Public Program – Exhibition Opening: Multispecies Futures: Building a World of Many Worlds
May
3
5:00 PM17:00

Public Program – Exhibition Opening: Multispecies Futures: Building a World of Many Worlds

Multispecies Futures: Building a World of Many Worlds
Exhibition Opening

Curated by Priyanka Bista, 2022-24 Joseph F. Thomas Visiting Professor

“Entangled Stories of the Anthropocene” on view at The London Design Biennale’s Care Pavilion from June 17-20, 2023. Curated by Priyanka Bista.

Situated in a heightened multispecies conflict zone of Koshi Tappu, Nepal, fraught with daily human-wildlife conflict, this exhibit brings forward speculations by students who, despite the difficulty, imagine a pluralistic multispecies worlds of many worlds where elephants, wild boars, fishing cats, fishermen, farmers, and even poachers could coexist. 

The studio is inspired by the book, A World of Many Worlds by Marisol De La Cadena & Mario Blaser

“In the world we want, everybody fits. The world we want is a world in which many worlds fit.”
— ejército zapatista de liberación nacional, “Fourth Declaration of the Lacandón Jungle”
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Architectural Workers United: Consensus-Building Workshop
Apr
8
12:30 PM12:30

Architectural Workers United: Consensus-Building Workshop

Architectural Workers United
Consensus-Building Workshop

Monday April 8, 2024
12:30–1:30 p.m.
Zoom link available on registration through this link.

Please join us for a 1-hour value-mapping workshop facilitated by members of Architectural Workers United. The workshop will  introduce participants to skills that can be used in contexts that require negotiation.

Audience: This workshop is catered towards architecture students, but is open to faculty, staff, and practitioners. Please register in advance through the link below by Monday April 1 to help us determine if separate sessions would be helpful to address different audiences.

Recommended Readings:

  1. "Why Don't Architects Have Unions?" by Jess Myers, The Architect's Newspaper, October 28, 2019

  2. The Sherman Antitrust Act and the Profession of Architecture", by Peggy Deamer, The Avery Review, Issue 36;

  3. "Architects must reject the 'follow your passion' narrative and see ourselves as workers," by Andrew Daley, Dezeen, August 15, 2022

Facilitator: Andrew Daley

Andrew Daley is an organizer, activist, and licensed architect living and working in Brooklyn. He is currently working with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW) on organizing efforts within the architecture industry as part of Architectural Workers United. He has 12 years of experience working for a number of offices in multiple states, most recently for 7 years at SHoP Architects as a Project Director working on multiple US embassies worldwide.

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Public Program – Lecture: Emmanuel Pratt (Sweet Water Foundation)
Apr
5
5:00 PM17:00

Public Program – Lecture: Emmanuel Pratt (Sweet Water Foundation)

Lecture: Emmanuel Pratt (Sweet Water Foundation)

Re-Mapping the Publics: Resolutions for Regenerative Neighborhood Development

Watson Chair in Architecture
Organized by the Remaking Cities Institute

Friday April 5, 2024, 5 p.m.
Venue TBD, please RSVP below to be notified of the venue once it is confirmed.

Emmanuel Pratt is an American Urban Designer. In 2009 he co-founded the Sweet Water Foundation, which practices "Regenerative Neighborhood Development" on the South Side of Chicago. The foundation is centered around bringing inter-generational members of the community together for education and to work on urban agriculture and reclaiming abandoned properties and transforming them into productive landscapes.

Pratt was born in Virginia and graduated in 1995 from Maggie L. Walker Governor's School in Richmond, Virginia. In 1999, he graduated with a Bachelors of Architecture from Cornell University, and he received a Masters of Science in architecture and urban design from Columbia University in 2003. From 2016 to 2017, Pratt was a Loeb Fellow at Harvard University Graduate School of Design.

From 2011 to 2018, Pratt was director of the aquaponics program at Chicago State University. He was the Charles Moore Visiting Professor at the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Michigan, and is a visiting lecturer in Environmental and Urban Studies at the University of Chicago.

In 2019, Pratt was invited to participate in the third Chicago Architecture Biennial, where his entry Reroot + Redux explored the connections between architecture and the Great Migration. Pratt was also named a MacArthur Fellow.

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Public Program – Lunch Lecture: Vinu Daniel (Wallmakers)
Mar
29
12:30 PM12:30

Public Program – Lunch Lecture: Vinu Daniel (Wallmakers)

Lunch Lecture: Vinu Daniel (Wallmakers)

Supported by the Architecture–Engineering–Construction Management Program

Vinu Daniel completed his B. Arch in 2005 from The College of Engineering, Trivandrum, following which he worked with Auroville Earth Institute for the UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) Post-Tsunami construction. On returning from Pondicherry in 2007 he started 'Wallmakers' which was christened thus by others, as the first project was just a compound wall. Many eye-openers in the course of his practice prompted him to resolve to devote his energies towards the cause of sustainable and cost-effective architecture. With a practice, spanning over more than a decade, Wallmakers has won many international accolades including being selected by ArchDaily as the only Indian practice in the list of 20 Young Practices of 2020, being nominated for the Brick Award 2022 and winning The Royal Academy Dorfman Award 2022 conducted by the Royal Academy of Arts, London to name a few. Vinu Daniel is also the youngest Indian Architect invited to be a speaker at the TED Talks (TED 2023: POSSIBILITY, Vancouver)

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Anderson Award Finalists Pecha Kucha Presentations
Mar
25
12:30 PM12:30

Anderson Award Finalists Pecha Kucha Presentations

  • CMU School of Architecture, MMCH 303 (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Carnegie Mellon Architecture invites you to join us on Monday, March 25, 2024 from 12:30-1:30pm ET in MMCH 303 as the finalists of the George W. Anderson, Jr. Award present Pecha Kucha presentations of their work. Graduate students vying for the award will deliver their presentations in front of a live audience of their peers and reviewers. The Anderson Award recognizes graduate students who demonstrate through their work an exceptional level of attention to detail or dedication to beneficially impacting the community.

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Public Program – Lunch Discussion: Values in Practice
Mar
15
12:30 PM12:30

Public Program – Lunch Discussion: Values in Practice

Rescheduled from the original date of February 5, 2024.

Lunch Discussion: Values in Practice

With the Value-Based Design seminar taught by Bill Bates.

This discussion led by Carnegie Mellon Architecture Faculty will examine specific instances where designers and practitioners learn to articulate their values and stand by them through their work. 

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Spring 2024 Architecture Awards Applications Due
Mar
12
11:59 PM23:59

Spring 2024 Architecture Awards Applications Due

Applications for the Spring 2024 Architecture Awards are due on Tuesday, March 12, 2024 at 11:59pm ET.

Over $44,000 of funding is available to support undergraduate and graduate students. Awards recognize student work in public interest design, design and representation, sustainability, and real estate, as well as professional promise.

More information is available on the Awards page.

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Public Program – Lunch Lecture: Phillip Denny (B.Arch ‘14, Harvard GSD)
Feb
23
12:30 PM12:30

Public Program – Lunch Lecture: Phillip Denny (B.Arch ‘14, Harvard GSD)

Lunch Lecture: Formats

Phillip Denny (B.Arch ‘14, Harvard GSD)

Friday, February 23, 2024
12:30–1:30pm, Kresge Theatre
College of Fine Arts, 4919 Frew Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Phillip Denny works across architecture. A trained architect and historian, his practice combines inquiry and design to create projects in formats including books, essays, archives, lectures, pedagogies, and exhibitions. Alongside Rem Koolhaas and Irma Boom, he taught The Book in the Age of…, a graduate research seminar at Harvard GSD, and subsequently created an exhibition and book under the same title.

He has recently contributed articles to Architectural Digest, Log, and Domus, and has previously written for The New York Times, Metropolis, and other publications. In parallel with his research and writing, Phillip collaborates with architects to develop books, exhibitions, and archives. He is currently working with Diller Scofidio + Renfro and SITE/James Wines. He is editing a comprehensive monograph on the work of Diller Scofidio + Renfro since its founding in 1981. 

A PhD Candidate at Harvard University, his dissertation attends to the architectural history of modern labor movements in Germany. Phillip holds a Master’s degree in architectural history from Harvard, as well as a Master’s in Architecture from Princeton University, where he received the School of Architecture History and Theory Prize as well as the Certificate in Media + Modernity. He also holds a Bachelor’s degree in architecture from Carnegie Mellon University, where he received the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation Prize, the Louis F Valentour Fellowship, and the Henry Adams AIA Medal. In 2019, he was awarded a Graham Foundation grant to support his work on Nicolas Schöffer’s urban manifesto, La ville cybernétique. Phillip has taught courses in architectural design, history, and publishing at Pratt Institute, Boston Architectural College, Harvard University, Princeton University, and Syracuse University in NYC. He has given lectures and hosted workshops at ETH Zürich, Catholic University of America, Virginia Tech, Dessau Bauhaus Foundation, Harvard University, Princeton University, and Columbia University. He lives in New York City. 

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Public Program – Bookmaking Workshop with Phillip Denny (B.Arch ‘14, Harvard GSD)
Feb
22
5:00 PM17:00

Public Program – Bookmaking Workshop with Phillip Denny (B.Arch ‘14, Harvard GSD)

  • College of Fine Arts Room 214 (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Bookmaking Workshop with Phillip Denny (B.Arch ‘14, Harvard GSD)

Thursday February 22, 2024

5–8 pm, Margaret Morrison Carnegie Hall Room 303

It is almost impossible to imagine architecture without books: from theoretical treatises to construction documents, our field is built one page at a time. Although books are ubiquitous in practice and discourse, architects rarely have the opportunity to engage the book as a format with an architecture of its own. 

This workshop explores the material, experiential, historical, formal, and social dimensions of the book. A series of short exercises will introduce participants to fundamental bookmaking processes and techniques that make the book a generative medium for architectural thought.

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Public Program – Symposium – Hand Drawing: Why it Still Matters for Architects in the Digital Age
Feb
17
9:00 AM09:00

Public Program – Symposium – Hand Drawing: Why it Still Matters for Architects in the Digital Age

  • Connan Room & McConomy Auditorium (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Hand Drawing: Why it Still Matters for Architects in the Digital Age
Keynote: Juhani Pallasmaa

A Symposium with perspectives from embodied cognition, neuroscience, teachers, and practitioners.

Convened by Doug Cooper, Andrew Mellon Professor of Architecture
Supported by the Doug Cooper, A 1970, Fund for Drawing and Architecture

Saturday, February 17, 2024, McConomy Auditorium
Cohon University Center, 5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

What is the case for freehand drawing for architects in the digital age?

Drawing by Graham Murtha, B.Arch 2025.

What is the case for freehand drawing for architects in the digital age? Architecture students draw less and less by hand and now develop their proposals predominantly with design software.  We need a clearer and unsentimental understanding of just what might be lost with this sea change.  This symposium will enlist practitioners, teachers, and scientists alike in addressing the visual/haptic content of freehand drawing and the value it still has for the field.  Here is a schedule of conversations and some of the questions we’ll address in each.

Schedule

9 a.m. Welcome
Omar Khan, Head, Carnegie Mellon Architecture

Doug Cooper. Carnegie Mellon Architecture

9:15am—10:45 a.m. Conversation 1 : Perspectives from Science

  • Is there evidence that the haptic/gestural content of freehand drawing helps in sustaining three-dimensional visualization? 

  • Is there evidence that freehand drawing connects designers to their past experience of architecture?

  • Do "sketchiness" and ambiguity contribute to design thinking?  If so, when and why?

Moderator: Milton Shinberg, Principal Emeritus Shinberg Levinas Architects, Adjunct Professor of Architecture School of Architecture and Planning Catholic University, Building on Architectural Intuition in Practice and Education, A Pragmatic Framework

Presenters:

  • Barbara Tversky, Professor Emerita of Psychology, Stanford University: Mind in Motion: How Action Shapes Thought.

  • Mark Hewitt, Draw in Order to See: A Cognitive history of Architectural Design

11:00 a.m.—12:30 p.m. Conversation 2: Perspectives from Practice

  • In your practice, when do you tend to use freehand drawing the most?  When the least? 

  • What skills needed in architectural design are still improved by hand drawing?

  • Do you seek freehand skills in your recruits?  What characteristics do you look for? 

  • What hybrid practices have proven most useful? 

  • What changes and development in hardware and software might make freehand drawing more useful in design?

Moderator: Stefani Danes, Carnegie Mellon Architecture

Presenters:

  • Anssi Lasilla, OOPEAA Office for Peripheral Architecture, Finland, Professor of Practice in Contemporary Architecture at the Oulu School of Architecture, Finland

  • Brian MacKay-Lyons, MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects, Halifax Nova Scotia, Canada

1:30–2:30 p.m. Keynote Address:  Juhani Pallasmaa

Former Professor of Architecture Helsinki University of Technology. Author of The Eyes of the Skin;  The Thinking Hand;  Architecture and Neuroscience (with Harry Mallgrave, Michael A. Arbib);  The Architecture of Image: Existential Space in Cinema. 





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Public Program – Dual Lecture: Brian MacKay Lyons & Anssi Lassila
Feb
15
5:00 PM17:00

Public Program – Dual Lecture: Brian MacKay Lyons & Anssi Lassila

Dual Lecture: Brian MacKay-Lyons (MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects) & Anssi Lassila (Office for Peripheral Architecture)

Supported by the Doug Cooper, A 1970, Fund for Drawing and Architecture

5:00 pm ET, Kresge Theatre, College of Fine Arts, 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Brian MacKay-Lyons was born and raised in the village of Arcadia in Nova Scotia, on the East coast of Canada. Brian received his Bachelor of Architecture from the Technical University of Nova Scotia in 1978 and his Master of Architecture and Urban Design at the University of California Los Angeles, in the United States. 

He has developed a leading global practice from Nova Scotia that has been honoured with over 160 design awards, including the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) Gold Medal in 2015 and the RAIC Firm Award in 2014; eight Governor General Medals; six American Institute of Architects (AIA) National and International Honor Awards of Architecture; fifteen Lieutenant Governor’s Medals of Excellence; eight Canadian Architect Awards; four Architectural Record Houses Awards; and thirteen North American Wood Design & Building Awards. 

A fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (FRAIC), and the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (RCA), Brian MacKay-Lyons was named Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (Hon. FAIA) in 2001 and in 2016 was made an International Fellow by the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in London. In 2022, Brian was appointed to the Order of Canada for his contribution to the architectural community. Brian was a full professor and faculty member at Dalhousie University for 37 years and has held 17 endowed academic chairs and visiting professorships at leading universities worldwide, such as: The Peter Behrens School of Architecture, Washington University in St. Louis, Harvard University, and University of Houston Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture and Design. 

Twenty years after founding the firm Brian MacKay-Lyons Architecture Urban Design, Brian partnered with Talbot Sweetapple to form MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects Limited. In 2017, Brian and Talbot were honoured as laureates of the prestigious Global Award for Sustainable Architecture by the Cite de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine in Paris, under the patronage of UNESCO. The work of the firm has been recognized in 900+ publications including eight monographs and has been featured in 100+ exhibitions internationally.  

Anssi Lassila is the founder and director of OOPEAA Office for Peripheral Architecture and Professor of Contemporary Architecture at Oulu School of Architecture. His architecture combines a sculptural form with traditional materials and innovative techniques. Placing the human being at the center, he has a keen interest in exploring the potential of wood as a sustainable solution and in developing new systems of modularity. His personal experience in working with wood extends from building with hand carved logs to the use of CLT. His work has been recognized with some of the highest merits achievable both in Finland and internationally. 

OOPEAA works on a wide range of projects from churches and public buildings to housing and urban visions. There is an active focus on research and development with an emphasis on social and ecological sustainability. A desire to find solutions that take advantage of the natural qualities of materials and a willingness to courageously explore new ways of doing things is at the core of their work. Their objective is to create architecture and milieus that are functional, technically and ecologically sustainable, of aesthetically high quality, and committed to the location. The office is based in Seinäjoki and Helsinki, Finland.

Anssi’s recommended readings:

  • OOPEAA Office for Peripheral Architecture, Arvinius + Orpheus Publishers, Stockholm, 2014

  • Todd Saunders and Jonathan Bell: Share: Conversations about Contemporary Architecture – The Nordic Countries, Artifice Press, 2022

  • Junihiro Tanizaki: In Praise of Shadows, Vintage Publishing, 2001, reprinted 2019, 

  • Peter Zumthor: Thinking Architecture, Birkhauser, 2010.

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Collective Knowledge Building workshop on Air Quality and Community Health
Feb
9
2:30 PM14:30

Collective Knowledge Building workshop on Air Quality and Community Health

Collective Knowledge Building workshop on Air Quality and Community Health


In conjunction with MUD Systems Studio, organized by Nida Rehman and Ginger Brooks Takahashi
Where: General Sisters. 1140 Kirkpatrick avenue, North Braddock  
When: Friday, February 9 from 2.30-4.30pm. 

Zoom info: https://cmu.zoom.us/j/97310695258?pwd=NVhXOTlpTnZITUYvZVk2NWZldHhjdz09
Presentations and a panel discussion with Germaine Gooden Patterson (Community Health Worker, Women for a Healthy Environment), Abhishek Viswanathan (PhD Candidate, Information Science, University of Pittsburgh) and Emily Dale (Low Cost Monitoring Program Coordinator, ROCIS). We will also have a workshop with Ana Hoffman (Director of Air Quality Engagement, Create Lab CMU) about monitoring, visualizing, and reporting air quality data!

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Zoom Conversation: Chris Cornelius (studio:indigenous)
Feb
7
2:00 PM14:00

Zoom Conversation: Chris Cornelius (studio:indigenous)

  • Margaret Morrison Carnegie Hall, Breed Hall 103 (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Chris Cornelius of studio:indigenous will be speaking by Zoom this Wednesday February 7, 14:00–15:30 (EST) in second year option studios coordinated by Sarosh Anklesaria and Tuliza Sindi. His talk will address the agency of architectural drawing, as well as questions of indigeneity, decolonization and other ways of seeing and conceiving the world. 

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CMU x NOMA PGH Mixer & Panel
Feb
5
2:30 PM14:30

CMU x NOMA PGH Mixer & Panel

  • Cohon University Center, Danforth Room (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

CMU x NOMA PGH Mixer and Panel!


RSVP REQUIRED: https://tartanconnect.cmu.edu/nomas/rsvp_boot?id=1928536
Hosted by CMU NOMAS with guests from NOMA PGH
March 12, 2024
5:30 pm
CUC Danforth Conference Room
Includes a panel with experienced firm leaders and hiring experts, and a chance for networking/portfolio reviews with students and NOMA members!

Panelists include career consultants and professionals from WTW Architects & Rothschild Doyno Collaborative. All attendees must RSVP online as space is limited. 
Food and drink provided. Students are encouraged to bring their portfolios.

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Public Program –Workshop Series: Conversations with Machines
Feb
2
to Feb 4

Public Program –Workshop Series: Conversations with Machines

  • Carnegie Mellon University School of Architecture (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Conversations with Machines: Lecture & Workshop Series

With Vernelle A. A. Noel (Situated Computation + Design Lab, CMU ), Madeline Gannon (PhD-CD ‘17, ATONATON), Jake Marsico (MTID ‘14, Deeplocal), and Audrey Desjardins (University of Washington, Studio Tilt)

Join us for a weekend of two lectures and four workshops that build “Conversations with Machines,” exploring our relationships to computation, materials, intelligences, and designed interaction. These workshops consider how we might resolve these dynamic relationships through architectural space and practice.

Curated by Daragh Byrne, Associate Teaching Professor in the School of Architecture at Carnegie Mellon University.

Supported by the Computational Design Program, the 2023-2024 Sylvia and David Steiner Speaker Series at the Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry and the CMU Open Source Programs Office.

Apply for Workshops: All lectures and workshops are free and open to the public. However, the workshops are limited to a small number of attendees so applications are required. The application form below will close on Tuesday January 23. You’ll be notified of your registration status by Friday January 26.

OVERALL SCHEDULE

Friday, Feb 2 2024

  • Lecture: Vernelle A. A. Noel, 1:30–2:30pm, Tepper 1403, in conjunction with the HCII Seminar Series. Info

  • Lecture: Madeline Gannon, 5–7pm, Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry, followed by conversation with Vernelle Noel and Jake Marsico, moderated by Audrey Desjardins.

Saturday, Feb 3 2024

  • Hands-on Workshops: 4 workshops led by Vernelle A. A. Noel, Madeline Gannon, Jake Marsico, and Audrey Desjardins. Registration required. Lunch and materials provided.

Sunday, Feb 4 2024

  • 11am–1pm: Showcase. College of Fine Arts Room 211 and 214. Open to all, sharing the outcomes of the four workshops.

TALKS & EVENTS

The weekend will kick off with two public lectures on Friday Feb 2nd: Vernelle A. A. Noel will present a lecture as part of the HCII Seminar Series from 1.30-2.30 in Tepper 1403. Later, from 5pm-7pm Dr. Madeline Gannon will share “Breathing Life Into Machines” at the STUDIO for Creative Inquiry (CFA Rm 111) at 5pm. After the lecture, Madeline will join Jake Marsico, Vernelle A. A. Noel and Audrey Desjardins in conversation.

Lecture: Vernelle A. A. Noel

In conjunction with the Human-Computer Interaction Institute Seminar Series

1.30-2.30 pm,
Friday February 2 2024, Tepper 1403

Lecture: Breathing Life Into Machines

Madeline Gannon

5-6.30pm, Friday February 2, 2024

STUDIO for Creative Inquiry, College of Fine Arts Room 111

After 50 years of promises and potential, robots are beginning to leave the lab to live in the wild with us. But how should we coexist with these intelligent, autonomous machines? In this lecture, Dr. Madeline Gannon shows how we can push robots beyond their limits as tools of automation or collaboration, and explore new models of companionship between humans and machines.

Following Madeline’s lecture, join us for a conversation across our workshop leads. Audrey Desjardins will moderate a conversation with Madeline, Jake and Vernelle about the ways in which their practices engage and question our relationships to computation, materials, intelligences, and designed interaction.

Conversations with Machines Showcase

11 am–1 pm, Sunday February 4, 2024
College of Fine Arts Room 214 and 111

A conversation with 

Madeline Gannon, Jake Marsico, Vernelle A. A. Noel, Audrey Dejardins, and workshop participants. 

If you can’t make it to the workshops or the lectures, you can still join us on Sunday morning between 11pm and 1pm in CFA 214 to hear about the outcomes of each workshop. Each group will share a short overview of their workshop and the outcomes they arrived at.


Workshops

Koriobots: Choreographing Cable Robots

This workshop invites attendees to discover the anatomy, affordances, and creative opportunities that cable-driven robots can bring to architectural robotics. Attendees get hands-on with a fleet of custom-built cable robots, interactive control software, and sensors to learn how cable robots can be combined to create engaging 1D, 2D & 3D motion. 
Workshop Lead: Dr. Madeline Gannon (ATONATON, PhD-CD ‘17) is a multidisciplinary designer blending techniques in art, design, computer science, and robotics to forge new futures for human-robot relations.

Light & Code

This session invites participants to explore the subtleties of working with computation and pixel-based lighting and designing site-specific interactive moments. Attendees will learn how simple implementations of computer vision and audio analysis, applied to dynamic lighting systems, can reveal new possibilities for activating public space and aiding novel communication approaches.

Workshop Lead: Jake Marsico (DeepLocal, MTID ‘14)

Tradigital Wire-Bending: Conversations Between Craft Practices and Machines

Design and build large-scale light sculptures by employing different approaches to the craft of wire-bending specific to the Trinidad and Tobago carnival. You’ll learn traditional techniques in wire-bending, and explore computational and digital methods of reconfiguration of the craft for design and making. 
Workshop Lead: Vernelle A. A. Noel (Situated Computation + Design Lab, School of Architecture, CMU)

Zine Making with Small Data
Workshop Lead: Audrey Desjardins (Associate Professor, School of Art + Art History + Design, University of Washington; Studio Tilt)

In this workshop, we will reclaim personal and domestic data by critically translating, materializing, and reworking our own datasets into zines. We will look at Small Data as an approach for troubling the domesticity of home data and to attend to the dramatic imbalance between the site where data are collected and the power and control that large corporations gain via this data. Zine making will bring a tactile, material, and imperfect side to data—offering an important alternative to discourses of big data, data economy and digital capitalism.

SPEAKERS & WORKSHOP LEADS

Madeline Gannon

Dr. Madeline Gannon is a multidisciplinary designer blending techniques in art, design, computer science, and robotics to forge new futures for human-robot relations. Also known as "The Robot Whisperer", Gannon specializes in convincing robots to do things they were never intended to do: from transforming giant industrial robots into living, breathing mechanical creatures, to taming hordes of autonomous machines to behave like a pack of animals.

Dr. Gannon is a World Economic Forum Cultural Leader, a Knight Foundation Awardee, a former Robotics & AI Researcher at NVIDIA, and a former artist in residence at ETH Zurich, Autodesk Pier 9, and the Carnegie Mellon STUDIO for Creative Inquiry. She is known as one of the 'Top 10 Women in Robotics Industry' and 'World’s 50 Most Renowned Women in Robotics’ according to Analytics Insight. Gannon holds a Master of Architecture from Florida International University, and a PhD in Computational Design from Carnegie Mellon University.

Jake Marsico

Jakob Marsico is an Executive Creative Director at Deeplocal, a creative innovation studio that invents, designs, and builds experiences for the world's most progressive brands. Jakob leads a multidisciplinary team of creative technologists, designers, and engineers to invent and deliver playful, interactive experiences that foster meaningful connections between people and technology.

Jakob has a Master of Tangible Interaction Design from Carnegie Mellon University and a Bachelor of Science in Religion from The George Washington University. He also founded and ran Ultra Low Res Studio, an arts-engineering firm that collaborated with developers and architects on experiential projects. Jakob's work has been featured in various publications and exhibitions, and his projects have received multiple awards and honors for their creativity and innovation.

Vernelle A. A. Noel

Vernelle A. A. Noel, Ph.D. is the Lucian and Rita Caste Assistant Professor in Architecture and Urban Design at the Carnegie Mellon University School of Architecture. She is a computational design scholar, architect, artist, and Director of the Situated Computation + Design Lab. She investigates traditional and digital practices, and their intersections with society. Using interdisciplinary approaches, she builds new frameworks, methodologies, and tools to explore social, cultural, and political aspects of computation and emerging technologies for new reconfigurations of practice, pedagogy, and publics. Her work has been supported by the Graham Foundation, the Mozilla Foundation, and ideas2innovation (i2i), among others. She is a recipient of the DigitalFUTURES Young Award for exceptional research and scholarship in the field of critical computational design, and gave a TEDx Talk titled, “The Power of Making: Craft, Computation, and Carnival.” Dr. Noel holds a Ph.D. from The Pennsylvania State University, a Master of Science in Architecture Studies from MIT, a Bachelor of Architecture from Howard University, and a Diploma in Civil Engineering from Trinidad & Tobago. Noel has held positions at Georgia Institute of Technology, the University of Stuttgart, the University of Florida, Penn State University, MIT, the Singapore University of Technology & Design, and has practiced as an architect in the US, India, and Trinidad & Tobago. Noel is currently a board member of The Association for Computer-Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA).

Audrey Desjardins

Audrey Desjardins is an interaction designer who speculatively and critically examines how people live with technology. She designs interactive artifacts and systems that reimagine the familiar co-existence of humans and things. Her current projects touch on ways to inquire and reclaim Internet of Things data through crafting and materializing ways of living with that data. As a design scholar, she believes that the design and making of artifacts is a rich site of knowledge production. She designs to articulate questions, to propose alternatives and to provoke reflection.

Audrey is an associate professor in interaction design in the School of Art + Art History + Design at the University of Washington where she directs Studio Tilt, a design research studio. She is also adjunct associate professor in Human Centered Design and Engineering (HCDE) and Digital Arts and Experimental Media (DXARTS) at the University of Washington. She holds a PhD and Master of Arts from the School of Interactive Arts + Technology at Simon Fraser University, and a bachelor degree in industrial design at Université de Montreal.

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Jan
30
10:00 AM10:00

Encompass Spring Career Fair

Encompass Spring Career Fair
Tuesday, January 30th 2024, 10:00 am - 5:00 pm EST
The Career & Professional Development Center (CPDC)
Wiegand Gym, Jared L. Cohon University Center 5032 Forbes Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15213

REGISTER ON HANDSHAKE

Join us for this exciting in-person career fair that brings together arts, business, computer science, engineering, humanities, and the sciences all in one event. Employers from all industries will be looking to hire interns and full-time employees from all majors and disciplines.

This is a large-scale free-flowing "traditional" career fair.

This fair is located in the Wiegand Gym and will be split into two sessions:

  • Session 1: Undergraduate Students 10 am - 12 pm *Entry ends at 11:30 am

  • Session 2: Graduate Students 1 pm - 5 pm *Entry ends at 4:30 pm

*Students of all class levels can attend either session if their academic schedules conflict with the event timeline

Wiegand Gym is located on the first floor of the Cohon Center near the Equipment Desk.

Entry into the fair will end 30 minutes before the end time of the fair.

Please visit the coat check open from 9:40 until 5:15, before entering the fair located in the Conan Room on the first floor of the University Center! No coats or backpacks will be permitted at the fair.

If you’re looking for more guidance on navigating a career search, we are here for you! The ​CPDC​ team is available to help you before, during, and after the fair.  

Disability Accommodations
If you are a student who would like disability accommodations for the event, please reach out to the Office of Disability Resources (access@andrew.cmu.edu) at least one week in advance of the session.

Questions? Email career@andrew.cmu.edu or schedule an appointment with your career consultant using Handshake.

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Public Program – Lecture & Book Signing: Momoyo Kaijima (Atelier Bow-Wow)
Jan
29
5:00 PM17:00

Public Program – Lecture & Book Signing: Momoyo Kaijima (Atelier Bow-Wow)

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Lecture & Book Signing by Momoyo Kaijima (Atelier Bow-Wow)

Architectural Behaviorology

Book signing and reception, 5:00pm ET, Carnegie Museum of Art Café

Lecture, 6:00pm ET, Carnegie Museum of Art Theater

4400 Forbes Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Notes:

  • This talk is free and open to all.

  • Registration is now full. Please join the waitlist to be notified as seats become available. A recording of the lecture will be made available shortly after the event.

  • This event is in-person only.

  • The lecture is eligible for 1.5 AIA Continuing Education Credits. Please provide your AIA membership credentials at the door.

Momoyo Kaijima

Momoyo Kaijima, a distinguished figure in contemporary architecture, is the co-founder of Atelier Bow-Wow, an influential architectural studio in Japan. Originating from Tokyo, Kaijima's graduated with a degree from the Department of Housing, Faculty of Home Economics, Japan Women’s University. Subsequently, she pursued advanced studies at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, culminating in postgraduate and graduate degrees.

Kaijima is also a Professor of Architectural Behaviorology at ETH Zurich. Beyond her academic role, Kaijima's international impact extends to renowned institutions such as Harvard, Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Rice University, Delft University of Technology, and Columbia University. In collaboration with Yoshiharu Tsukamoto, she co-founded Atelier Bow-Wow in 1992, contributing to innovative multi-scalar architectural projects and research, including notable built works such as Momonoura Village, the Machiya Houses, and House & Atelier. She was the curator of the Japanese Pavilion at the 16th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia and she received the Wolf Prize Laureate in Architecture in 2022. Since 2017 she has served as vice president of the nonprofit NPO Cheer Art, which aims to make medical settings not only functional, but bring out people’s zest for life.

The breadth of Atelier Bow Wow’s work has been disseminated through many publications, including Made in Tokyo, House Behaviorology, Windowscapes. Graphic Anatomy 1, Graphic Anatomy 2, Pet Architecture 1, and Pet Architecture 2.

In this thought-provoking lecture, "Architectural Behaviorology," Kaijima will share insights gleaned from her extensive involvement in over 150 architectural projects. This session promises to provide valuable perspectives on the intersection of architectural practice and visionary design. A moderated Q&A will follow the lecture.

Book Sale & Signing

From 5-6 PM, Point Line Projects will have copies of Atelier Bow-Wow's recent books, available for purchase and signing during a reception before the lecture in the museum café.

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Public Program – Conversations on Practice and Pedagogy: Momoyo Kaijima (Atelier Bow-Wow)
Jan
27
1:00 PM13:00

Public Program – Conversations on Practice and Pedagogy: Momoyo Kaijima (Atelier Bow-Wow)

Conversations on Practice and Pedagogy with Momoyo Kaijima (Atelier Bow-Wow)

1–4 p.m., College of Fine Arts Room 201
Refreshments provided.

A moderated drop-in conversation open to all to discuss connections and resonances between Momoyo Kaijima’s practice and our work at Carnegie Mellon Architecture.

Momoyo Kaijima

Momoyo Kaijima, a distinguished figure in contemporary architecture, is the co-founder of Atelier Bow-Wow, an influential architectural studio in Japan. Originating from Tokyo, Kaijima's graduated with a degree from the Department of Housing, Faculty of Home Economics, Japan Women’s University. Subsequently, she pursued advanced studies at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, culminating in postgraduate and graduate degrees.

Kaijima is also a Professor of Architectural Behaviorology at ETH Zurich. Beyond her academic role, Kaijima's international impact extends to renowned institutions such as Harvard, Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Rice University, Delft University of Technology, and Columbia University. In collaboration with Yoshiharu Tsukamoto, she co-founded Atelier Bow-Wow in 1992, contributing to innovative multi-scalar architectural projects and research, including notable built works such as Momonoura Village, the Machiya Houses, and House & Atelier. She was the curator of the Japanese Pavilion at the 16th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia and she received the Wolf Prize Laureate in Architecture in 2022. Since 2017 she has served as vice president of the nonprofit NPO Cheer Art, which aims to make medical settings not only functional, but bring out people’s zest for life.

The breadth of Atelier Bow Wow’s work has been disseminated through many publications, including Made in Tokyo, House Behaviorology, Windowscapes. Graphic Anatomy 1, Graphic Anatomy 2, Pet Architecture 1, and Pet Architecture 2.

On Monday, January 29, Kaijima will give a lecture called “Architectural Behaviorology.” Learn more and register.

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Jan
24
11:30 AM11:30

Human-Centered, High-Performance Design Excellence

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Human-Centered, High-Performance Design Excellence

11:30–12:30pm Wednesday January 24, 2024
IW Seminar Space, Margaret Morrison Carnegie Hall

Visitors: Noah Marble, Z Smith, Jack Sawyer. Principals, EskewDumezRipple

In conjunction with the Shaping Daylight seminar, taught by Azadeh Sawyer. Open to all. Lunch will be served.

EskewDumezRipple is an architecture, interiors, and planning firm with a staff of 60 based in New Orleans and Washington DC and practicing across North America. Winners of the AIA Firm Award, their work centers community, beauty, human health, and climate action across a broad range of building types from art museums, co-working spaces, academic buildings, to net zero and mass timber affordable housing projects.

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Jan
19
11:00 AM11:00

PhD-CD Thesis Defense Presentation: Manuel Rodríguez Ladrón de Guevara

  • Margaret Morrison Carnegie Hall (MMCH), Room A11 (map)
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Title: Parametric-Based Models for Artistic Representations

Name: Manuel Rodríguez Ladrón de Guevara, PhD Candidate in Computational Design

Date: Friday, January 19, 2024
Time: 11:00am-1:00pm ET
Location: Margaret Morrison Carnegie Hall (MMCH), Room A11 and on Zoom


Thesis Committee:

Ramesh Krishnamurti (Chair)
Emeritus Professor
School of Architecture, Carnegie Mellon University  

Daragh Byrne
Associate Teaching Professor
School of Architecture, Carnegie Mellon University  

Jun-Yan Zhu
Robotics Institute
Carnegie Mellon University  

Abstract:
Driven by the popular adoption of AI for artistic purposes, this research examines its technical and ethical implications, and presents new approaches for parametric algorithms that generate different type of artistic representations, based on optimization methods and learning models. In the midst of the success of machine learning algorithms in image generation and other creative tasks of pixel-based diffusion and large language models, my dissertation is framed within the field of parametric representations, which is closer to human art than pixel-based methods. An array of computational methods including procedural, optimization, and machine learning are analyzed and proposed with the intention of disseminating the generation of artwork by computers.

To understand and situate the current AI models used for art, we provide a comprehensive review and implementation of artistic computational methods, ranging from classical procedural hand-made, rule-based algorithms, to the most advanced AI methods. After analyzing the technical possibilities of existing methods, we present new algorithms that focus on particular gaps in the literature.

Particularly, this research studies three main problems that exist in the literature: stylization, controllability, and identity preservation. Stylization, the process of applying a particular artistic style to an image, is a common subject within generative algorithms, and key to artistic success. Controllability enables intentional painting processes and thus, it is a steppingstone for further stylization. Identity preservation is the ability for a learning model to preserve key content features from the original image through the artistic representation process. Finding the right combination of stroke primitives for a particular artistic style and, by extension, for a painting strategy that leads to certain styles is not fully resolved under a parametric framework, as there exists a trade-off between reconstructions of the input image and a controllable stylistic variation. Existing works that address style are still limited in style variations and controllability, and principally use different stroke models and textures to output styles. State-of-the-art algorithms normally output strokes in an uncontrollable manner without a planned strategy that might help stylization. However, human artists employ painting techniques such as “blocking in”, grouping by semantics or colors, “background-foreground” or “color-then- contours” that help them convey artistic styles.

Throughout the different algorithms presented, we demonstrate new ways to find stylization, controllability, and identity preservation. We disentangle such a complex landscape of artistic styles and strategies, and leverage some artistic vision under some perception of art. We finally tap into computational creativity, whether algorithms can be creative, and discuss future steps in the field of machine learning and art.

Link to Abstract

Link to Thesis Document

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Jan
15
12:00 AM00:00

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day - University Closed

Carnegie Mellon University is closed on Monday, January 15, 2024 in observance of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Holiday.

Community members are encouraged to participate in events occurring in conjunction with the holiday listed on the website of the Center for Student Diversity and Inclusion. The day of service is accompanied by a series of programs throughout the month and semester that honor Dr. King’s legacy of tolerance, peace, and equality. Students, faculty, and staff work on projects relating to social change, community building, diversity, and multicultural understanding. Past projects have highlighted social issues such as hunger, homelessness, racism, and poverty. More information is available on the Center for Student Diversity and Inclusion website.

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