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The Kennesaw State University Department of Architecture, in collaboration with the Ismaili Council for the Southeastern United States, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and commemorated the fifth anniversary of The Global Centre for Pluralism in Ottawa, Canada on April 13, 2022.
View full articleConstruction History Society of America Conference
The College of Architecture and Construction Management at Kennesaw State University hosted the Construction History Society of America (CHSA), for their 7th Biennial Conference June 2-4, 2022. The theme of the conference, "Quarrying History," brought international scholars of construction history to the Marietta campus to share their breadth of knowledge about masonry and stone construction. Paper presentations were bracketed with two keynote speakers; Brandon Clifford of MIT spoke about cyclopean construction and recycling of concrete construction waste and Ece Erdogmus of Georgia Tech, spoke on the use of drones and lasers in archaeological reconstruction of an ancient Greek temple. A field trip to the Vulcan Materials quarry in Kennesaw showcased the aggregate production process. An interactive demonstration of stone carving techniques by Prof. Keif Schleifer added new dimensions to the symposium experience. Architecture and Civil Engineering students presented posters discussing stone arches in Marietta, Nicholas Stile; brick use in African structures, Joanna Waliuba; and pre-cast concrete materials Sean Sadler.
Construction History Society of America Conference (CHSA)
The Construction History Society of America (CHSA) conference
is being hosted June 2-4 here at the CACM. The theme is masonry construction
There will be a Student Poster Session. Participation in this event will help build your resume and portfolio.
Posters will be presented on Friday June 3, 2022.
Only 30 posters (32” x 40”) will be chosen for the session. To secure a spot, please provide a document with the following info ASAP:
1) Your name
2) Your major and college
3) Title of your poster presentation
4) An abstract (200+ words) of your presentation
5) A small pdf image of your poster or a draft image
Send this info to:
Prof. Keif Schleifer at kschlei1@kennesaw.edu
Dr. Monaghan at mmonagh3@kennesaw.edu
Deadline for entry is May 27, 2022
2022 ARCC King Award for Research + CritMASS Winners
It is our pleasure to announce the winners of the 2022 ARCC King Award for Research and CritMASS.
CriticalMASS Graduate Research Symposium:
Thesis Title: MIS/FITTING ARCHITECTURE: Strategies for a new Department of Housing and Urban Development Headquarters
Student: Nicole Rodriguez
Advisor: Dr. Jeffrey Collins
ARCC King Award for Research:
Thesis Title: Independence Through Unseen Architecture: Investigating Multi-Sensory Design for the Visually Impaired and Blind
Student: Taylor Trevino
Advisor: Dr. Selen Okcu
Edwin Akins to return to Industry,
Kathryn Bedette, AIA to serve as Interim Architecture Department Chair
Effective April 16, 2022 Interim Department Chair and Associate Professor Edwin Akins will be leaving KSU to rejoin industry. At that time Associate Dean for Student Success and Accreditation and Associate Professor Kathryn Bedette, AIA will assume the Interim Department Chair duties. Kathryn Bedette will serve until a permanent department chair is appointed July 1st.
Please join me in wishing Ed Akins many successes in his new role, and welcoming Professor Bedette to the Interim Chair role.
Sincerely,
Dean Andrew Phillip Payne, April 2022
KSU ARCH Alumni named to the 2022 class of Christopher Kelley Leadership Development Program (CKLDP).
KSU ARCH Alumni named to the 2022 class of Christopher Kelley Leadership Development
Program (CKLDP).
Dyesha Holmes, Assoc. AIA | Cooper Carry
Laura Sherman, AIA | Smith Dalia Architects
ATLANTA – AIA Georgia is pleased to announce the 2022 class of Christopher Kelley
Leadership Development Program (CKLDP). This competitive program aims to train and
inspire the next generation of leaders in architecture through a series of eight sessions
focused on such topics as political engagement, civic leadership and community engagement,
business development, professional practice and equity, diversity and inclusion.
For more information / Class of 2022 Program Participants
Jonathan Rivera-Perez joins the Advising Team as Senior Academic Advisor
Senior Academic Advisor Jonathan Rivera-Perez has a B.A. in Public Communications
and an M.Ed. in Educational Leadership and Supervision. Jonathan taught K-12 for about
4 years before entering the Higher Education scene in 2016. He gained experience as
an Adjunct Faculty member and Academic Advisor for a small college in Buffalo, NY.
This is where he began his academic advising journey, which brought him to the KSU
Family. Jonathan has been with KSU for over a year and joined the College of Architecture
and Construction Management in February.
Jonathan enjoys helping out and interacting with students in order to help them succeed. He speaks Spanish and English--make sure to say hi or “Hola” and ask questions about your program.
Please join me in welcoming Jonathan Rivera-Perez to the advising team.
Sincerely,
Associate Dean Kathryn Bedette, March 2022
Focus Studio|X Fall 2022
The department is now accepting proposals for our 5th Year Fall 2022 Focus Studio|X.
The purpose of this studio is to advance design excellence through applied research within the fifth-year studio environment of the Architecture Department of Kennesaw State University. This studio provides support for the KSU R2 classification via departmental curriculum integration.
STUDIO PROPOSAL EVALUATION CRITERIA
- Prioritized alignment with NAAB Criteria PC1, PC2, PC3, PC5, and PC7. (Program Criteria pg. 10, found here https://www.naab.org/wp-content/uploads/2020-NAAB-Conditions-for-Accreditation.pdf)
- Engagement Alignment (KSU Engagement found here https://engagement.kennesaw.edu/definitions.php)
- Service Learning
- Undergraduate Research
- Strategic Research Theme Alignment (https://research.kennesaw.edu/roc/themes/)
- Sustainable Safe Communities
- Human Development and Well-Being
- Computing and Technology
- Bio-Medical and Health Science
Deadline:
MARCH 23, 2022 / 11:59PM EST
Questions:
Contact Dr. Pegah Zamani
pzamani@kennesaw.edu
University Profile: KSU Precast Studio Focuses on Collaboration
The studio sequence is reinforced by courses in design communication, architecture culture, structure, environmental technology, and professional practice. The courses provide a holistic understanding of the design process necessary to produce functional and meaningful architecture.
view full articleWelcome Brian Ellis, CACM Business Manager starting February 7, 2022
Though new to our college, Brian comes to us with 6 years of experience in KSU policies, processes, and procedures in the areas of finance and travel. His office will be located in the Architecture Building - Room N-123 and you may reach him via email at bellis22@kennesaw.edu or via phone at (470) 578-4917.
ACSA Architectural Education Awards
With the recent release of the Architectural Education Awards, we are pleased to announce that KSU Architecture faculty member, Elizabeth Martin-Malikian,
has won for the Journal of Architectural Education (JAE) Best "Micro-narrative" Article.
"Tamaššā: To Walk for Pleasure in an Altered (or Othered) Beirut"
5th Annual Equinox Week
March 01-04, 2022
Recently identified as a GLOBAL RCE award recipient, the annual Equinox Week at KSU Architecture supports SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals Category: Curriculum Development.
Join us this year for a week of EQUINOX events "Catalyzing Community-centered Scholarships and Partnerships" and take part in the transformative work overseen by KSU Architecture Faculty member, Pegah Zamani, PhD.
For more information and a full schedule of events, please visit this webpage.
Alumni in the News!
Congratulations to KSU Architecture Alumnus Joshua Robinson from the Perkins & Will
Atlanta & New York Studio on being named the 2021 AIAS Emerging Professional Honor
Recipient. Josh’s dedication to the profession of architecture and his efforts to
mentor the next generation of designers are just a few reasons why he was selected.
The AIAS National Honor Awards are the highest accolade the organization can bestow and elections are based on attributes of design excellence, involvement in the profession and advocacy. (Perkins & Will)
Congratulations to KSU Architecture Alumnus Darral Tate from the SLAM offices in Atlanta on being selected by the The American Institute of Architects National Associates Committee as the associate representative to the Strategic Council, effective January 1, 2022. Darral will serve as the representative to the Board in 2023.
Darral will be a voice for emerging professionals at a state, regional and national level. Throughout his term he will promote excellence, provide information and leadership, foster inclusiveness, and encourage individual, community and professional development. (SLAM Collaborative)
We Are Building Scholars
In March of 2021, Ermal Shpuza was promoted to Professor of Architecture. Ermal Shpuza’s research interests span across spatial analysis, urban morphology, urban history, complex systems in cities, architecture, environmental design, workplace design, and design computing. He studies the evolution of Adriatic and Ionian coastal cities, urban transformation in the Balkans, shape description, affinity between block shape and street patterns, and interaction between boundary shape and circulation in buildings. He teaches courses in spatial analysis, urban design and planning theory, and environmental technology, and studios in urban design, environmental design, and design foundation. He received his architectural professional degree from Polytechnic University of Tirana, MSc in Architecture from the Bartlett, University College London, and PhD in Architecture from Georgia Institute of Technology. He was a Visiting Faculty Fellow at quanTM Emory University and a Sustainability Fellow at KSU, and is currently a Global Fellow for the Year of Greece at KSU.
Professor Shpuza will share his inquiry into an "Unorthodox approach to Space Syntax" during the 2022 Spring semester, as a spotlight on scholarship within the department. Congratulations Professor Shpuza!
https://facultyweb.kennesaw.edu/eshpuza/index.php
Architecture Students selected for the 2021-2022
ULI Etkin Scholars Program
After a nationwide search, the Urban Land Institute (ULI) has selected 15-25 students
to participate in the inaugural cohort of the Etkin Scholars Program. The Kennesaw
State University Architecture Department is proud to announce that students Dalavanh
Thanasouk, Shai' Nibbs, and Elijah Swift have been selected to join the program.
The Etkin Student Scholars Program is designed to immerse its participants into the thriving real estate industry in their respective state in order to:
- Foster future leaders in commercial real estate and related fields: planning, urban design, community and economic development, law, construction, historic preservation, architecture, landscape architecture, etc.
- Introduce undergraduate and graduate students to the benefits of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and interdisciplinary thinking.
- Improve students’ understanding of the professional roles and disciplines that contribute to best practice and innovation in real estate and land use globally.
- Connect students to their local ULI District Council for networking and learning.
From October 2021 through April 2022, our three KSU Architecture students will attend ULI Atlanta events, committees, become volunteers, and network with ULI members to enhance their scholastic endeavors and learn the benefits of ULI membership.
For more information please visit this link.
(KSU Architecture is a supporting member of ULI through membership via our Urban Studio Coordinator.)
Congratulations to our amazing students!
Chair of the Department of Architecture
Kennesaw State University is now accepting applications for a tenured faculty position as Professor and Chair of the Department of Architecture in the College of Architecture and Construction Management.
The KSU Department of Architecture is seeking an innovative and collaborative leader
to foster the current strengths, reputation, and achievements and continue shaping
the department’s vision, mission, goals, and objectives into the future. The new Department
Chair will strengthen, encourage, and bring a strong commitment to the recruitment
and retention of a diverse group of
students, faculty, and staff.
For a full description of this position, application deadlines, and application procedures, visit Careers at KSU.
Architecture Professor returns from visiting scholar position
The department of Architecture welcomes back Dr. William Carpenter, FAIA, as he returns
from his visiting scholar position at the Texas A&M University College of Architecture.
The KSU department of Architecture and the Texas A&M James D. Tittle '49, FAIA Visiting
Professorship provided support for Dr. Carpenter’s visit to College Station from July
2021 to December 2021. During this time he pursued collaborative research related
to design-build education and develop a dialogue between KSU and TAMU in this realm
of inquiry.
His activities at the TAMU College of Architecture included professional-in-residence research activity in collaboration with faculty and Masters/PhD students in the Departments of Architecture, Visualization, and Construction Science. He also led a semester-long studio from concept to completion and provided an inspiring public lecture to the students and faculty of TAMU along with a large virtual audience.
Link to lecture may be found here:
https://fb.watch/9AI25r2uqp/
KSU Architecture is honored to have supported Dr. Carpenter for this educational leave of absence and we look forward to the academic outcomes that will be made evident in our department during the Spring Semester of 2022 as a result of this external engagement.
(Photo credit: Alan Messer)
Associate Professor Martin-Malikian selected for limited term leadership role at Arcosanti
We are pleased to announce that Associate Professor Elizabeth (Liz) Martin-Malikian has been appointed to a limited term leadership role at the Consanti Foundation, fulfilling the duties of CEO & Executive Director. The department is supportive of a one year leave of absence from instruction for Martin-Malikian beginning in January of 2022 to pursue this opportunity.
Liz has been selected by the Consanti Board of Directors to oversee operations, facilities, programming, and philanthropic initiatives for The Cosanti Foundation at both Arcosanti (https://www.arcosanti.org/history/) and Cosanti, as well as for the artisan bell-making business, Cosanti Originals.
The Kennesaw State Architecture department feels that this selection represents a highly valued relationship and expresses optimism for the diverse opportunities that might result and be nourished through this appointment. Interim Chair, Ed Akins II, stated that Assoc. Professor Martin-Malikian has “consistently contributed to the enrichment of our program and student opportunities at KSU through her outreach initiatives and external professional engagement. We view this offer as a direct confirmation of Professor Martin-Malikian’s meaningful work. I have confidence that Liz will continue to bridge academics at both organizations in a manner that results in mutual benefit and growth for all entities involved.”
In alignment with several of the goals and aspirations held by the KSU Architecture department, the Cosanti foundation exhibits ecological accountability, operates with a limited carbon footprint, demonstrates resourcefulness, and emphasizes learning by doing.
“As the world reopens and recovers, we are looking to create more just, safe, healthy, and resilient environments for our lives. I look forward to working with The Cosanti Foundation’s board, staff, supporters, and alumni family to deepen its impact as it enters this next chapter.” – Liz Martin-Malikian
Faculty web:
https://facultyweb.kennesaw.edu/emarti95/index.php
For more information, visit the Cosanti website:
https://cosanti.com/pages/about-us
New Shop Supervisor Joins the Team
Shop Supervisor, Justin Wilson, a native of Atlanta, GA, received his Bachelor's of
Fine Arts degree in Three Dimensional Design from Georgia Southern University and
a Master's of Science in Digital Design and Fabrication from Georgia Institute of
Technology. He has 2 years art fabrication and 2 years digital design professional
experience. Justin worked during his undergraduate studies on multiple projects focusing
on metal work and art installations. While working at Georgia Institute of Technology
his focus was on research, design, and fabrication. In his spare time, Justin enjoys
reading and cooking.
Justin joins Rachel Kidd-Chancey and Kevin “Kim” Muthersbough and will be supervising the College of Architecture and Construction Management Woodshop during the afternoon/evening hours. Please join me in welcoming Justin to the college.
Sincerely, Dean Andrew Phillip Payne, October 2021
Ishmela Lyons-Uko Promoted to Senior Academic Advisor
Ms. Lyons-Uko has advised undergraduate students in the KSU College of Architecture and Construction Management since October 2018 and has over seven years of professional experience in higher education. Prior to her work at Kennesaw State University, Ms. Lyons-Uko served as an Academic Advisor at both Georgia State University and Georgia Southern University. Ishmela is a proud alumna of Georgia Southern University, where she earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance and Accounting.
Ms. Lyons-Uko excels in advising students to strategically align course schedules and academic plans with each student’s individual academic and professional objectives. She works with students to set attainable, actionable goals to improve academic performance.
Please join me in congratulating Ishmela Lyons-Uko on her new position as Senior Academic Advisor.
Sincerely,
Associate Dean Kathryn Bedette, April 2021
Architecture Student Presents at Hunter Museum Virtual Symposium
We are pleased to announce that KSU Architecture student, Olivia Harrell, will be
presenting at the Hunter Museum’s Virtual Student Symposium. The Student Symposium
is featuring papers centered around the theme “Piecing Together Identities” inspired
by the current exhibition, Under Construction: Collage from The Mint Museum where
students will present research exploring the identity narratives pieced together through
bodies of work created by visual, literary, and performing artists and contemporary
cultural figures. Ms. Harrell’s paper entitled “Stitching Memorial Architecture with
a Subterranean Tunnel System of the Slave Trade” will be presented virtually on Saturday,
April 10th.
Advising Services adds Janice Malone to the Team
Academic Advisor Janice Malone received her Bachelor of Science degree in Integrative
Studies from Kennesaw State University and earned a Master of Science degree in First
Year Studies from KSU as well. Janice has been in higher education for 16 years and
is passionate about helping students visualize success educationally, personally,
professionally. Janice’s interests lie in life coaching, focusing on an individual’s
personal growth and happiness. She is skilled at providing structured questions to
help organize an individual’s thoughts and has excellent critical thinking skills
for helping people set tangible objectives. Janice enjoys spending time with her
family and friends, reading, taking nature walks, and meditation.
Please join me in welcoming Janice Malone to the college.
Sincerely,
Dean Andrew Phillip Payne, March 2021
Announcing MAC: A New Organization for CACM Students
It’s official! College of Architecture and Construction Management students have a new resource in MAC: Mentoring Architecture Construction. MAC has just completed registration as a student organization at KSU and is accepting members.
MAC membership is open to students in the College of Architecture and Construction Management and is designed to facilitate peer academic mentoring. Help on a specific area of study can be requested by members through an online form from MAC’s Owl Life page. Sign up at https://owllife.kennesaw.edu/organization/mac
Congratulations to all students on this new resource and thank you to MAC’s inaugural officers and mentors:
- Sara Clement, President
- Diana Salamaga, Reservation Delegate
- Ian Willis, Treasurer
- Trey Chambliss, Mentor
- Chomzy Ezeobi, Mentor
- Ashlyn Olmstead, Mentor
- Brandon Watkins, Mentor
Sign up at https://owllife.kennesaw.edu/organization/mac
To volunteer as an academic mentor contact Prof. Bedette at kbedette@kennesaw.edu
Architecture professor receives Educator of the Year Award
We are pleased to announce that Liz Martin-Malikian, Associate Professor within the
Department of Architecture, was recently named 2020 Educator of the Year at the American
Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS) Honor Awards.
Martin-Malikian was recognized by AIAS for her outstanding contribution to the education of architecture students, the impact she has made on the education of architecture students, and for championing the virtues of excellence in architecture and the environment to the general public. Read More
Faculty web: http://facultyweb.kennesaw.edu/emarti95/index.php
KSU administrator receives 2020 Georgia Educator of the Year Award
Kennesaw State University administrator Kathryn Bedette was recently named Georgia
Educator of the Year at the American Institute of Architects’ (AIA) Georgia Design
and Honor Awards.
Bedette, interim associate dean in Kennesaw State’s College of Architecture and Construction Management and associate professor of architecture, was honored for furthering the objectives of the AIA by educating and supporting the next generation of architects. Eligible award candidates are chosen from the architecture programs in Georgia at Georgia Tech, KSU and Savannah College of Art and Design. Read More
Other News
We Are Building Scholars
Lecturer of Architecture, Marietta Monaghan, recently completed her dissertation entitled
“Building a City in the Wilderness: Construction Camps of the Alabama Power Company”
at the Georgia Institute of Technology, earning her PhD in December of 2020.
Marietta teaches within our Introduction to Architecture, Cultures, and Thesis Research
courses. In addition, Marietta contributes to our local community through leadership
and support roles in the Atlanta Center for Creative Inquiry (ACCI) Summer Academy
and within her outreach to Marietta High-school. Additionally, Marietta has led efforts
within our Architecture program to develop opportunities for international travel
and local community engagement.
Spring 2021 Classes Notification from Dean Payne
Now that Fall 2020 classes have kicked-off, I wanted to begin sharing our preliminary plans for Spring 2021 semester. We continue to make contingency plans for courses that include face-to-face instruction and online courses. Although the Hybrid format will not be provided some courses will have flexibility in their course calendar. As of now, these plans are being considered for making classes as safe and “normal” as possible for our students. Similar to the Fall 2020 semester, we will be offering many courses on campus with a rotating in-person schedule. Registration should be a much smoother process as we are planning well in advance.
Our top priority is to deliver excellent education to our students and, the faculty and staff at the College of Architecture and Construction Management are committed to that goal. We have reconfigured many spaces and are continually making plans to ensure our students remain socially distant, safe, and engaged. For more information about Coronavirus and KSU, click here.
I look forward to another fulfilling semester.
Sincerely,
Dean Andrew Phillip Payne, September 2020
Advising Services Expands with addition of Juliet Ramirez Thomas
Academic Advisor Juliet Ramirez Thomas, a proud Bronx, New York native, received her
Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology and minor in Intergroup Dialogue Relations from
Skidmore College and received a Master of Education in Higher Education Administration
from Merrimack College. With over 6 years of professional experience in higher education,
Juliet has worked at different institutions including, Middlesex Community College
(Lowell, MA), Wheelock College in (Boston, MA) and Georgia State University (Atlanta,
GA). Juliet specializes in student success and engagement and often attends professional
conferences to gain insight to implement new strategies. A strong believer in social
justice and equity, Juliet dedicates her time working with underrepresented youths
and helping others grapple with concepts of social identity and systematic oppression.
Juliet enjoys the moon, poetry, art galleries, long walks, eating plant-based meals,
and embracing her Garifuna cultural background.
Please join me in welcoming Juliet Ramirez Thomas to the college.
Sincerely,
Dean Andrew Phillip Payne, June 2020
Ed Akins II selected as Interim Chair of Architecture
The College of Architecture and Construction Management is proud to announce Associate
Professor Ed Akins II as the Interim Chair for the Department of Architecture. Professor
Akins will assume this role on July 1, 2020 at which time Dr. Rizzuto will return
to full-time teaching. The department is at a critical point in its development as
we prepare for an upcoming NAAB accreditation visit while balancing the temporary
transition to remote learning due to COVID-19. Continuity in strong leadership is
needed and Professor Akins is well-capable of providing such.
Ed Akins II, AIA, LEED AP, graduated with a Master of Architecture Degree in 1996 from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He has worked locally with Atlanta communities to achieve LCI grants and with the Architecture firms Thompson Ventulett Stainback and Smith Dalia Architects.
From 2002 to 2009, he taught at the Georgia Institute of Technology and at Kennesaw State University (KSU). In 2009, he began full-time instruction within the Architecture department at KSU and is currently an Associate Professor and Coordinator of Integrative studios.
Ed was a lead partner for the Atlanta Sustainable Building Ordinance (ASBO) in 2009 and the moderator for Atlanta's AIA+ARCH2030 Sessions in 2011. He has received multiple certificates of service from AIA and was the recipient of the Emerging Professional Award in 2007 from AIA Georgia, the Emerging Voices Award in 2008 (from AIA Atlanta's YAF chapter), and the recipient of AIA Atlanta's John A. Busby Medal in 2010. In 2018, he was awarded the R.C. Paul Excellence in Sustainability Award for his outstanding efforts toward promoting environmental sustainability in the educational and operational practices of the Kennesaw State University (KSU) campus community.
Ed has served as Co-Chair and Chair on the President's Commission for Sustainability at KSU and has taught Ecological Urbanism within the USG European Council Paris program. He was chosen as KSU Sustainability Fellow for the 2016-2017 Academic year and was chosen to attend the 2017 EAO Workshop in Germany focused on the topic "Sustainability - Challenges for the World of Tomorrow." Ed is currently an active board member of the Architecture Design Center (ADC) of Atlanta and is a registered Architect, practicing in the Atlanta area.
He continues to involve students in the process of design inquiry seeking ecologically sensitive building design and technologies that respond to the needs of human comfort and site priorities. His passion to infuse practice within the explorative environment of academia produces a dynamic and fruitful environment for student and faculty growth.
Please join me in welcoming Professor Akins as Interim Chair.
Sincerely,
Dean Andrew Phillip Payne, May 2020
Dr. Rizzuto Returns to Full-Time Teaching
Chair of the Department of Architecture at Kennesaw State University, Dr. Anthony Tony Rizzuto, has announced that he would be stepping down at the end of this fiscal year. He joined the department in 1998 and was appointed Chair in 2013. During those seven years he oversaw the departments NAAB accreditation, securing an eight year accreditation, as well as the merger of SPSU and KSU. Dr. Rizzuto will be returning to teaching in the fall. Join me in offering thanks for his dedication and service.
Sincerely,
Dean Andrew Phillip Payne, May 2020
Kathryn Bedette, AIA to serve as Associate Dean for Student Success and Accreditation
Kathryn Bedette, AIA, is an award-winning architect in the State of Georgia and an
Associate Professor of Architecture at Kennesaw State University. Professor Bedette
has extensive experience coordinating across the curriculum of KSU’s Bachelor of Architecture
degree program, having coordinated First-, Second- and Fifth-Year Architecture Studios,
as well as the program’s Architecture History and Theory course sequence. She also
served as the Architecture Department’s first Academic Engagement Coordinator. Her
professional experience includes a broad range of institutional projects as well as
adaptive reuse office, retail and high-rise mixed-use projects and her design studios
have prioritized the cultivation a meaningful and responsible built environment by
foregrounding interrelationships between architectural technologies and program in
design advocacy and posthumanist design.
Kathryn has an accomplished record of advocating for the profession of architecture and the built environment through her work as Advocacy Chair on the AIA Georgia Board of Directors and served as the 2018 President of AIA Georgia. As President, she led a successful national campaign to create a new leadership development pipeline that encourages a range of ethnically diverse women to pursue national AIA leadership positions. She has also made a positive impact on the profession in multiple national professional service leadership roles and currently serves as the NCARB Architect Licensing Advisor for Georgia and as a Subject Matter Expert for ArchiPrep, the AIA’s ARE study platform.
Professor Bedette was awarded the 2003 Emerging Voices Award from the Young Architects Forum of AIA Atlanta for her built design work and the 2016 AIA Atlanta James Gant Fausett, FAIA, Service to the Profession Award for her advocacy accomplishments. In 2018, Kathryn was named one of Engineering Georgia’s “100 Influential Women to Know” and her work and scholarship have been exhibited in multiple venues and presented internationally. Professor Bedette earned her B.S. in Architecture from the Georgia Institute of Technology, where she studied abroad at the Ecole d'Architecture Paris-Tolbiac, and her Master of Architecture from Arizona State University, where she studied abroad at the Städelschule in Frankfurt, Germany.
Bedette will serve the college by focusing administrative efforts on all things related to student success. Her immediate focus will be on establishing the CoACM Center for Student Success which will house all academic advising services and provide workshops and training on student related issues and aid in developing meaningful pathways to graduation. Bedette will also be the point of contact for all accreditation and assessment processes.
Please join me in welcoming Professor Bedette to this role.
Sincerely,
Dean Andrew Phillip Payne, May 2020
Assistant Professor Irish Horsey to serve as Interim-Chair for the Department of Construction Management
Irish Horsey serves as an assistant professor of construction management at Kennesaw
State University (KSU) and is a built environment professional. Professor Horsey teaches
courses in the areas of
Construction Safety, Construction Project Management, Real Estate Development Practices, and Market and Site Analysis. Prior to joining KSU in 2017, professor Horsey was the program director for the Commercial Construction Management program at Gwinnett Technical College.
Irish has worked as an award-winning construction management professional for over 20 years with successful program management, project management, real estate and business development experience in the AEC industry. An accomplished construction manager, she worked for leading organizations in the public and private sectors delivering successful projects, programs, and winning proposals. She credits her success in the industry to making her a better professor and advisor to her students.
Irish is currently pursuing a PhD in Building Construction at the Georgia Institute of Technology with a minor in public policy. Her proposed dissertation title is Disadvantaged Business Enterprises: Effect of Decertification and Competing in the Georgia Transportation Construction Marketplace. Irish is passionate about education and the building industry. She wants to contribute to the built environment through educating its future leaders and creating a more diverse construction workforce.
Professor Horsey will serve the Construction Management department in the role of interim-chair for the foreseeable future. In speaking with Irish her intentions are “to enhance our program by promoting the talents of our faculty and empowering our students to be the most sought after future leaders in the construction industry, while embracing the mission and vision of the college.” Please join me in welcoming Professor Horsey to this new position and offering support and encouragement.
Sincerely,
Dean Andrew Phillip Payne - April, 2020
Dr. Khalid Siddiqi announces retirement after decades of service to KSU/SPSU
Dr. Siddiqi, Chair of the Construction Management Department, is retiring in June
2020 from KSU where he served as the Chair and Professor in the Construction Management
Department for almost twenty years. In addition, Dr. Siddiqi also served as the Interim
Dean of the College of Architecture and Construction Management from June to December
2019. Prior to joining academia Dr. Siddiqi worked in the construction industry for
fifteen years.
One of the major accomplishments of Dr. Siddiqi was inviting leading construction companies of the region to serve on the KSU Construction Industry Advisory Board. These representatives share insight into the current job-markets and trends of the industry. These relationships have grown over the years and Dr. Siddiqi has been instrumental in keeping the CM program relevant to so many local businesses and supporters. Dr. Siddiqi was also instrumental in creating Ten (10) endowed scholarships for CM students besides numerous annual scholarships through the generosity of the board, alumni and other donors. Dr. Siddiqi took the initiative in 2001 to organize the first fundraiser for the CM Department, which has continued to raise moneys for a future CM building, improving existing facilities, scholarships and other student and faculty activities.
Dr. Siddiqi is a valued researcher, teacher and a scholar. He wrote and completed a number of funded research grants and has authored 50 plus peer-reviewed publications which he co-authored with his students and colleagues. He has published regularly throughout his career in the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, ASCE Journal of Architectural Engineering, Facility Management Journal, Associated Schools of Construction (ASC) Conferences, Construction in the 21st Century Conferences, and many others. Dr. Siddiqi has been a life member of American Society of Civil Engineers, founding member of Architectural Engineering Institute, Trustee of American Council of Construction Education (ACCE), and Chair of Accreditation Committee of ACCE. Dr. Siddiqi was awarded Teacher of the Year in 2004, and was presented Outstanding Educator Award by the Associated Schools of Construction in 2005. In addition, Dr. Siddiqi was selected for University System of Georgia Executive Learning Institute Scholar Program in 2009-10, and University System of Georgia Accelerated Leadership Academy Scholar program in 2013-14.
We sincerely appreciate Dr. Siddiqi’s years of leadership and recognize that he has developed the Department into one of the most respected Construction Management degree granting institution in the US. During his tenure KSU’s Master of Science in Construction Management program was awarded its initial accreditation and subsequently reaccredited by the American Council of Construction Education. Likewise, the Bachelor of Science Construction Management program with the Facility Management concentration was awarded its initial accreditation and subsequently reaccredited by the International Facility Management Association (IFMA), and is now accredited by ABET. The Bachelor of Science in Construction Management program received three reaccreditations from the American Council of Construction Education during his tenure. Dr. Siddiqi introduced concentrations at the BS level, which include General Contracting, Heavy Construction, Residential Construction, Specialty Construction, and Land Development. In addition, Dr. Siddiqi initiated four certificate programs for working professionals to enhance their qualifications and skills.
Dr. Siddiqi oversaw the merger of Kennesaw State University/Southern Polytechnic State University. According to Dr. Siddiqi “it was challenging during the merger, but the result was a new university which was bigger and better”. He has worked for decades to improve the quality of construction education in the State of Georgia and the US.
We are ever grateful for Dr. Siddiqi’s efforts and long-standing commitment to the construction management industry and his caring attitude towards the many students in which he served. On behalf of the college, alumni, and industry partners wish Dr. Siddiqi the best in his future adventures, no matter where they take him.
Due to the current COVID-19 situation a celebration of his service will be held at a future date.
Sincerely,
Dean Andrew Phillip Payne - April 2020
Supplies on Demand
In an effort to alleviate a severe shortage of personal protective equipment at Georgia
hospitals combating COVID-19, Kennesaw State University staff members have produced
3D-printed face shields to be donated and distributed statewide.
Using just a 3D printer and laser cutter in the College of Architecture and Construction Management’s Digital Fabrication Lab with support from the College of the Arts, the team recently made an initial batch 145 face shields. The shields, typically used in medical settings along with surgical masks, help protect against body fluids that may cause infection. This week, the equipment is expected to arrive at Cartersville Medical Center, WellStar Cobb Hospital and the MetroAtlanta Ambulance Service. Through a material donation from local architectural firm YSM Design coordinated by alumnus Lee Burdett, the team will make an additional 4,200 shields for hospitals in need.
“We take pride in being a community-oriented institution, and I am delighted that
our staff have joined together to support local medical workers at such a critical
time,” said Andrew Payne, dean of the College of Architecture and Construction Management.
“They have volunteered countless hours to see this come into fruition and have generated
excellent results all while maintaining their primary role of serving our students
throughout the current remote learning model.”
Making Meaning: Visualizing Architectural Research Workshop at Do:ARCH
As charged by KSU President Whitten to promote high-quality undergraduate education as a core focus for the University R-2 roadmap, the architecture department is creating interdisciplinary, innovative, and experiential educational opportunities to support critical thinking and capture student interests. After an afternoon research symposium, undergraduate architecture thesis students attended a Making Meaning: Visualizing Architectural Research workshop offered by invited experts: Professor Román Montoto from the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design (MIAD); Professor Joseph Choma from Clemson University; and, program Director Gernot Riether from New Jersey Institute of Architecture (NJIT). According to thesis coordinator, Liz Martin-Malikian, “it is our hope that exposing students to a hands-on workshop, where ‘making’ is integral to ‘meaning’ will not only generate critical inquiry but also serve as a skill building exercise. This is necessary because research-by-design, as it is often called, lacks clear definitions and sound methodologies.”
In a 3-hour, hands-on workshop entitled: SPECULATE, MAKE, DISCOVER – DEFRAGMENTING, Román Montoto discusses how collage and perspective drawing is a vehicle to communicate innovative spatial experiences. In a workshop entitled INTRODUCTION TO MATHEMATICAL FORM-MAKING, Joseph Choma explains how to sketch with mathematics. Lastly, in a workshop entitled, URBAN MACHINES: PUBLIC SPACES FOR A DIGITAL CULTURE, Gernot Riether brainstorms with students about how digital technology disrupted city life at the beginning of the 21st century by changing the way we communicate, we gain goods, and we receive information.
The ”Is Doing Architecture, Doing Research?” symposium and Making Meaning: Visualizing Architectural Research Workshops were organized by Ameen Farooq, Ph.D.; M. Saleh Uddin, Ph.D.; Jeffery Collins, Ph.D.; and Liz Martin-Malikian (thesis chair).
For more information, please visit:
- http://architecturedefined.blogspot.com
- https://news.njit.edu/urban-machines-gernot-riethers-new-book-public-space-and-information-technology
- https://www.coaxialdesign.com
Marc Norman Gives Lecture for NOMAS at KSU
The National Organization of Minority Architects Student (NOMAS) organized a lecture
by Marc Norman Associate Professor of Practice in Urban and Regional Planning at University
of Michigan on Monday February 10th at the Department of Architecture.
President of his own consulting firm “Ideas and Action,” Marc Norman is an internationally recognized expert on policy and finance for affordable housing and community development. Trained as an urban planner, he has worked in the field of community development and finance for over 20 years. With degrees in political economics (University of California Berkeley, Bachelors of Art, 1989) and urban planning (University of California Los Angeles, Master of Art, 1992) and experience with for-profit and non-profit organizations, consulting firms and investment banks, Norman has worked collaboratively to develop or finance over 2,000 units totaling more than $400 million in total development costs.
The Kennesaw State University chapter of NOMAS is affiliated with the national professional
organization NOMA. They are a group of students from a variety of backgrounds pursuing architecture
degrees interested in contributing to the KSU Department of Architecture by building
a sense of community based on shared experiences unique to our diverse student body.
Social events, work exhibitions, creative competitions and educational lectures –
with a primary objective to foster communication and fellowship among minority and
diverse architecture students--are all integral to the annual NOMAS agenda.
Architecture With Impact
Students showcase research excellence in timed event
MARIETTA, Ga. (Jan 22, 2020) — Huy Ho recalls hearing his parents speak about their escape from Vietnam and subsequent resettlement to the U.S.
He often heard of their difficulty trying to assimilate into American life despite not knowing the native language or having a support structure in place. Now a fifth-year architecture student at Kennesaw State University, he is researching how shifts in the built environment can better serve refugees like his parents.
This month, Ho was one of 11 students presenting their theses in the Cooper Carry Three Minute Thesis Competition. The event, which follows the format of the University of Queensland’s Three Minute Thesis competition, challenges students to deliver a convincing pitch for their thesis project in a short timeframe using only a single PowerPoint slide.
Wrtitten by Travis Highfield, Original Story
New Rizzuto Family Endowed Scholarship
Heeding KSU President Pamela Whitten's call to build support for student success, one new scholarship will be available for CACM students starting in the 2020-2021 academic year.
Department of Architecture Chair, Tony Rizzuto has a long-standing interest in supporting architecture study abroad. This led Tony and his parents to create the Rizzuto Family Endowed Scholarship to provide gap scholarships for architecture students to assist in covering the cost of study abroad and the amount afforded by the student.
Scholarships are a transformative gift to each student recipient to support their academic success. An endowed scholarship offers a legacy that will endure in perpetuity.
KSU Students Participate in the 74th United Nations Day
Three of KSU's Architecture students attended the UN day event organized by United
Nations Atlanta Office. Fifth year students Asbiel Samaniego and Zack Hart presented
their urban design work from last year's urban studio course by Dr Mine Hashas-Degertekin
and student Diana Gil presented her thesis work in process advised by Dr Pegah Zamani.
UN Atlanta Office presented certificates of recognition to all three students along
with Atlanta's sustainability leaders from various disciplines.
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74th United Nations Day Photo Gallery
Architecture Student Breck Small receives $6,000 scholarship from Georgia Association for Learning Environments.
The GA A4LE is a professional association whose sole mission is improving the places
where children and young adults learn. A4LE members, individuals, institutions and
corporations are actively involved in planning, designing, building, equipping and
maintaining schools and colleges.
Georgia A4LE offers academic scholarships ranging from approximately $3,000 to $10,000
to full‐time students pursuing a degree in related studies.
Assistant Professor Receives Scholarship from Society of Building Science Educators (SBSE)
Assistant professor, Dr. Arash Soleimani, received the Society of Building Science
Educators (SBSE) Faculty Scholarship for his recent publication, Computational Design
Thinking and Thinking Design Computing at the 2019 Reynolds Symposium in Portland,
Oregon.
The paper presents how advancements in technology and computation may change the process of design. To learn more about the publication, please visit the 2019 Reynolds Symposium website.
Architecture Thesis Student Receives Scholarship from Society of Building Science Educators (SBSE)
November 18, 2019
Architecture thesis student, Asbiel Samaniego received funding from the Society of
Building Science Educators (SBSE) to attend the North American Passive House Conference,
which meets in Washington, D.C from December 6 – 7, 2019. The Passive House Institute
US, Inc. (PHIUS) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization committed to developing and
promoting North American passive building standards, practices, and certifications
for buildings, professionals, and products to create structures that are durable,
resilient, comfortable, healthy, and super energy efficient. Asbiel’s thesis entitled
THE [HYDRO-GEN] CELL_A Hydroponic, Regenerative, Modular System For Optimized Vertical
Farming explores advancements in artificial intelligence and robotics. He plans to implement
these technologies to create a hybrid building system that is able to micromanage
the interior environment, while at the same time, control and regulate its immediate
surroundings. Along with primary advisor, Dr. Aash Soleimani, Asbiel plans to incorporate
what he learns from the PHIUS conference into his thesis research. [photo by: Huy
Ho]. To learn more, please visit passive-house-conference-2019.phius.org.
Design Communication Association Conference 2020
November 12, 2019
The Department of Architecture in the College of Architecture and Construction Management will be hosting the Design Communication Association Conference at KSU October 21-24, 2020. The conference theme, “DCA 20/20: Perception to Execution,” looks at how DCA envisions various phases of design from perception to execution and the conference promotes papers and presentations that demonstrate current trends and future directions both in education and professional fields of design and allied disciplines. The deadline for submitting abstracts for this conference is December 1, 2019. For questions, email conference chair: M. Saleh Uddin muddin3@kennesaw.edu or for details: http://www.dcaconference2020.org/
Call for AbstractsCongratulations to our KSU NOMAS Chapter!
October 21, 2019
KSU NOMAS Architecture students won a national Honorable Mention award in the 2019
Barbara G. Laurie Student Design Competition at the 47th NOMA Conference on October
19 in Brooklyn, New York from a field of 39 architecture program student chapters.
For more information on the competition please visit noma.net/student-competition.
Environmental Technology: Systems and Materials Class Tour
October 16, 2019
The Kendeda Center for Innovative Sustainable Design to learn firsthand, how a building
can produce more energy than it consumes. During the tour, Director of The Kendeda
Center, Shan Arora informed the students that “we’re fast approaching the end of the
luxury of saying that we can have one thing to do one function. We need to figure
out ways for our built environment to have multiple functions.” The building will
serve as living-learning laboratory for sustainability in order to inspire change
on the across the Southeast building industry.
Putting Architecture on the Map
October 9, 2019
By Travis Highfield
More than 37 years ago, Rich Cole’s phone rang with a job offer.
On the other side was Dub Newman, the then-chair of the former Southern Technical Institute’s Department of Architectural Engineering Technology, asking if he’d like to interview to teach courses on professional practice and architectural history part-time while he continued working as a professional at a 15-person firm in Buckhead. He accepted and immediately shared the news with his wife, Lori.
“She said, ‘That’s great! Where’s it located?’” Cole recalled. “I told her, ‘I don’t know.’”
Eventually, he found the school using a paper map and was hired shortly thereafter, slowly ascending through the faculty ranks over the subsequent decades before becoming dean of the School of Architecture and Construction Management at the Southern Polytechnic State University (SPSU), now Kennesaw State University. In July, Cole, who was named Professor Emeritus of Architecture, retired as the founding dean of KSU’s College of Architecture and Construction Management with nearly four decades of service to students on the Marietta campus.
Cole, who holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in architecture from the Georgia Institute of Technology, jokes that he has spent so much time in Marietta that he often forgets the name of his alma mater.
“Sometimes I’ll say Southern Tech and stop mid-sentence to awkwardly correct the record,” said Cole, who briefly served as SPSU’s interim vice president for academic affairs. “The fact of the matter is, SPSU and KSU have long been a part of my DNA.”
Prior to his tenure with the University, Cole said he felt he would someday pursue a career in academe, albeit it only temporarily. While at Georgia Tech, he grew to respect his professors’ commitment to teaching and practicing professionally. Upon graduation, he became a professional architect and continued to practice full-time until he accepted a position as a tenure-track assistant professor in 1987.
Though he received a great deal of satisfaction in the professional realm, few things
compared to seeing his students succeed, he said. Having attended more than 100 commencement
ceremonies, he still gets as emotional as his first. 
“There’s nothing like seeing how proud the families and loved ones are of their graduates, and how proud the graduates are of themselves for reaching graduation,” he said. “They show such gratitude for those who have helped them along the way, and now some are coming back to tell me that I’ve taught their moms and dads. It still shocks me.”
Cole has often been on the receiving end of the students’ gratitude. He was thrice awarded the Outstanding Faculty Member Award in his academic career, once by his own peers and twice by the Student Government Association.
In 1992, he chaired a successful effort to grant the architecture program initial candidacy status with National Architectural Accrediting Board, ultimately receiving full accreditation beginning in 1995. As dean, he oversaw successful reaccreditations with the Department of Construction Management’s undergraduate and graduate programs.
Both programs have grown considerably over the years and have matured in their respective disciplines with regard to scholarship opportunities, research and community engagement, Cole said.
“I think it’s fair to say that 10 years ago our students were well-known for their ability to be a productive employee from Day 1,” he added. “That’s true now more than ever, and our graduates increasingly benefit from our status as a comprehensive research university with Carnegie R2 status.”
In retirement, Cole said he most looks forward to spending quality time with his family. A self-proclaimed “man of few hobbies,” he and his wife of 47 years are building a home on the Georgia coast where they plan to watch the sun rise. While he enjoys retirement, he plans to stay connected with the university and serve in whatever capacity he’s needed.
“Dean Cole will always be remembered for creating a collegial work environment for both the architecture and construction management departments,” said Khalid Siddiqi, former construction management department chair and current interim dean of the College of Architecture and Construction Management. “He always put the students first, leading the charge on improving and upgrading our facilities and was always kind and considerate toward his colleagues. We certainly commend Dean Cole for his service to the University.
Tony Rizzuto, the chair of KSU’s Department of Architecture who worked alongside Cole for more than two decades, said he will be sorely missed.
“I have had the pleasure to work with Dean Cole for 20 years,” he said. “In that time, he has been a mentor, colleague, supervisor and a great friend. I cannot think of anyone I have had more fun working with. I know we will miss him here. He is opening a new chapter in his life, and I am very excited for him.”
Hala Alfalih Receives URCA Funding for Materials Research on MARS
October 8, 2019
Congratulations to architecture thesis student Hala Alfalih for receiving an Undergraduate
Research Creative Activities (URCA) award from the Office of Undergraduate Research
to develop her material research exploring life on Mars! Hala Alfalih: Informing Space: A human centered approach to designing an adaptive
modular dwelling on Mars (advisor: Jeff Collins).
Hala is honored to receive an URCA grant to explore the intersection of design, engineering,
and research as an integral part of overcoming many of the issues we face as humans
today. Her thesis investigation will develop a framework for the design of what she
believes to be inevitable - the expansion of human civilization into the universe
- through research of a foreign environment and the definition of a dwelling in that
context. Her research will not only determine an interesting path for Hala's career,
but also provides an opportunity for her to explore more deeply sustainable dwellings
and methods of fabrication on Mars. For information on annual student travel funds
available to KSU students, please visit the Office of Undergraduate Research.
The Story and Legacy of a Radical Industrialist—Revisited
September 12, 2019
The newly formed Kennesaw State University (KSU) Climate Reality Campus Corps Student
Chapter is co-hosting/co-sponsoring a talk by John A. Lanier with The Climate Reality
Project Cobb County Chapter and the Department of Architecture at KSU
John Lanier will briefly introduce his grandfather's, Ray Anderson, legacy and how Interface paved the way for corporations to pursue a more sustainable path, proving that you can "do well by doing good." He will then speak about his new book, Mid-Course Correction Revisited, a reissue of Ray Anderson's groundbreaking book on leadership in corporate responsibility.
Please contact Professor Liz Martin with any questions: emarti95@kennesaw.edu
New Scholarship for Architecture Students for Travel Abroad
September 5, 2019
“Rizzuto Family Endowed Travel Scholarship” has been established to support Architecture Students for travel. The endowed scholarship is established through the generosity of Rizzuto family. The scholarship will provide eligible full-time Architecture major junior or senior students support for tuition, fees, room, board or educational expenses related to study abroad programs. Travel Abroad Program of Architecture is a great way to enrich lives with international experiences for Kennesaw State Students.
Team Honored at Competition
May 2019
Rising second-year Architecture students, Matthew Reed, Sean Li, and Dominic Reilly, formed a team in May to design an entry for the MOONCEPTION 2019 ARCHITECTURE COMPETITION. Teams envisioned the unseen future of humanity on the Moon and created the first human habitation outside of Earth's perimeter.
Matthew and Dom are teaming up with Eli Abamonte to design an entry for another competition soon, so stay tuned!
A Bridge into Design
Summer program introduces incoming students to architectural concepts
July 29, 2019
Kennesaw State University architecture chair Tony Rizzuto recognizes that transitioning
from high school to college is a tall task for incoming students, particularly those
who pursue majors with unconventional educational models such as architecture. However,
it doesn’t have to be.
In an effort to make the transition seamless, the University’s Department of Architecture each July holds its Summer Design Workshop, a bridge program designed to introduce incoming students to architectural concepts and learning models. Recently, nearly 50 incoming students participated in the 10-day program, the majority of whom stayed in on-campus housing to better acclimate to college life.
“Most people understand that coming to college is an exciting time but also a transitional period in life,” Rizzuto said. “Some students lose their social structure, and requirements are totally different. In architecture, there is added stress because the dominant educational model – studio – is not at all like what they’ve experienced in K-12. With the workshop, we are able to give them a very strong academic foundation as they begin their collegiate careers.”
The Summer Design Workshop is an opportunity to expose incoming students to the tools and concepts they will use during their time in Kennesaw State’s five-year architecture degree program while also familiarizing them with life on campus, he said. Throughout the non-credit, non-graded immersive study, students attend lectures, meet with student organizations and interact one-on-one with faculty during studio sessions. Beyond the architectural focus, students are also taught best practices on notetaking, stress management, learning styles and how to engage college advisors.
For Taylor Naugle, it was an opportunity to expand his technical skills. Though he took drafting classes in high school, he didn’t fully grasp the scope of architecture until the first few days of the workshop. By the fifth day, he and his future classmates were bringing hand-drawn sketches to life by creating three dimensional models under the guidance of faculty members.
“I primarily wanted to join the workshop to get a taste of college, and I already feel like I’ve grown tremendously,” said Naugle, of Peachtree City, Ga. “I never realized how much detail goes into design work, but now I feel more confident in my ability heading into the fall semester.”
Given his drafting experience prior to the workshop, Naugle is a bit of an outlier among students in the workshop. Pegah Zamani, associate professor of architecture, estimates that nearly 90 percent of the students who took part in her studio sessions were learning architectural terms and concepts for the first time.
“We open the workshop by introducing fundamental design thinking, techniques and tools,” she said. “The sequence of exercises progresses from learning basic design skills to understanding the complex interrelationships of space, body and environment. Pedagogically, the workshop offers a glimpse into the rigors of an architectural design studio, and what students will experience throughout the next five years.”
Zamani said it is fascinating to see how students advance their creative potential, skills and mindsets in such a short period of time. The experience is such that several students from higher years return to mentor the incoming students.
Now a fifth-year student in the program, Devon Sams added that his participation in the architecture workshop allowed him to forge lifelong friendships.
“It was one thing to experience new things, but the beauty of this program is that you get to experience all of it with your peers,” he said. “You are constantly encouraged to collaborate with and critique each other, and now I can’t imagine not having the ability to bounce ideas off my friends. It’s awesome to see pictures from the workshop and reflect on your journey with those great individuals.”
Original Story
Robotic Fabrication
July 26, 2019
Hakim Hasan (left) a KSU/SPSU Architecture Alumni 2015 and colleague Anish Reddy (right),
shared their work on robotic fabrication at the 2019 The American Institute of Architects
(AIA) Conference on Architecture in Las Vegas. Working at the Perkins Will building
technology lab, Hakim states that “robotic fabrication has the potential to drastically
improve the sustainability, quality, cost, and time of construction”. Learn more about
Hakim’s professional research and check out the robot that Hakim and Anish programmed
in Architect Magazine.
Architecture Thesis Students Receive URCA Funding
July 22, 2019
The 2019-2020 academic years starts out strong with the Department of Architecture being awarded a total of $7,000 during this first round of Undergraduate Research & Creative Activities (URCA) funding from the Office of Undergraduate Research.
Congratulations to 7 Architecture thesis students—Jared, Devon, Ana, Breck, Caleb, Marysia and Chase—for receiving URCA awards for the maximum amount of $1,000 each to present their research at professional conferences this fall: ACSA: Less Talk | More Action: Conscious Shifts in Architectural Education Conference at Stanford University, California and Southeast Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians (SESAH) Conference at Clemson University, South Carolina.
- Jared Triemer: Faith in Humanity: an exploration of spiritually inclusive architecture (advisor: Tim Frank)
- Devon Sams: Golden Scrutiny: from Analog-to-Digital (advisor: Peter Pittman)
- Ana Giron: Imaginative Engagement: Consolidating Play and Learning through the Spatial Design of Classrooms (advisor: Arash Soleimani)
- Breck Small: Primary Focus: A New Precedent for Ugandan Education (advisor: Giovanni Loreto)
- Caleb Lawrence: Atlanta, The Forest City? (advisor: Ed Akins)
- Marysia LaRosa: Urban Revitalization of the Rust Belt City (advisor: Ed Akins)
- Chase Sisk: How the Automobile Changes Monroe (advisor: Marietta Monaghan)
For information on annual student travel funds available to KSU students, please visit
the Office of Undergraduate Research
Interim Dean of the College of Architecture and Construction Management meets with
Delegation of Hubei Business College, Wuhan, China
July 12, 2019
Dr. Khalid Siddiqi, Interim Dean of the College of Architecture and Construction Management, met on July 8, 2019, with the Delegation of Hubei Business College, Wuhan, China. The purpose of this meeting was to set forward a collaboration between the two universities, focusing on the below for the Hubei students:
- A Bachelor in Science in Construction Management in which students from Hubei Business College complete 3 years at their home institution then transfer to Kennesaw State University for completion of their degree.
- A Masters of Science in Architecture or Construction Management in which students from Hubei Business College complete their Bachelor Degree at their home institution and apply to Kennesaw State University for admissions to obtain a Masters
The two institutions will commence the process of mapping a course curriculum for the Hubei Business College students to ensure that the courses completed at their home institution will transfer to Kennesaw State University.
New CACM College Advisory Counsel
July 12, 2019
The College of Architecture and Construction Management has formed a College Advisory Counsel.
Initial members of the counsel consist of:
- Dr. Khalid Siddiqi, Interim Dean of CoACM
- John Farmer, Project Director, The Beck Group
- Gita Gardner, President, Hendessi Associates, LLC
- Rodney Smith, President, Parrish Construction Group
- Paul Hogan, President, Hogan Construction Group, LLC
- Brett Fortune, Principal, Fortune Johnson General Contractors
- Bob Sussenbach, CGLS Architects, Inc.
The first official College Advisory Counsel meeting will be held in August with a focused agenda of formalizing the bylaws and identifying their top three priorities.
Retired Dean, Rich Cole, Awarded "Professor Emeritus of Architecture"
July 8, 2019
Retired dean, Rich Cole, AIA, NCARB, was awarded "Professor Emeritus of Architecture"
by the Kennesaw State University President, Dr. Pamela Whitten, on July 1, 2019. Professor
Emeritus Cole will be added to the list of emeriti faculty who have distinguished
themselves at Kennesaw State University through their achievements, service, and dedication.
Professor Emeritus Cole began his teaching career at Southern Technical Institute
in 1982 and served 32 years as a full-time faculty member. He was appointed dean in
2012 and retired on July 1, 2019.
Rhino and Grasshopper Certifications
July 8, 2019
The KSU College of Professional Education, in collaboration with the KSU Department of Architecture, offers Rhino and Grasshopper Certificates taught by Dr. Arash Soleimani for students and professionals.
- Rhino Essentials Certificate
This beginner to intermediate course introduces techniques of 2D and 3D modeling using Rhinoceros (Rhino). The course introduces fundamental skills in architectural modeling and rendering using Rhino, ideal for designers looking to become proficient 3D modelers and renderers. - Rhino Advanced Certificate
This course introduces advanced modeling techniques with practical examples of efficient
modeling techniques, modeling strategies and advanced surfacing. It’s ideal for those working in product design, furniture design, sculpture, film, automotive and related fields. - Grasshopper for Architects I: Generative Scripting for Beginners
This course introduces basic principles of parametric design using Grasshopper plugin for Rhino. This class covers basic concepts of computer science to develop algorithms in order to inform the process of design thorough parametric thinking. - Grasshopper for Architects II: Advanced Generative-Analytical Scripting
This course introduces advanced computational methods that relate to the design process. You will be introduced to Grasshopper plugins such as DIVA for environmental analysis and programming platforms such as Python for advanced scripting.
For further information visit the KSU College of Professional Education
Thesis Students Receive URCA Funding to Attend ARCC2019
June 25, 2019
The Department of Architecture would like to congratulate three of our amazing thesis students, Dyesha Holmes, Corey Jones, and Brittany Adkins, for receiving an Undergraduate Research Creative Activities (URCA) funding award to attend the Architectural Research Centers Consortium Conference (ARCC2019) in Toronto, Canada (43% acceptance rate).
- Brittany Akins, Sensorial Architecture: Design for Well-Being (advisor: Tim Frank)
- Dyesha Holmes, Reframing Urban Redevelopment Via Women Empowerment: Sustaining Existing Community in the West End Neighborhood (advisor: Miné Hashas-Degertekin)
- Corey Jones, Mixed Reality’s Ability To Craft And Establish An Experience Of Space (advisor: Bronne Dytoc)
Two additional KSU Architecture students also presented their thesis research during a poster session at the ARCC2019 Conference: Future Praxis: Applied Research as a Bridge Between Theory and Practice:
- Joshua Robinson, Community-based Healthcare (advisor: Pegah Zamani)
- Jeremy Bowen, Skater Conscious: Extending Urban Architecture (advisor: Jeffrey Collins)
Thesis coordinator, Liz Martin-Malikian, lead the effort and mentored the students on their URCA award. She also gave a paper at the conference and chaired a session. For information on annual student travel funds available to KSU students, please visit the Office of Undergraduate Research's website.
ACCI Receives Bronze Metal
May 9, 2019
At this year's AIA Georgia 2019 Design and Honor Awards, held at Ponce City Markets' Rooftop Terrace on April 27th, The Atlanta Center for Creative Inquiry (ACCI) was awarded the Bronze Medal. This award recognizes an individual or organization that uses their insights, talents, training and experience to contribute meaningfully to the objectives of the American Institute of Architects to be the voice of the architectural profession and the resource for its members in service to society."
The Atlanta Center for Creative Inquiry seeks to reverse trends showing a decline in the study and employment of under-represented students in careers concerned with the built environment. Its purpose is to get more students in the pipeline to pursue careers in architectures and other creative avenues through mentoring and exposure.
ACCI was initiated in 2004 by legendary architect Oscar Harris, in partnership with Georgia Tech and Benjamin Mayes High School. It was envisioned as a demonstration project to introduce minority high school students to architecture and design early in life. The organization has mentored hundreds of students since 2004, with many going on to pursue careers in architecture, engineering, and construction fields. The organization's unwavering commitment to the mentorship of future leaders of the profession make their mission and vision an outstanding recipient of the Bronze Medal.
Kennesaw State Department of Architecture's Professor Marietta Monaghan is one of many dedicated individuals who give their time and effort to make the vision come to pass. In 2011 she joined forces with the ACCI at Marietta High School to help their excellent teacher, Leon Grant, grow their pre-architecture and pre-engineering programs. In 2015 Monaghan re-organized a Summer Academy at Georgia Tech which had been discontinued. It was a great success with the help of KSU Architecture's Professor Ed Akins. In 2016 another Summer Academy was begun at Kennesaw State with the help of Akins and Dr. Tony Rizzuto, Chair. Professor Peter Pittman Monaghan at Tech. Both programs have been built to be challenging, yet empowering for students interested in the STEM fields. Of course, none of this could have happened without the ACCI Board of Directors and Oscar Harris.
Architecture Students Honored for Design Excellence
KSU becomes third institution to award prestigious prize from Atlanta-based architectural firm
April 23, 2019
Kennesaw State University’s Department of Architecture has named two fifth-year students as co-winners of the inaugural Portman Prize for Outstanding Thesis, awarded to those who best exemplify comprehensive research and design excellence as determined by a panel of experts.
Varshil Patel and Darral Tate each received $2,000 as first-place winners in the competition. Jeremy Bowen, who finished runner-up, was awarded $1,000. The competition featured 10 Kennesaw State students and a jury of seven professionals and academics from across the U.S.
With the event, KSU joins the Georgia Institute of Technology and Harvard University as the only institutions to award the Portman Prize. In addition to the prize money, the first-place winners are offered a summer internship with award sponsor John Portman & Associates.
“The Portman Prize recognizes the creative talents of Kennesaw State University’s architecture students,” said Robert Halverson, chief operating officer of John Portman & Associates. “While there are three award winners, our hope is that all the participating students are inspired by the exposure to professional opinions and encouraged to think and create on a higher level.”
The competition marks the culmination of a three-semester project which begins in a thesis prep course, where students work with faculty to determine which architectural topic to explore, and continues during a research course where students further investigate the topic and begin work with their advisors. In the final semester, fifth-year architecture students take part in a studio, where they combine their research and architectural skills to offer a new perspective on the topic.
KSU’s Department of Architecture is one of only a handful of programs nationwide that requires its undergraduate students to pursue thesis projects while earning a professional architecture degree.
Patel’s thesis, titled “Kolkata: Ecological Urbanism Strategies for Bridging Social Gap,” focused on using design to improve social cohesion and reform the urban ecology of Kolkata, a city in East India. Tate, who also placed first in the Cooper Carry Three Minute Thesis Competition, chose to tackle America’s high prison population by designing a facility that could help prisoners more easily reintegrate with society and limit the rate of recidivism in his work, “The Anti-Panopticon."
Bowen presented his project, “Skater Conscious,” in which he researched how designers cultivate social and artistic expression among skateboarders. He argues that people are able to take otherwise mundane environments and experience them in a unique way through skating. Bowen also received the Faculty Choice Award following the competition.
Architecture students Jesse Halverson, Andrew Newman and Karen Rios were among the finalists invited to compete in this year’s event. Halverson received the People’s Choice Award and Rios was nominated to represent the University in Archiprix International, a biennial competition bringing together some of the best graduation projects worldwide. Rios also presented her work at CriticalMass, an event hosted each year by the University of North Carolina at Charlotte’s College of Arts and Architecture.
“We are grateful for our partnership with John Portman & Associates,” said Tony Rizzuto, chair of KSU’s architecture department. “Our shared interest in advancing design standards benefits the students, the profession and the community at large.”
Wrtitten by Travis Highfield, Photos by Dorianne Gutierrez, Original Story
Dr. Khalid Siddiqi to serve as Interim Dean following the retirement of Richard Cole
April 22, 2019
Effective July 1, Dr. Khalid Siddiqi, professor and chair of the Department of Construction
Management, will serve as interim dean following the retirement of Richard Cole this
summer after many years of service.
Dr. Siddiqi: "I am grateful to the University for providing me the opportunity to the serve as
Interim Dean of the College of Architecture and Construction Management. My goal,
and subsequent actions with our CoACM leadership team, will be focused on student
success. I believe we have an exciting opportunity to help our students succeed within
the framework of our new CoACM initiatives, including the
College's roadmap to becoming a top-tier R2 institution, its Quality Enhancement Plan,
and its CoACM Workload Policy."
Dean Cole: "Dr. Khalid Siddiqi has served the Department of Construction Management competently,
professionally and with outstanding leadership for 18 years. Dr. Siddiqi has led his
department through numerous successful accreditations, formed one of the most effective
Industry Advisory Boards in the region and has been tireless in developing scholarship
opportunities for his department’s students. He is truly dedicated to student success.
I have worked closely with Dr. Siddiqi in my time as Dean of the College of Architecture
and Construction Management (CoACM) and I have full confidence that Dr. Siddiqi will
confidently lead the CoACM in his new leadership role as Interim Dean."
College Admin, Cathy Smith, Retires
April 18, 2019
Catherine (Cathy) Smith, Administrative Associate to the Dean and College of Architecture
and Construction Management, is retiring from Kennesaw State University at the end
of April 2019.
Cathy began her employment at Kennesaw State University as an admin from 2005 to 2008
in the Department of Sociology, Geography, Anthropology and Criminal Justice. She
left her position to pursue her dream of finishing a bachelors degree at KSU from
the summer of 2008 to May 2011. Cathy graduated Magna cum laude from KSU with a BS
in Sociology in Spring 2011.
Cathy returned to Kennesaw as the admin for the Department of Architecture in January
2012, when it was Southern Polytechnic State University, and worked as the department
admin for over 4 years. She became the Administrative Associate to the Dean and the
College in October 2016.
We wish Cathy a fantastic retirement and she will be missed.
KSU Architecture Student, Karen Rios, Presents at UNCC's CriticalMass 2019
April 12, 2019
Congratulations to 5th-year thesis student, Karen Rios, for presenting her project entitled "RESURRECTING A FALLEN ANGEL: Architecture Against Pollution in Mexico City" at UNCC's CriticalMass 2019. Karen's project was selected to represent KSU during this year's CritMass. CriticalMASS fosters the tradition of collaboration and exploration across schools of architecture. Each project presented responds to a unifying theme but explores architectural ideas and issues through urban design, technical methods and theory. Karen, along with her thesis advisor Dr. Arash Soleimani, had a chance to present in front of distinguished critics such as Charles Renfro of Diller Scofidio Renfro (DSR).
2019 Firm Networking Event and Alumni Reception Success
March 19, 2019
The Kennesaw State University Department of Architecture held their annual Firm Networking Event and Alumni Reception on Wednesday, March 6, 2019.
Dr. Margaret Fletcher, author of "Constructing the Persuasive Portfolio" gave a lecture and conducted portfolio workshops, working one on one with fourteen students, to mark up their portfolios and discuss how they could be improved.
Fifteen firms participated in the Firm Networking Event and attendance increased 25% from 2018.
The first annual Alumni Reception was highly successful with 81 Southern Tech, SPSU and KSU alumni in attendance.
The department looks forward to hosting these events again next year.
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2019 Firm Networking Event Photo Gallery
A Space For Healing
Student researches prison reform through architectural lens
March 7, 2019
Each year, thousands of undergraduates from all over the United States participate in the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR). NCUR, the largest conference dedicated to undergraduate research in the country, features work from some of the nation’s best and brightest students. Kennesaw State will serve as the host institution for NCUR 2019 April 11-13. Darral Tate of Acworth is one of more than 400 KSU students who will present his research at NCUR.
Darral Tate, a fifth-year architecture student, has spent the past year researching how architecture can be used to solve America’s rising prison population. Tate’s thesis, “The Anti-Panopticon,” suggests designing a facility that could help prisoners more easily reintegrate with society and limit the rate of recidivism. His research challenges Jeremy Bentham’s 18th century design known as the Panopticon, a structure designed to allow prison guards to keep watch on nearly all prisoners from a single vantage point. Rather than encourage constant surveillance, Tate has studied how prisons could be designed in a way to allow more space that could increase learning among prisoners to better prepare them for life on the outside.
In January, Tate was named co-winner of the Department of Architecture’s annual Cooper Carry Three Minute Thesis Competition, held each year to showcase the presentation and design capabilities of fifth-year architecture students. He will be attending his first NCUR this April.
What is your area of research?
Many states describe the purpose of their prisons as facilities that “protect the public while reducing recidivism.” However, the rising rates of repeat incarceration throughout the U.S. prove this system is not working.
My thesis seeks to define and explain how architectural design can be used to address the shortcomings of our prison facilities. With technology, we are no longer bound to the antiquated model of the Panopticon and direct surveillance. Architects have the capability and resources to prioritize restorative spaces that are beneficial to reintegrating someone into a healthy and normal life. My thesis argues for a new prison typology that will prioritize user-based experiential perspectives that contribute to the health and enrichment of the individual.
What (and/or who) has been your inspiration for your research?
In the Department of Architecture, we work with one professor for the entire year during our thesis. It’s really important that you chose a professor that shares your excitement for the topic. Ed Akins, associate professor of architecture, has inspired me to produce work that I can be proud of.
What motivated you to get involved with undergraduate research and NCUR?
With Kennesaw State hosting NCUR, my advisors and I felt that this would be another excellent opportunity to refine my ideas and make them clearer to a broader audience. Ed Akins, my primary thesis advisor, and our thesis coordinator, Liz Martin-Malikian, associate professor of architecture, have encouraged me to develop clear and concise research that would be valid for the NCUR conference. Every week we meet to strengthen my research and design processes, so that I will reach a successful outcome.
What do you hope to gain from your experience with NCUR?
Preparing for NCUR has helped me to focus my ideas and clearly communicate them to others who may not be familiar with the complexity and breadth of architectural education. In fact, developing the abstract for NCUR was one of the many tasks that helped me to tie for first place in the KSU Architecture Cooper Carry Three Minute Thesis Competition this year.
What advice would you give others about doing undergraduate research or participating in NCUR?
Sometimes picking a topic for undergraduate research can be difficult, but it helps if you are doing something you are truly passionate about. If you are beginning your research and do not know exactly what to focus on, start with the things that interest you the most, things you may do in your free time and try connecting them back to your area of study. If you can successfully do that, no part of your research will ever seem daunting.
Wrtitten by Travis Highfield, Photos by David Caselli, Original Story
Architecture Professor Receives National Leadership Award
Liz Martin-Malikian recognized for highly effective teaching, scholarship and outreach
February 18, 2019
Kennesaw State University professor Liz Martin-Malikian has been awarded the 2018-2019 Practice and Leadership Award for demonstrating highly effective teaching, scholarship and outreach in the areas of professional practice and leadership.
The award, given by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA), recognizes “excellence in architecture education as demonstrated in classroom, studio and community work, or in courses offered in various educational settings.” Martin-Malikian, an associate professor of architecture and thesis coordinator in Kennesaw State’s Department of Architecture, was selected by a panel composed of two practicing architects and two academic scholars. She will receive the award at the ACSA annual meeting in Pittsburgh on March 29.
“I am incredibly humbled to receive this level of recognition from two of the country’s premier organizations in architecture,” she said. “I take great pride in mentoring our students and helping them realize their dreams of one day becoming professional architects. There is a great sense of accomplishment in knowing that my efforts leave a positive impact.”
Martin-Malikian joined the former Southern Polytechnic State University, now KSU, in August 2006 and has since become an integral part of the architecture department’s thesis advanced core sequence. The department is unique in that it is one of only a handful nationwide programs requiring its students to pursue thesis projects while earning a professional architecture degree. In addition to her involvement on thesis projects, she teaches courses on environmental technology, materials and methods, third year studios and urban design. Prior to arriving at KSU, Martin-Malikian served as the Paul Rudolph Visiting Professor of Practice in Auburn University’s School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture.
She has an extensive background in practice spanning nearly three decades. Prior to joining academia, she worked as a project manager and senior designer for The Jerde Partnership, a global architecture firm, where her design work included Taipei, Taiwan’s multi-use development Core Pacific City. Martin-Malikian also contributed to monthly urban review and design workshops with local Taiwanese government officials and architects, resulting in a 12-year urban plan. She was the project designer for the Fremont Street Experience in Las Vegas and in 2006 was the recipient of the AIA/YAF Emerging Voices Award.
“Professor Martin-Malikian is outstanding in her scholarship,” said Rich Cole, dean of KSU’s College of Architecture and Construction Management. “She brings her research and outreach into the classroom, which makes her a highly effective teacher. Her leadership and receipt of this prestigious award benefits her students, the architecture department, the college and the greater University, and we are all very proud of her.”
Martin-Malikian holds a master’s degree in architecture from the Southern California Institute of Architecture and a bachelor’s degree in architecture from Tulane University.
Wrtitten by Travis Highfield, Photos by David Caselli, Original Story
Faculty News: Prof. Arash Soleimani and Liz Martin-Malikian Receive Honors
February 11, 2019
The Kennesaw State University Department of Architecture is thrilled to congratulate
Professors Arash Soleimani and Liz Martin-Malikian on their recent honors and awards.
Prof. Soleimani's article "CyberPLAYce—A tangible, interactive learning tool fostering children’s computational thinking through storytelling" was recently published in the International Journal of Child-Computer Interaction. You can read his abstract here.
Prof. Martin-Malikian was announced as the winner of the AIA/ACSA (American Institute of Architects / Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture) prestigious “Practice and (+) Leadership Award.” More information on the award can be found here.
Martin-Malikian has also been nominated to attend former US Vice President and Nobel Laureate Al Gore’s Climate Leadership Training in March in Atlanta.
Architecture students compete in annual Three Minute Thesis Competition
February 4, 2019
Kennesaw State architecture students competed in the annual Cooper Carry Three Minute Thesis Competition on Jan. 11, which showcases the abilities of fifth-year architecture students.
The Cooper Carry Three Minute Thesis Competition was created by the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, for graduate students. During the competition, the selected individuals present their work using a single PowerPoint slide in a three-minute presentation. Students are then judged by industry experts on communication style, comprehension and engagement.
KSU’s ten participants were selected from fellow students after presenting their work before a panel of jurors. For the first time in the history of the competition, two winners were selected for first place and subsequently split the $3,000 cash prize.
Josh Robinson and Darral Tate were chosen as the two first-place winners by a panel of jurors consisting of industry professionals, experts and alumni. Tate also received a $500 award for receiving the People’s Choice Award. A third award was given to Dyesha Holmes, who received the Architectural Research Center’s Consortium King Medal.
Competitors began preparation for the Three Minute Thesis Competition in their fourth year of study through a thesis prep course. All three winners highlighted the fall semester as a vital one in that they were challenged in finding a topic that they felt passionately about and that had real-life application and contribution.
Tate commented on the benefit of having a strong mentor in this stage, as all competitors work with a professor throughout the year-long process of completing their thesis.
Tate commended his mentor for “really encouraging and [believing] in the work that [he is] doing.” Tate’s mentor helped him find a way to relate a deep passion relating to the issue of mass incarceration to architecture with his thesis topic of “The Anti-Panopticon” and challenging Jeremy Bentham’s 18th-century design.
Another common thread between the winners was the constant and avid practicing of their three-minute speeches. Robinson said that he “would stand in the lecture hall and say [his] speech as many as 5 to 6 times a night, to get used to the space.” He did this to help make his speech “sound more like a conversation.”
Robinson presented his thesis “Healing the Healthcare Continuum,” which stemmed from the notion of giving architecture a sense of connection with people themselves. He came to this idea after being asked in the early stages of his work why he wanted to be an architect and he realized that “it’s not for accolades but people and well being.”
Several competitors commented on their inexperience and general aversion to public speaking before the competition and preparation process, but said that participating in the Three Minute Thesis Competition gave them a newfound sense of confidence and strengthened their communication skills, especially their skills pertaining to public speaking.
After going through this process, Holmes found that she has more confidence in the work that she does and that she learned “not to be scared of my own voice.”
Holmes presented her thesis, “Reframing Urban Redevelopment via Women Empowerment: Sustaining Existing Community in the West End” and focused more on her main ideas and topic than memorizing a particular script. In doing so, Holmes found that speaking about something she was exceptionally passionate about gave her a greater sense of confidence in the delivery of these ideas.
“As students and individuals, we are always doubting our skills and capabilities, and we are our own biggest critics,” Holmes said. “But in doing that, you forget just how amazing you are at the things you are passionate about and good at.”
The winners of the cash awards plan to use it to further their research and to see the real-life applications of their studies in architecture and design.
Pictured above from left to right: Dustin Wilis, Ricardo Garcia, Dyesha Holmes, Liz Martin-Malikian and Jasmine Kinard
Written by Kendall Chamberlain, Original Story
Three Minute Thesis
Architecture students showcase design skills in annual competition
January 24, 2019
Ten undergraduate students squared off last week in Kennesaw State University’s Cooper Carry Three Minute Thesis Competition, held each year to showcase the presentation and design capabilities of fifth-year architecture students.
The competition, which follows the format of the University of Queensland’s Three Minute Thesis competition, challenges students to deliver a convincing pitch for their thesis project in a short timeframe using only a single PowerPoint slide. The event hosted by Kennesaw State’s Department of Architecture is unique in that all participants are undergraduate students, as the University is one of only a handful nationwide programs that requires its students to pursue thesis projects while earning a professional architecture degree. KSU’s Graduate College also hosts a separate Three Minute Thesis competition for master’s and doctoral students.
“Rather than do a capstone that is designed under the direction of a particular professor’s interest, for thesis we reverse the tables allowing the student to tell us what it is they would like to pursue,” said Liz Martin-Malikian, associate professor of architecture and thesis coordinator. “Each student proposes their own project giving them room to develop their individual design voice before entering the profession. It’s exciting because we’re seeing what’s on the minds of the next generation of architects.”
In order to qualify for the competition, students begin presenting their proposals as fourth-year architecture students in a thesis prep course. This fall, 44 fifth-year students participated in an additional round, and 10 were short-listed for the Cooper Carry final round. Prior to the event, the finalists take part in a three-hour training session with three professional presentation coaches, a practice that sponsor and jury chair Richard Fredlund said equips the students with an invaluable skill they will need as architects.
“It’s really important as a professional to be able to present your ideas very concisely to decision makers,” said Fredlund, associate principal of design firm Cooper Carry. “Architects tend to be longwinded and talk ‘archispeak,’ but these days interviews tend to get shorter and shorter, and it’s imperative to get the point across in a short window. It’s a life skill for an architect.”
For the first time in the 
competition’s seven-year history, a panel composed of industry experts and academicians
were unable to select an individual champion and opted to split the $3,000 cash prize
among two students, Josh Robinson and Darral Tate. A third student, Dyesha Holmes,
received the Architectural Research Centers Consortium King Medal for Research for
her thesis “Reframing Urban Redevelopment by Sustaining Existing Community in Atlanta’s
West End.”
Robinson presented his thesis “Healing the Healthcare Continuum,” which examines how to fix the public’s negative views on hospitals by designing a new, decentralized network of healthcare centers. He argued that many are deterred from seeking care at hospitals because the structures, often large and uninviting, don’t allow potential patients to directly seek the kind of care they needed. By spreading special clinics throughout the community, he said, people could begin to see healthcare centers as an integral part of their neighborhood.
“Because I grew up with both of my parents working in a hospital setting, I always had a different view on health centers,” Robinson said. “It was always a place where I was happy and where I could play with my siblings. I really wanted everyone to see a hospital as inviting as I saw it.”
For Tate’s thesis, “The Anti-Panopticon,” he chose to tackle America’s high prison population by designing a facility that could help prisoners more easily reintegrate with society and limit the rate of recidivism. He chose to challenge Jeremy Bentham’s 18th century design known as the Panopticon, a structure designed to allow prison guards to keep watch on nearly all prisoners from a single vantage point. Rather than encourage constant surveillance, Tate suggested that prisons could be designed in a way to allow more space that could increase learning among prisoners to better prepare them for life on the outside.
“We’re always encouraged when we first come up with a thesis idea to pick something that we’re interested in and how it can relate back to architecture,” said Tate, who won an additional $500 for receiving the people’s choice award. “I’ve always been somewhat shocked about a gray area in our society – prisons. I asked myself, ‘What is architecture’s role in reforming the U.S. prison model?’”
Written by Travis Highfield , Original Story
Archived News
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2018
ArchiTour Fall 2018: Boston
November 28, 2018
Sixteen architecture students and two former students visited the Boston area October 25 - 28, 2018 for ArchiTour Fall 2018. They visited notable work from great architects, past and present, in Boston, New Haven and Exeter. These included work by Le Corbusier, Louis Kahn, Eero Saarinen, Steven Holl, Alvar Aalto, and Frank Gehry, among others. Students also had an opportunity to meet one of our alumni, Blake Jackson, who generously invited them for an office tour at Stantec.
Kennesaw State Architecture Partners to Host Creative Placemaking Symposium
November 15, 2018
Kennesaw State University's Department of Architecture, AIA Georgia, Art Papers, Architecture & Design Center, Atlanta Regional Commission, Generator and MA! recently partnered to host the Creative Placemaking Symposium, a one-day symposium on the topic of creative placemaking. The event was held at KSU’s Architecture Department buildings on November 8, 2018. The symposium explored how integrating design and art into urban development projects from the beginning can be the catalyst for innovation. Speakers discussed their involvement in collaborative projects by multi-disciplinary teams of various governmental entities, community members, planners, artists, and designers, among others. The event was attended by academics and students of relevant fields, elected officials, policy makers, artists, arts professionals, architects and planners.
Dr. Miné Hashas-Degertekin initiated the event organization and represented the KSU Department of Architecture in the organizing team. Professor Kathryn Bedette, also of the KSU Department of Architecture, was in the organizing team as well representing AIA GA as its president.Pictured above: organizers and panelists
Congratulations to the 2018-2019 DoArch Scholarship and Award Recipients
November 13, 2018
The KSU Department of Architecture would like to congratulate all of the the 2018-2019 scholarship nominees, award recipients and competition winners! We are immensely proud of all of you.
Dorothy P. Spence Memorial Scholarship
Timothy Huntley and Dyesha Holmes
James G. Fausett Scholarship
Callie Hoeve, Dyesha Holmes and Josh Robinson
John D. Mulford Memorial Scholarship
Darral Tate and Corey Jones
Jimmy Goldgeier Scholarship
Josh Robinson and Breck Small
Lance Linscott Scholarship
Caleb Lawrence
Jeremy Smith Scholarship
Callie Hoeve and Jacob Powell
2017 2nd Year Portfolio Competition
1st Place: Devon G Sams
2nd Place: Duc Huy Nguyen Ho
3rd Place: Maria D Delgado
Distinguished Global Ambassador 2018
Zachary Hart
Integrative Design Competition
1st Place: Callen Hoeve
2nd Place: Seth Landis3MT Competition
Winner: Farhaan Samnani
Finalists:
Wilfred Baez-Padilla
Francesca Boakye
Alex Fashinasi
Camilla Hellebuyck
Joel Lee
Lee Martin
Evan Murray
Holly Pagel
Dhruvee Patel
Devin Perkey
Rana al-Rawi
Salman Sajwani3MT Competition "People's Choice" Award
Winner: Joel Lee
Runner-up: Rana al-RawiCriticalMASS Nomination 2018
Farhaan Samnani
Alpha Rho Chi Bronze Medallion
Roderick Williams
Hailey WilkinsAIA Henry Adams Medal & Certificate 2018
Didier Porter
Annual Thesis Competition Projects
Dhruvee Patel
Katie Master
Christopher Richardson
Lee Martin
Camila Hellebuyck
Farhaan Samnani
Salman Sajwani
Sandy Ferrier
Jeremy Penja
Hailey Wilkins
Evan Murphy
Dakota Lewis
Rana Al Rawi
Wenying Wu
Jamison G. Barger
Kishan Desai
Clayton Odom
Alex FashnasiAnnual Thesis Competition "People's Choice" Award
Sandy Ferrier
Annual Thesis Competition "Faculty Choice" Award
Farhaan Samnani
Annual Thesis Competition Archi-Prix Nomination 2018
Lee Martin
Annual Thesis Competition Finalists
Farhaan Samnani
Sandy Ferrier
Evan Murphy
Camila Hellebuyck
Calyton OdomThesis Award Honorable Mention 2018
Farhaan Samnani
Clayton OdomAnnual Thesis Competition 2018
Winner: Evan Murphy
2nd Place: Camilla Hellebuyck
3rd Place: Sandy Ferrier
Furniture of the Future
Architecture students use skills to improve urban environments
Novemeber 7, 2018
In architecture, a building doesn’t have to be just four walls and a roof. Similarly, a chair doesn’t have to be four columns and a slab.
At Kennesaw State University, architecture students are challenging what constitutes an urban space by creating outdoor furniture that is interactive and playful instead of drab and utilitarian. This fall, students taking the Tactical Urbanism course offered by the Department of Architecture were tasked with creating a series of so-called “urban chairs.” The chairs were designed and built by the students with the intent that they can be configured in multiple ways in order to make public spaces more appealing.
The furniture, dubbed the Morphogenesis Chairs by students, includes six chairs made of birch plywood slats carefully cut on a Computer Numeric Control (CNC) machine and painted red and blue. Unlike the benches currently used along sidewalks in major cities across the county, the “urban chairs” designed by Kennesaw State students are crafted with portability and usability in mind.
In September, Zamila Karimi, a lecturer within the College of Architecture and Construction Management, and her students took their design to Atlanta’s Lenox Mall for PARK(ing) Day, an annual global event in which car parking spaces are temporarily transformed into miniature public parks. At the event, students told passersby to use the furniture however they see fit. Some used it as a reclining beach chair and others saw it as a bench. Children saw it as a piece of playground equipment while adults sometimes saw them as flower planters.
“As an architecture student, there aren’t many opportunities that allow us to engage directly with the public, so I found this to be a great opportunity to become involved,” said Steven Yang. “It’s incredible to see how creative people can be with the furniture we create. Typically, when you’re walking through a public space, you can touch the furniture and see it but rarely do you have a chance to play with it.”
Yang, along with fellow classmate Christine Vu, presented the original concept in class.
“With this design, we wanted it to have the ability to transform but still create something fun and playful,” said Vu.
Throughout the Tactical Urbanism course, students are exposed to the problems urban environments are facing, such as low interpersonal interaction, and are encouraged to use their architectural skills to find creative, low-cost solutions to improve the quality of public spaces. Karimi, said the approach is particularly impactful for KSU students because it provides a channel through which they can apply their studies.
The course begins by splitting the students into two groups to brainstorm ways to
execute a design that fits the criteria given by Karimi. During the design development
phase, models are developed at various scales to explore different aspects, such as
assembly and portability. Once a fabrication strategy is agreed upon and a prototype
has been tested, the class is ready to start with fabrication.“This has direct relevance to the students as it offers an opportunity to put their skills into practice by designing small-scale architectural assemblages, fabricating them and ultimately testing them in the public sphere,” Karimi said. “On a more philosophical level, it exposes them to the responsibility we as architects have as social agents of change within our urban environments.”
Following the positive feedback at PARK(ing) Day, Karimi said her students will look for ways to introduce their temporary structures across the Kennesaw and Marietta campuses in the future, as well as seek opportunities to create permanent public structures across metro Atlanta.
“The main takeaway for my students is, they shouldn’t just think of themselves as service providers for their clients but to see that they have a real role to play in their neighborhoods, campuses and cities,” she said. “They have the power to bring people together with what they build and design. In the end, it becomes a playscape for all.”
Written by Travis Highfield , Photos and video by Rob Witzel, Original Story
ACSA News: Kennesaw State University
November 6, 2018
KSU Architecture's Associate Professor Kathryn Bedette, AIA and President of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Georgia Chapter proposed the Diversity Pipeline and National Representation resolution to AIA leadership on June 20th at the 2018 Conference on Architecture in New York, New York. The initiative passed asserting a need for a national leadership pipeline of ethnically diverse women candidates for positions on the Institute Board of Directors and Strategic Council, this resolution called for a plan to support the Institute’s commitment to diversity and inclusion. Bedette also serves as the Architect Licensing Advisor for Georgia and was awarded the 2016 AIA Atlanta James Gant Fausett, FAIA, Service to the Profession Award.
Associate Professor Chris Welty, AIA is currently the President-Elect for the AIA-Atlanta and serving as the KSU Architect Licensing Advisor for the National Council of Architectural Registration Board. Building upon his experience in practice, Welty also is the coordinator for KSU Department of Architecture’s Profession Program Sequence. His pedagogical interests center on integration of digital technologies and the art of craft focused around the notion of making.
Alumna Jessika Nelson, Assoc. AIA is currently serving as the Programs Director for AIA Atlanta, and was previously the 2013-2014 Chapter President of American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS). Remaining active in the department, Nelson participated as a volunteer for the Georgia Regional Future City Competition hosted by Kennesaw State University.
Assistant Professor Tim Frank, AIA received an 2018 AIA Georgia Design and Honor Award for his Angier Springs Monumental Work located along the Atlanta Beltline. Frank’s permanent structure creates a new kind of urban room for the city, offering a retreat for those traveling the promenade. Akin to a budding forest, the open field of slender pillars explores the light demarcation of public space without explicit boundaries. See link: https://www.aiaga.org/design-award/angier-springs-monumental-work/
Souce: Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture News
KSU Architecture Faculty and Students at DCA Conference 2018 at Cornell University
October 30, 2018
Kennesaw State University’s Department of Architecture was well represented this fall at the Design Communication Association (DCA) 2018 Conference that was held at Cornell University from October 7 - 10, 2018. In attendance from the Department of Architecture was Professor Dr. Saleh Uddin, who co-chaired the conference, and Associate Professors: Kathryn Bedette, Chris Welty and Michael Carroll. KSU's contributions to the conference ranged from paper presentations, moderation of paper sessions by KSU faculty and contributions to a curated exhibition of graphic work at Cornell’s Martha Van Rensselaer Gallery by KSU architecture students. One student submission received the Juror’s Choice Award.
The following five papers were presented by KSU Architecture Faculty:
- Drawing Motion Through Stillness: Comparing Disciplinary Approaches. Kathryn Bedette
- 1:1_Digital_Hand_Materiality. Michael Carroll
- Embracing Slowness, Methods to Digital Fluency. Arief Setiawan & Christopher Welty
- Immersion: Interaction - a case for gamification. Christopher Welty
- Current Decline of Design Grammar during the Rise of the Digital Fabrication Era. Saleh Uddin
KSU Architecture student, Kathryn Stapleton, received the Juror's Choice Award in
Undergraduate Design Foundation for her “Kinetic Structural System from Geometry”
from Professor Saleh Uddin’s 2nd year design studio. The project highlights adaptation
of transformable geometry in peacock’s feather to design a structure with kinetic
expandable truss system.The next DCA Conference will be hosted by the KSU Department of Architecture In Fall 2020. Announcements and Call for Papers will be posted soon.
Top right: KSU Architecture professors Michael Carroll, Chris Welty, Saleh Uddin and Kathryn Bedette at The DCA Conference 2018, Cornell University.
Bottom left: KSU Architecture student Kathryn Stapleton- “Kinetic Structural System from Geometry”
Distinguished Alumni Honors
October 9, 2018
Three graduates recognized at annual awards
Three prominent Kennesaw State University alumni were recognized during KSU’s 27th Annual Distinguished Alumni Awards dinner, hosted by the Office of Alumni Relations and Annual Giving the evening of Friday, Oct. 5 at the Renaissance Atlanta Waverly Hotel and Convention Center. The event, sponsored by Nationwide, was held in conjunction with Kennesaw State’s 2018 Homecoming week.
Three deserving alumni – Matt Finn ’07, Daryle Higginbotham ’89 and Brian Pendley ’94 – were recipients of a 2018 Distinguished Alumni Award.
The Distinguished Alumni Award program was established in 1992 to honor KSU’s most accomplished graduates on an annual basis. A distinguished alumnus/alumna is a person who exemplifies the ideals and mission of the University; demonstrates distinguished achievement in his/her chosen field at a local, regional and/or national level; and embodies the spirit of Kennesaw State’s commitment to community engagement through service, University involvement or philanthropic endeavors.
Finn, an Atlanta native, earned a Bachelor of Architecture at Southern Polytechnic
State University. He began his career working for the Atlanta office of Perkins+Will,
an interdisciplinary, research-based design firm with 2,200 employees in 25 offices
worldwide. Finn’s experience working on complex architectural projects prepared him
for practice-led research into such topics as facilitating psychotherapy for veterans
with post-traumatic stress disorder, which has been featured by the American Institute
of Architects and the Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture. In 2016, Healthcare
Design magazine named Finn as the HCD 10 Researcher, making him the first practicing
architect to receive this distinction.Since October 2016, he has served full time as founder of Cognitive Design LLC, an Atlanta-based network of experts that provides consulting, design and research services for projects to improve human health and wellbeing. Ongoing and recent projects of Cognitive Design include a 10-acre master plan focused on reducing social isolation in rural communities; design guidelines for improving quality of life for low-income seniors in Mercy Housing; consulting with the National Collaborative on Childhood Obesity Research on how design can reduce childhood obesity in America; and the renovation of a 1910 Southern School Book Depository into Constellations, a shared workspace that supports small business and entrepreneurs in the historic Sweet Auburn neighborhood of downtown Atlanta.
“I’m forever thankful for my architectural education, not only because it empowered me to become an architect – which it did well as a five-year professional program – but also because it was a generalist education,” Finn said. “By earning my diploma in architecture, I learned about things like engineering and craftsmanship, public policy, cultures different than my own, and generally speaking, about empathy. These lessons have proven of great value in my life, reaching far beyond the classroom and my work.
“The years I studied at SPSU shaped how I think about design and my career path. It encouraged me to remain humble and follow my passion toward a career of lifelong learning. My classmates were awesome; we encouraged and supported each other to do our best work. My best friends from those formative years are still my best friends today; we support each other in our careers and also as husbands and fathers.”
Higginbotham is another graduate of the former SPSU who received his Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering technology. Earlier in 1982, he received his machinist and toolmaker certificate at Lanier Area Vocational-Technical School (currently Lanier Technical College) in Gainesville, Georgia. Higginbotham, a Marietta resident, has been a generous donor to KSU’s Southern Polytechnic College of Engineering and Engineering Technology, the Motorsports Formula SAE Team and Georgia BEST Robotics. After serving as chair of the SPSU Foundation from 2012-13, he remained as a trustee of the board of directors at Southern Poly and then Kennesaw State until 2016. Higginbotham was heavily involved with bathtub racing as a student on the Marietta campus and is still an active member of Sigma Nu fraternity. From his basement, he and his wife Becky started Higginbotham and Associates Inc. in 1988. Higginbotham formed Marietta X-Ray LLC in 1999 and Marietta Nondestructive Testing LLC in 2007. Today, Marietta NDT – with Higginbotham acting as its founder and chairman of the board – is a leading nondestructive testing equipment provider with a worldwide customer base. Under his leadership, Marietta NDT currently has more than 70 employees with 40 of them being graduates or interns from KSU or SPSU. Higginbotham and his company sponsor the annual Pumpkin Launch on the Marietta campus and were very involved in the startup of the R. Glenn Allen Endowed Scholarship at Kennesaw State.
“KSU has provided Marietta NDT the engineering technology workforce we needed to become the leading company we are today,” Higginbotham said. “Engineering technology is the critical link between engineers and the manufacturing of the product. We simply make it happen and get our hands dirty.
“The University name has changed but the students and industries that KSU serves are the same. I look forward to continue supporting the engineering technology programs at KSU.”
Pendley obtained his Bachelor of Business in accounting with summa cum laude honors from KSU. At Kennesaw State, he was vice president and then president of the accounting club (now Beta Alpha Psi), along with treasurer of the Golden Key International Honour Society. Pendley stays connected to his alma mater and the Coles College of Business through the KSU School of Accountancy. He has been associated with the school’s advisory board for 18 years and presently is serving as immediate past chairman.
Outside of his financial support of nearly 15 years, Pendley has helped the School of Accountancy by securing grants from the Ernst & Young Foundation and being on its strategic planning committee. He has worked at Ernst & Young LLP for more than 24 years, currently as a partner in its assurance practice while also fulfilling the role of campus recruiting coordinator to Kennesaw State. In his position at EY, he serves clients in the services, life science, media and entertainment, distribution and diversified industrial products sectors. Pendley was on the Media Financial Management Association Board of Directors and later a member of its advisory committee. He lives in Acworth with his wife Dawn, also a KSU graduate, and their three children. Pendley is very active in his local community.
“Since graduating from KSU in 1994, I wanted to find a way to stay connected and was fortunate early in my career to be given that opportunity through our firm, EY, by assisting in our recruiting efforts on campus, which have increased meaningfully in recent years,” Pendley said. “I have enjoyed maintaining and building relationships with many of the great professors in the School of Accountancy, the College of Business, the development team and others. While my goal in this service and through our financial giving was not to receive special recognition, I am very honored and humbled to receive this award and proud to be counted among the fast-growing alumni of KSU.”
Rich Cole, dean of the College of Architecture and Construction Management, presented the award to Finn, while Higginbotham was introduced by Renee Butler, interim dean of the Southern Polytechnic College of Engineering and Engineering Technology. Pendley accepted accolades from Kathy S. Schwaig, dean of the Coles College of Business.
Master of ceremonies for the event was Ashlie Wilson Pendley ’96, ’15, a member of the Kennesaw State Alumni Association board of directors and a Distinguished Alumni Award winner herself in 2008. Also speaking during the ceremony were Pamela Whitten, president of the University; Jim Dunn, interim chief executive officer of the KSU Foundation and interim vice president for advancement, alumni and development; and Nathan Humphrey, president of the KSU Alumni Association.
“It was an incredible night, and true privilege to recognize these outstanding alumni for the significant impact they are having in their professional careers, and more importantly in their communities,” Humphrey said. “They are a fantastic representation of what it means to be KSU alumni.”
Written by Steve Ruthsatz | Photos by Lauren Kress | Original Story
Focus Studio Faculty 2018
August 23, 2018
The Department of Architecture at Kennesaw State University welcomes Robert P. Alden, AIA, LEED AP, NCARB, who was appointed as the 2018 Focus Studio Faculty. He is an architect with over thirty years of professional experience on a wide range of project types and scales -- including Georgia World Congress Center, 2002 Perimeter Summit Office Tower, the Reno Nv. Events Center, and 12th & Midtown, a 2.4M square foot, $270M mixed-used development in Atlanta. He has also taught at Chattahoochee Technical College in Woodstock, GA in the interior design program. Rob brings real-world insight to his 2018 Focus Studio entitled: Comprehensive Design and Systems Integration.
The Department also welcomes Soleen Karimas the 2018 Focus Studio Faculty. She currently works at Mack Scogin and Merrill Elam Architects as a Project Manager; her project experience ranges from a single family, high-end residential, to civic buildings, urban design and architectural installations, most notably the US Pavilion in Detroit presented at the 2016 Venice Biennale. Soleen graduated from Georgia Tech with Bachelors of Architecture, Masters of Architecture and Masters of City and Regional Planning. Born in a refugee camp in Iran, Soleen combines her passion for social justice with her eye for design through her non-profit, Design4Refugees, Corp., an organization who aids refugees within camps. Soleen’s 2018 Focus Studio is entitled: Childhood Warscape.Visit the Focus Studio webpage.
Photos: (L) Robert P. Alden, (R) Soleen Karimas
New Faculty Appointments, Fall 2018
August 21, 2018
Jeffrey Collins joins Kennesaw State University this fall 2018 as an Assistant Professor in a tenure track position. Jeffery is a Registered Architect and architectural educator. He obtained his bachelors and masters degrees in architecture from The Ohio State University and is currently pursuing a doctorate in architecture, with concentration in design computation, from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Since 2009, he has taught architecture studio and lecture courses at Georgia Tech, Southern Polytechnic State University, Auburn University, and Kennesaw State University. In 2018, AIA Atlanta and the Young Architects Forum named Jeffrey as their Emerging Voices honoree.
The Department of Architecture at Kennesaw State University also welcomes Dr. Selen Okcu (PhD 2011, Georgia Institute of Technology), who was appointed a fulltime Lecturer. As a former Research Scientist at NASA and a Design Educator, she has published widely on a variety of emerging architectural topics including culture, perception, and technology. She is the recipient of the King Medal from the Architectural Research Centers Consortium (ARCC) and the Newman Medal from the Acoustical Society of America (ASA).
Original announcement | Photos: (L) Jeffrey Collins, (R) Selen Okcu, PhD
AIA National passes Diversity and Leadership Development Resolution proposed by KSU's Kathryn Bedette
July 9, 2018
KSU Architecture's Kathryn Bedette, President of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Georgia Chapter, proposed the Diversity Pipeline and National Representation resolution to AIA leadership on June 20th at the 2018 Conference on Architecture in New York, New York.
Resolution 18-3
Diversity Pipeline and National Representation, sponsored by AIA Georgia, passed with 4266 voting yes and 204 voting no (with 87 abstentions). Asserting a need for a national leadership pipeline of ethnically diverse women candidates for positions on the Institute Board of Directors and Strategic Council, this resolution called for a plan to support the Institute’s commitment to diversity and inclusion. The delegates voted down an amendment that would have changed the resolution’s language to refer not only to ethnically diverse women, but to all ethnically diverse individuals. The resolution was amended, however, to require that the Board and Secretary present a plan for action by delegates at the 2019 AIA Conference on Architecture in Las Vegas. Read more
Professor Tim Frank Receives ARCC-EAAE Award
May 23, 2018
The KSU Department of Architecture is proud to announce that Professor Tim Frank was awarded Best Paper at the 2018 ARCC-EAAE International Conference held in Philadelphia May 16th - 19th.
Paper
The Charnley-Norwood House, situated along the Mississippi Gulf Coast, is a lesser-known vacation bungalow drawn by Frank Lloyd Wright as an experiment while working under his “Lieber Meister”, Louis Sullivan. Built in the latter part of the 19th century, it exemplifies a turning point in American architecture as the groundwork for Wright’s signature Prairie Style was taking root. Embedded within this structure are fundamentals about an organic approach to architecture, clearly demonstrated by the assimilation of the building into the interworkings of both site and climate. Sullivan and Wright scholars both agree that this house, undocumented to‐date, serves as a significant milestone in the history of American environmental design.
What is unknown about the house is how the dictates of the coastal gulf climate influenced its spatial disposition and how this composition grew out of well‐established traditions of environmental design. The T‐shaped bungalow encompasses many distinctive features including its overall horizontality, an overarching parasol roof plane, a permeable building exterior and intermediary space types along its perimeter. The open plan organization follows its predecessors in its thinness with rooms dispersed along each axis, creating multiple exposures that alter the orientation of interior spaces to year‐round climatic effects. Operating in concert, these attributes serve to admit prevailing breezes, extend views to the surrounding landscape, and shade inhabitable areas; hallmarks that would alter the course of 20th century residential architecture in America.
Using computational simulation tools, this paper discloses how the bungalow advances strategies of passive design utilized by early 19h century predecessors and paves the way toward an environmentally integrated 20th century period of residential construction. Additionally, this paper offers insight into a formative moment in architectural history when two American masters were in direct collaboration.Conference
There were over 90 accepted papers at this conference, which had a blind-peer review acceptance rate of 37%. The conference theme centered on happiness with the aim to advance the discourse on explicit connections between design decisions, qualities of life, and the promotion of community. The idea of Gross National Happiness (GNH) speaks to a measure of the collective well-being of a nation. Introduced by the King of Bhutan in early 1970s as an alternative to the prevalent notion of Gross National Product (GNP), the revised concept focuses on human life and identifies four pillars of happiness as outlined in Bhutan's constitution: good governance, sustainable socioeconomic development, preservation and promotion of culture and environmental conservation.
Recognizing the inherent relationship of the built environment to the tenets above, researchers revisit the framework for Gross National Happiness. The timing of this is significant as it aligns with major shifts in social and political agendas both globally and locally that impact our physical and social environment. This is an opportunity to reflect on what and why we research.
The 2018 ARCC-EAAE International Conference brings together architectural scholars, researchers and practitioners from around the world, examining the architectural dimensions of community at scales between intimately local settings and the broader global commons. Philadelphia - referred to as the cradle of modern democracy - provides an opportunity to extend the conversation to consider the humanistic and environmental forward-looking gaze that is part of the spirit of the place.
Professor Ed Akins Honored with the 2018 R.C. Paul Excellence in Sustainability Award
May 3, 2018
The KSU Department of Architecture is proud to announce that Professor Ed Akins has been selected as the recipient of the 2018 2018 Presidential Diversity Awards' R.C. Paul Excellence in Sustainability Award.
Ed has served as Co-Chair and Chair on the President's Commission for Sustainability at KSU and has taught Ecological Urbanism within the USG European Council Paris program. He was chosen as KSU Sustainability Fellow for the 2016-2017 Academic year and was chosen to attend the 2017 EAO Workshop in Germany focused on the topic "Sustainability - Challenges for the World of Tomorrow.
The R.C. Paul Excellence in Sustainability Award
The R.C. Paul Excellence in Sustainability Award recognizes the outstanding efforts of an individual toward promoting environmental sustainability in the educational and operational practices of the Kennesaw State University (KSU) campus community.
The nominee will have demonstrated consistent leadership in addressing sustainability issues and works to implement sustainable practices on our campus, with tangible results. Examples of such efforts might include, but should not be limited to, the following:
- Designing or coordinating campus sustainability initiatives such as green building projects, commuting alternatives, energy and water conservation measures, farm-to-campus programs, etc.
- Advocating for the inclusion of sustainability perspectives in campus planning and policy making.
- Contributing across the curriculum by promoting sustainability content in courses and academic programs throughout the university.
- Creating projects and events that promote greater awareness of KSU's sustainability efforts (e.g. energy and water conservation, commuting alternatives, farm-to-campus programs).
- Designing informal educational activities and programs to inform students, faculty, and staff about ways to foster sustainable practices at KSU and the communities it serves.
Diversity Awards History
Established in 2013, and led by the six Presidential Commissions on Diversity, these awards honor faculty, staff and students of Kennesaw State University (KSU) whose actions, activities, and/or accomplishments in diversity support the pursuit of excellence towards making KSU a more inclusive and welcoming university.
Presidential Commission Structure
Annually, the six Presidential Commissions on Diversity seek nominations of individuals at KSU whose accomplishments are aligned with the charge of one (or more) of the commissions. Each commission has its own award criteria that a prospective nominee should meet. This criteria also serves as a guideline in the selection of the award recipient(s).
Professor Tim Frank Receives AIA Georgia Design and Honor Award
April 17, 2018
Congratulations to the Department of Architecture's Professor Tim Frank for winning a design award for his Angier Springs Monumental Work at the 2018 AIA Georgia Design and Honor Awards.
A description of Prof. Frank's work as presented during the ceremony:
ANGIER SPRINGS MONUMENTAL WORK
Located along the Atlanta BeltLine, this permanent structure creates a new kind of urban room for the city, offering a retreat for those traveling the promenade. Akin to a budding forest, the open field of slender pillars explores the light demarcation of public space without explicit boundaries. The structure produces a medley of effects, offering visitors numerous encounters that change with the sun, the wind and the collection of participants who pervade the space. The transforming character of the room emboldens public engagement, creating immersive and interactive zones to be discovered anew as the space constantly reinvents itself within an ever-changing context.
ArchiTour Spring 2018: Seattle and Portland
April 9, 2018
This Spring, Dr. Setiawan and fifteen students traveled to Seattle, Washington and Portland, Oregon as part of KSU Architecture's ArchiTour Program. Among the sites visited were the Seattle Public Library by Rem Koolhaas/OMA, the Olympic Sculpture Park by Weiss/Manfredi, the Bullit Center by Miller/Hull, the Ballard branch public library by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, the Bellevue Art Museum by Steven Holl, the Museum of Pop Art by Frank Gehry, the Seattle Center, the Cultural Park (Portland) by Kengo Kuma, the chapel of St. Ignatius by Steven Holl and the Amazon Spheres.
For more on the ArchiTour program, click here.
Additional photos from this trip, as well as previous ArchiTours: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ksu_architecture/albums/72157677453507606
Architecture Faculty Appointed 2018-2019 Sustainability Faculty Fellowships
March 26, 2018
Congratulations to the Department of Architecture's Liz Martin-Malikian, Dr. Miné Hashas-Degertekin, and Michael Carroll, who have each been appointed 2018-2019 Sustainability Faculty Fellowships with the Center for Diversity Leadership and Engagement at Kennesaw State University.
Liz Martin-Malikian (right) will be developing a new curriculum in Real Estate Sustainable Development as a campus-wide undergraduate minor to prepare students for careers in the corporate sector, nonprofit organizations, government agencies, or environmental advocacy groups. As proposed, this new minor would be an interdisciplinary one-year program to prepare students to become effective and influential participants in the fields of real estate, finance, design and development. The intent of this undergraduate minor is to not only help students develop a systems-level perspective of the economic, environmental and social dimensions of sustainable developments, but also raise awareness within the broader campus community.
Miné Hashas-Degertekin (right) has been working with various government agencies, non-profit, and advocacy groups including Atlanta Regional Commission, Transformation Alliance, GA Stand Up, ULI-Atlanta, City of Atlanta, and Soccer in the Street, etc. for identifying social, economic and cultural patterns, physical character and place making solutions to challenge anticipated gentrification in West-End Neighborhood. She has integrated various students taking her courses to the projects via internships, research, sustainable urban design proposals and associated community participation processes. Continuing these partnerships and based on the study results, Dr. Hashas-Degertekin will be developing an implementation project addressing the same issues in West-End involving additional faculty and students.
Michael Carroll’s (right) academic research focuses on materiality and material expression in
contemporary architecture. As Sustainability Faculty Fellow 2018-19, Professor Carroll’s
project, entitled "Performative Façades: De-constructing Identity Through Architectural
Design", embraces sustainability from both a technological and a cultural perspective.
The proposal centers not only cutting edge innovative materials and performative façade
technologies that filter light and air, but also how these can be deployed in the
design of a series of façade systems for non-profit groups in Metro Atlanta that traditionally
have been under-represented. These façade systems would not only make buildings that
house these groups more ecologically sustainable but also positively contribute to
the cultural identities of those organizations.
Career Planning and Development Hosts Architecture Networking Event
March 8, 2018
On Wednesday, March 7th, leaders from Metro Atlanta's architecture community gathered to share professional advice and information about their firms to KSU's Architecture students. Representatives from Beck Group, BRR Architecture, CBRE Heery International, CDH Partners, Cooper Carry, HOK, McAfee3 Architects, Office of Design, Pattern R&D, and Perkins + Will joined a panel discussion at the event, followed by one-on-one networking with students. Special thanks to all of our panelists and participants.
The Architecture Department at KSU fosters a meaningful and collaborative relationship with the professional practice community to enrich the education of Georgia's next generation of architects and enhance their preparedness for careers of excellence and leadership in our communities.
Additional photos
Results of the 4th Annual KSU Cooper Carry 3-Minute Thesis Competition
February 7, 2018
Organized by Thesis Coordinator and Professor Liz Martin-Malikian, the 4th Annual Cooper Carry | 3-Minute Thesis took place on January 26, 2018. Thirteen students competed for cash prizes equaling $3,000. The competition jury included Rick Fredlund, AIA of Cooper Carry; Michelle Miles, PhD , Honors College at Kennesaw State University; Professor Sheb True, PhD, Coles College of Business, Tom Nixon of Nixon Design; Stuart Romm, AIA, Professor of Practice at GaTech; and Professor Emeritus Phill Tabb, PhD of Texas A&M University.Awards
Winner of 3-MT 2018: Farhaan Samnani
Thesis Title: The 21st Century Energy Hub
Brief: In his thesis, Farhaan is looking at building more sustainability in developing countries.Runner-up / 2nd Place Winner of 3-MT 2018: Rana al-Rawi
Thesis Title: Post-War Learning Environments: Redefining Schools Design in Iraq
Brief: In her thesis, Rana began her thesis looking at her roots and how schools must be able to adapt to conflict, while being spatially integrated with the community.People’s Choice Winner of 3-MT 2018: Joel Lee
Thesis Title: Re-Hanok-ization
Brief: Joel began his thesis looking at cultural identity and his research lead him to coin the term Re-Hanok-ization.
Congratulations to this year’s winner and all of the 3MT Competition participants!
Professor Kathryn Bedette Named in “100 Influential Women to Know” by Engineering Georgia Magazine
February 6, 2018
KATHRYN BEDETTE, AIA
Associate Professor, Department of Architecture, Kennesaw State University 2018 President, AIA Georgia
An asset to the design and build profession, Bedette has served as the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Georgia Advocacy Director in the past and as the Board President presently. She teaches grassroots-driven architecture advocacy in her role at Kennesaw State University and is credited with aiding the passing of the House Bill 943 Indemnification Bill.
Click above image to see full article. Article begins on page 18.
Announcing the 2018 Georgia Region Future City Competition Award Winners
January 22, 2018
2018 Georgia Regional Champion
- TEAM: Grace Springs City
- SCHOOL: St Jude the Apostle Catholic School
- TEACHER: Eleonora Straub
- MENTOR: Stephanie Sweeney
First Runner Up
- TEAM: Horizon
- SCHOOL: Fulton Science Academy
- TEACHER: Nervez Turan
- MENTOR: Chris Dela Pena
Second Runner Up
- TEAM: The A Team
- SCHOOL: Hull Middle School
- TEACHER: Kari Salomon
- MENTOR: Danielle Penton
In Fourth Place
- TEAM: Matura
- SCHOOL: Queen of Angels Catholic School
- TEACHER: Christine Zimmer
- MENTOR: Juan Carlos Elizarraras
In Fifth Place
- TEAM: Zeron
- SCHOOL: Richmond Hill Middle School
- TEACHER: John Melcher
- MENTOR: John Melcher
Society AwardsROOKIE TEAM OF THE YEAR
Blueshore, Rising Star Middle School
Educator: Rebecca PaughBEST VIRTUAL CITY
Bellmont, Richmond Hill Middle School
Educator: John MelcherBEST CITY ESSAY
Grace Springs City, St Jude the Apostle
Educator: Eleonora StraubBEST PHYSICAL MODEL
Horizon City, Fulton Science Academy
Educator: Nervez TuranBEST TEAM PRESENTATION
Grace Springs City, St Jude the Apostle
Educator: Eleonora StraubACCESSIBLE CITY AWARD
Bellmont, Richmond Hill Middle School
Educator: John MelcherMOST INNOVATIVE POWER GENERATION
Grace Springs City, St Jude the Apostle
Educator: Eleonora StraubMOST INNOVATIVE DESIGN OF INFRASTRUCTURE
Horizon City, Fulton Science Academy
Educator: Nervez TuranBEST TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM
Millennial Rock, Queen of Angels
Educator: Christine ZimmerMOST SUSTAINABLE DESIGN
Matura, Queen of Angels
Educator: Christine ZimmerBEST URBAN PLANNING AWARD
Zeron, Richmond Hill Middle School
Educator: John MelcherMOST INNOVATIVE CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUES
Millennial Rock, Queen of Angels
Educator: Christine ZimmerBEST LAND SURVEYING PRACTICES AWARD
Matura, Queen of Angels
Educator: Christine Zimmer -
2017
Celebrating Pluralism in Architecture
December 13, 2017
The architecture of any society reflects a community’s aspirations, aesthetic sense, economic well-being and level of technological advancement. More importantly, architecture helps shape the vision of society.
In “Architecture and Society,” Ismail Serageldin points out that much of the Muslim world today reflects societies in transition, where the role of the architect is of profound importance in appreciating and preserving the past--- while refining the society’s perceptions of taste and its expression of cultural identity. Above all, architects and planners need to be guided by a new vision that incorporates the essence of the cultures of those for whom they design. Seragelclin further states that “the Aga Khan Award for Architecture (AKAA) has consciously underlined the collective responsibility of all involved in the process of creating a building which is deserving of recognition.”
These notions were discussed at the Kennesaw State University (KSU) lecture series on Diversity and Pluralism. The lecture, entitled, “At the Cutting Edge: A Retro-Prospective of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture,” was recently organized by KSU, in collaboration with the Aga Khan Council for the Southeastern United States.
Speaking at the event, Prof. Hasan-Uddin Khan, Convenor of the first cycle of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture and Distinguished Professor of Architecture and Historic Preservation at Roger Williams University, said, “AKAA is one of the most prestigious international architectural awards in the world. The US$ 1 million award given every three years to projects selected by an independent jury recompenses all the actors involved in the achievement of excellence, whether they are architects, clients, craftsmen, engineers or end-users. At its core, the Award engenders a process of thinking about the built environment and culture. It is much more than a prize.”
Prof. Khan remarked Khan also that the vision of the Award was to protect the past and inspire the future; to improve quality of life; and to examine, analyze, understand and try to influence the dynamics of physical change in Muslim societies.
AKAA is one of the oldest and most prominent awards in architecture. It was established by Mawlana Hazar Imam in 1977 to identify and encourage building concepts that successfully address the needs and aspirations of communities in which Muslims have a significant presence.
The selection process emphasizes architecture that not only provides for people's physical, social, and economic needs, but that also stimulates and responds to their cultural and spiritual expectations. Particular attention is given to building schemes that use local resources and appropriate technology in an innovative way, and to projects likely to inspire similar efforts elsewhere.
At the Aga Khan Award for Architecture 2016 ceremony, Hazar Imam said that “the spirit of the Award has been an inclusive one, valuing all manner of buildings and spaces, from skyscrapers to mud huts, from residences to work and gathering spaces, from reforestation and financing projects to cemeteries, bridges and parks, from the accomplishments of signature architects to those of anonymous craftsmen. This pluralistic approach may not echo the usual definition of the word ‘architecture’, but it is the closest we can get to the central inclusive message we want this Award to convey.” He also reaffirmed his belief that “the spirit of pluralism has been central to the great achievements of past Islamic cultures - and it remains a central principle for these Awards.”
Echoing Hazar Imam’s desire to highlight the importance of having a more pluralistic approach in architecture, Prof. Khan said “For too long, we have looked at architecture under certain lenses. They tend to be homogenous; they tend to be limited. And you realize that different cultures have very different needs and requirements, and in order to reflect what is going on in the real world, one has to look at the diversity. It’s about looking at architecture with a different lens. It’s about looking at reality.”
Prof. Khan added that the early-on AKAA led to discourses underlining that architecture should not be judged from “a point of view,” and that architecture could provide an answer to many issues and problems. “The Award encouraged that conversation about diversity and pluralism in architecture and that changed the discourse – that has been the biggest contribution of the AKAA,” he said, underscoring the impact that the Award has made in the realm of architecture.
About 250 KSU students and graduates attended the lecture, which was followed by an exhibition that showcased the nominated projects of the 2016 Award cycle.
Arash Soleimani, Assistant Professor at KSU and Co-Chair of the lecture series, emphasized the need for students to know how place-making and the notion of architecture can inform the process of design. “Rather than just thinking about style and type, it is important for students to understand how architecture can bring people together in the globalized world,” he said. Originally from Iran, he also shared his experience of visiting the Tabiat Bridge, one of the 2016 AKAA winners, and how the bridge had become a place for the community to get together. “It was such an amazing experience to see people gathered at the bridge, talking and eating together, sharing ideas and celebrating their culture,” said Soleimani, while talking to students at the exhibition.
The lecture was well-received by the students of the University. Arselan Lakhany, a graduate of KSU said that “the Award really inspires students to understand that architecture is more about the inhabitant group and less about the architects. It’s about the people who are using it, not just the people designing it.”
Farhan Samnani, a fifth year KSU student, said that the talk answered a lot of questions and inspired him to create architecture that is more social and works on improving the lives of people as well as looking at the community as a whole.Story by Salimah Shiraj | Photo by Akbar Hakim | Original Story
LEED Lab prepares Architecture and Construction Management students for the careers they want
October 12, 2017
The U.S. Green Building Council is dedicated to preparing students for 21st century careers in sustainability by delivering competency-based education and providing innovative solutions to build the next generation of sustainability leaders. In fact, according to USGBC.com, college students are currently seeking jobs in sustainability at a rapidly increasing rate. Consider the following:
- More than 70 percent of college students and 50 percent of workers are looking for jobs with social impact.*
- By 2038, the United States will generate 4.2 million new green jobs, five times today’s total count.*
- As many as 80 percent of young professionals would like to work in a green job.*
- 61% of prospective college students said having information about a school’s commitment to the environment would influence their decision to apply to or attend a school.*
In order to provide students with the education and experience they need to best prepare for careers in sustainability, the Center for Green Schools at USGBC created LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Lab. Students involved in the LEED Lab pursue the assessment of on-campus building(s) and culminate their studies with the submittal of actual certification documents, allowing the campus building to become certified and recognized for greater environmental performance. The result of the lab is a more informed and experienced graduate with experience in the built sciences and an improved campus environment with healthier buildings and sites for everyone.
KSU's LEED Lab Challenge
In Georgia, the passage of House Bill 255 prohibits any publicly funded building to pursue LEED performance ratings. Although the bill perhaps did not intend to impact curriculum and teaching in public universities, the collateral damage undeniably includes one of the most inventive and effective sustainable teaching programs in the nation, the LEED Lab. Authored by USGBC, the LEED Lab engages students with dynamic, real-world, learning opportunities based upon the LEED rating system.
Luckily for KSU College of Architecture and Construction Management students, they have the innovative and determined minds of professors Ed Akins (Architecture) and Brandi Williams (Construction Management). Since Bill 255 prohibits seeking LEED certification on the publicly funded KSU campus, professors Akins and Williams came up with the brilliant idea of creating a LEED Lab for KSU students that would allow them to work with a building off-campus. They reached out to Susan Kidd, Executive Director of the Center for Sustainability at Agnes Scott College (ASC), a privately funded college in Decatur, Georgia, to initiate a partnership that would allow KSU students the opportunity to participate in LEED Lab at an alternative location.
For additional information on the partnership and how it benefits both KSU and Agnes Scott College, please refer to Professor Akins article here.
From a Student's Perspective
"As a student, the LEED Lab is such an enriching experience. After taking this course, I have a clearer understanding of the certification process for LEED EBOM, and I am also engaged in learning more about LEED and pursuing personal accreditation. Being able to combine the requirements LEED establishes for each credit with the physical and financial constraints of an existing building was very productive to apply what we learned in the classroom in a real-life setting. I hope more and more students have access to the LEED Lab, and that this opportunity can motivate them to explore sustainable practices."
- Karlla Dreser, LEED Lab program student
Additional Information
For information about participating in the LEED Lab program at KSU, please contact Professor Akins or Professor Williams.
More information on the USGBC LEED Lab program can be found here.
*Source: US. Green Building Council
Pictured above: Prof. Ed Akins and Prof. Michael Carroll's students tour Agnes Scott College
Guest Lecturer, Prof. Hasan-Uddin Kahn, Presents “At th
e Cutting Edge: A Retro-Prospective of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture”October 6, 2017
The Kennesaw State University Department of Architecture, in collaboration with the Aga Khan Council for the Southeastern United States, presents its first lecture of the series, “Diversity and Pluralism in Architecture" on Monday, October 9th at 4:30pm in the Design II Auditorium.
Please join us for Professor Hasan-Uddin Kahn’s lecture “At the Cutting Edge: A Retro-Prospective of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture.” Prof. Kahn is the Distinguished Professor of Architecture & Historic Preservation at Roger Williams University.
Description
The Aga Khan Award for Architecture is not a prize, but a process of examining the built environment of Muslims and a discourse about contemporary building the world over. Looking back over the genesis and development of the Award and looking forward, the architectural discourse so engendered unfolds as a series of agendas that are illustrated by the award program.
The lecture will be followed by the Aga Khan Award for Architecture Exhibit opening reception at the Architecture Gallery.
For further information on the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, please visit here.
https://www.aiaatl.org/events/aga-khan-award-architecture-lecture/
Designing a DifferenceSeptember 7, 2017
KSU alum is one of four Portz Scholar honorees in the country Kennesaw State University alumnus William Lentjes has been named a Portz Scholar, an accolade the National Collegiate Honors Council awards to only four people in the U.S. each year.
Lentjes graduated from Kennesaw State in May with a degree in architecture and as an Honors Scholar, the University’s highest academic honor. The NCHC chose Lentjes as a Portz Scholar based on his senior capstone project titled “On Craft,” which re-examines the instructional methods utilized in architectural education.
“Being acknowledged in this way is an honor,” Lentjes said. “It brings up reflection on the friends, family, mentors and advisors who have made something like this possible. A special thanks goes to my honors thesis advisors, Dr. Kami Anderson, Professor Kathryn Bedette and Dr. Mine Hashas-Degertekin, for their help.”
Lentjes will present his project at the National Collegiate Honors Council conference in Atlanta in November. NCHC member institutions can nominate one paper written by an undergraduate honors student for the Portz Scholars competition, and Kennesaw State’s Honors Collegeselected Lentjes’ thesis – which also was awarded the 2017 KSU Outstanding Senior Capstone Award for the Marietta Campus.
In “On Craft,” Lentjes promotes looking beyond “endless mechanized production and spiritless materialism” and viewing architecture “through the consciousness, awareness and perception of a subject.” He describes “craft” as a relationship between craftsman, tool and material.
Anderson said she was most impressed by the level of detail Lentjes put into the project. He made his own paper on which to write the thesis, used woodworking and burnishing skills to make the cover for the project, and transposed his computational drafts and graphic designs to the handmade book. Lentjes showed “thoughtful attention to how his work on that capstone could be a benefit to the learning process for other architects,” Anderson said.
“All of these things embody each and every one of the Honors foundations: critical thinking, creation and innovation, interdisciplinary learning, information fluency, professionalism, appreciation of diverse viewpoints, effective communication and leadership,” said Anderson, the director of the Undergraduate Honors Program for the Marietta Campus. “William’s capstone was exemplary in so many ways and was the best representation of what we stand for in Honors.”
Lentjes impressed potential employers as well, as he was hired upon his graduation as a designer for Office of Design, an architecture firm in Decatur. Lentjes said he is “excited to learn more each day” and plans to become a licensed architect soon.
“Long term, I aspire to use architecture as a means of helping others,” Lentjes said. “Space designed with care and intentional sincerity can bring healing – or even just a little appreciation for life.”
Original story | Story written by Paul Floeckher
AJC: Librarians, architects help kids discover better world
July 18, 2017
This summer, while some kids were off at camp, prepping for the fall SATs or getting through their binge lists, a group of youngsters around Cobb County were pondering how Marietta’s landmark Big Chicken could look even better. They also turned a critical eye to the Marietta Visitors Center, the Zuckerman art museum at Kennesaw State and the new SunTrust Park and Battery complex.
Reimagining how structures can be built for a specific purpose and audience was the aim of the Discover Architecture: Library Edition, a program that paired Cobb public librarians with volunteers from the American Institute of Architects Atlanta chapter and representatives from the architecture department at Kennesaw State. During four one-day sessions held this summer, the teams worked with kids to introduce them to and get them enthused about architecture.
“The theme of our summer reading this year was ‘Build a Better World,’ so this program was a good fit,” said Tom Brooks, the communications specialist for the Cobb library system. “It was also based on creativity and had a real-worldness about it. We’ve had success for a few years with our Girls in Engineering, Math and Science summer program, and we thought this would be another good one for young people.”Brooks got the idea to create a summer series after hearing about Discover Architecture, a successful after-school program offered in select Atlanta elementary schools. The founders of that program produced a textbook filled with details on lessons and projects that fit nicely into a one-day event. Brooks brought the idea to Youth Services Librarian Amanda Densmore, who works out of the Vinings location.
“Tom mentioned this idea for a program, and I had to be a part of it,” she said. “It’s such a wonderful opportunity to work with outside organizations and give kids something totally different— something that they may not expect from the library.”
Phillip Alexander-Cox, an art instructor at E. Rivers Elementary in Buckhead and a co-founder of the APS Discover Architecture program, was happy to provide resources and direction for the library program. It’s another way the concept has grown since he and architect and E. Rivers parent Melody Harclerode launched it seven years ago.
“The idea is to bring design education to young children, usually fourth and fifth graders,” said Alexander-Cox. “During our first year, it was just at E. Rivers, but then we added Garden Hills, and over the next year, we added four more. It’s grown so much that three years ago we published a guide book that’s available through Amazon so other schools, homeschoolers and groups like libraries can use it.”
The after-school version is a nine-week program, followed by an exhibition of student models and drawings. Ideally, sessions run by seven volunteers for 14 students feature hands-on projects, guest speakers and an exploration of architecture as a career. But it’s also about reinforcing important skills, said Alexander-Cox. “It’s about problem solving, too. And we do a lot of drawing to scale and communicating visually.”The program has been so successful that it earned a grant to expand it to underserved neighborhoods, said co-founder Harclerode. “Architecture and design education is fundamentally valuable for kids because it’s a fusion of math, science, English, history and technology.”
Brooks said the summer program also gave students a chance to explore themes around economic development. “At least,” he said, “I thought of it that way. The kids just thought it was fun.”
Information about the Discover Architecture program at E. Rivers Elementary School: eriverselementary.com.
The Dept. of Architecture partners with the Cobb County Public Library System and AIA Atlanta for "Discover Architecture: Library Edition"
July 10, 2017
Students in grades 4-8 are invited to participate in a one day Discover Architecture workshop based on the AIA's Discover Architecture Program. Students do sketching exercises and build models of their designs, working with volunteers from local architecture firms and faculty from the Department of Architecture at KSU. Dr. Tony Rizzuto, Dr. Giovanni Loretto, Dr. Arash Soleimani, Professor Bronne Dytock and Professor Marietta Monaghan and alumni Jereme Smith and Jessika Nelson joined Discover Architecture founders Melody Harclerode and Phillip Alexander Cox at the Switzer, West Cobb, Mountain View and South Cobb library branches.
1st year architecture student wins scholarship to Harvard’s GSD Summer Career Discovery Program
May 16, 2017
KSU Architecture student, Jalaal Malik, has been chosen as the recipient of the Atlanta Center for Creative Inquiry's scholarship to attend the Harvard University Graduate School of Design's six-week summer Career Discovery program from June 19th through July 28th.
Every year, the Atlanta Center for Creative Inquiry (ACCI) sends a deserving young student who is deeply interested in Architecture to this wonderful program. Others have said that the program has had an enormous impact on their careers both in college and afterward in their profession. We are so proud of you Jalaal, and can't wait to hear about your experience!
More about the program: designdiscovery.gsd.harvard.edu.
Congratulations to William Lentjes
May 8, 2017
The Department of Architecture would like to congratulate William Lentjes for being awarded the 2017 KSU Outstanding Senior Capstone Award for the Marietta Campus. William was selected for the award for his Bachelor of Architecture Thesis "On Craft", Thesis Advisor: Kathryn Bedette.
Abstract
Craft is a relationship - a dialogue - between craftsman, tool, and material. Craft begins with the intent of all of these loci, and all of these loci are rooted in Being.
Being is known through the consciousness, awareness, and perception of a subject. Being is the inherent existence and totality of "what is."
Being crafts us; Craft imbues Being.
This thesis re-examines the pedagogical approach of an architectural education. The focus is placed on craft through presuppositionless phenomenology.
In an age of endless mechanized production and spiritless materialism, the practice of craft can teach us to return to the experience of Being.
Announcing the 2017-2018 DoArch Scholarship Recipients
May 1, 2017
The KSU Department of Architecture would like to congratulate all of the the 2017-2018 scholarship recipients! We are immensely proud of all of you.
Dorothy P. Spence Memorial Scholarship
Didier Porter and Farhaan Samnani
James G. Fausett Scholarship
Didier Porter and Alex Fashinasi
John D. Mulford Memorial Scholarship:
Didier Porter and Farhaan Samnani
Jimmy Goldgeier Scholarship
Camila Helebuyck and Farhaan Samnani
Lance Linscott Scholarship
Tim Huntley
Jeremy Smith Scholarship
Roderick Williams
Congratulations to the 2016-2017 DoArch Award Recipients
April 27, 2017
Competition Awards
Annual Thesis Competition
- Student's Choice: Giovonni Reese
- Faculty's Choice: Anna Pack
- Archi-Prix Nomination: Katrina Alano
- Honorable Mentions: Hannah Boyd & Anna Pack
- Third Place: Izuchuwu Ojukwu
- Second Place: Brandon Aultman
- Winner: Laura Sherman
3 Minute Thesis Competition
- People's Choice: Joey (Tony) Rodriguez
- Honorable Mentions: Katrina Alano & Jacob Matherly
- Runner-UP: Jonee Smith
- Winner: Damari Weaver
4th Yr Integrative Design Competition
- Honorable Mentions: Joel Lee & Matt McKim
- Third Place: Didier Porter & Will Myers
- Second Place: Devin Perkey & Farhaan Samnani
- Winners: Brandon Arroyo & Lee Martin
Spring 2016 Portfolio Competition
- Honorable Mentions: Christine Nguyen Vu
- Fourth Place: Timothy Austin Huntly
- Third Place: Jeremy Bown
- Second Place: Joshua Robinson
- Winner: Diego Vazquez
Other Awards
Alpha Rho Chi Bronze Medalion
- Rebecca E. Robinson
- Michael C. Phaff
- Damari J. Weaver
- Katrina J. Alano
CtiticalMASS Nomination
Brandon Aultman
Capstone Award Nomination (Honors Program)
- William Lentjes
- Hannah Boyd
Georgia Outstanding Scholar Award
Laura Sherman
Pictured above: 2017 Thesis Competition Winner, Laura Sherman
KSU Magazine Features Matthew A. Finn
April 19, 2017
With a passion for the intersection between architecture and health, Matt Finn (Architecture, ’07) is working to understand how design affects people.
“As an architect, I need to understand how the spaces I design affect people who use them,” said Finn, who gained his start studying how the built environment could facilitate psychotherapy for U.S. combat veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
“When we look at the military’s observational techniques for how to enter a dangerous area and assess it for threats, it serves as a great template for understanding how human beings use their whole body to gather information about their surroundings,” he said. “There are lessons in this that we can apply to any number of situations.”
Partnering with a Veteran Affairs psychologist and a Marine Corps veteran, Finn first began the PTSD research while at Perkins+Will, the design firm he joined after completing his bachelor’s degree in 2007.
“Architecture’s role is to facilitate the activities within,” Finn said. Finn is currently collaborating with the National Collaborative on Childhood Obesity Research and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to understand how design can influence childhood obesity in America, and with the Green Health Partnership on ways the built environment can influence issues of public health.
Healthcare Design recently named Finn the 2016 HCD 10 Researcher, making him one of the first practicing architects to receive this distinction. One of the projects noted by the magazine was Finn’s consultation on the design of ICU patient rooms for the University of Virginia Health System. Finn and his transdisciplinary research team’s findings were featured at the 2014 Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture Conference and the 2015 American Institute of Architects Convention.
“Matt’s work has provided important insight on the correlation between human health and environment design, specifically how design can facilitate healing and progress for individuals suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and childhood obesity,” said Tony Rizzuto, chair of the department of Architecture at Kennesaw State. “His research has had a transformative impact on the field of healthcare design, one that we can all benefit from.”
In 2014, Finn founded his own consulting and design firm, Cognitive Design, LLC. In 2016, he left Perkins+Will to pursue his own practice full time.
Read original story in KSU Magazine
KSUarch Department staff, faculty, students and alumni serve as jurors for AIA competition
April 10, 2017
Last week, KSUarch Chair, Dr. Tony Rizzuto, served as a juror for AIA Atlanta's (American Institute of Architects) 12th Annual High School Student Design Competition. Also serving as jurors were current KSUarch first year student, Neil Isaiah Requina Capangpangan, who won the competition last year, alumni Jereme Smith and Adam Lamb and part-time faculty, John Busby.
Jurors have selected winners for two projects, a pavilion and a library. The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony on Tuesday, April 11th at the College of Design at Georgia Tech.
For more information about the competition, please visit: www.aiaatl.org/hssdc
Click on the photos below to enlarge.
Brandon Aultman to Represent KSU at CriticalMASS
April 3, 2017
The department has just nominated thesis student, Brandon Aultman, to represent Kennesaw State University at the CriticalMASS Symposium Competition at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Aultman will be traveling there next week and will present his thesis "Scalar Resiliency in the Age of Disruption", making this the first time in KSU history to participate in the competition.
About
CriticalMass started in 2002. It was the idea of a handful of thesis students wishing to share thesis project work with other schools of architecture from the Southeast Region. At that time, the students were interested in the idea of place and region, and the event sought to bring diverse projects from different institutions together so that the students could share, and perhaps understand, what commonalities might be present in their final project work.
The students themselves identified and invited international and national architects and critics to discuss the work and to give an evening presentation. These critics have varied over the past ten years, from those interested in regionalism to those that were launching practices on a more global scale. In all cases, the critics invited reflected the student's interests and the work they had been exposed to in UNCC’s School of Architecture curriculum.
From the efforts of that first handful of students, CriticalMASS has fostered a tradition of collaboration and exploration across schools of architecture. Year after year, the event continues to inspire students to reach across institutional boundaries and come together with shared interests; no other such forum for cross-institution student interaction and learning currently exists.
With coordination from a selected student committee and hard work from student volunteers and faculty advisors, each Spring CriticalMASS hosts a series of presentations and discussions from selected students and Distinguished Guests. Each project that is presented responds to a unifying theme but explores architectural ideas and issues independently through the lenses of technical methods, urban design, and theory.
CriticalMASS Student presentations will take place on April 7th from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. This year's Distinguished Visiting Critic is Jenny Wu of Oyler Wu Collaborative.
NOMAS Hosts Guest Lecturer, Nicole Hilton
Last night, the KSU Chapter of NOMAS (National Association of Minority Architecture Students) hosted guest lecturer, Nicole Hilton, an Architect Partner at ColeHil Architects.Ms. Hilton is a native of Austin, Texas and the founding Partner and Design Architect of ColeHil. An alumnus of Louisiana State University, she is honored to be recognized as the first African American female graduate of the LSU School of Architecture to become a licensed architect.
In addition to her architectural design expertise, Ms. Hilton advocates for diversity and inclusion within the design profession and design excellence. She is currently serves on the AIA Georgia Board and is an active member of the NOMA Atlanta Chapter.
Results: 3-Minute Thesis Competition
Congratulations to the winners of this year's 3-Minute Thesis Competition, sponsored by Cooper, Carry & Associates!
- 1st Place: Damari Weaver ($1,250)
- Runner-up: Jonne Smith ($750)
- People's Choice: Joey (Tony) Rodriguez ($500)
- Honorable Mentions: Katrina Alano & Jacob Matherly ($250, $250)
-
2016
Results: 2016 Integrated Design Studio Competition
December 6, 2016
On December 5, 2016 the Department of Architecture hosted the Integrative Design Studio Competition. The project was to design a new office for the American Institute of Architects and the Atlanta City Studio downtown. Students dealt with complex urban issues, building tectonics and assembly, as well as creating strong concepts.
Competition Results
First Place Overall: Brandon Arroyo + Lee Martin
Second Place Overall: Devin Perkey + Farhaan Samnani
Third Place Overall: Will Myers + Didier Porter
Honorable Mention: Joel Lee + Matt McKim4th Year External Jurors:
Ed Akins, KSU Jury Chair
Kevin Bacon, Atlanta City Studio
Chris Yueh, AIA
Missy Bower, AIA
Craig Mendel, Leasing Agent for AIA
Gary Coursey, Gary B. Coursey & Associates
Brian Sudduth, Gary B. Coursey & AssociatesAll four winning teams were invited to exhibit their work at the Atlanta City Studio at Ponce City Market Exhibition. The exhibition opens on Tuesday, January 24th and closes Saturday, February 25th.
Viewing hours during that period are Tuesday - Friday: 10am - 8pm and Saturday 11am - 7pm.
Built in 3D
September 7, 2016
With their hands on the pulse of New York’s construction industry, Chris Stailey and Jacob Mashburn have worked on some of the city’s top building projects such as the World Trade Center, Madison Square Garden and Hudson Yards.
The 2010 architecture graduates say they feel like a valuable and vital enterprise in the city’s regrowth, a huge boon to the city 15 years after the terrorist attacks of 9/11.
Stailey and Mashburn, fellow college classmates in Southern Polytechnic State’s architecture program, were enticed to New York City after graduation by job prospects during the economic recession. The pair worked for an electrical contracting firm for several years before launching their own construction engineering firm, Agon Coordination, in 2013.
“Our company is on the engineering side of construction,” said Stailey. Their firm specializes inBuilding Information Modeling (BIM), an intelligent 3D model-based process that provides insight to help plan, design, construct and manage buildings and infrastructure.
Agon – named for the suffix of shapes – provides BIM coordination. Their firm is one of only a handful of companies in the nation that specialize in a cohesive approach to BIM.
“It’s a very niche market and one of the reasons why we are succeeding is because there are not many people who do it,” said Mashburn. Agon is striving to be the one-stop shop for coordinating all of the building’s systems such as electrical, mechanical and plumbing.
The Agon team works as consultants between the general contractor and owner at the early design phases of building to ensure that the architect’s and designer’s needs are vetted and work with the various systems. Once the architect produces a 3D model of the building, Agon’s role is to “fill” the building, using 3D modeling, with each of the imperative systems.
“We are like the quarterback who ensures that everything goes as planned,” Mashburn said. “We understand architectural code and we are able to communicate that to the trades.”
The pair, along with a third owner, count the World Trade Center reconstructions, Hudson Yards, Pier 17 and facilities at both Columbia and New York universities among their credentials.
The World Trade Center projects, which are among the most recognizable construction projects in the past century, encompass four high-rise towers, a transit hub and a memorial for the lost. The Agon team recently provided coordination support for the retail components of Towers 1 and the transportation hub.
“The World Trade Center has been one of our biggest moments early in our careers,” Stailey said, smiling. “But what a job to learn on.” Because the technology embedded within the buildings is classified, the Agon team had to obtain security clearance to work on the projects.
“At our last company, we became the team that stepped in to take care of the major problems. We quickly became the face of the company we were working for,” Mashburn said about deciding to start their own company.
Their Southern roots – both Stailey and Mashburn are originally from Cobb County – are infused in their company values, with a handshake providing their promise of integrity on project completion.
“With our training and the way we were taught at Southern Poly, we take a comprehensive approach when we look at buildings. We think about it conceptually and spatially and find real-world solutions."
Agon plans to expand their company into the Atlanta construction market, and have recently hired a 2014 Kennesaw State architecture graduate to join their team. The company has four full-time and four-part time employees.
Stailey added, “We may have strayed from architecture, but we’ve taken our knowledge and spread it into another field. Architecture is relevant to what we do every day.”
Original story | Story written by Tiffany Capuano; photo by Agon Coordination
Annual Portfolio Prize Winners
August 16, 2016
The Department of Architecture is pleased to announce the winners of the annual Portfolio Prize. Each year, students seeking entry into the upper division of the B.ARCH program submit a portfolio of work as part of the documentation for consideration. This recognition goes to those students whose 2nd year portfolios scored highest among their peers.
4th Place: Timothy Austin Huntley
3rd Place: Jeremy Bowen
2nd Place: Joshua Robinson
1st Place: Diego Vazquez
Congratulations to the winners*! Their exemplary portfolios represent years of hard work and dedication and set the standard for expectations here at KSU. To view these portfolios and the top portfolios from 2015 please visit Portfolio Examples.
*The department would like to note that 1st place winner Diego Vazquez' name was unfortunately not listed in the announcement made at the kick-off meeting.
Photo: From the portfolio of Diego Vazquez
New Faculty Announcements
August 9, 2016
The following full-time faculty will be joining the Department of Architecture this fall.
Dr. Arash Soleimani
Dr. Soleimani received his Ph.D. in Planning, Design and the Built Environment from Clemson University’s School of Architecture, where he also received a Certificate of Digital Ecologies. He has a Master of Architectural Design from the University of Nottingham, Department of Architecture in Nottingham U.K. and a Bachelor of Architectural Engineering from the Art University of Isfahan, School of Architecture, Isfahan, Iran.
He has taught at UNC Charlotte and Clemson University and published numerous articles on his research that focuses on human-computer interaction and designing cyber-physical and tangible environments. His project Cyber-PLAYce is a Cyber-Physical-Spatial learning environment promoting young learner’s computational thinking and explores the potential relationships between architecture, computer science and education. He will be teaching in the Environmental Technology sequence and Studio.
Dr. Giovanni Loreto
Dr. Loreto is currently finishing his second Post Doctorate at Georgia Tech, this follows his previous Post-Doctorate from the University of Miami. He received his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the Universita degli Studi di Napoli ‘Federico II in Naples Italy, where he also received the Laurea (BS/MS, 5-year degree) in Architectural and Construction Engineering.
He has taught at Georgia Tech, Univ. of Miami and Universita degli Studi di Napoli. His numerous published articles address his research on sustainable construction materials, structural performance evaluation and advanced composite materials for reinforced concrete and masonry structures. He will be teaching in the Architecture Structures sequence and Studio.
Zamila Karimi
Professor Karimi holds a Post-Graduate Master of Architecture, Cultural Mediations and Technology from McGill University in Montreal Canada, a Master of Fine Arts, Interior Design from the University of Georgia and a 5-year B.ARCH degree from SCI-ARC in Los Angeles.
She has taught at KSU/SPSU and the University of Georgia. She is also Principal of Connexion Gallery-Design Studio. She has had numerous solo exhibitions and curatorial positions and her current work focuses on tactical urbanism installations. She will be teaching Studio, Thesis Prep and in the Urbanism sequence.
Dr. Selen Okcu
Dr. Okcu holds a Ph.D. in Architecture, Culture and Behavior for Georgia Tech, a Master of Science in Computer-Aided Architectural Design and a Bachelor of Architecture both from Istanbul Technical University in Istanbul Turkey.
Dr. Okcu has taught at KSU, SPSU, NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton VA, Georgia Tech and Istanbul Technical University and has published numerous articles on soundscapes and the impact of noise on spatial and psychological perception. Her research seeks to develop new workflows in both education and practice that bring principles of the environment to bear in all aspects of the design process through stages of informed decision making. She will be teaching in the Design Communication sequence, Studio and Orientation to Architecture/Learning Community.
Architecture Immersion: Incoming first-year students get early introduction to studio culture
August 2, 2016
As students transition from high school to college, a unique summer intensive program has given nearly 80 incoming first-year students a sneak peek into the architecture program at Kennesaw State. The three-week introductory program, called the Summer Design Workshop, acclimates new students to the studio design experience.
“Many students come here with the idea that architecture is about ornamentation, or decoration only, and they don’t really know what is involved,” explained architecture professor Saleh Uddin, who coordinated the summer program for the Department of Architecture. “This workshop is the total experience. They become familiar with studio culture and learn the instructional methods that will be used over the next five years.”
Students explored 2D design with simple geometric composition to “learn the visual language of architecture,” said Uddin. Students quickly progressed to 3D design, using several techniques to explore surface-to-volume theories, and sketched free-hand observation drawings. Students worked with tools of the trade, such as rulers and proportion scales, to move their ideas from paper to scaled models.
“The workshop gave me a chance to explore architecture, and allowed me to be open minded to a different way of design,” said Justin Fant, who worked as a golf pro for six years before seeking a new career path at Kennesaw State. “I would be lost without this type of introduction.”
Besides lectures and hands-on studio time, the intensive study provided students with daily feedback and critiques of their work, coined a “deskcrit,” from among the seven faculty who worked one-on-one with students. Critique is an essential part of the architecture program, explained Tony Rizzuto, chair of the architecture department at Kennesaw State.
“The faculty really push you, but it’s for a good reason. They provide great critiques, and I have learned different perspectives,” said Jashalynn Maddox of Warner Robbins. “That first week transformed me.”
The Summer Design Workshop is a non-credit, non-graded immersive study that is optional for new students. A majority of first-year architecture students elect to participate in the workshop, now in its ninth year.
“The summer workshop is designed to help ease the transition from high school to our architectural education program,” Rizzuto said. “Collegiate expectations are very different, and even more so for architecture.”
While some students may have taken computer-aided design or drafting courses in high school, this is the first foray into architecture for most students, Rizzuto added.
“I like hands-on better than sitting through lectures all day,” said Zaria Graham of Sandy Springs about her workshop experience. “I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I am glad I came. It gave me a heads-up on what will be expected in studio, what the workload will be like and how much effort and time I’ll need to put in.”
Students gained skills in manipulating their designs and reworking their ideas. They were able to digitally test their designs using software, as well as draw sketches and construct models using a variety of materials.
All of these elements came together at the final presentation and exhibition for parents on the last day of the workshop, Uddin explained.
Beyond the studio session, first-year students learned about time management, work ethic and meeting deadlines, but were also provided tips and advice from about 20 senior students, including members of three architectural student organizations, including the American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS), Alpha Rho Chi Fraternity – Polyidus Chapter (APX) and the National Organization of Minority Architecture Students (NOMAS), who volunteered their time to help the first-year students.
“I like that we had the opportunity to meet people, scholastically and socially, ahead of time,” said Caleb Hester of Lawrenceville.
Students worked alongside each other on projects, ate meals together and became acquainted with their future classmates.
“Our architecture students now have a better understanding of the fundamentals of design, composition and drawing, which is the synthesis of the whole three weeks they’ve spent working together,” Uddin said.
Original story | Story written by Tiffany Capuano; photo by Lauren Lopez de Azua
KSU Architecture students featured in AIA Georgia's Citizen Architect Magazine
July 22, 2016
Click image to read.
KSU Hosts The National STEM Guitar Project
July 1, 2016
This past week, the Kennesaw State University Department of Architecture hosted The National STEM Guitar Project. Program participants, including local high school and technical college STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) teachers, spent five days in the Architecture Wood Fabrication Shop working on custom electric guitar design/build projects.
About
The National STEM Guitar Project, in partnership with NSF Advanced Technological Education (ATE) Centers with funding provided through a grant from The National Science Foundation (#1304405), hosts innovative Guitar Building Institutes around the United States. The 5-day institutes, combined with additional instructional activities comprising 80 hours, provide faculty training on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) for middle, high school, and post-secondary faculty. The institutes present and teach participants hands-on, applied learning techniques to help engage students and spark excitement for learning STEM subject matter. Read more
Photos by James Huntington Cordero | More photos
Incoming KSU Architecture Student Builds 26′ Replica of the Titanic
Article Featured in Suwanee Magazine
June 29, 2016
Alex Ross, age 18, just graduated from North Gwinnett High School and is heading to Kennesaw State University in the Architecture Program beginning fall of 2016. Like many other graduating seniors, he is excited to spend this summer hanging out with friends and getting ready for college. But, unlike his classmates, he will be completing a project that has been four years in the making: a 26 foot long model of the Titanic ship. The impressive structure currently resides in Ross’ basement but will soon be moving to the new North Gwinnett Arts Association (NGAA) Center for the Arts in mid- July.
NGAA’s facility in Suwanee Town Center, is the hub of our art community, offering art school, workshops, classes, space for artists to work and display their creations, summer camps, parents nights out and more. It is dedicated to celebrating and promoting our local art culture and to giving both children and adults the resources to pursue the arts. Vickie Johnson, NGAA President, first heard about Alex Ross from Corey Holdrich, Stylist at Hairllucinations Salon. While Ross was getting his hair cut from Corey he showed him pictures of his Titanic project. Holdrich was so impressed and knew it was something that had to be shared with the community, particularly his friend/client Vickie Johnson. “When Corey first told me about it I had no idea how huge this was until I actually saw the pictures…it’s very impressive and I’m so excited to have it in our Center!” Vickie said.
Ross first became interested in the history, magnitude, beauty and tragedy of the Titanic after learning about it in his 7th grade class. At that point his parents bought him a small-scale Titanic model kit; which was admittedly fun to build, but he had much grander plans in mind. During his freshman year of high school those plans started becoming a reality. Ross built the model from historic blueprints of the actual ship. “One time I threw out the entire front section of the ship (and hours of work) because it wasn’t perfect. I want it to be as historically accurate as possible… it’d be really cool if it even ended up in a museum one day,” he said. Ross uses everyday resources to construct the display, including tools such as: cardboard, wire, popsicle sticks, wood, LED lights, electrical wiring, modeling clay and paint. He is resourceful and economical with his tools. “I first started building it from a pile of Amazon boxes I found in the basement,” he said. “Now whenever my parents get something shipped to the house they throw the box down the stairs for me,” he continued. He painstakingly details every aspect of the ship: inside and out. The original ship was covered in rivets, and when his model is complete there will be close to 50,000 hand-created rivets on it… each individual dot made with glue. He has added cracks and splinters in the ship deck in the exact location where the Titanic split before sinking. Inside the model ship he has added tile flooring, staircases, lighting, seats tables, doorways, railings and other details – all based on actual photos of the Titanic.
“It’s hard to say exactly how many hours I’ve spent on this project,” Ross said. “But I started my freshman year of high school and during the school year would probably spend 2-3 hours/day on average and much more time during the summers. There were times in the summer when I’d spend all day working on it,” he admitted. The hours have already started to pay off. When applying for the Architecture Program at Kennesaw State, Ross submitted photos of the ship and the University staff had never seen anything like it. He is now excited to pursue his passion at the next level. “Hopefully this will evolve into a really cool career…I would love to build buildings or even the inside of ships,” he said. The NGAA will be hosting an open house reception when the model ship is moved to their Center for the Arts. For more information about the North Gwinnett Arts Association, visit www.ngaa4arts.com.
Original Article in Suwanee Magazine
KSU Architecture Professor Exhibits at the Venice Biennale
June 27, 2016
Being invited to show artwork at Venice's Biennale would be considered a career highlight by many, and two Atlanta-based artists are among those holding that honor.
The bi-annual contemporary visual art and architecture exhibition opened among the canals and plazas of the Italian city in late May. The work of William Carpenter, architect and founder of design firm Lightroom, and sculptor Bojana Ginn, titled "Presence," is currently on exhibit at the famed event.
"In this collaboration, what we've really tried to do is elevate both of our games, both of our approaches," Carpenter says, referring to the combination of Ginn's work with light, projection and sculpture along with his own architectural elements. "We're really trying to redefine the normal practice of architecture and move [...] into the fine arts."
Both Carpenter and Ginn called the invitation to exhibit work at the Biennale an honor, though one that presented challenges. The pair raised funds through local gallery owners and patrons to make the trip to Italy, but also required research and trial-and-error in getting the work there.
"We were a little bit ..." Ginn hesitates, "should I say scared? Because we were preparing work for something that is across the Atlantic."
Ultimately, "Presence" traveled to Venice packed into suitcases.
"There was so much work involved," Ginn says, "that I feel that right now after everything is done [that] I can actually look back and see what happened."
Once the work of putting their exhibition was through, however, Ginn thrilled at the experience of attending the exhibit.
"Just walking endless hours from one exhibition to another," she says, "like a kid in a candy shop … it was overwhelming. "
Original article | Article written by Myke Johns; photo by Lapid Photography
Athens Banner-Herald: Athens native named top 10 in architecture competition
May 17, 2016
CACM Faculty Attend the 2016 Design Communication Association European Conference in Istanbul
May 15, 2016
KSU Architecture and Construction Management faculty recently attended the DCA European Conference, hosted by Ozyegin University in Istanbul, Turkey May 11-14, 2016.
Dr. Saleh Uddin, KSU Professor of Architecture, co-chaired the conference, while additional College faculty members also contributed heavily, including publishing seven papers, conducting two workshops, participating in the paper review committee and editing the proceedings.
KSU Faculty Contributions
Conference Co-Chair: M. Saleh Uddin (Department of Architecture, Kennesaw State of University)
Proceedings Editor: M. Saleh Uddin (Department of Architecture, Kennesaw State of University)
Paper Session Moderators: Chris Welty, Ameen Farooq, Marietta Monaghan, Tim Frank (Department of Architecture, Kennesaw State of University)
Workshop Presenter: M. Saleh Uddin and Chris Welty “Moving Entourage in Architectural Animation” (Department of Architecture, Kennesaw State of University)
Workshop Presenter: Tim Frank “Ecological Design Simulation” (Department of Architecture, Kennesaw State of University)
Member of Paper Review Committee: Mine Hashas and M. Saleh Uddin (Department of Architecture, Kennesaw State of University)
Authors of published papers in the printed proceedings or paper presenter: Ameen Farooq, Hussein Abaza, Marietta Monaghan, M. Saleh Uddin, Tim Frank (Department of Architecture, Kennesaw State of University)
Conference Introductory and Concluding Address: M. Saleh Uddin (Department of Architecture, Kennesaw State of University)
Paper Titles
"Precedent Study: A design Inhibitor or Facilitator in Design Foundation", Ameen Farooq (Department of Architecture, Kennesaw State of University)
"Marietta High School’s Haiti Restoration and Reclamation Container Building Research Project", Marietta Monaghan (Department of Architecture, Kennesaw State of University)
"Marietta High School Haiti Container Project", Theodore Grosch, Leon Grant, Marietta Monaghan, Marcellus Pitts (Kennesaw State Univ., Marietta School District, Kennesaw State Univ., Fowler-Pitts Associates)
"Threat Mitigation through Design: Designing out threat in educational environment", AKM Zahidul Islam, Univ of North Texas, M. Saleh Uddin
"Interdisciplinary Collaborative Project at a Polytechnic: A High Hurdles Race", Leslie G. Hankey, M. Saleh Uddin (Department of Digital Writing and Media Arts, Kennesaw State University; Department of Architecture, Kennesaw State of University)
"International Collaboration for Teaching GIS in Afghanistan", Hussein Abaza, Charner Rodgers (Department of Construction Management, Kennesaw State of University)
"Mapping Atmosphere: Sketching the Ambient Qualities of Islamic Space", Tim Frank (Department of Architecture, Kennesaw State of University)
Marietta Daily Journal: Architecture student earns national award for sustainable design
May 8, 2016
Eco Design: Architecture student earns national award for sustainable design
April 28, 2016
Laura Sherman was working in her Integrated Design Studio class last semester when she stumbled upon a call for entries in The American Institute of Architects (AIA) student design competition that seemed perfectly suited to her latest architecture project.
Her design was selected recently by the AIA Committee on the Environment (AIA COTE), in partnership with the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA), as one of 10 recipients of the AIA COTE Top Ten for Students.
The national competition, now in its second year, recognizes 10 exceptional studio projects that fuse innovative, regenerative strategies within broader architectural design concepts. Sherman’s project was selected based on her integrated approach to architecture, natural systems and technology.
Her project, "O2O4W: Oxygen House in the Old Fourth Ward District", proposes a new facility on the site of the soon-to-be-demolished Martin Luther King Jr. Natatorium in Atlanta. The MLK Natatorium was a social and activity hub for the surrounding neighborhoods but was determined to be structurally unsound. As part of their studio design proposals, students were required to introduce a new community amenity, along with a center for lung health and well-being, explained Edwin Akins, associate professor of architecture, who teaches the Integrated Design Studio course in the College of Architecture and Construction Management at Kennesaw State.
To meet the requirements, Sherman’s design included a community room, an outdoor pool with supporting facilities, a childcare center, an extension of the existing gymnasium and a public café. As part of the studio course, students were asked to combine a lung cancer or asthma consultation clinic with their public outreach programs.
Sherman explained that this was very difficult because the programs introduced dissimilar requirements for private and public spaces.
“The goal was to design this space to complement each other,” Sherman said. “A community center is very social and open to the public, and as a counterpoint, a lung cancer clinic should have privacy and limited access.”
The ground-level community center that she designed acts as a pillar to the upper-level consultation clinic by providing community support and awareness, she explained.
“This project was about balancing many things: technology, sustainability and the structure of the building. I also had to consider how it feels to be a cancer patient or a resident of a neighborhood,” she added.
To meet the requirements of the AIA competition, Sherman’s project had to meet some additional criteria, which Sherman worked on between semesters with the help of faculty mentor Edwin Akins, who helped her to refine some of the technical aspects.
“Laura’s work was clearly a synthesis of content from multiple courses into one studio project,” said Akins. “She skillfully maneuvered her work through multiple scales to capture the experiences and technical documentation of a truly exceptional design proposal.”
Akins said that Laura and her classmates were a strong group who integrated their passion for learning and environmental stewardship into their assigned projects.
“I am so proud of her work and the work of all of our students in the Architecture department. They are a committed and talented group of young adults who are proving to be true leaders in the field,” he said.
The AIA competition program challenged students to submit projects that provide architectural solutions to protect and enhance the environment. Sherman said that the most interesting part of creating for the AIA competition – and architecture, in general – was trying to solve a complex problem through design.
“There is no perfect solution to any design problem,” she added. “It just engages you in being creative.”
The Athens, Georgia native, whose mother worked as an architect at the University of Georgia, first learned that she wanted to study architecture while in high school, when she attended the Georgia Governor’s Honors Program for visual arts. There, she recalled how much she enjoyed “making spaces.”
Sherman’s work has been honored a few times this year, leading up to the top AIA student award. She earned first place in the department’s comprehensive design studio awards at Kennesaw State.
Sherman and two of her classmates were also the only three students in Georgia honored by the 2016 AIA Georgia Design and Honor Awards for their innovative design work. In addition to the Merit Award, Sherman also earned the People’s Choice Award for her project.
Katrina Alano earned an Honor Award for her project, “The Oxygen Pavilion,” and William Lentjes, earned a Merit Award for his work, “International Living Future Institute: South-East Headquarters.”
Sherman’s honored work will be on view at the AIA Annual Convention in Philadelphia in May and the ACSA annual meeting in 2017.
Beyond her design work, Sherman is a Goldgeier Scholar, which provides an annual scholarship award to a deserving architecture student at Kennesaw State. She also is the recipient of three other scholarships, including the James G. Fausett Scholarship, the AIA Dorothy P. Spence Scholarship, and is the first recipient of the Jeremy Smith Memorial Scholarship.
Because of Sherman’s desire to give back, she recently led a group of architecture students in hosting a fundraising event, which raised several thousand dollars during the Jeremy Smith Scholarship Fund Napkin Sketch Gallery Auction.
Original story | Story written by Tiffany Capuano; photo by David Caselli
Recent KSU Architecture graduate to teach workshop at ACADIA Conference 2016
April 26, 2016Hakim Hasan, (KSU Architecture, B.ARCH 2015) will be teaching a workshop entitled “Design Space Construction – Defining, optimizing, and communicating performance-based building design spaces” at the upcoming ACADIA (Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture) Conference, to be held at the University of Michigan Taubman College in Ann Arbor, Michigan, October 27 - 29, 2016. Hasan will be representing Perkins + Will, where he currently works as an Architect for their Atlanta firm.
For more information about the conference, visit: 2016.acadia.org
Sponsors for the 13th Annual Jim Fausett Golf Classic Announced
April 1, 2016
Presenting Sponsor:
CDH Partners
Dean’s List Sponsors:
A.D.E. Builders, Inc.
Jim FausettHonor Roll Sponsor:
David A. English Architect, PC
Patron Sponsor:
Gary B. Coursey & Associates, Architects
Marx/OkuboHole in One Sponsor:
Norbord, Inc.
Million Dollar Shot Sponsors:
Aerotek
Lily BerriosTee Sponsors:
Aerotek
BRR Architecture
Adele P. Grubbs
Human Element Architects, LLC
R.A. Lee & Associates, Architects
The Sherwin-Williams Company
Comfort Keepers
Faculty of the Dept of Architecture
Smith Boland$10,000 Putting Contest Sponsor:
P. Marshall & Associates, LLC
Golf Clinic Sponsors:
Epic Response
Tony Rizzuto
Terracon Consultants, Inc.Photographer Sponsors:
Lightroom, LLC
Terracon Consultants, Inc.Beverage Cart Sponsors:
Wallace Engineering Structural Consultants, Inc.
Shull and Associates, Inc.
KSU Architecture Students Dominate the 2016 AIA Georgia Design & Honor AwardsMarch 30, 2016
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) Georgia has announced the finalists for their 2016 Design & Honor Awards, and KSU Architecture students have proudly claimed all three finalist spots in the “Student Projects” category. The projects include:
“International Living Future Institute: South-East Headquarters” | William Lentjes
“The Oxygen Pavillion” | Katrina Alano
“O2O4W: Oxygen House in the Old Fourth Ward District” | Laura Sherman
In addition, KSU Architecture Professor, Bill Carpenter, was selected as a finalist in the "Design + Innovation, Built Projects" category, for his project “Paty Modern” for Lightroom.
All of the finalists were nominated for the “People’s Choice” award, along with a project from a fourth KSU Architecture student, Brandon Aultman, for his project, “O4W Oxygen House”.
KSU ARCH Students Participate in TSA State Leadership Conference
March 20, 2016
Ten Kennesaw State University Architecture students and Assistant Architecture Professor, Tim Frank, participated in the Technology Student Association (TSA) State Leadership Conference (SLC), held at The Classic Center in Athens, Georgia March 16 - 19, 2016.
During the conference, KSU students mentored middle and high school students interested in science, technology, engineering, arts or mathematics (STEAM) career paths, as well as their advisors. The KSU participants also judged competitive events, including fashion, photography, CAD drawing, architectural renovation and video game design.
Participation in the TSA SLC provided the College a great opportunity to interact with high and middle school students from all over the state who display self-drive and motivation in the areas of design and technology.
KSU Participants (Architecture students):
Huy Ho
Dyesha Holmes
Zach Janick
Katie Masters
Christian Newman
Andres Perez
Clay Reid
Josh Robinson
Phillip Sanders
Darral Tate
ArchiTour 2016: KSU ARCH Students Visit Chicago
March 20, 2016
This semester, KSU’s Architecture students decided to visit Chicago as part of the Department of Architecture’s ArchiTours Program. Dr. Setiawan and seventeen students spent three days (March 17 - 20) exploring and analyzing architecture in the windy city.
Kimballs Pledge to Endow Travel Scholarship for KSU Architecture Students
March 11, 2016
On March 11, 2016, Julie and Jim Kimball of Canton joined in a signing ceremony with College of Architecture and Construction Management Dean, Rich Cole, to formalize their philanthropic commitment to benefit students in the Department of Architecture. Julie and Jim are in the process of fulfilling a pledge to endow a travel scholarship to assist deserving architecture students to travel on domestic or international study abroad programs sanctioned through the Architecture Department. Also participating in the signing ceremony was son Jason Kimball, BArch 2008.
3-Minute Thesis Competition Results
March 4, 2016
JudgesJudges
Rick Fredlund (Cooper Cary), Alex Paulson (Randall-Paulson), Lisa Tuttle (Fulton County Public Arts), Mike Wittenstein (Storyminers), Julie Newell (KSU) and Todd Harper (KSU)
Awards
Finalist: Landon Clark ($1,000)
Summer Travel Awards: Paa Kwesi Amponsah ($600) and Asta Varneckience ($400)
People's Choice: Kris Goettig ($200)Sponsored by:
Cooper Carry, Inc.; Randall-Paulson Architects; and College of Architecture
Photo showing architecture student 3-Minute Thesis Competition participants (left to right): Jonathan McConnell, P.K. Amponsah, Jun Xu, Landon Clark, Asta Varneckience, Kushal Patel, Kris Goettig, Michael Diaz, and James Logan Patterson.
Announcing the 13th Annual Jim Fausett Golf Classic
Registration is now open for the 13th Annual Jim Fausett Golf Classic on Monday, April 4th, at the prestigious TPC Sugarloaf Golf Course and Country Club.
This Greg Norman designed course is Home of the PGA Senior Open.
Proceeds from registration go to the Jim Fausett Foundation, which provides scholarships to deserving students in the Department of Architecture at Kennesaw State University.
Middle School Students Try Their Hands at City Planning
Fifth Year Focus Studio Exhibition: January 20-29, 2016
Forum: January 20th | DII Auditorium | 4pm
Opening Reception: January 20th | Gallery | 6pmThe annual Focus Studio is an intrinsic part of the professional core of the Architecture Program and is designed to foster a strong relationship between the program, our students, and the profession as a whole. The Fifth-Year Focus Studios are intended to introduce the student to design research and its application, while adhering to creativity, critical thinking, processes of making and constructability. Each Focus Studio is unique. As such, it is imperative that each Focus Studio Critic have the academic freedom to establish his or her own studio culture, pedagogy, and evaluation criteria for the work being produced in his or her own studio. The upcoming Forum and Exhibition will unfold the work of three Focus Studios during Fall 2016.
Faculty:
Brian Buckner | WUNDERKUMER
Elizabeth Martin | Architecture of Alterity
Patrick Chopson, Sandeep AHUJA | Living BuildingQuestions? Contact Focus Studio Coordinator, Dr. Pegah Zamani: pzamani@kennesaw.edu
Alumni in the News
Architecture Alumni Matt Finn publishes article “Choose Honest Materials that Agree with the Sense” in Behavioral Healthcare.
http://www.behavioral.net/article/choose-honest-materials-agree-senses
Urban Blanket
Kennesaw State University’s architecture students latest design innovation, “Urban Blanket” is installed at Centurgy in Midtown. A “public space for lounging, flirting and working” it is constructed from HI-MACS, an environmentally friendly material often used for kitchen countertops, the blanket is a molded architectural platform that stretches 12 feet by 12 feet in a continuous surface or landscape, making it ideal for lounging. The Urban Blanket demonstrates that urban space can be upgraded and appropriate for the digital age. The work will remain at Centurgy until July 24th 2015.
Summer Design Workshop
Incoming Architecture Students started the Summer Design Workshop on July 13th. This three-week head start program introduces students to studio culture, basic design concepts, tools, techniques and processes of design and, as well as providing introductory lectures and videos on Architecture. Students will also meet and work with the various student organizations AIAS, APX NOMAS and SGA. An exhibition and opening reception of student work will be held in the Architecture Gallery July 29 from 4:30-6:00pm.
Teaser Widget (no photo) Teaser Title Teaser Content Teaser Links Summer Design Workshop Incoming Architecture Students started the Summer Design Workshop on July 13th. This three-week head start program introduces students to studio culture, basic design concepts, tools, techniques and processes of design and, as well as providing introductory lectures and videos on Architecture. Students will also meet and work with the various student organizations AIAS, APX NOMAS and SGA. An exhibition and opening reception of student work will be held in the Architecture Gallery July 29 from 4:30-6:00pm. Teaser Widget (no photo) Teaser Title Teaser Content Teaser Links Study Abroad Architecture students and faculty took their studies abroad this summer. Professors Akins and Martin taught students in Paris and Edinburgh respectively, as part of the European Council Study Abroad program. Professor Carroll took a group of students on an ArchiTour to Barcelona and Dr. Shpuza again took students to Dessau as part of the Germany exchange program. Teaser Widget (no photo) Teaser Title Teaser Content Teaser Links Faculty News Faculty from the Department of Architecture have been presenting their research in conferences around the world this summer. Dr. Shpuza presented ‘Migration of Syntactic Core during City Growth’ at the 10th Annual Space Syntax symposium in London and ‘The Effect of Terrain on Topological Characteristics of Street Networks’ at the 22nd International Seminar on Urban Form in Rome Italy.
Professor Frank presented his paper ‘Envisioning Our First-Principles Predecessors: The Legacy of Climatization within Ancient Anatolian Structures’ at the EAEA 12 Conference in Lodz Poland. Dr. Hashas attended the Study Space Warsaw Workshop in Warsaw Poland. Professor Dytoc presented ‘Graphic Learning Strategies to motivate Structures Education’ at the 5th Annual International Conference on Architecture in Athens Greece. Dr. Zamani presented a paper in Brighton England at the European Conference on Sustainability, Energy and the Environment.
