Call for Applications for the 2022 Delbert Highlands Travel Fellowship for SoA Alumni

The Carnegie Mellon School of Architecture is now accepting applications for the 2022 Delbert Highlands Travel Fellowship. This $12,000 award supports SoA alumni in the study of collections belonging to locales to promote the professional development of the awardee and contribute to the richness of our surroundings. All SoA alumni are eligible to apply. Applications are due on Friday, 29 October 2021 at 5:00pm EST.

SoA Graduating Students Awarded CMU Senior Leadership Recognition

The School of Architecture is proud to announce that 14 of this year’s graduating students have been awarded CMU Senior Leadership Recognition (SLR). This recognition is reserved for those students who have made an unparalleled impact on the university community, leaving CMU a better place as a result of their leadership, vision, and initiative.

Join Us for the School of Architecture Virtual Diploma Ceremony on Sat 22 May at 3:00pm EDT

The School of Architecture invites you to join us for our 2021 Virtual Diploma Ceremony on Saturday 22 May beginning at 3:00pm EDT. This year’s event features undergraduate student speaker Alyssa Mayorga, B.Arch and graduate student speaker Afshan Rehman, MSSD. SoA faculty will read the names of our graduates and announce the winners of our 2021 Graduation Awards.

Announcing the 2021 Joseph F. Thomas and Ann Kalla Visiting Professors

The School of Architecture is pleased to announce the 2021 Joseph F. Thomas Visiting Professor, Jackie Joseph Paul McFarland, and the 2021 Ann Kalla Visiting Professor, Tommy CheeMou Yang. Professors McFarland and Yang will be joining us from Chicago and New York respectively. This fall, they will be offering seminars aligned with their research and teaching in our first and second year studios. In the spring, they will be offering Options studios.

Opening Up: Beyond the Porch Lecture by RCI Director Ray Gastil Thu 20 May

Opening Up: Beyond the Porch, a lecture by Ray Gastil, Director of the Remaking Cities Institute, will be presented as part of the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation series on Thursday 20 May from 6:00-8:00pm on Zoom. As we reopen our business districts and neighborhoods, yet at the same time design for a new normal, the places where the private realm opens up to the public are more important than ever.

BOTH / AND: 2021 ASOS Thesis Show, Symposium, and Pop-Up Exhibition May 14-15

The 2021 ASOS Thesis Show embraces dizzying multiplicities, divergent interests, and engaging ambiguity. This digital exhibition presents the widely varied work of B.Arch, M.Arch, MUD, and MAAD students under one collective statement: BOTH / AND. The final reviews take place on Fri 14 May. The 2021 thesis events will culminate in an in-person, on-campus pop-up show the evening of Sat 15 May.

Commencement Weekend is May 22-23, 2021

CMU will host two live commencement ceremonies – one on Sat 22 May for master's and doctoral degree candidates, and one on Sun 23 May for bachelor’s degree candidates. Graduating students have the option to participate virtually or in person. The School of Architecture will host a virtual Diploma Ceremony on Sat 22 May. Congratulations to the Class of 2021!

School of Architecture Invites Applications for Curator of Public Programs

Carnegie Mellon University School of Architecture invites applications for the Curator of Public Programs. This part-time position is an intellectually challenging opportunity for someone interested in contemporary architectural discourse. They will be responsible for developing the school’s annual lecture series and coordinating other school events into our annual public programs. Applications review begins Monday, 17 May 2021.

Announcing the Associate Heads and the Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) at the School of Architecture

The School of Architecture is pleased to announce our new Associate Heads and Director for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI): Professor Mary-Lou Arscott, Associate Head for Design Fundamentals; Professor Joshua Bard, Associate Head for Design Research; Professor Kai Gutschow, Associate Head for Design Ethics; and Professor Erica Cochran Hameen, Director for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI). The new positions are effective July 1, 2021.

RCI Working to Address First Mile/Last Mile and Micromobility Challenges Outside the Urban Core

The Remaking Cities Institute (RCI) and Traffic21 CMU faculty are working with communities in Allegheny County to address first mile/last mile and micromobility challenges that exist outside of the urban core. The Linking our Networked Communities (LINC) project is underway in partnership with the Quaker Valley Coalition of Governments (QVCOG) and the communities of Bellevue, Avalon, Ben Avon, Emsworth, and Kilbuck. The study, supported by a challenge grant from CMU’s Traffic21 and the Mobilty21 Urban Transportation Center, focuses on critical issues for mobility and urban design for towns beyond the urban core in the Southwestern Pennsylvania region.

Student Mentorship & Design Justice at Carnegie Mellon

Hameen empowers her students to pursue and deepen their own disparate interests, and they appreciate both the respect and compassion she shows for them and their work. Christina Brown, currently Architectural Designer at KPF and a CMU 2020 graduate, had Hameen as both a thesis advisor and architectural studio professor. Brown says she was “allowed to explore and flourish” in her own design work while balancing personal responsibilities outside of the academy; she credits Hameen’s flexibility for her own achievements. Similarly, Taylor Latimer, fifth-year senior in CMU’s Bachelor of Architecture program, credits Hameen for her decision to pursue an advanced degree in urban planning. Without Hameen’s guidance, Latimer says, she would have been more focused on individual buildings and ideas rather than the larger impacts she now sees she can make working at larger scales.

Sarosh Anklesaria Writes on Recent Campaign Against Demolition of IIM Buildings by Louis Kahn

Professor Sarosh Anklesaria coauthored an article in Scroll.in, one of India's most widely circulated English news magazines, with Shubhra Raje and Riyaz Tayyibji. The authors reflect on a recent campaign to stop the demolition of dormitory buildings at IIM, Ahmedabad designed by Louis Kahn. The article calls for an ethic of empathy, care, and maintenance in the context of aging modernisms.

Sarosh Anklesaria's Work Featured in Strelka Magazine

Professor Sarosh Anklesaria recently published a longform essay in Strelka Magazine, titled “Cooking New Worlds: From Machinic Architectures to Biome Ecologies.” His work disentangles the machinic architectures of planetary food production, and points to other ways of worldbuilding, by introducing the Urban Symbiome—a proposed vision for a future based on an ethic of kinship, degrowth, and circular thinking.

Stefan Gruber to Present at 109th Annual ACSA Meeting After Winning Two Education Awards

Stefan Gruber will present at the 109th Annual ACSA Meeting March 24-26, 2021. He was awarded two 2021 Architectural Education Awards in the Collaborative Practice category for his studio's research for the travelling exhibition "An Atlas of Commoning," and in the AIA/ACSA Housing Design Education category for his spring 2020 studio "Cooperative Housing for the 2000-Watt Society.”