Constructed Objects

Symposium at Yale Looks at Everyday Things Through Architectural Prism Yale University Office of Public Affairs

“Constructed Objects: Design by Architects in the 20th Century,” a symposium taking place November 12–13 at Yale School of Architecture, will explore ways in which architecture and design infuse and inform the everyday objects we use.

-Tanya

New Projection Major At Yale

Wendall K. Harrington Heads New Projection Major At Yale Oct 21, 2009 – Live Design – Ellen Lampert-Gréaux

Projection designer Wendall K. Harrington will head the new projection concentration within the design department at the Yale School of Drama, as announced by Ming Cho Lee and Stephen Strawbridge, co-chairs. The program begins in the fall of 2010, as one of the first graduate theatre training programs of its kind in the United States.

-Tanya

Yale moves to drop museum suits

Yale moves to drop museum suits Nora Caplan-Bricker – Yale Daily News – October 27, 2009

The University filed one motion Oct. 5 to dismiss Pierre Konowaloff’s claim to ownership of “The Night Café,” a painting by Vincent Van Gogh housed in the permanent collection of the Yale University Art Gallery, and another on Oct. 16 to dismiss the Republic of Peru’s suit for the return of Inca artifacts housed in the Peabody Museum of Natural History.

-Tanya

Throwing away the Green House

Chase: Throwing away the Green House and sustainability Thomas Chase – Yale Daily News October 27, 2009

Given my work as an ecologist and environmentalist studying environmental impacts and the built environment, that the school’s gallery was hosting “The Green House: New Directions in Sustainable Architecture” should have warmed my heart. However, on a routine salvage visit to the loading dock behind Paul Rudolph Hall, I was surprised to find the entire exhibit, eight-foot-tall stands, display boards, tables and all, in a dumpster awaiting its one-way trip to the landfill. So much reusable material was being discarded that an extra dumpster, in addition to the one normally present, was on-site to receive it.

-Tanya

Expansion Plans Put Yale Alums at Odds

Expansion Plans Put Yale Alums at Odds – Architectural Record C. J. Hughes – October 26, 2009

“Bob Stern is a talented architect, and I’m sure whatever he does will be wonderful. But does it require a wholesale bulldozing?” says [William] Moore, adding that saving the buildings would mesh with Yale’s stated eco-friendly mission.

-Tanya

The Shakespeare Lady

MICHELLE NICOLE LEE, an alumni of the Yale Drama School, has written an essay for The New York Times on mental illness and her encounters with New Haven’s famous Shakespeare Lady.

When Madness Is in the Wings October 23, 2009 New York Times

-Tanya

Sol LeWitt @ the new Smilow Hospital

Sol LeWitt’s “Wall Drawing 692″ @ Mass MoCa

Smilow’s interior features modern art – Lauren Motzkin – Yale Daily News – October 22, 2009

In a collaboration between the Smilow Hospital and the Yale University Art Gallery, “Wall Drawing 692” by conceptual artist Sol LeWitt has been installed in the lobby of the hospital, providing patients and visitors with a colorful welcome to the building.

-Tanya

Smilow Cancer Hospital’s design met criticism

Smilow Cancer Hospital’s design met criticism Amir Sharif Yale Daily News October 22, 2009

At the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Smilow Cancer Hospital Wednesday, nothing about the festive atmosphere and teary-eyed attendants suggested the controversial design process of the building — a process that involved extensive negotiations between hospital administrators, the building’s architects and city officials.

-Tanya

Changes in Yale’s Architecture major

New Blueprint for Architecture – Jennifer Epstein – Inside Higher Ed – October 19, 2009

Yale University’s architecture major is about to experience a shakeup aimed at giving students a broader liberal arts education and better spacing out project-intensive courses….

With the new requirements, “The Analytic Model” has been shifted to sophomore year…making room in the junior year for a two-semester sequence of survey courses on architectural history.

-Tanya

Scully wins DuPont Crowninshield Award

Preservationists honor Scully Yale Daily News Lauren Motzkin – October 16, 2009

Scully received the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Louise DuPont Crowninshield Award, the most prestigious of the organization’s annual prizes. The prize recognizes lifetime achievement in the field of historic preservation and was — in Scully’s case — long overdue, said Richard Moe, president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

-Tanya

Walpole’s Strawberry Hill @ BAC

‘Horace Walpole’s Strawberry Hill’ At Yale Center for British Art October 15, 2009 Hartford Courant

It’s a miracle that the original home, Strawberry Hill, still exists, though it was listed as one of the planet’s most endangered heritage sites by the World Monuments Fund. It is being renovated, however, for a reopening to the public scheduled next fall. In the meantime, the home’s holdings, along with those from the Walpole Library and collections across the globe, make up the surprising exhibit opening today at the Yale Center for British Art.

-Tanya

NY Times review of “The Green House”

Buildings Easy on the Earth, and the Eyes FRED A. BERNSTEIN September 18, 2009 New York Times

Building a green house is about as easy as unfrying an egg. One goal is to reduce “indoor air pollution” — fumes from paints and other possibly hazardous materials. Another is to minimize energy expended on heating and cooling. The first goal requires that the house have lots of ventilation; the second requires it to be tightly sealed.

“It’s a conundrum,” said Alanna Stang, a writer who helped create “The Green House: New Directions in Sustainable Architecture and Design,” an exhibition at the Yale School of Architecture.

-Tanya

The Green House: upcoming exhibit

Yale University: Yale School of Architecture Announces Exhibitions for Fall Term of Academic Year
New Haven, Conn., Aug 11, 2009 (M2 PRESSWIRE via COMTEX) –[found @ Zibb]

Exhibitions showcasing the latest innovations in green residential architecture and the groundbreaking Las Vegas Studio of Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown in addition to the work of their firm will be on view at the gallery of the newly renovated Paul Rudolph Hall, 180 York St., during the first term of the coming academic year.

The first exhibition, ‘The Green House: New Directions in Sustainable Architecture,’ opens on August 24. A traveling exhibition that originated at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. it draws on designs of internationally celebrated architects and features new trends, materials and technology in sustainable construction to raise awareness that a healthy and environmentally friendly home can be aesthetically dynamic and physically comfortable too, say the show’s organizers.

-Tanya

R.I.P. Charles Gwathmey

Charles Gwathmey, Modernist Architect, Dies at 71 FRED A. BERNSTEIN New York Times August 4, 2009

Charles Gwathmey, an architect who turned his love of Modernism and passion for geometrical complexity into a series of compelling houses and sometimes controversial public buildings, died on Monday in Manhattan. He was 71 and lived in Manhattan.

Gwathmey recently renovated Paul Rudoph Hall and designed the Jeffrey H. Loria Center for the Arts.

Mr. Eisenman said that Mr. Gwathmey deserved more credit than he got for making sure that his [Jeffrey H. Loria Center] didn’t overpower its neighbors. “Charles was able to sublimate his ego and produce really sophisticated solutions to plan problems, to circulation problems — but those aren’t the kinds of things that make headlines,” [Peter] Eisenman said.

-Tanya

Yale’s Rustic Kroon Hall Fits Carbon Neutral Technology

The new Kroon Hall at Yale University strikes a rustic note with its barn-like form and thick vaulting roof, as if made of thatch. It’s not about quaint, since it is among the few buildings in America that can claim to be almost carbon neutral — the Holy Grail in the battle against global warming. That “thatch” supports photovoltaic panels.

Yale’s Rustic Kroon Hall Fits Carbon Neutral Technology: Review James S. Russell Bloomberg 7/20/09

-Chris