May 16 in Washington, D.C., as part of the annual AIA conference.
BELOW:
“Integrated Design Systems (IDS),” a team made up of Ross Weinreb,
Andrew Menyo, Chris Joseph, Simi Veit, Jim Rodgers, and Logan Gray,
present their final design for the Mount Nittany Elementary School
project in the 2011 BIM Studio.
Landscape Architecture faculty members Brian Orland and Tim
Murtha are developing a series of “Marcellus Environmental
Planning Workshops” as part of Penn State’s National Science
Foundation-funded grant project, “Marcellus Matters:
Engaging Adults in Science and Energy,” which aims to
enhance the public’s understanding of science, engineering,
and energy through community-based activities.
According to Orland, the surest test of a good scientific
theory or principle is to put it into practice. The discipline of
landscape architecture draws from principles in the natural and
social sciences as well as the arts and humanities in exploring
designs and plans for future communities and landscapes. The
workshops will rely on scientific inquiry to help communicate
the complex dynamics of landscape change to people whose
stakes in the outcome are very real and tangible.
Landowners and community members want to know
what the places they value will look like, and what they can
do—at what cost—if they don’t like what they see. But they
often do not have the tools to quantify, qualify, and visualize
the opportunities and potential problems, explained Orland.
That’s where the workshops come into play.
Game-like representations of important landscape
ecological planning principles can provide valuable insights
that enhance understanding, especially when placed in their
appropriate spatial contexts using geographic information
systems (GIS). The workshops will use interactive GIS-based
modeling and visualization to help citizens comprehend
the issues and the implications of their own ideas in specific
spatial contexts. Those technical tools will become catalysts
for discussion and debate in the participatory settings the
researchers plan to create—settings where opposing views
can be explored as citizens cooperate in finding balance
points among social, economic, and natural resource impacts
and benefits.
“Marcellus Matters: Engaging Adults in Science and
Energy” is a three-year project that kicked off in fall 2011. The
Marcellus Environmental Planning Workshops are part of
phase 2, which began in July 2012. The grant team also includes
researchers from the School of Theatre in the College of Arts
and Architecture, as well as representatives from the colleges
of Agricultural Sciences, Education, and Earth and Mineral
Sciences. Michael Arthur, professor of geosciences and codirector
of the Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research
(MCOR), is the principal investigator. For more information,
visit marcellus.psu.edu.
BIM STUDIO FACULTY INSTRUCTORS:
Bob Holland (Architecture and Architectural Engineering)
David Goldberg (Landscape Architecture)
Scott Wing (Architecture)
Jim Rodgers (Teaching Assistant: Architectural Engineering)
DISCIPLINE FACULTY SUPPORT:
Ralph Kreider (Teaching Assistant: Architectural Engineering–Construction)
Rob Leicht (Architectural Engineering–Construction)
Moses Ling (Architectural Engineering–Mechanical)
John Messner (Architectural Engineering–Construction)
Rick Mistrick (Architectural Engineering–Lighting/Electrical)
Kevin Parfitt (Architectural Engineering–Structural)
Ute Poerschke (Architecture)
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ABOVE:
Brian Orland toured a Marcellus rig and snapped this image.
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