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Alumni Spotlight: Henry David Louth, BArch 2007

Art & Design, Alumni, Architecture, Alumni Profiles, ,
henry david louth zha

Henry David Louth, BArch 2007

Henry David Louth, a computational designer and design researcher at Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) London, earned his Bachelor of Architecture with honors from LSU in 2007. He spent five years in professional practice in Baton Rouge—earning his architecture license and LEED accreditation by 2011—before receiving a master’s degree from the Architectural Association Design Research Lab (DRL) in 2014. Louth has worked professionally on project types ranging from retail rollouts to university renovations to new commercial and interiors to product design, prototyping, and civic design across the U.S. and abroad. His current research in the Computation and Design Research Group (co|de) at ZHA speculates on curve crease folding (CCF) and topology optimization applications. Louth is a published research contributor in the proceedings of Symposium on Simulation for Architecture and Urban Design (SIMAUD) and has taught and presented in the United States, the United Kingdom, and India on various architectural topics ranging from sustainability to construction and geometric theory. Read more at henrydavidlouth.com.

Here, Louth talks about his career path and his work at ZHA. At the time of this interview his office was busy preparing for an exhibition on Zaha Hadid’s career in architecture and design at the Palazzo Franchetti in Venice, May 27–November 27, 2016 (fondazioneberengo.org/zaha-hadid-exhibition). The exhibition coincides with the Venice Architectural Biennale.

Q: Where did your interest in architecture originate, and how did you come to study at LSU?

I grew up in Louisiana in a small strawberry farming community with a live alligator on public display at the center of town. I owe a great deal to my parents, as they encouraged creativity as much as was within our means and proximity. From an early age, I participated in writing and art camps at the university where my father taught. Interestingly, my father would have me assemble tinker toy objects according to his students’ technical writing descriptions to grade their writing efficacy. I must have broken hundreds of pieces and never really built what was intended, likely contributing unfavorably to countless grades. I was encouraged, nonetheless, even when I believed I had failed, to craft something, anything, with what lay in front of me.

Throughout high school I worked locally for a friend of my father, who bought government surplus at auction, repaired, and resold items on eBay. I learned to repair things by doing, by tearing down ailing printers, computers, and other castaways to build them back up again with scavenged parts from other machines. Then I would do it again when the first time wasn’t successful. I was exposed to the comparative mechanics and assemblies between competing manufacturers, while troubleshooting, photographing, and keeping technical write-ups as thousands of items came and went through the doors. Now that I have a daughter, I am keenly aware that the most unlikely experiences such as these potentially shape who we become.

I went to LSU because of TOPS. [TOPS, or Taylor Opportunity Program for Students, is a program of state scholarships for Louisiana residents who attend either one of the Louisiana Public Colleges and Universities.] It was purely a financial decision. I initially started along the fine arts/graphic design curricula, but I wanted to work more with my hands. I switched to architecture at LSU the following year and have never looked back. I hope in-state financial assistance continues for future generations. Leaving undergraduate debt-free allowed me a tremendous amount of freedom and flexibility after graduation.

Q: How did you end up in London and working at Zaha Hadid?

I had always known I wanted to go to graduate school but without a core focus in mind, I worked locally at Tipton Associates, earning my license immediately and taking advantage of travel and the experience afforded through fast-track renovation work. I saw through dozens of small, fast projects, whereas my peers were working on singular projects for longer durations. I learned a great deal from Ken Tipton [principal of Tipton Associates and also an LSU architecture alumnus] and the firm and carry that knowledge with me, still, today.

My wife had more to do with London as a destination than she might take credit for. When we first started dating in 2004, she did an internship with Virgin Trains in London as part of the BUNAC program. I visited her there for a few weeks, and we grew to love the city together. We revisited London in 2008 when, by chance, I toured the Architectural Association (AA). I remember the energy exuded by this place more than any specific project or person. Thereafter, I shifted my continuing education focus more toward technologies and construction methods, taking a weekend crash course in parametric design in Grasshopper from Mode Lab with Ronnie Parsons and Gil Akos and attending a facades conference with Patrik Schumacher as speaker in New York the following year. Events such as these were instrumental in my career. As a result, I remember taking small steps and building upon the momentum, pushing with a colleague at Tipton to implement Revit, which we successfully tested on several small renovations before firm-wide rollout.

In 2011 Christin and I married, and with a bit of haste, submitted graduate applications in December to various experimental design graduate programs in the U.S. and U.K. , including the Architectural Association Design Research Lab (DRL), under the program direction of Theodore Spyropoulos of Minimaforms. [The DRL is a 16-month post-professional design program leading to a Master of Architecture (architecture and urbanism) degree. Read more about the DRL at drl.aaschool.ac.uk.] The DRL investigates digital and analog forms of computation in the pursuit of systemic, scenario, and time-based design applications. Christin likens the program to an adult Montessori school; in many ways this is an excellent parallel: mixed age, choice of research from specific range, uninterrupted studio time, discovery with materials rather than direct instruction, developing independence according to our intuitions. I think the most important takeaways from the DRL include working by iteration and soliciting feedback from our creations.

  • Working by iteration: We must be able to design such that I can exchange a step-by-step procedural history of a model with teammates such that they can repeat the process. This is how data is validated and also demystifies the process of creation. It allows us to assess the decision making process objectively in design and intervene at a given point to take the design in a different direction.
  • Soliciting feedback: Our role as designers requires that we listen and observe from context and design performance and then make a better version responding to these constraints. Theo emphasizes the act of making and has lectured extensively on this topic of communication and feedback between ourselves and the constructed world (Adaptive Ecologies).

At the DRL, we begin by listening to the potential research paths each tutor intends to extend, and we individually choose which research strand we want to pursue in each of a few short-term projects and a year-long research project. Then students self-divide into teams of four according to tutor choices to develop specific projects framed around this research agenda. Over the first three months, we have introductory “workshops,” which explore a specific material, behavior, or digital simulation method. This also allows time for students to get to know one another and try out different tutors/research paths and to change teams, if desired. I was introduced to Shajay Bhooshan, group leader at ZHA’s Computation and Design Research Group, during his introduction of a curved folding workshop the same year Arum was unveiling in Venice, in which we were asked to make a piece of furniture with pliable sheet material, folded using curvilinear patterns to make it rigid.

Curved Folding: Behind the Scenes from henry david louth on Vimeo.

From there, I continued on with Shajay as my thesis tutor, developing responses to the Thames River using the repetition of the rise and fall of the seven-plus-meter tide to participate in a material formation process using salts latent in the water to curate deposition of these particulates and thereby the formation of swimming territories and public spaces along the waterfront. I must admit, I have seen my share of salt. What most impresses me about Shajay, still, to this day, is just how invested in the profession he can be while still exploring creatively facets of the world through simulation, lectures, workshops, and ongoing PhD work. To quote Michael Caine from The Prestige, “the only way I know how he does it, is he uses a double.” Shajay introduced us to dozens of practitioners, fabricators, and academics abroad and was always thoughtful to have ZHA visitors stop by the DRL to share their contributions to the field.

 

I knew I wanted to participate in the profession in a similar way. In January 2014 my team defended our thesis work on Thames tidal landscapes, and in June 2014, I graduated from the DRL. I now work alongside Shajay in ZHA co|de .

[View Louth’s thesis presentation at aaschool.ac.uk/VIDEO/lecture.php?ID=2596.]

Q: Describe your position at ZHA. What does the Computation and Design Research Group do?

I am a computational designer and design researcher at ZHA. From the sound of it, you may think I do not draw, sketch, or make tangible objects, but this could not be farther from the truth.

  • I use abstract logic and mathematics on a daily basis.
  • I am not tethered to any particular software.
  • My second language is C#.
  • I explore geometric performance (structural principles) not building facilities performance.
  • I ask, “What if this were a façade system?” not “Which façade system should I use?”
  • I publish findings and methods contributing to a collective body of work.
  • I induce failures purposefully so others may learn from my endeavors.

Led by Shajay Bhooshan, the Computational Design Research Group (co|de) is comprised of eight members, each collectively contributing to the advancement of knowledge in a select few research strands. We are primarily interested in six core research strands at the moment:

  1. Topology optimization, material reduction methods governed by internal stress strain patterns (Ole Sigmund, ETHZ).
  2. Curve crease folding (CCF), a means to impart structural rigidity to flat sheet materials by curve fold patterning (whereas origami imparts flexibility through orthogonal patterning) (David Huffman, Ron Resch, Erik and Martin Demaine).
  3. Minimal surfaces, a special geometric set similar to soap films comprised of surfaces tending toward zero mean curvature locally (LaGrange, Frei Otto).
  4. Ruled surfaces, a special geometric set that is curved in one surface direction while linear in the other (Antoni Gaudi, Mark Burry, Felix Candela).
  5. Spatial structures, a development of novel data structures for encoding complex geometric relations (Phillipe Block, Masoud Akbarzadeh).
  6. Robotics, the exploration of material formation processes through robotic interaction.

We have a few principles at co|de.

  1. Reconnect past, forgotten, or overlooked methods of design and construction and establish a continuum, a projective future for historic techniques, for example, exploring the building potentials of the structural principles governing the historic helical stair.
  2. Make methods accessible to designers, simplified enough for us to interact and begin to understand intuitively what opportunities there might be to intervene in formative processes. An example includes the geometric method of structural calculation using graphic statics rather than numeric method for compressive structures (Block Research Group, Zurich). If you intuitively understand the processes of formation, you are more able to focus on other aspects or constraints of the design.
  3. Collaborate in an interdisciplinary way with engineering, mathematicians, computer graphics, and manufacturers. What are the formal opportunities latent in processes afforded by other disciplines? Understanding and leveraging biological phenomenon and formative processes and applying those principles to the constructed world (Shajay Bhooshan, parametricism 2.0).

We partner with manufacturers and universities including the AA Visiting School [a collaborative and global program exporting the highly international AA pedagogical approach across the world] to build prototypes to test the application of our research and continue to tune our methods for use internally on projects in a broader sense. [See AA Visiting School, Chennai.]

[The academic activities of co|de serve as a platform for various professional and academic partners to collaborate, apply exciting and contemporary research to address locally relevant issues, and to understand and assimilate traditional wisdom. The Computation and Design Research Group has been active within ZHA for nine years and has been involved in various pedagogic and research collaborations across the world. Read more at http://www.zha-code-education.org/.]

Q: Can you tell us about a couple of specific projects?

Volu

 

Images copyright Zaha Hadid Architects, http://www.zaha-hadid.com/design/volu-revolution-project-design-miami-2015/

Commissioned by Robbie Antonio for Design Miami 2015, Volu is part of the Revolution Project exploring the application of advanced design and fabrication technologies in the creation of cost-efficient living spaces.

“Defined by digital processes, the pavilion has been developed in such a way that its components are, at most, singly curved. Computer programming that integrates fabrication constraints into the design, while also incorporating engineering feedback in an iterative delivery process, enabled the development of complex and expressive forms through the single bending of flat sheet materials.

 “Comprised of a series of structural bands collecting at the spine and expanding overhead, the patterning of the pavilion’s structure and shade structures are guided by the varied structural loading conditions. Through the analysis of the geometry under load, the pavilion’s structure and skin have been digitally optimised to remove unnecessary material, resulting in the lightest possible design solution—following an organic structural logic that recreates many of the same principles found in nature.”

 —Courtesy of Zaha Hadid Architects

 I remember Patrik stopping by, dropping an ancient yellowed 3-D print on my desk, and describing rather loosely a brief of what the Volu pavilion would become. “It needs to be freestanding, movable, and made from prefabricated parts. Let’s see what you can do with it,” was basically the attitude at the time. This was how Volu was born in co|de.

We set about gathering precedents which ranged from material methods in similar scale pavilions to the more pragmatic aspects such as temporary ballasting methods as are used in removable driveway basketball goals. Simultaneously we were testing out conceptual ideas of structural organization, applying ongoing co|de research, in this case topology optimization of a base surface geometry. We tested how this pattern might be articulated in various structural conditions, such as bundled tubes of equal cross section to varied compound curved members similar to Ban’s Pompidou Metz, before settling on equal depth orthogonal members following primary stress directions for economy and speed of fabrication.

This posed the particular issue creating developability of all surfaces in the model (which is globally compound curved). We opted to develop a workflow whereby the structure was controlled using a coarse polygon to position and adjust the location of structural intersections encoding various attributes to the vertex position. This ensured we could maintain developability of surfaces, and as such, could unroll and laser-cut all of the parts for Volu.

VOLU Animation from Zaha Hadid Architects on Vimeo.

London Science Museum, Gallery for Mathematics

 

Images copyright Zaha Hadid Architects, http://www.zaha-hadid.com/architecture/mathematics-gallery-science-museum/

“The Mathematics Gallery design explores the many influences of mathematics in our everyday lives; transforming seemingly abstract mathematical concepts into an exciting interactive experience for visitors of all ages . . .. The gallery’s design will bring this remarkable story of the Handley Page biplane to life by considering the entire gallery as a wind tunnel for the aircraft which will hang in the centre of the space. Three dimensional curved surfaces representing the aircraft’s aerodynamic turbulence field describe the formal and organizational concepts that define all other aspects of the gallery. These curvilinear surfaces convey complex mathematical ideas such as vector fields with their capacity to describe constantly varying quantities.”

 —Courtesy of Zaha Hadid Architects

Co|de has been extremely fortunate in that we prepared the initial competition concept design for ZHA and continue to be involved in the design development and delivery since the project was awarded. This was the first competition project I worked on with ZHA and the co|de team, and I continue to contribute on an as-needed basis through construction here in London until opening.

Specifically I have been involved in three areas:

  1. robotic hot-wire cut bench geometry concept design and development,
  2. parametric development of folded metal interpretation elements, and
  3. ceiling concept design and engineering coordination.

In terms of the benches, the brief called for us to develop discrete zones within the space for curatorial purposes. The first realization of this was actually a partition. However, as we worked through this idea of a visual turbulence field that is traversed within, it became evident that separating such a small space physically was detrimental to the collective vantage of discrete graduated elements and severed a connection to the Handley Page plane from within the gallery. We instead looked for means to demarcate zones of space through exhibition case groupings and floor patterning and by using benches as elements of rest between zones to reflect upon exhibits and the gallery globally. In truth, I don’t recall ever being asked specifically to make a bench; it proceeded as a matter of course.

Geometrically the benches extend our research in ruled/developable surfaces and take advantage of robotics rather than milling to fabricate the formwork for casting. Anyone who has milled with a CNC knows just how long a router takes. Machine time equates to cost. Using robots, the forms for the benches are cut using a hot wire through foam in a fraction of the time a CNC would take to make the same shape. The tradeoff with the robot in this case is that the hot-wire method of cutting constrains the type of geometries possible to a select set of geometries known as ruled surfaces, for example, a straight wire is always cutting through the foam; this can never change. The geometries are specifically designed with this constraint in mind and are more articulate of the process of making because of it.

Mathematics Gallery at the Science Museum, London from Zaha Hadid Architects on Vimeo.

AAVS Chennai

 

Images copyright Zaha Hadid Architects, http://www.zha-code-education.org/What-We-Did-Winter-2014-Chennai

How much can be accomplished in 10 days on limited resources in a remote destination with a dedicated group of individuals? Quite a lot. It is a symbiotic relationship we hold with the Visiting School in which we are able to test some aspect of co|de research, in this case curve-folded formwork for cast, compressive skeletons, and students are able to develop design and fabrication skills in real-time. This platform also serves us professionally to publish the research development process, findings during deployment of a prototype, and potential trajectories for future research. These workshops are intensely challenging, demanding, and rewarding for everyone involved.

Chennai was our first attempt to reconcile the idea of integrated formwork in a concrete shell and continued prior research from compression-only structures and curve-folding theory. I remember David [David Reeves, ZHA co|de] looking over his laptop at me and saying, “These [curve-fold forms] are going to be really shallow guys.” Due to the only slight global curvature of the shell form, the curve-folded flanges of the moulds allowed for a smaller cross sectional depth than anticipated. This posed geometric and construction issues, such as the compression thrust network (Block ETHZ) falling outside of the geometry and how to practically achieve clear concrete cover in thin casts. We worked through each of these problems as they arose in turn, one by one, sketch by sketch, fold by fold, and finally cast by cast.

Q: What advice do you have for current students and recent graduates seeking to work in design research?

Over the years Christin and I have been fortunate to travel often, to see and explore places, and to meet people. Traveling alone is useless if we are not critical of our surroundings and ask how, if at all, what is in front of us might be better.

  1. Be naively fearless to a fault. As a design researcher, we often do not have a direct application for a technique, process, or simulation method. This can be frightening at times! Working open-ended with boundaries (a lot like bowling with the kids’ rails up) is not for everyone. I “fail” often; it can be trying at times. It takes focus, independence, a responsibility to argue for your actions, and a confidence in yourself to know you are asking the right questions even if the answers remain elusive.
  2. Do it once; then do it again. As a computational designer, I assume change is a given. I embrace it; I prepare for it. Make the best version of which you are capable, then make a more intelligent version based upon what you learned making the predecessor. You can learn something from what you create, and the next one will be better.
  3. Do more; talk less. Instead of discussing the merits of an idea, put it to the test immediately by producing something tangible and visual. To quote a former tutor at LSU: “Put soup in the can.” When we do an AA visiting school, I see firsthand the lengths to which students go to bestow meaning upon hypotheticalswhich never make it to canvas. Entirely too much time is engrossed in rhetoric instead of what is tangibly presented. To quote Patrik Schumacher, “Architecture is communication.” No one will narrate your creation’s intentions once erected. If executed articulately and with precision, no explanation is needed. You will know to turn left when it is time, not because of signage.
  4. Stop talking about software; it changes again next year. I am surrounded by such a concentration of talent at ZHA. That talent is not stifled by one particular delivery method or software. Software enables communication, but it is merely a tool.

Bibliography of Cited Research

Akbarzadeh M, Van Mele T, and Block P. On the equilibrium of funicular polyhedral frames and convex polyhedral force diagrams. Computer-Aided Design 2015; 63: 118-128.

Block, P. Thrust Network Analysis, Exploring Three-Dimensional Equilibrium < http://www.block.arch.ethz.ch/brg/files/Block_PhD_2009.pdf> 2009.

Bhooshan, S. et al., 2015. Curve-folded form-work for cast, compressive skeletons,. In Proceedings of the SIMAUD 2015 Conference, Alexandria, USA. Available at: http://simaud.com/proceedings/download.php?f=SimAUD2015_Proceedings_HiRes.pdf.

Chandra, S., Bhooshan, S. & ElSayed, M., 2014. Curved-Folding Convex Polyhedra through Smoothing. In Proceedings of the 6th International Meeting on Origami in Science, Mathematics and Education. Tokyo(Accepted).

Demaine, E.D., Demaine, M.L. & Koschitz, R.D., 2011. Curved Crease Folding a Review on Art, Design and Mathematics Curved Creases in Art and Design. Proceedings of the IABSE-IASS Symposium: Taller, Longer, Lighter (IABSE-IASS 2011).

Demaine, M., Portfolio. Available at: http://erikdemaine.org/portfolio.pdf.

Frei Otto Film, Frei Otto – Modeling with Soap Films. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IW7o25NmeA>

Huffman, D. a., 1976. Curvature and Creases: A Primer on Paper. IEEE Transactions on Computers, C-25(10), pp.1010–1019.

Lagrange. “Essai d’une nouvelle méthode pour déterminer les maxima et les minima des formules intégrales indéfinies.” 1776.

Nerdinger, W. (Ed.), Meissner, I., Möller, E., et al. (2005). Frei Otto. Complete Works. Lightweight Construction – Natural Design. Berlin, Basel: Birkhäuser.

Resch, R. The Works of Ron Resch. <http://www.ronresch.org/ronresch/>

Schumacher, P., 2016b. Parametricism 2.0: Gearing Up to Impact the Global Built Environment. Architectural Design, 86(2), pp.8–17.

Sigmund, O. 2001. A 99 line topology optimization code written in Matlab. <http://www.topopt.dtu.dk/files/matlab.pdf>

 

 

 

 

Professors Lake Douglas and Charles Fryling Elevated to ASLA Fellowship

Art & Design, Landscape Architecture, Honors & Awards, Alumni, Faculty, , ,

Lake Douglas and Charles Fryling, two faculty members of the LSU Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture (RRSLA), will be elevated to Fellows of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) in October 2016. Fellowship is among the highest honors ASLA bestows on members, recognizing individuals’ contribution to their profession and society at large as demonstrated by their works, leadership and management, knowledge and service. The new class of fellows will be recognized at the 2016 ASLA Annual Meeting and EXPO, to be held October 21–24 in New Orleans.

lake douglasLake Douglas, associate professor of landscape architecture and associate dean of research & development at the LSU College of Art & Design, received his nomination for knowledge, from the Louisiana Chapter of the ASLA.

According to asla.org, Douglas’s “expertise in American cultural landscape history—with particular focus on 19th-century agriculture, horticulture and gardening—has resulted most recently in an exploration of the superlative agricultural reformer Thomas Affleck. His governance of peer-reviewed research continues to reveal the development of the profession His critical literary work has provided volumes of new information about evolving environmental awareness, design theories, garden styles, garden workers and horticultural commerce. He has published extensively in academic journals, popular magazines, books and professional publications in America, Europe and Asia, most often with a focus on the intersection of landscape architecture and other disciplines. His long and distinguished career as a meticulous researcher and prolific writer to document American cultural landscape history has advanced profoundly the profession of landscape architecture.”

Read more about Douglas at design.lsu.edu/faculty/douglas-lake.

Fryling_CharlesProfessor Charles Fryling received his nomination, for service, from the Louisiana Chapter.

ASLA.org states that, “through his significant and longstanding volunteer service, [Fryling] has led multiple diverse efforts to preserve and create significant environmental landscapes in Louisiana and neighboring states. His generous pro bono devotion of time and knowledge as a landscape architect in turn have preserved the cultural heritage these landscapes embody. It is evident to all with whom he has worked that his efforts are informed and guided by the professional ethics and stewardship tenets of ASLA. He is a leading spokesman and expert in the protection of the Atchafalaya River, the nation’s largest river basin swamp and the principal distributary of the Mississippi River. He is unique among experts on the Atchafalaya due to his skillful application of the design principles and philosophies of landscape architecture.”

Read more about Fryling at design.lsu.edu/faculty/fryling-charles.

Douglas and Fryling join three other RRSLA faculty members who have FASLA status: Director and Reich Teaching Professor Mark E. Boyer (2015), Professor Max Conrad (2003), and Professor Bruce Sharky (1990). Douglas, who received his Bachelor of Landscape Architecture from LSU, joins the 34 RRSLA alumni who make up 4.2 percent of the 828 current, active, and emeritus member fellows.

The Robert Reich School will celebrate the elevation of Douglas and Fryling to FASLA at the RRSLA Alumni Reception to be held at the Preservation Resource Center, 923 Tchoupatoulas Street, New Orleans, on Friday, October 21, 6–9 p.m.

View the complete list of ASLA’s 2016 Class of Fellows at asla.org/land/LandArticle.aspx?id=48467.

Marsha Cuddeback Receives Inaugural CxC Outstanding Faculty Award

Art & Design, Interior Design, Honors & Awards, Communication across the Curriculum, Faculty,
Associate Professor Marsha Cuddeback (far left) with students in LSU in South Africa APA program.

Associate Professor Marsha Cuddeback (far left) with students in LSU in South Africa APA program.

Beginning in 2016, the LSU Office of Academic Affairs will annually recognize a faculty member who has contributed to and participated in the Communication across the Curriculum (CxC) program in multiple ways. CxC depends on dedicated faculty for its success, with hundreds of engaged and deserving faculty certifying courses emphasizing communication at LSU. The inaugural, 2016 recipient is Marsha Cuddeback, associate professor of interior design in the College of Art & Design. Selected by faculty jury, Cuddeback demonstrates an outstanding commitment to the full breadth of the CxC program by teaching Communication-Intensive (C-I) courses, advising Distinguished Communicator candidates, participating in faculty development initiatives, supporting the CxC Studios, and publishing CxC-related scholarship.

Cuddeback has continually displayed her commitment to teaching by consistently certifying 20 C-I courses in written, spoken, visual, and technological communication. Some of the most memorable innovative assignments she has developed include a second-year architecture project translating sketchbooks to videos, an interior design project where students created biomorphic skins using laser-cutting technology, a series of assignments focused on presentation skills that used visual spark lines for student reflection and refining design narratives, and her most recent phenomenological investigation of incorporating event maps to stress writing in design, which she will present at the International Writing Across the Curriculum conference in Ann Arbor, Michigan, this June. Cuddeback has offered her wealth of teaching experience in numerous peer-reviewed articles and conference workshops and presentations related to communication and design instruction.

She has advised 12 recipients of the Distinguished Communicator Award within the schools of architecture and interior design. A recent graduate and CxC Distinguished Communicator, Morgan Melancon, of Houston, Texas, recommended Cuddeback, writing, “She was pivotal in laying the foundation for my college success. Marsha pushed the boundaries of ordinary achievements I was able to accomplish. Without her influence to join the Distinguished Communicators program or her robust, caring nature she dedicated towards my projects, I may not have been able to begin my career in a distinguished interior design city upon graduation.”

As the first winner of this award, Cuddeback sets the bar for commitment, dedication, and excellence that defines and enables the LSU CxC program to transform teaching, learning, and ultimately, student success. This $1,500 annual award is generously supported by the Renee and Leslie Hull Fund at the Baton Rouge Area Foundation. Cuddeback was recognized at LSU’s Distinguished Faculty Awards Ceremony on Wednesday, May 4, 2016, at the Lod Cook Alumni Center.

 

 

 

2016 Tiger Athletic Foundation Undergraduate Teaching Awards

Landscape Architecture, Art, Photography, Faculty, , ,

2016 undergraduate teaching awards

Two LSU College of Art & Design faculty members were recognized at this year’s annual LSU Distinguished Faculty Awards Ceremony: Professor Bruce Sharky of the LSU Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture and Assistant Professor Kristine Thompson of the LSU School of Art. Each received $1,000 for being selected by their college or school as outstanding teachers.

Bruce Sharky has been teaching landscape architecture at LSU for the past 25 years. International travel has been an important aspect of many of his activities at LSU; he has led summer- and semester-abroad programs to Mexico, the Netherlands, Portugal, and China and two Fulbright Fellowships to Mexico and Portugal. He teaches graduate and undergraduate studios. Read more about Sharky at design.lsu.edu/faculty/sharky-bruce.

Kristine Thompson teaches undergraduate and graduate studios in basic and digital photography and moving image. Thompson’s recent projects have explored deceased artists, the mythologies surrounding their lives, and the legacies of their artwork. Her current work examines individuals who die with no next of kin, the government workers who handle their remains, and the often-anonymous burials of the unclaimed.  Read more about Thompson at design.lsu.edu/faculty/thompson-kristine.

Congratulations to Sharky and Thompson for this recognition!

Spring 2016 Final Reviews

Art & Design, Landscape Architecture, Interior Design, Art, Architecture

lsu interior design faculty

Instruction and experience in design, technical knowledge, and representation comprise the professional components of the architecture, interior design, and landscape architecture curricula at the LSU College of Art & Design—with the studio environment as the heart of these programs. In the studio environment, students discuss their work directly with instructors and classmates, and strategies, words, and images flow freely. The experience and knowledge gained from one project is applied to the next as new design considerations are systematically introduced. The design studio exposes students to the real-life problems they will encounter as professionals.

This is how we teach. This is how we learn.

At the LSU College of Art & Design, we encourage students, faculty, peers, and professionals to view our students’ work during final reviews. Drop in and see what our students are doing! The final review schedule for architecture, interior design, and landscape architecture studios—first year through capstone—is below.

College of Art & Design Final Reviews

Monday, April 25

10am–12:30pm  |  ARCH 1001  |  Palagi  |  1st Floor, Atkinson
10am–5pm  |  ID Seniors  |  Cuddeback/Ritchie  |  401 Design
1–5pm  |  ARCH 2002  |  Kelsch/Silva  |  107 Atkinson
1–5pm  |  ID Juniors  |  Zou  |   104 Design

Tuesday, April 26

10:45am–5pm  |  ID Seniors  |  Cuddeback/Ritchie  |   401 Design

Wednesday, April 27

10:45am–5pm  |  ID Seniors  |  Cuddeback/Ritchie  |   401 Design

Thursday, April 28

10:45am–5pm  |  ID Seniors  |  Cuddeback/Ritchie  |   401 Design

Friday, April 29

9:30am–3pm  |   ARCH 3002  |  Doran  |  2nd Floor Foyer & 107 Atkinson
9:30am–3pm  |   ARCH 3002  |  Kean  |   2nd Floor Foyer & 107 Atkinson
10:45am–5pm  |  ID Seniors  |  Cuddeback/Ritchie  |   401 Design
1–5pm  |   ID Sophomores  |  Dunn  |  104 Design

Monday, May 2

9–11am  |   ARCH 5002/5004/8000  |  Crow  |  104 Design
Noon–4pm  |  ARCH 4002/5002  |  Bonier  |  2nd Floor Hallway & 243 Atkinson
1–5pm  |  ARCH 4002  |  Zwirn  |  107 Atkinson
1–5pm  |  LA 3002  |  Sharky  |  307 Design
1:30–5pm  |  LA 7041  |  Douglas  |   313 Design

Tuesday, May 3

8am–1pm  |  LA 7021  |  Marshall  |  104 Design
1–5pm  |  ARCH 4202  |  Erdman  |  107 Atkinson
1:30–5:30pm  |   LA 2002  |  Steiner  |  104 Design

Wednesday, May 4

9am–5pm  |  LA 5002  |  Lipschitz  |   104 Design

Thursday, May 5

9am–2pm  |  LA 1102  |  Marshall  |  308 Design
10am–5pm  |  ARCH 5001  |  Desmond/Holton  |  104 Design & 1st Floor Atkinson

Friday, May 6

10am–2pm  |  ARCH 7006  |  Emery McClure  |  104 Design
TBD  |  LA 7061/8000  |  Allen  |  307 Design

LSU Architecture Team Wins Best in Show at Design Charette for a Community Arts Center in Hattiesburg

Art & Design, Students, Community Outreach, Architecture

 

A team of five third-year LSU School of Architecture students, led by Professional in Residence William Doran, recently won best in show at a design charette hosted by the Hattiesburg Arts Council.

Representatives of the Hattiesburg Arts Council invited three student teams from regional universities—Louisiana State University, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and the University of Southern Mississippi—to propose designs for a new Community Arts Center in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. The project focused on the rehabilitation of the former Hattiesburg American newspaper building recently donated to the Arts Council.

The teams spent two days, April 8–9, in Hattiesburg, the first day touring downtown Hattiesburg and the surrounding area. Each team received design proposal guidelines for the renovation of the Hattiesburg American building located on Main Street. On Saturday, April 9, the Arts Council hosted a one-day charette, an intense, collaborative design session in which the team members worked to solidify their design ideas. The students presented their designs to the public, and a jury of local architects and designers selected winning proposals, awarding best in show to the LSU team. The participating LSU students included Giovanni Coakley of the Bahamas; Sarah Eikrem of New Orleans, Louisiana; Christopher James of Clearwater, Florida; Zach McLain of Covington, Louisiana; and Amanda Verastegui of San Antonio, Texas.

All three proposals were on view at the Hattiesburg Cultural Center during the Spring Art Walk on Saturday evening.

The Hattiesburg American covered the design charette in an article, “Architecture students lend ideas to Arts Council,” in which Christopher James, third-year LSU architecture student, was quoted as saying: “I think this is a unique opportunity, in a fast-paced design environment, to be involved in the community and community scale work . . . It gives us the chance to adapt it for use of a project where it’s taking existing infrastructures and repurposing them to help benefit the community, so it’s interesting work that I want to be a part of.”

According to the Hattiesburg American, if everything goes to plan, the Community Arts Center, when completed, will feature an art gallery and gift shop, community garden and food pantry, classrooms, a business incubator, a theater, and more.

“I had a great time engaging in a community-driven design project, especially in an environment I wasn’t familiar with,” said Sarah Eikrem, third-year LSU undergraduate architecture student. “Learning what people wanted and responding to their town and their culture was really exciting and very hands-on! Most projects we do in school have a little distance from the community, so having local people give input, review, and vote on the designs was really interesting.”

Two LSU College of Art & Design Students Named to the Tiger Twelve Class of 2016

Art & Design, Students, Landscape Architecture, Honors & Awards, Architecture

Two LSU College of Art & Design graduating seniors, Atianna J. Cordova and Maria Muñoz, have been selected to the Tiger Twelve Class of 2016.

Students selected to the Tiger Twelve represent the “highest standards of academic, personal, and social integrity; practice justice, equality, and compassion in human relations;” and “respect the dignity of all persons and accept individual differences.” To be eligible for the Tiger Twelve, a student must demonstrate through scholarship, actions, and contributions, the principles presented in the LSU Commitment to Community.

Atianna Cordova, BArch 2016

Atianna Cordova, BArch 2016

Atianna J. Cordova will graduate this May 2016 with a Bachelor of Architecture. A native of New Orleans, Louisiana, Atianna is passionate about using design as a tool to assist marginalized groups and those affected by natural disasters. She is recognized as the LSU School of Architecture’s first Ronald E. McNair Research Scholar; her McNair research project is entitled “Conceptualizing Informalities: Designers Learning from the Informal Community Developments of Homeless Individuals.” Atianna has demonstrated leadership as a member of the College of Art & Design Dean’s Student Advisory Council and as a fourth- and fifth-year class representative of the LSU School of Architecture and LSU’s National Organization for Minority Architecture Students mentor/mentee program. She has shown a dedication to her studies through scholastic achievements and has been recognized on the LSU President’s Honor Roll and Dean’s List and by the National Society of Collegiate Scholars and the Black Faculty and Staff Caucus’s Black Scholars Awards.

Recently, Atianna was awarded a 2016 University of California at Berkeley Undergraduate Prize for an Architectural Design Excellence Travel Fellowship. She will attend LSU’s “Haiti: Cultural Sustainability” Academic Program Abroad this summer to further her research regarding architecture and homelessness. One of several aims of the program is to examine the sheltering strategies and resources that have been employed to assist those affected by the 2010 earthquake. Upon returning to the United States, Atianna will continue her desire to serve disadvantaged groups by working in an urban planning firm and attending Tulane University’s Disaster Resilience Leadership Academy.

“We are so proud of this recognition for Atianna,” said Jori Erdman, director of the LSU School of Architecture. “It’s another demonstration of the accomplished work being done by students in the school.”

leu landscape architecture student

Maria Muñoz, BLA 2016

Maria Muñoz, of Centerville, Ohio, will graduate this May 2016 with a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture and minors in French, geography, and Spanish. Originally from Puerto Rico, Maria has noted that she was exposed to and rooted in a culture with a history that is intertwined with landscape ecology.

“Moving to the United States, I realized that we are each a reflection of our community. My interest in the relationship of humans and their environment has inspired me to work as an activist of cultural individualities and recreational needs of communities,” Maria shared. “I feel honored to be selected as a part of the Tiger Twelve class. I’ve admired other students who have achieved this since my freshman year, so it means a lot to me.”

During her senior year, Maria served as president of the LSU student chapter of the ASLA, the official student organization recognized by the American Society of Landscape Architects. In addition, Maria is active in LSU’s Hispanic Student Cultural Society and the African American Cultural Center and is involved in the Baton Rouge community with local beautification and recreation efforts. In 2014, Maria was one of three students in the nation to receive an ASLA Council of Fellows Scholarship, and in 2015, Maria was the undergraduate winner of the 2015 Olmsted Scholars program—a $15,000 prize. The Olmsted Scholars program recognizes and supports students with exceptional leadership potential who are using ideas, influence, communication, service, and leadership to advance sustainable planning and design and foster human and societal benefits. Maria’s goal after graduation is to work with urban development both locally and globally. She, too, will attend Tulane University’s Disaster Resilience Leadership Academy and wants to incorporate the significance of design with economic speculation, political negotiation, and democratic struggle as unique pieces that shape a society’s urbanization.

“Maria is an outstanding student who has excelled academically while also taking on significant service and leadership roles both in the school and the university,” stated Mark Boyer, director of the LSU Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture. “We are so proud of her accomplishments and pleased that others have recognized and awarded her excellence.”

The Tiger Twelve Class of 2016 will be introduced at the LSU baseball game on Wednesday, April 20, at 6:30 p.m., as the Tigers take on Southeastern Louisiana University in Alex Box Stadium. Tickets for this game can be purchased online here. The Tiger Twelve Class of 2016 will also be recognized at a reception held on April 23 in the Rotunda of the LSU Business Education Complex.

MLA Candidate Joni Emmons Named TCLF Cultural Landscape Fellow

Art & Design, Students, Landscape Architecture, Honors & Awards, Community Outreach, ,

LSU’s Joni Emmons is one of three students in the nation to be awarded a 2016 Cultural Landscape Fellowship from The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF).

joni emmonsJoni, a Master of Landscape Architecture candidate at the Robert Reich School, will spend the summer working in Baton Rouge and New Orleans to help develop the What’s Out There New Orleans Guide, an interactive online guide to the city’s cultural landscapes.

“I’m excited about this opportunity,” said Joni. “This fellowship will be a great way to use the knowledge I’ve gained about landscape design in my first year of graduate studies while also tying in the writing and research skills I developed as an undergraduate.”

Joni is a native of Parks, a small town near Breaux Bridge and Lafayette, where her appreciation of southern Louisiana landscapes was nurtured growing up on the Bayou Teche. Joni received a BA in English literature and philosophy from LSU in 2012. She said her graduate studies in landscape architecture are a natural extension of her deep interest in perception and narrative.

“Everyone’s daily experience is affected by the environment,” she observed. “I want to investigate the relationship between people and the land, particularly in Louisiana. The unique geology and cultural heritage of Louisiana makes this a great place to study landscape architecture. Once I learned that landscape architecture would allow me to combine my interests in people, place, and design, I visited LSU’s program, and it felt like a great fit.”

Before returning to graduate school, Joni helped research, write, and edit grant proposals for the Department of Tropical Medicine in the School of Public Health at Tulane University. She spent last summer working in her family’s vegetable garden, planting, caring for and harvesting produce, and selling it at a farmer’s market in New Iberia. She also helped out on her family’s crawfish farm.

Joni will spend the summer researching, photographing, and writing essays about cultural landscapes for the What’s Out There New Orleans Guide. LSU Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture Professor Emerita Susan Turner, FASLA, will serve as Joni’s mentor and advisor. Principal of Suzanne Turner Associates, a Baton-Rouge based landscape design firm that specializes in cultural resource history and management and community preservation planning, Turner has dedicated office space for Joni’s use throughout the summer fellowship. Turner recently finished a three-year term as co-chair of TCLF and has served as a member of the organization’s Board of Directors for several years.

“TCLF’s reach is huge, using an amazing website and social media to raise awareness about the cultural landscape and the need for its stewardship on a national and local level,” commented Turner. “The ‘What’s Out There’ program, with over 1,800 entries, exposes citizens to the significant designed landscapes in their home communities. The searchable, easy-to-navigate database is a reference for anyone interested in learning more about a city and its most important places.”

Dr. Lake Douglas, associate dean of the LSU College of Art & Design and associate professor of the Robert Reich School, and two other LSU landscape architecture students, Jane Satterlee and Cameron Spencer, will also contribute to the project.

TCLF plans for the interactive online guide to be available by October 2016 in time for the American Society of Landscape Architects Annual Meeting and EXPO. Each year, TCLF produces a What’s Out There guide for the national convention location.

“For the New Orleans conference, we will also produce the guide in hardcopy for the first time,” added Turner. “I am so pleased that Joni Emmons has been selected by TCLF to do research, writing, and editing for this project. I am looking forward to getting to know her and to collaborating on this guide, which will have a life far beyond the ASLA’s meeting in New Orleans.”

“I can’t wait to get started,” stated Joni. “This project will allow me to learn more about regional landscapes and help me make connections with other professionals interested in the cultural landscapes of Louisiana.”

For a better understanding of the ultimate objective of Joni’s work, view TCLF’s city guides for Chicago, Denver, Houston, Toronto, and Washington, D.C., at tclf.org.

About The Cultural Landscape Foundation

The Cultural Landscape Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that provides people with the ability to see, understand, and value landscape architecture and its practitioners, in the way many people have learned to do with buildings and their designers. Through its website, lectures, outreach, and publishing, TCLF broadens the support and understanding for cultural landscapes nationwide to help safeguard our priceless heritage for future generations. Visit tclf.org for more information.

About the Master of Landscape Architecture Program at LSU

The Master of Landscape Architecture Program at LSU, ranked third in the nation by DesignIntelligence, the nation’s leading journal of design professionals, is well established and graduates routinely find jobs in design and planning firms, government agencies, and community-based organizations throughout America and abroad. The graduate curriculum is design oriented with opportunities for involvement in issues that range from those of relevance to the Gulf Coast region to those of international importance. The faculty’s diverse professional and research interests are integrated into the learning experience. Visit landscape.lsu.edu for more information.

Janice R. Sachse Honored as First “Louisiana Treasure”

Art & Design, Publications, Events, Art, Painting & Drawing, Alumni, Exhibitions, ,

louisiaana treasures

Janice Rubenstein Sachse (1908–98) has been named the first “Louisiana Treasure” by the LSU School of Art. Initiated by the LSU School of Art to bring recognition to Louisiana’s heritage and the impact of LSU as an educational institution, the Louisiana Treasures program recognizes LSU educated artists who have had significant impact on a local, national, and/or international level.

janice sachseArtists featured in the Louisiana Treasures series have created works with deep connections to the landscapes and people of Louisiana, works that help preserve the state’s cultural heritage. The Louisiana Treasures program honors inductees as artists in their own right and as important and key historical figures, timeless “treasures” to be remembered, and studied, by future generations of artists and designers.

Raised in Baton Rouge, Janice Rubenstein Sachse created artwork that reflected the social conditions of Louisiana during the mid-twentieth century. She studied art at LSU and Sophie Newcomb College. In 1925 at the LSU Art Department, she began working with the renowned muralist Conrad Albrizio, who encouraged her to explore and experiment, an attitude that Sachse retained throughout her 70-year painting career. Although she did not adhere to any one technique or subject matter, Sachse most often painted the people and places of Louisiana, even traveling along the state’s newly built interstate in the early 1970s to create a series of paintings that detailed Louisiana’s landscape. She exhibited widely in Louisiana and was represented by Helen Seger’s La Boetie Gallery on New York’s Upper East Side. In 1999, a year after her death, the Janice R. Sachse Visiting Artist Series (now the Janice R. Sachse School of Art Support Fund) was endowed and established at LSU in her honor.

In honor of Sachse being named a Louisiana Treasure, the LSU School of Art organized an exhibition of her work, Janice Sachse: A Retrospective, on view at the Alfred C. Glassell Jr. Exhibition Gallery at the Shaw Center for the Arts from March 29 through April 17, 2016.

“The exhibition has brought to light aspects of family and community that we value in South Louisiana,” stated Rod Parker, director of the LSU School of Art.

The LSU Graphic Design Student Office designed a book by the same name, which can be viewed online at isuuu.com/lsufoundation/docs/janice_sachse_catalogue. Darius Spieth, professor of art history at LSU, and Glauco Adorno, an MA in Art History candidate at LSU, wrote essays for the book and helped track down works for the book and exhibition, and Randi Willett, who graduated with an MFA in photography in December 2015, photographed much of Sachse’s works for the publication.

“The energy and creativity released by transformational classroom interactions between faculty and students, the same that propelled Sachse’s career as an artist, is still very much a part of our lives. The sense of community, the support for innovation and creative ambition, is such an everyday affair that we can easily take it for granted,” wrote Parker in the introduction to Janice Sachse: A Retrospective.

“I know I speak for our entire family when I say we are enormously grateful to LSU, and especially to Rod Parker and his team, for putting together this book and organizing the exhibition of my mother’s work,” stated Harry R. Sachse, Janice Sachse’s son.

For more information about Janice Sachse, her work, and the Louisiana Treasures program, visit louisianatreasures.lsu.edu.

Landscape Architecture Student Donguk Lee Wins First Tipton Associates Travel Award

Art & Design, Students, Landscape Architecture, Honors & Awards,
tipton associates travel award

BLA candidate Donguk Lee, the first winner of the annual Tipton Associates Travel Award

LSU landscape architecture student Donguk Lee is the first recipient of the Tipton Associates Travel Award, a $1,750 prize. Tipton Associates, a Baton Rouge based architecture, interiors, and planning firm, established the portfolio competition for LSU College of Art & Design architecture, interior design, and landscape architecture students. The firm’s gift represents their philosophy of interdisciplinary work.

Led by LSU School of Architecture alumnus Ken Tipton (BArch 1981), Tipton Associates has an interdisciplinary focus; projects are about partnerships and working together with smart people to implement a shared vision. The 30 people in the Baton Rouge office approach assignments in collaborative, interdisciplinary teams that include specialists in architecture, interior design, urban planning, and landscape architecture.

A jury of alumni working in all three professions—Harper Hicks Bateman (BArch 2000), associate architect and vice president of Corgan’s Aviation Studio in Dallas; Haley Blakeman (BLA 1994), director of implementation at the Center for Planning Excellence in Baton Rouge; and Allison Canal (BID 2012), interior designer at Coleman Partners Architects in Baton Rouge—selected fourth-year Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture student Donguk Lee as the 2016 winner of the first annual portfolio competition.

A native of South Korea, Lee majored in computer science at the University of Newcastle in Australia before serving two years in the Korean Army.

“I felt like I had reached my limit when I was coding the booking system in the army; I could not imagine myself as a professional programmer in the future,” said Lee. “I had the desire to design something that would maximize communication between user and object. Landscape architecture is the most valuable design field, in my opinion, because it enhances the communication between humans and nature. As a landscape designer, I could be proud of my career for my entire life.”

Lee said he chose to attend LSU because of the landscape architecture program’s consistent ranking as the best in the nation. “Even though I had never heard of Louisiana before I came to the United States, I decided to come here because I believe LSU has the best Bachelor of Landscape Architecture program.”

For the Tipton Associates Travel Award, students were required to submit a digital portfolio with a letter addressing how they intended to use the funds and how they imagined the travel would impact their studies. Lee’s letter of intent focused on his concern with public good over personal gain.

“When I was in the Korean Army, I read a book by Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs, The End of Poverty,” Lee explained. “The book describes the disastrous situation of extreme poverty in a number of countries on the opposite side of the planet, and how planned development aid can help these countries gain a foothold. I wanted to tackle the problem from the perspective of a landscape architect. I believe that providing clean water would be a good approach.”

Lee intends to use the travel award money to travel to Ethiopia, Ghana, or the Congo to conduct research for his senior capstone project, designing a more efficient water management system in Sub-Saharan Africa.

“To develop the design, it would be beneficial to identify a site in person,” stated Lee. “I am convinced that visiting Africa will contribute to the success of my capstone project. It is time to do something to end poverty and to save our friends who live on the opposite side of the earth.”

Among other projects, his winning portfolio included Triple Cove Park, a riverfront park in the heart of a historically and economically significant area in Seoul, a project he worked on during a summer internship program at PARKKIM, and Growing Dune, a project focused on the site design for 80-plus acres of undeveloped oceanfront property in Rockaway Beach, New York, which he completed in his third-year landscape architecture studio at LSU.

 

Currently, Lee is working as an intern at Raymond Jungles, Inc., in Miami—the semester-long internship is a curriculum requirement of the BLA program at LSU. After he graduates in 2017, he plans to attend graduate school for further study in urban design and urban planning.

“After I finish my studies, I may look for a job in the United States as I believe that working experience will help me become more professional in my field,” said Lee. “However, in the not-so-distant future, I will go back to live in Korea with my family and friends.”

Football is one of Lee’s favorite things about studying in Louisiana. “I had never seen a football game before I came here, and I am really impressed by the scene of families driving their huge RVs, setting up tables and chairs, to celebrate a game together. One day, I hope to bring my family to LSU to experience a football game and tailgating.”