AIA Denver COTE Forum: Community Based Design-Build Projects

Friday, November 5th from 11:30 to 1:00

Location: University of Colorado at Denver , Room 480
1250 14th St ., Denver , CO 80202

Lecture by Rick Sommerfeld on community-based design-build projects including DesignBuildBLUFF.

Rick Sommerfeld is the Associate Chair and Senior Instructor at the University of Colorado 's College of Architecture and Planning.  In addition, he leads the College's design / build studio that has long focused on community based design projects.  The College and studio has recently partnered with Design Build BLUFF to build a home on the Navajo Reservation in Utah .

Rick holds an M.Arch from the University of Colorado Denver , and a Bachelor of Environmental Design degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder . Rick currently teaches architecture courses at the University of Colorado , College of Architecture and Planning, focusing on green design and construction as well as computer design and architectural graphics. He was selected by faculty and students as the college's "Instructor of the Year" for 2003 and again in 2005. He also holds the college's "Outstanding Graduate Award" for 2001 and was the American Institute of Architect's "AIA Master's Candidate Medal Winner" for 2001. Rick was a Faculty Advisor for the CU 2005 National Solar Decathlon team. His student’s “green” fabrication work has been shown at the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art and Design Within Reach Studio in Boulder . Rick's professional design practice, the3rdspace in Denver , specializes in innovative residential and small commercial design.

UCD Design-Build Program

Over the past three years the design-build program at UCD has been overseen by Rob Pyatt and Rick Sommerfeld, both are graduates of the "Glenn Murcutt International Master Class". The presentation will cover what they learned at the Murcutt Master Class and how that has influenced the design-build projects at UCD.
The Murcutt Master Class is an intensive summer program lead by tutors Glenn Murcutt, Richard Leplastrier, Peter Stutchbury, and Brit Andersen. Every year 30 architects, professors, and graduate students from around the world are selected to participate in design problem that thoroughly considers program in relationship to the context and the Australian landscape. Participants live in residence with the tutors and over the duration of the class design and present their ideas. On weekends, in order to understand architecture at a deeper level, tutors take the participants to projects that they are working on or have completed to explain their design philosophy.
The design-build program at UCD is interested in community-based design problems that allow students to consider the social, environmental and economic impacts of their architecture. Through hands on interactions with clients, and construction students learn to understand the significance their design decisions have in the world. Two of the programs most recent projects are the interior renovation of the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art and a $50,000 house for a Navajo family in Bluff, UT.

Cost: Free for members/$20 for nonmembers
Credit: 1.0 HSW/SD

Contact Jenna Cather to rsvp
jenna@aiacolorado.org

Cityscape Panorama Project

Went to a lecture/presentation recently by an architectural photographer named T. John Hughes.  He has been working on creating a visual record of Downtown Denver, every five years, since 1992.  The process, known as "rephotography", takes images from the same vantage point to illustrate changes in the urban fabric.  His work is important for designers in charting the incremental progress of architecture, as well as society.  Too often, we refer to buildings in "eras" or very large chunks of time.  Hughes brings the interval down to five years, which I believe allows us to put change in terms of our lifetime, instead of generations.  His work can be viewed on the website: http://cityscapepanorama.com/

AIA Denver COTE Meeting 11-6-09

ARCHITECTURE FOR HUMANITY
Friday, November 6, 11:30am-1:00pm – UC Denver Building, Room 470, 1250 14th Street, Denver

Join the AIA Denver Committee on the Environment (COTE) for Architecture for Humanity, presented by Sarah Karlan and Matthew Hamann. This presentation will discuss Architecture for Humanity as a volunteer organization who provides pro bono design services to local and international communities in need and how they strive to promote environmentally and socially responsive solutions through education and a strong collaboration with client and community.  While working in conjunction with other humanitarian based organizations and community networking, Architecture for Humanity aims to continually expand their influence and advocacy and promote a better way of life through an architectural medium.  RSVPs are requested and must be made by Thursday, Nov. 5, at 4 pm by contacting Jenna Cather at 303.446.2266, ext. 112 or jenna@aiacolorado.org. Cost: Free for members/ $15 for non-members. AIA Denver COTE meets the first Friday of each month. The presentation will be preceded by an AIA Denver COTE business meeting at 11:30am.  For more information about this committee, contact AIA Denver at 303.446.2266 or visit the website.