The architecture programs at Parsons The New School for Design and Clemson University have been selected as 2014 NCARB Award recipients for developing innovative curricula that merge practice and education.
The National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) announced the recipients at the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) Administrators Conference.
The NCARB Award supports initiatives at architectural schools that will have a long-term impact on students, faculty, and curriculum. It is designed to help schools implement new programs that bridge the gap between practice and education in a classroom, seminar, or studio setting.
“The award honors innovative ways for weaving practice and academy together to address real-world architecture challenges,” said NCARB CEO Michael J. Armstrong. “The winning proposals for 2014 explore new paradigms of practice and move students from the theoretical to applied practices working with licensed practitioners.”
2014 NCARB Award Recipients
Program: Clemson University, School of Architecture—Clemson, S.C.
Proposal: “Graduate Program in Architecture + Health”
Total Award: $30,000
The mission of the project is to advance health care facility design through collaboration among architects, academia and members of the healthcare industry. The primary outcome will be to expose a cohort of architecture and health (A+H) Master of Architecture students—through three integrated courses within the A+H Curriculum—to the challenges of designing health care settings that support the delivery of high quality, cost effective, culturally relevant health care for medically under-served populations.
“This project’s social capacity is far-reaching,” said Wendy Ornelas, FAIA, associate dean and professor at Kansas State University’s College of Architecture, Planning & Design, and the chair of the 2014 NCARB Award Jury. “It creates a road map for healthcare but is also a framework that is portable across all project types."
Program: Parsons The New School for Design, School of Constructed Environments—New York
Proposal: “Student-Practitioner Partnerships in Building Performance Evaluation”
Total Award: $20,232
While there is increased emphasis on sustainability, instruction on performance measurement is lacking. The proposal addresses a new and critical opportunity for architecture students to improve the environmental performance of buildings through measurement. The project involves purchasing new tools to enable students, during seven-week assignments, to work with practitioners to evaluate the real-world energy performance of buildings. Equipment purchased with the Award includes environmental meters for the measurement of temperature, humidity, air velocity, light level, sound pressure, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and other performance factors.
“Many of the buildings are LEED or net-zero buildings, and this program will provide us with a cadre of information and data on whether or not these buildings are doing what they are supposed to be doing,” Ornelas said.
The 2014 NCARB Award Jury rigorously and impartially evaluated proposals against a published set of criteria. The jury comprised architects and emerging professionals who volunteered extensive time and expertise to fulfill their charge. Led by Wendy Ornelas, FAIA, Manhattan, KS, chair of the 2013 NCARB Award Jury, members included: Michael Archer, Assoc. AIA, Brooklyn, NY; Leticia Canon, AIA, MBA, NCARB, LEED AP BD+C, Dallas, TX; John Ehrig, FAIA, LEED AP, Orlando, FL; Linaea Floden, LEED AP BD+C, Tampa, FL; Emily Forquer, NCARB, Afton, IA; and Stephen Schreiber, FAIA, Amherst, MA. (Award Jury members with any connection or potential conflict of interest abstained from voting on that school’s proposal.)
Since 2001, the Council has supported the integration of practice and education by awarding more than $900,000 to schools through the NCARB Prize (2001-2011) and the NCARB Award (2006-present; known as the NCARB Grant until 2012). These funds have reached 60 schools—representing more than a third of all NAAB-accredited degree programs.
Related Stories
| May 16, 2011
Dassault Systèmes to distribute Gehry Technologies’ digital project
Dassault Systèmes and Gehry Technologies announced that Gehry Technologies’ Digital Project products will be integrated into the Dassault Systèmes’ portfolio and distributed through Dassault Systèmes. Digital Project is a suite of 3D BIM applications created by Gehry Technologies using Dassault Systèmes’ CATIA as a core modeling engine.
| May 11, 2011
DOE releases guide for 50% more energy-efficient office buildings
The U.S. Department of Energy today announced the release of the first in a new series of Advanced Energy Design Guides to aid in the design of highly energy efficient office buildings. The 50% AEDG series will provide a practical approach to commercial buildings designed to achieve 50% energy savings compared to the commercial building energy code used in many areas of the country.
| May 10, 2011
Google hires Ingenhoven Architects to design new Mountain View office
The current Googleplex is straining at the seams and yet the company is preparing its biggest hiring surge ever, so Google decided now’s the time to build its own office space—a first for the Internet giant. The company hired Ingenhoven Architects, a German firm that specializes in sustainable architecture, to create plans for what could be a 600,000-sf office.
| May 10, 2011
Solar installations on multifamily rooftops aid social change
The Los Angeles Business Council's study on the feasibility of installing solar panels on the city’s multifamily buildings shows there's tremendous rooftop capacity, and that a significant portion of that rooftop capacity comes from buildings in economically depressed neighborhoods. Solar installations could therefore be used to create jobs, lower utility costs, and improve conditions for residents in these neighborhood.
| May 10, 2011
Dinner is now served…atop the Lincoln Memorial?
Take a look at the temporary restaurant sitting atop Brussels’ historic Arc de Triomphe-Triomfboog. The Cube, by Electrolux, offers 18 diners a spectacular view of the Parc du Cinquantenair, and is one of two structures traveling across Europe, making stops at famous landmarks in Belgium, Italy, Switzerland, Sweden, and Russia. What do you think about one of these 60-tonne structures being placed on a U.S. memorial?
| May 6, 2011
Ellerbe Becket now operating as AECOM
*/ The architecture, interiors and engineering firm Ellerbe Becket, which joined AECOM in 2009, has fully transitioned to operating as AECOM as of May 2, 2011.
| May 2, 2011
URS acquires Apptis Holdings, a federal IT service provider
SAN FRANCISCO, CA and CHANTILLY, VA– April 28, 2011 – URS Corporation and Apptis Holdings, Inc., a leading provider of information technology and communications services to the federal government, announced that they have signed a definitive agreement under which URS will acquire Apptis.
| May 2, 2011
Perkins+Will merges with Vermeulen Hind Architects, offically launches Perkins+Will Canada
Ottawa and Hamilton-based Vermeulen Hind Architects, one of Canada’s leading healthcare architectural firms, has merged with Perkins+Will. Vermeulen Hind joins Toronto-based Shore Tilbe Perkins+Will and Vancouver-based Busby Perkins+Will to create Perkins+Will Canada. The combination marks the official launch of Perkins+Will Canada, a merge that will establish the firm as among the pre-eminent interdisciplinary design practices in Canada.
| Apr 26, 2011
Ed Mazria on how NYC can achieve carbon neutrality in buildings by 2030
The New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects invited Mr. Mazria to present a keynote lecture to launch its 2030 training program. In advance of that lecture, Jacob Slevin, co-founder of DesignerPages.com and a contributor to The Huffington Post, interviewed Mazria about creating a sustainable vision for the future and how New York City's architects and designers can rise to the occasion.
