What if … design solutions were applied to rural

EMERGING
FALL 2010 Vol. 5, No. 1
What if … design, engineering, and business connected and collaborated? p. 4
What if … design solutions were applied to rural issues? p. 6
INSIDE: College of Design Fall 2010 Events Calendar
EMERGING
STRENGTH IN DIVERSITY
The College of Design remains one of the
largest and most diverse schools of its kind at a major
American research university. Only five other institutions
have colleges with roughly the same number and variety of
disciplines, although no other has exactly our mix, and no
other university ranks nearly as high as ours. Although no
organization rates design colleges, per se, the University of
Minnesota’s ranking among the top 20 research universities
in the U.S. (11th among public universities*) gives us a
commanding lead among our similarly diverse competitors.
We compete, though, with colleges other than those just like
our own. Each of our disciplines has its own set of rivals with
whom it vies for the best students and most research funding,
and benchmarking against them has become a central part
of the strategic planning effort we started this year. That effort
has become increasingly urgent with the coming contraction
in the numbers of college-age students in the upper Midwest.
We need to give students from Los Angeles or Houston, Lagos
or Helsinki, compelling reasons why they should come to our
college to study, especially as undergraduate students—and it
won’t be for the weather.
As we proceed with our strategic planning and identify the
key messages that make Minnesota an irresistible choice
for students from far away, we will keep you, the readers of
Emerging, informed about our progress. You play a key role in
our success as our ambassadors, spreading the word about
the many remarkable things our faculty, staff, and students do
in this college.
This issue will give you just a taste of that diversity of
activities, ranging from John Comazzi’s development of
design labs for pre-K-12 students, to Barry Kudrowicz’s joining
2 EMERGING FALL 2010
our faculty as our first product design professor,
to the apparel design faculty establishing the
first-ever wearable technology center, to the
group of faculty and researchers who have
begun work in Haiti with the American Refugee
Committee, to the Center for Rural Design’s
hosting of the first international symposium on
rural design to …
Erika Gratz
Emerging often focuses on an area of strength
in our college, with recent issues addressing
affordable housing, sustainability, digital design,
preservation and conservation, design and
health, and community outreach. The issue
before you takes another approach. By looking
at a number of different efforts under way in
the college, not around a particular theme, it
represents another one of our strengths: the
sheer diversity of our activities.
Well, you get the picture. The breadth and
depth of the work that goes on here remains
unparalleled. At the same time, the decline
in the number of college-age students in Minnesota,
along with the decline in state support, offers us an
unprecedented opportunity to position the College of
Design as not just the best college of its kind at a major
research university, but also as one of the very best places,
anywhere, for students to come to study.
Thomas Fisher, Dean
* The Top American Research Universities: 2009 Annual Report,
the Center for Measuring University Performance.
Stay in touch with the
College of Design
blog.lib.umn.edu/cdescomm/cdes_memo/
UofMDesign
University of Minnesota College of Design
FALL 2010 VOL. 5, NO. 1
EDITOR AND COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR
Laura Weber
ART DIRECTOR
Jeanne Schacht
WEB EDITOR
Michael Fraase
STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Warren Bruland
COPY EDITOR
Sharon Grimes
COLLEGE LEADERSHIP
Thomas Fisher, dean; Lee Anderson, associate dean for
academic affairs; Brad Hokanson, associate dean for research
and outreach; Kate Maple, assistant dean for student services
DEPARTMENT HEADS
Renee Cheng, School of Architecture; Lance Neckar, Department
of Landscape Architecture; Becky Yust, Department of Design,
Housing, and Apparel
COLLEGE OF DESIGN ADVISORY BOARD
Dan Avchen, Ann Birt, Nedret Butler, Bill Chilton, Susan Hagstrum,
Ted Johnson, Ed Kodet, Tim Larsen, XiaoWei Ma, Tom Meyer,
Linda Mona, David Mortenson, Richard Murphy, Paul Reyelts,
Greg Van Bellinger, Rich Varda, Bob Worrell
Emerging is published fall and spring semesters by the University of
Minnesota’s College of Design for alumni, faculty, staff, and friends of the
college.
Send address changes to Laura Walton, 32 McNeal Hall, 1985 Buford
Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55108, or [email protected].
design.umn.edu
This publication is available in alternative formats upon request.
Please call 612-626-6385 or fax 612-625-1922.
The University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity educator and employer.
Printed on 100 percent postconsumer fiber, processed chlorine free, FSC
recycled certified and manufactured using biogas energy.
U of M Design
photo/umndesign
And don’t forget…
Goldstein Museum of Design
goldsteinmuseum
University of Minnesota Department of Landscape Architecture
W. L. Hall Workshop
Cover images, top: Hennepin County trash, image by
interactive design MFA student Wade Stebbings, p. 12;
bottom: PET Wall installation, Architecture Gallery, University
of Michigan, 2008, photo by Blaine Brownell, p. 7.
AROUND THE COLLEGE
ANDERSON AND
HOKANSON NAMED NEW
CDES ASSOCIATE DEANS
The College of Design has two new associate deans
effective July 1, 2010—for academic affairs, Lee Anderson,
associate professor, School of Architecture; for research
and outreach, Brad Hokanson, associate professor,
Department of Design, Housing, and Apparel. Anderson
and Hokanson assume the roles held by Kate Solomonson
(academic affairs) and Marilyn DeLong (research and
outreach) from 2006 until this June. Solomonson (Arch)
and DeLong (DHA) return to the faculty.
WITH THEIR KNOWLEDGE OF THE DIGITAL
WORLD, LEE AND BRAD WILL PROVIDE
THE LEADERSHIP THE COLLEGE NEEDS AT
THIS TIME. —Dean Tom Fisher
“DISRUPTIVE EFFECTS” INAUGURATES
DESIGN INTERSECTIONS SYMPOSIUM SERIES
The first Design Intersections
symposium—“Disruptive
Effects: How Design Is
Changing Your World (and
how to profit from it)”—drew
175 curious decision makers,
designers, creatives,
technologists, members of
the media and University
community to the Carlson
School of Management’s
3M Auditorium March
18. The series intends to
address the intersection
of global, societal, and
business issues related
to the environment,
health care, the economy,
communications, and
culture—and how design
can make a positive impact.
Keynote speaker Jane
McGonigal, director of game
research and development
at the Institute for the Future
(top left, on stage), led the
group in the online game
“World Without Oil,” a model
for how games can help
solve the world’s biggest
problems. At the end of the
daylong event, Dean Tom
Fisher asked the panel of
speakers, which included
Tom Erickson, interaction
designer and researcher at
IBM’s T. J. Watson Research
Center (top left, on stage),
and Nora Paul, director of the
University’s Institute for New
Media Studies, what the next
big disruptions might be.
McGonigal replied,
“Everything’s disrupted
already.... There have been
radical disruptions in our
ideas of quality of life and
happiness.… We need new
ways to produce happiness
with finite resources and to
feel rewarded, motivated,
and connected with people.
We need an economy
built on making people
sustainably happy.”
Design Intersections is
hosted by the College of
Design and sponsored
by Larsen (Larsen.com).
Tim Larsen serves on the
College of Design advisory
board. Read more about
Design Intersections at
intersections.design
.umn.edu. Reviews
and comments can be
found on Facebook
(DesignIntersections) or
Twitter (DesignIntersect).
The second Design
Intersections will be held
in late March or early
April 2011 at Coffman
Union. The theme will
be the role of design in
health care delivery. To
receive advance word
about the conference,
contact Laura Walton at
[email protected].
Anderson oversees faculty affairs and the college’s
undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs, and
provides strategic leadership and promotes excellence
in academic affairs. He has been with the School of
Architecture since 1990, where he teaches a series of
courses on computer-aided design (CAD) and design in the
digital age. Anderson’s expertise centers on computers and
the design process, particularly three-dimensional modeling.
In 2004 he cofounded the Digital Design Consortium,
an interdisciplinary unit that focuses on ways to make
building design more efficient by using 3D models to gain
knowledge early in the design process.
Hokanson will shape and implement the college’s overall
research and outreach agenda; promote research
scholarship, outreach, and civic engagement across
the college; foster integration of CDes research and
outreach centers with faculty scholarship; and encourage
interdisciplinary initiatives. He has been associate professor
of graphic design since 2001; from 1993 to 2001, as an
instructor in the department, he initiated an MA program in
multimedia design. His areas of expertise include graphic
design, cognitive tools, digital imaging, visual thinking and
communication, computer graphics, and creativity.
COLLEGE OF DESIGN FALL 2010 3
MAKING
SELLING
BUYING
USING
By Suzy Frisch
Product design in the College of Design has officially emerged.
Culminating years of effort, the college kicked off a graduate
minor in product design, recently hired a new faculty member who
will focus entirely on product design, and launched the Wearable
Product Design Center, which formalizes research connections
among apparel design faculty.
All of these developments were on display at a September 17 symposium, “Making
Selling Buying Using: Emerging Issues in Product Design,” in which faculty, researchers,
practitioners, and leaders came together for a one-day seminar entirely focused on the
challenges and triumphs of product development. (See page 5.)
Barry Kudrowitz, incoming
product design faculty
member. Kudrowitz is,
among other things, a toy
designer.
4 EMERGING FALL 2010
NEW MINOR HAS CROSS-CAMPUS APPEAL
Faculty from the College of Design, College of Science
and Engineering (formerly Institute of Technology), and
Carlson School of Management have been advocating
for years for the University to create undergraduate and
graduate programs in product design.
Karen LaBat, apparel design professor and
co-director of the Wearable Product Design
Center, said the new graduate minor is the
first step toward achieving those goals. In
tight budget times, CDes made it happen
by pulling together existing classes into
the new minor, LaBat said, adding that the
program’s capstone will be a new seminar
in product design.
“We think the minor will be attractive across
campus to students in lots of different areas,”
said LaBat. “There is so much discussion
about design and how a design education
can be used in so many different fields.”
“WE HOPE TO CONTINUE
TO SPUR CREATIVITY
AND PROBLEM SOLVING…
DEVELOP MORE INTEREST
IN THE NEW PROGRAM, AND
GET FACULTY AND PEOPLE
IN PRIVATE PRACTICE AND
INDUSTRY INTERESTED IN
COLLABORATIONS.”
FIRST FULL-TIME PRODUCT DESIGN FACULTY
Playing a major role in the minor will be new faculty member Barry Kudrowitz, who
recently earned a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in mechanical
engineering. A toy designer, artist, musician, and aspiring chef, Kudrowitz will be the
University’s first full-time faculty member in product design. In the course of earning his
graduate degrees, Kudrowitz immersed himself in studying creativity, humor, and idea
generation. His partnership with Hasbro on projectile toy design resulted in the Nerf
Atom Blaster toy and a patent. Showing his versatility, Kudrowitz also holds a patent for a
biopsy needle design.
Kudrowitz ultimately will develop four new product design classes when he arrives
on campus in January. It’s something he’s done before at MIT, where he created the
university’s first toy design class. Kudrowitz also will advise graduate students and get his
lab up and running. Its direction is open, but he says he enjoys teaming with companies to
solve problems and develop products using new technology.
“It’s all new and exciting,” said Kudrowitz, a Florida native who once helped design an
immersive adventure show at the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C. “I was
really interested in starting this program. I thought it would be a good opportunity to do it
again for real as an actual professor.”
INTERSECTIONS IN WEARABLE PRODUCT DESIGN
While Kudrowitz builds connections between the worlds of design, engineering, and
business through the product design graduate minor, the apparel design faculty opened
the Wearable Product Design Center (wearable.design.umn.edu) this spring to accomplish
much the same goal. Faculty in apparel design already enjoy strong connections and
close working relationships with varied disciplines, including engineering, computer
science, and medicine; the center creates a more formal intersection for them to apply for
grants and engage in cross-disciplinary research projects, noted Lucy Dunne, assistant
professor of apparel design.
Product Development: Softlines is one example of an existing CDes product design course.
Professor Karen LaBat has worked for years with Michael Alexin, vice president for product
design and development at Target (above), to set up class projects; Alexin then turns them over
to his team of Target designers and developers, who work with the apparel design and retail
merchandising seniors on a challenge for a direction or concept for an apparel line.
“Simply being colleagues in the Department of Design, Housing, and Apparel doesn’t
always communicate fully what we do together and how our work intersects,” Dunne said.
“This helps us define ourselves collectively and formalize what we’re doing so we can
develop strategies and agendas instead of going about our work ad hoc. Now we have
an organization set up to formally collaborate and strengthen that. We’re making a whole
that’s greater than the sum of its parts.”
TOWN AND GOWN COLLABORATIONS
The product design symposium, held at Coffman Union, featured short presentations
(available at making.design.umn.edu) from faculty members and industry professionals,
including three keynoters—Andrew Blauvelt from the Walker Art Center, Maggie Breslin
from the Mayo Clinic, and new product design professor Kudrowitz—as well as informal
activities to spur creativity and problem solving.
“We hope the symposium furthers interest at the University and in the Twin Cities and
greater Minnesota community in product design,” said Steven McCarthy, a graphic design
professor and program director who organized the symposium with Dunne. “We hope
to continue this recent momentum, develop more interest in the new program, and get
faculty and people in private practice and industry interested in collaborations.”
COLLEGE OF DESIGN FALL 2010 5
farms went bust. Surviving farms grew
bigger. Livestock operations became more
specialized. Suburban edges collided with
growing farms. “As time went on I realized
there were these enormous changes taking
place in rural America.”
DESIGN SOLUTIONS
FOR RURAL AMERICA
Design was vital. “So many people who deal
with rural issues concentrate on one piece.
They’re not used to the design concept of
making connections between the dots and
looking at things systemically and holistically.”
So Thorbeck pushed the deans of the
colleges of design and agriculture to create
Yet he continues to push the rural
design concept beyond the University’s
boundaries.
Early this year, with a University Minnesota
Futures grant, Thorbeck organized a rural
design symposium attended by faculty
from the United States and Canada. “There
was overwhelming support for the idea of
rural design with the notion of establishing
an international organization,” he said. A
Beijing agriculture professor will visit the
center next school year, and Thorbeck
is making contacts in Norway, the United
Kingdom, and South Africa.
CENTER FOR RURAL DESIGN ENLISTS ARCHITECTS, LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS, AND PLANNERS IN A NEW DISCIPLINE
By Greg Breining
The discipline of urban design is familiar
enough—the design and planning of
buildings, parks, and transportation to define
a public space.
But who has heard of rural design? And why
isn’t there such a field?
That’s what Dewey Thorbeck wondered a
few years back. Thorbeck is a Twin Cities
architect and professor of architecture at the
University of Minnesota College of Design.
“I came to the realization that the design
professions have ignored rural America,” said
Thorbeck.
Since that moment, Thorbeck has been
working to launch a discipline in rural design
among architects, landscape architects,
planners, and civil engineers—not only at the
University of Minnesota, but also elsewhere.
Rural design brings architecture, landscape
architecture, and planning disciplines to
bear in solving rural challenges on several
scales—from designing safer, more attractive,
and more efficient buildings, to locating
transportation and other infrastructure, to
engaging citizens in economic, environmental,
and land-use decisions.
It’s easy to see why urban areas get the
attention. That’s where architects and
designers work and live. That’s where clients
and business are.
Furthermore, through history, rural design
was governed by tradition. “Until the 1960s,
rural America changed very slowly,” said
Thorbeck. “Things were resolved without
any great stress, whereas urban issues
were changing very rapidly.” But then
Section (top) and elevation (above) for fabric roof prototype for a 2,500-cow dairy facility.
6 EMERGING FALL 2010
a Center for Rural Design. They signed on,
and the center opened in 1997. Thorbeck
has been its director ever since. Three
research fellows, all landscape architects,
have been working with rural governments
and communities on issues from zoning
to mapping. The center, with the College
of Veterinary Medicine, College of Food,
Agricultural, and Natural Resource Sciences,
and Center for Sustainable Building
Research, is hoping for a National Science
Foundation grant to develop health and
environmental design guidelines for large
livestock facilities. “We are looking at
some really cutting-edge types of things,”
Thorbeck said.
The center has helped consult on rural
issues for 13 years. “I think we now have a
pretty good idea of how all of the issues are
connected.”
He is also promoting rural design in person.
He recently delivered his first paper at a
professional conference on the subject.
And in 2012 he will publish his book Rural
Design: Shaping Rural Future to “push this
whole notion forward as a serious academic
and design program.”
Finally, he plans to establish a noncredit
online rural design certification program
for professionals. The certification will
help define a future rural design graduate
program, at Minnesota or any other
university.
He’d like to see the discipline grow and
spread, with the Center for Rural Design in
the lead.
“Since we are the first of our kind in the
world,” said Thorbeck, “we are the world’s
experts!”
LIVING IN THE
TRANSMATERIAL WORLD
Blaire Brownell exposes students to sustainable new materials,
systems, processes, and cultures
By Camille LeFevre
of renewable resources, or predicted diminishing oil
supplies, a scarcity of certain metals, or an interest in
smart day lighting.”
Textiles woven from horse hair. Glass block
that looks like laminate, produced by thermal
bonding at low temperatures. Arboform, or
liquid wood, a pulp-industry byproduct that
doubles as a high-quality thermoplasticengineered material. These are just a few
of the materials—or rather, transmaterials
(meaning they’re derived from emergent
material technologies)—that have garnered
the attention of Blaine E. Brownell, assistant
professor in the College of Design.
Brownell notes that heightened awareness about
sustainability has brought calls from the likes of
Brownell’s research is applicable to more than architecture. According
to Tom Fisher, dean of the College of Design, “Blaine’s work cuts across
almost all the disciplines in the college and suggests to students that you
can be creative in the world of new materials. Blaine’s work conveys that
there are roles beyond designing buildings or landscapes or interiors
for graduates of our programs. There’s a whole other world of designing
products, assemblies, materials, and systems equally in need of creative
thought.”
Brownell’s current research interests lie in emergent material technologies
in Asia. He lived in Japan as a child, earned a BA in architecture with
a certificate in East Asian studies at Princeton University in 1992, and
returned to Japan as a visiting research fellow at the Tokyo University of
Science as a Fulbright recipient in 2006–07.
His next book, Matter and the Floating World, includes interviews with
20 Japanese architects and designers innovating new materials. “It’s not
only the designers’ skill and talent, it’s the political and cultural climate in
which these materials are being developed that affords this innovation,”
Brownell said.
An architect who’s practiced in Tokyo,
Nagoya, Houston, and Seattle, as well
as a sustainable-building adviser and
researcher in innovative materials for
architecture, Brownell leads the design/
research firm Transstudio. He’s the author
of three volumes of Transmaterial, catalogs
of emergent materials, published by
Princeton Architectural Press. In 2008, he
joined the School of Architecture faculty. In
addition to a design studio and graduatelevel seminars on materials, he teaches
Material Performance and Sustainable
Building, a core class in the school’s MS in
Architecture—Sustainable Design Track.
As the field of materials rapidly evolves, products are emerging from
“high-tech and low-tech, as well as sustainable, digital, and handmade
processes,” Brownell said. “I’m trying to
expose students not only to new materials
and systems and sustainable processes,
but also to ways in which different
cultures approach building that can enrich
our own culture.”
Helping the College of Design strengthen
the bridges between “emerging
technologies, sustainability, future
practice, and global relationships,” he
added, “is a compelling characteristic of
being here.”
Steve West
His research, Brownell said, focuses
on “surveying the field and trying to
understand the technological directions
or trajectories that have the most potential
to change architectural practice and the
way we make buildings. The impetus
could be based on intensified harvesting
environmentalist Bill McKibben to sustainable architect Bill McDonough for
a “new industrial revolution” that would change the research, processing,
and production of materials. As a result, he said, his intention as a
professor is to teach students to evaluate materials and building practices,
particularly those that are sustainable. Such skills include the ability to
trace the origins of resources and identify the environmental, economic,
and social implications of their use, and to project into the future the
material’s possibility for recycling or reuse. More by Brownell at transstudio.com and
transmaterial.net
COLLEGE OF DESIGN FALL 2010 7
The DLabs also engaged teachers from the respective
schools in a series of professional development workshops
to provide the tools and confidence necessary for them to
implement design into their lesson plans. Teaching assistant
and second-year MLA student Brit Salmela noted, “It’s
inspirational that people of all ages can learn the skills to
think critically about space, to become fully engaged in an
activity, and to work together as a team.”
Although these workshops took place in an informal
learning environment and were meant to be fun as well
as educational, there were clearly tangible results. “The
design labs taught me how to label, make sketches, and
work on my handwriting. I have better drawing and art
skills now,” said Yoni, a nine-year-old participant from
Baker Community Center.
DESIGN LABS “TON OF FUN”
This summer, two groups of
elementary school students
were introduced to design
thinking and creative
problem solving through a
set of fast and furious design
workshops designed to
integrate core knowledge
taught during the school year.
In addition to designing and
creating full-scale structures,
everyone had a “ton of fun,”
according to sources on the
ground.
Design thinking and
creative problem
solving provide an
effective means for
students to build
the kind of higher
order, critical-thinking
skills they will need
to thrive in an
increasingly complex
world.
The College of Design
continued its long-standing
commitment to precollege
(PK–12) outreach programs
through two Design Lab
(DLab) workshops taught by
college faculty and local designers. The DLabs introduced
design thinking skills to K–6 students ages 5 through 11
and a group of their teachers in two locations: Highlands
Elementary School in Edina and Baker Community Center/
Jane Addams School in West St. Paul.
8 EMERGING FALL 2010
Youngsters in the DLabs incorporated natural
phenomena like wind, water, light, and sound to
create gathering spaces on their school grounds using
sustainable resources such as straw bales, willow
reeds, natural twine, and burlap. Led by John Comazzi,
assistant professor (Arch); Wendy Friedmeyer,
former education coordinator in the Design Institute;
Adam Jarvi (MArch ’08, above); and MArch student
Kristen Murray, the four day-long programs focused
on sketching, mind-mapping, diagramming, model
making, and prototyping to develop the final, full-scale
constructions. Kristine Miller, associate professor
(Landscape Arch), Amy Krautbauer (MLA ’08), and
local designer Scott Christiansen also participated as
instructors.
The main objective of the program was to teach a
range of core lessons through an open-ended design
process, said Comazzi. “Design-based education offers
opportunities to meaningfully connect and apply content
from across core curricula—mathematics, writing, art,
science, social sciences, physical education,” he said.
“Design thinking and creative problem solving provide
an effective means for students to build the kind of
higher order, critical-thinking skills they will need to thrive
in an increasingly complex world.”
The DLabs were supported by
an Access to Excellence Grant
from the National Endowment for
the Arts and a 2009 Exceptional
Innovation Grant from the
Design Institute. An independent
assessment of the DLabs was
conducted by consultants from the
Perpich Center for Arts Integration.
Explore the DLab blog at blog
.lib.umn.edu/jcomazzi/dlabs.
Lauren Pennington, summer intern,
contributed to this article and SDA
article (p.9).
STUDENTS
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE STUDENT SEIZES
OPPORTUNITY TO DESIGN SCHOOL IN ETHIOPIA
Furi School Project to serve underdeveloped rural community outside Addis Ababa
By Jeff Falk
In 2009, when Wosen Kifle, a
Minneapolis resident and native
of Ethiopia, asked the College
of Design for assistance in
designing an elementary school
and clinic complex on his family’s
land in Furi, outside of Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia, May 2010 MArch
graduate Andrew Blaisdell was
presented with a once-in-alifetime opportunity.
Urban agriculture was chosen as the 10-person-andgrowing collective’s first focus.
“Urban agriculture resonated with our group on several
levels: we can get dirty and work with our hands, there is
the potential to truly touch the fruits of our labor, and we
can address myriad social issues, all through spatial design,
planning, and community engagement,” Lawrence said.
SDA worked with the city to obtain a new community
garden plot as part of the Homegrown Minneapolis
program. SDA met with city officials, scouted locations,
and completed a lengthy application process. At this point,
however, the University and city have not been able to
work out a lease agreement.
His involvement quickly grew into a deeper interest in
educational environment design, prompting Blaisdell to
center his master’s thesis on the topic of technology and its
influence on the design of education spaces.
Fund-raising for the Furi School Project, led by a
Minneapolis-based nonprofit, is ongoing and, with the help
Students for Design Activism (SDA), a new group founded
by master of landscape architecture (MLA) students,
uses design as a tool to empower students in hands-on,
community-focused problem solving.
MLA students and faculty wanted to create a student
group that addresses design ideas and concepts first
explored in the classroom. SDA engages students on a
“level that can’t be found in front of a computer screen or
in our studio classroom,” said Anna Lawrence, MLA student
and SDA president.
Advised by assistant professor
of architecture Ozayr Saloojee
and supported by the college,
Blaisdell took on the project and,
over the course of the past year,
has been developing the conceptual and design framework
of the project. In addition, he was sponsored by the college’s
School of Architecture and the dean’s office to visit Furi
last spring to assess the unique sociocultural and material
conditions of the area.
“The primary results of my research were that students of
all kinds learn best through curiosity, not compulsion, and
that they are capable of teaching themselves an incredible
amount through small peer groups if the teacher changes
his/her role from captain to coconspirator” Blaisdell said.
“The design for the Furi School attempts to allow for this
hands-on learning through a number of loosely connected
and easily transformable spaces within a cohesive
structure.”
HANDS-ON PROBLEM
SOLVING FOCUS FOR
MLA STUDENT GROUP
Top: large tree at the Furi site, known as Gamecha, “the big
one.” Bottom: Andrew Blaisdell, with Addis Ababa behind.
of individual donors, Blaisdell and Kifle hope to attend the
school’s groundbreaking in the near future.
Inspired by his work on the project, Blaisdell is now involved
with a second design project in Africa, supporting the
development of a preliminary layout for a new cancer
treatment center at Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center
outside Moshi, Tanzania.
More about the Furi School Project at www.furischool.org.
SDA is moving past the Homegrown Minneapolis setback—
the group recently connected with Craig Wilson (MLA ’09),
president-elect of the American Society of Landscape
Architects–Minnesota Chapter, who was able to connect the
group with organizations on the north side of Minneapolis
interested in expanding their urban agriculture programming.
“This summer has been a mere taste of the potential
this group has—nothing has gone as planned so far, yet
all of us feel great about what we have accomplished,”
Lawrence said. “Connecting our ideas from school to the
real world is the best thing that can come from the many
hours spent in Rapson Hall,” she said.
Students for Design Activism may be reached at
[email protected].
COLLEGE OF DESIGN FALL 2010 9
NEWS
he will continue his research
on cold-climate exterior wall
systems, including systems
currently in use or under
development in Scandinavia.
AWARDS
The American Institute
of Architecture Students
Minnesota, the University’s
student group for anyone with
an interest in architecture,
won a 2009–10 Tony
Diggs Excellence Award for
Outstanding Undergraduate
Registered Student
Organization of the Year.
Salma Bagha, senior retail
merchandising undergraduate,
won a 2010 President’s
Student Leadership and
Service Award. The award is
presented to .05 percent of
the University’s undergraduate
and graduate students.
John Carmody and Rich Strong
(both Center for Sustainable
Building Research) received the
2010 Sustainable St. Paul Award
in the Public/Private Initiative
Award category for helping
to craft the city’s sustainable
building policy in 2009.
Caren Martin and Denise Guerin
(both Interior Design) received
the Association of Registered
Interior Designers of Ontario
Education Leadership Award.
Wearable technology
Design for its work on the
MacArthur Park district master
plan in Little Rock, Arkansas.
The AIA also named Conway
to its College of Fellows, and
Conway+Schulte received
one of five AIA Minnesota
Residential Architects Vision
and Excellence (RAVE) Awards.
Lucy Dunne (Apparel Design)
was selected by attendees of
the College of Design’s first
research slam as the winner of
$1,000 for her presentation on
wearable technology (above).
Denise Guerin (Interior
Design) received the Lifetime
Achievement Award from
the Northland Chapter of
the International Interior
Design Association
MacArthur Park master plan
William Conway’s (Architecture)
firm, Conway+Schulte
Architects, received a
2010 American Institute of
Architecture (AIA) Honor
Award for Regional and Urban
10 EMERGING FALL 2010
Rolf Jacobson (Center for
Sustainable Building Research)
has been awarded a Fulbright
Scholarship and will spend
the next academic year at
the Norwegian University of
Science and Technology in
Trondheim. Jacobson will study
at the Research Center for Zero
Emissions Buildings where
Peter Olin, emeritus director
of the Minnesota Landscape
Arboretum, former chair of
the Landscape Architecture
program, and professor emeritus
in Horticultural Science, was
selected by Garden Club of
America to receive its 2010
Medal of Honor Award.
Kate Solomonson (Architecture)
has been awarded a Graham
Foundation grant to cover
the cost of illustrations for
her forthcoming book, Cass
Gilbert in the West: Making
a National Landscape.
The book will include an
essay by Lance Neckar
(Landscape Architecture).
APPOINTMENTS
Dean Tom Fisher (Architecture)
has been named to the
board of governors of the
UMore Development Limited
Liability Company. The vision
for UMore Park is to create
a sustainable community for
20,000 to 30,000 people over
the next 25 to 30 years.
Kerry Haglund (Center
for Sustainable Building
Research) was reelected
to a three-year term on the
National Fenestration Rating
Council (NFRC) board of
directors. Haglund will also
serve as the treasurer on
the executive committee.
GRANTS
A Design, Housing, and Apparel
(DHA) team, led by Marilyn
Bruin (Housing Studies),
received one of six grants
awarded to departments to
participate in the University’s
Engaged Department Program.
The program’s purpose is to
infuse community engagement
more fully into the department’s
teaching or research activities.
The project focuses on retail,
graphic identity, and housing
at UMore Park. The other DHA
team members are Sherri
Gahring (Apparel Design),
Barbara Martinson (Graphic
Design), Kim Johnson (Retail
Merchandising), Hye-Young
Kim (Retail Merchandising), and
Becky Yust (Housing Studies).
Lucy Dunne (Apparel Design)
has been awarded a University
of Minnesota Grant-in-Aid
of Research, Artistry, and
Scholarship for her project
“Toward Body-Monitoring in the
Everyday World: Assessing the
Comfort/Accuracy Tradeoff and
Modeling Signal Noise.” Along
with coprimary investigator
Loren Terveen (Computer
Science and Engineering),
Dunne was also awarded a
grant from the University’s
Interdisciplinary Informatics
Seed Funding program.
Tasoulla Hadjiyanni (Interior
Design) was awarded a
U of M Institute for Advanced
Studies Residential Fellowship
for fall semester 2010. She
will be interacting with other
scholars at the institute as
she completes a book on
how design relates to the
material and immaterial
worlds for those working with
diverse cultural groups.
Juanjuan Wu (Retail
Merchandising) has been
awarded a University of
Minnesota Grant-in-Aid
of Research, Artistry, and
Scholarship for her project
“Mass Customization 2.0:
Experience Codesign
in Cyberspace.”
PUBLICATIONS
Blaine Brownell’s (Architecture)
latest book, Transmaterial
3: A Catalog of Materials
that Redefine our Physical
Environment, has been
published by Princeton
Architectural Press. Brownell
also contributed a chapter,
“Material Ecologies,” to another
Princeton Architectural Press
book, Design Ecologies.
Brownell’s essay, “Testing
Ground: Emergent Green
Materials and Architectural
Effects,” was the cover story
for the February issue of
A+U, and his op-ed about
material innovation in a broad
cultural/historical context,
“The Age of Concrete,” was
published in the March 12
issue of the New York Times.
(More on Brownell, page 7.)
Dean Tom Fisher (Architecture)
published an opinion piece
in February titled “How Haiti
Could Change Design,”
in Places, the Web-based
interdisciplinary journal of
contemporary architecture,
landscape, and urbanism. Fisher
is also one of the contributors
to The City, the River, the Bridge
(University of Minnesota Press,
January 2011), a survey of the
University’s response to the
August 2007 collapse of the
I-35W bridge in Minneapolis,
edited by Patrick Nunnally
(Landscape Architecture).
Kim Johnson (Retail
Merchandising) coauthored
several papers, including in
the following journals: Journal
of Retailing and Consumer
Science; Clothing and Textiles
Research Journal; Journal
of Fashion Marketing and
Management; and Clothing
and Textiles Research Journal.
Karen LaBat (Apparel Design)
and Dong-Eun Kim (PhD DHA,
’09) have published “Design
Process for Developing a Liquid
Cooling Garment Hood” in
Ergonomics 53, no. 6 (2010).
Kim is currently an associate
professor at California State
University, Long Beach.
Caren Martin and Denise
Guerin (both Interior Design)
have published The State
of the Interior Design
Profession (Fairchild, 2010).
College of Design Advisory
Board member Richard Murphy
(Landscape Architecture and
BLA ’75, BED ’75) published
“The Business Case for
Greening Your Grounds”
on MinnPost.com in April,
using his own business—
Murphy Warehouse Co., a
fourth-generation logistics
firm—as an example.
Laura Weber’s
(Communications) article
“Justus Ramsey House, St.
Paul” (below) was published
in the Winter 2009–10 issue
of Minnesota History.
EXHIBITIONS
AND
PRESENTATIONS
Netherlands: Laura Musacchio,
Kristine Miller, Lance Neckar,
David Pitt, and Vince deBritto.
John Carmody (Center
for Sustainable Building
Research) presented at a
session of the Preservation
Alliance of Minnesota “Old Is
the New Green” symposium
in November 2009.
Joanne Eicher (DHA faculty
emeritus) presented a paper,
“The Sacred Use of Indian
Textiles by the Kalabari of
Nigeria,” on the Sacred
Textiles panel at the fiveday Sacred Arts Festival
in Delhi, India, in March.
John Comazzi and Christian
Korab (both Architecture)
curated an exhibition on the
architectural photography
of Balthazar Korab, a show
Dean Tom Fisher (Architecture)
delivered the keynote at the
2010 GeoDesign Summit in
Redlands, California, in January.
John Comazzi and Christian Korab’s exhibition on the
photography of Balthazar Korab
that ran at the School of
Architecture and Urban
Planning at the University
of Wisconsin–Milwaukee
through late February. Comazzi
delivered a lecture, “Inflected
Modernism: The Architecture
Photography of Balthazar
Korab,” in coordination with the
opening on January 29, 2010.
Five faculty members of the
Department of Landscape
Architecture
presented at the
annual Council
of Educators
in Landscape
Architecture
conference, May
12–14, in Maastricht,
Fisher spoke about using
GeoDesign visualizations to
resolve fracture-critical systems
like the one that led to the
I-35W bridge collapse. Fisher
also presented a lecture
at the Minneapolis
Stereotomy
Institute of Arts in February,
“What’s New in Architecture.”
Tasoulla Hadjiyanni (Interior
Design) presented “Spatiality
and Illegality—The Experience
of Minnesota’s Undocumented
Mexicans” at the American
Anthropological Association
“The End/s of Anthropology”
meeting in December 2009
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The paper was coauthored
with Kristin Helle, PhD
candidate. In June, Hadjiyanni
presented “Socializing
Surveillance: Open Proposals
for New Modes of Public
Engagement” at EDRA 41—
Policy and the Environment,
in Washington, D.C., and
“Socializing Surveillance:
An Interdisciplinary
Educational Model” the 18th
Mediterranean Conference
on Control and Automation,
in Marrakesh, Morocco.
Benjamin Ibarra-Sevilla
(Architecture/Center for World
Heritage Studies) lectured in
March on southern Mexico’s
16th-century stereotomy
(the art of cutting threedimensional solids into
particular shapes) and
stone-cutting solutions
in architecture, at the
National School
of Building
Conservation’s
seminar
in stereotomy, held
in Mexico City.
Rebecca Krinke (Landscape
Architecture) has created a
temporary work of outdoor
public art called Unseen/
Seen: The Mapping of Joy and
Pain, a project that traveled
to several Minneapolis parks
in the summer of 2010.
Jonee Kulman Brigham
(Center for Sustainable Building
Research) exhibited artwork
in May at the Living Green
Expo held at the Minnesota
State Fairgrounds in St. Paul.
Steven McCarthy (Graphic
Design) presented at the
Responsibility in Graphic
Design conference in Katowice,
Poland. He chaired a panel
at the University and College
Designers Association
design education summit at
the University of Kansas.
Steven McCarthy and Daniel
Jasper (Graphic Design) both
had works in the exhibition
“Repurposes” at Old Dominion
University in March and April.
Jean McElvain (Goldstein
Museum of Design) gave
a talk about the evolution
of denim blue jeans from
working class to high fashion
at a Minnesota Historical
Society event in April.
Laura Musacchio (Landscape
Architecture) lectured at
Managing Agricultural
Landscapes for Environmental
Quality II in Denver, Colorado,
and at the opening of
“Open Field,” the Walker
Art Center’s summer-long
experiment in public space.
Julia Robinson (Architecture)
presented two papers at
the 2010 Environmental
Design Research
Association conference in
Washington, D.C. Robinson
also presented a paper in
Leipzig, Germany, in June.
Ignacio San Martin
(Metropolitan Design
Center and Architecture)
spoke at the 21st annual
Transportation Research
Conference held in April at
the St. Paul River Center.
Marc Swackhamer (Architecture)
and his partner Blair Satterfield
presented a lecture in the
Walker Art Center’s “Drawn
Here (and There): Contemporary
Design in Conversation”
lecture series in February.
Dewey Thorbeck’s (Center
for Rural Design) travel
sketches from Architect’s
Travel Sketches: A Recording
of Natural and Human
Landscapes, a book in
progress, were exhibited
in the American Institute of
Architects Minnesota office.
Caitlin Cohn (Apparel Design
MA candidate) is this year’s
winner of the Jerome Joss
Internship, awarded annually to
a College of Design graduate
student to develop a public
program based on the Goldstein
Museum of Design collection.
Cohn’s project is a comparison
of a century of Vogue images
with actual garments.
Woody Hanson, Allison
Johnson, and Jonathan
Dessi-Olive (all Architecture
undergrads) presented their
research at the 24th annual
National Conference for
Undergraduate Research
in Missoula, Montana.
Laura Weber (Communications)
led a College of Continuing
Education day-long
“Curiosity Camp” in July
entitled “Chapels, Cottages,
and Ivy-Covered Halls:
Preserving Historic Gems.”
STUDENTS
Sarah Bellefuil (Housing
Studies PhD candidate) has
been hired by the Minnesota
Housing Partnership as
technical information officer.
Missy Bye (Apparel Design)
and her students Gabrielle
Goetz, Elyse Olson, Ashley
Wokasch, and Luci Kandler
showed garment designs
in the International Textile
and Apparel Association
juried design exhibition held
in Bellevue, Washington, in
October 2009. Kandler’s
garment was awarded
Most Sustainable Design
in the undergraduate
category. Graduate student
Myung-Hee Sohn gave
an oral presentation.
Woody Hanson, Allison
Johnson, and Jonathan DessiOlive
Design by Luci Kandler
COLLEGE OF DESIGN FALL 2010 11
NEWS
get closer to the Mississippi
along the Minneapolis central
riverfront, transforming the
vision of the river and the
city. The book was produced
by College of Design
Architecture undergraduate
students Daniel Carlson,
Andy Cleven, Julia Hill, Kevin
Lang, Michael Nickerson,
and Davidson Ward. The
students were advised by
Leslie Van Duzer (Architecture)
and Patrick Nunnally
(Landscape Architecture).
Images from “Imagining the Mississippi” exhibition
Lucy Dunne’s (Apparel Design)
junior students showed their
work on February 6 at the
Mall of America. The show,
Heart of Fashion, was part
of a larger event, Go Red
for Women’s Heart Health,
sponsored by Boston Scientific
and the American Heart
Association. The students
designed red fashions that
drew inspiration from issues
around heart disease and
women’s wellness, and the
show featured models who
were heart disease survivors.
Go Red for Women’s Heart
Health
Jonathan Dessi-Olive’s
research project, “Studies of
the XVI c. Masonry Structures
in Oaxaca, Mexico,” was
selected as the School of
Architecture’s recipient
of the 2010 Architectural
Research Centers Consortium
King Student Research
Medal. Benjamin IbarraSevilla (Architecture) was
the faculty sponsor for the
Undergraduate Research
Opportunities Program grant
that Dessi-Olive completed.
12 EMERGING FALL 2010
Architecture undergraduate
student Woody Hanson
received the Rotary
Ambassadorial Scholarship and
will be studying architecture,
urban planning, and conflict
resolution at a university
in a divided city during the
2011–12 academic year. (His first
choice is Queen’s University
in Belfast, Northern Ireland.)
“Imagining the Mississippi,”
an exhibit at the Mill City
Museum in Minneapolis July
7–August 8, 2010, included
a design book offering 30
visions of how the public can
Uttam Kokil (Interactive Design
PhD candidate) presented
his paper “Application of
Constructivist Theory to
Teach Computer Arts” at
the University and College
Designers Association Design
Education Summit in June.
Alix Nettnay (Apparel Design
undergraduate) is the first
recipient of the Lila Bath
Undergraduate Research
Opportunities Program
Internship, which involves
collection assistance at the
University of Incarnate Word
in San Antonio, Texas, and
developing a project based
on that experience. Nettnay
will develop designs for
embellishment inspired by
the culture of San Antonio.
Michael Nickerson (“Political
Discourse in Ecuador’s Public
Space”), Zhongtian Yuan,
(“Suburbanization in China”),
and Emily Zeug-Robertson
(“Affordable Housing in
Stockholm”) received the
Metropolitan Design Center
2010 undergraduate travel
scholarships for summer
2010 to conduct independent
study on topics related to
metropolitan design.
In conjunction with a local
screening of Tim Burton’s
film Alice in Wonderland,
Apparel Design seniors
Mae Rogers and Jennafer
Crammer created designs
that were featured on the
Twin Cities television program
“Showcase Minnesota.”
Natalie Ross (third-year MLA
student) was one of eight
MLA students from across
the United States selected
for an internship to green the
grounds of the U.S. Mission
in Geneva, Switzerland.
Wade Stebbings (MFA
Interactive Design student)
traveled to Beijing, China,
for the May 17 opening of a
photography exhibition at the
Beijing Film Academy in which
he exhibited photographs
of trash as seen from inside
the Hennepin County
incinerator in downtown
Minneapolis (see cover.)
Evan Stremke (Graphic Design
senior) was recognized at the
AIGA Minnesota Design Show
2010 with two creative block
awards for his packaging for
Mandeer Scotch whiskey and
ad collateral for a campaign
promoting family time. Stremke
was also awarded the Larsen
Scholarship at the 2010 AIGA
Portfolio One-on-One event.
Susan Vue (Apparel Design
student) displayed her work in
November 2009 at a Hmong
cultural education event
organized by the University’s
Hmong Student Association.
Matt Wenger (Graphic
Design senior) designed
three award-winning posters
for the University’s Quality
Fair. Wenger’s posters,
designed for Academic
Support Resources where
he works as a student
graphic designer, won first
prize, second prize, and the
measurable outcomes award.
ALUMNI
Heba Amin (MFA Interactive
Design ’09) received a
Deutscher Akademischer
Austausch Dienst scholarship
to fund her project
“Alternative Memorial: Berlin’s
Abandoned Structures.”
Kristine Anderson (MArch
’04) was on the jury for the
2010 Structural Insulated
Panel Association Building
Excellence Awards and was
also part of the architecture
team for Peterssen/Keller’s
two American Society of
Interior Designers 2010
showcase homes.
Justin Bieganek (BS Graphic
Design ’97), founder and
principal of beganik strategy +
design, and currently president
of the college’s Student and
Alumni Board, was recognized
at the AIGA Minnesota Design
Show 2010 with two creative
block awards for his firm’s
Joshua T. Root identity system
and BBQ Bash invitation
Julie Bruns (BS Retail
Merchandising ’03) provides
direct training and merchandise
execution support for the
top-volume Macy’s stores
in Chicago and Detroit.
The American Institute of
Architects 2010 Jury of Fellows
named five Architecture
alumni as fellows for making
significant contributions
to the profession: Richard
Carter (BArch ’82), Bill Chilton
(MArch ’80), Richard Gilyard
(BA and BArch ’61), Yvonne
Szeto (BArch ’78), and John
Waugh (BA and BArch ’67).
Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn
Architects, the New York-based
firm in which Peter David
Cavaluzzi (BArch ’83) is a
principal, won an international
design competition to build
one of the first urban retail
and residential projects
for Vanke, the largest real
estate company in China.
Carrie Ann Christensen (MLA
’08) had an article (“Fair Share”)
published in the June issue
of Landscape Architecture
magazine. The article features
the landscape architecture
commissioned by one of
the owners of the former
Sullivan residence on Lake
of the Isles in Minneapolis.
Jack Dangermond (MArch
’68, with a focus in landscape
architecture and urban
planning) was the recipient in
June of the annual Patron’s
Medal from The Royal
Geographical Society for his
extensive work promoting
geographical science and his
role as a main driving force
in the development of the
Geographical Information
System (GIS) industry. The
award is one of the highest
honors in the world for the
development and promotion
of geography. Dangermond is
founder of the Environmental
Systems Research Institute
(ESRI), which has created some
of the most successful GIS
software used worldwide.
Christian Dean (MArch ’99),
cofounder of City Desk Studio,
received the 2010 Midwest
Home Emerging Talent award.
Kim is currently an assistant
professor at California State
University–Long Beach.
MSD/WhatWorx Collaboration’s first-place design in Bearden
Place housing design competition.
Steve Durrant (BLA ’78)
was promoted to principal
of Alta Planning + Design,
a national leader in bicycle
and pedestrian projects.
Tom Ellison (BArch ’70),
founder of TEA2, received
the 2010 Midwest Home
Architect of Distinction award.
Joel Goodman (BArch ’66)
presented two papers at
the American Solar Energy
Society National Solar
Conference held in May.
Jane Hession (MArch ’95)
received a grant from the
Graham Foundation for
Advanced Studies in the Fine
Arts for a research trip to
Vienna, Austria, to aid her book
project on Minneapolis architect
Elizabeth “Lisl” Scheu Close.
Lee Jorgensen (BS Architecture
’06) has temporarily stopped
practicing architecture
to work with the city of
Pendleton, Oregon, through an
AmeriCorps-funded program
called Resource Assistance
for Rural Environments that
is working on a sustainable
energy solutions initiative
for the community.
The design of MSD/WhatWorx
Collaboration—Ira A. Keer
(MArch ’83), Sandra Gay, Tim
Heitman, Gary Lampman (BLA
’67), Robert Fischer, Donovan
Hart, and Spencer Finseth—
was selected as the first-place
winner in the Bearden Place
housing design competition. The
jury also recognized secondplace winner Trace Jacques
(BArch ’90) of ESG Architects
and three honorable mentions:
Shelter Architecture’s John
Dwyer (BA Arch ’96, MArch
’02), Jackie Millea (BA Arch
’98, MArch ’09), Kurt Gough
(MArch ’05), and Colin Oglesby;
Cuningham Group’s John
Cuningham (BArch ’62), Shawn
Olson, Joel Brygger (BS Arch
’05, MArch, ’08), and Melissa
Lockhart; and UrbanWorks
Architecture’s Jeff Schoeneck,
David Miller, and Christopher
Wingate (BS Arch ’08).
Dong-Eun Kim (PhD Apparel
Design ’09) was awarded
second place in the doctoral
paper category at the 2009
International Textile and Apparel
Association conference for
her work “Apparel Fit Based
on Viewing of 3D Virtual
Models and Live Models.”
Ed Kodet (MArch ’69) was
inaugurated by the American
Institute of Architects College of
Fellows as its 2010 chancellor.
Kodet, a practicing architect for
nearly 40 years, will focus on the
areas of fellowship, mentorship,
and research. In June, Kodet was
awarded the 2010 AIA Minnesota
Gold Medal, AIA Minnesota’s
highest award bestowed on
an individual member. It serves
as recognition for a lifetime
of distinguished achievement
and significant contributions
to architecture. Kodet founded
Kodet Architectural Group, Ltd., in
Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1983.
Lisa La Nasa (BS Interior
Design ’00) published an
article, “Living the Good Life
in Uruguay,” for the Role
Models section of the website
Make It and Mend It. La Nasa
has been living and working
in Montevideo, Uruguay.
Kris Layon (MFA DHA ’04)
launched MinneWebCon, a
national higher education web
design conference, two years
ago. As a result, New Riders,
an imprint of Peachpit Press,
will publish Layon’s “Designing
iPhone, iPod Touch, and
iPad Applications with Web
Standards” in December 2010.
Tom Meyer’s (BArch ’74) firm,
MS&R, has been awarded
one of 14 American Institute of
Architects (AIA) Honor Awards
for its work on the Urban
Outfitters corporate campus.
The project involves the
conversion of five buildings in
the historic Philadelphia Navy
Yard into design studios and
office space. This is MS&R’s
second AIA Honor Award; the
first was in 2005 for the Mill
City Museum in Minneapolis,
which involved the adaptive
reuse of the National Historic
Landmark Washburn A Mill ruin.
Kristin Raab (MLA ’09)
spoke at the annual meeting
of the Society of College
and University Planning in
Minneapolis on the importance
of contemplative and healing
spaces to stressed students,
staff, and faculty on campuses.
Raab’s healing garden design
was published as the cover
story in the fall 2009 issue
of SCAPE, the web-based
ASLA Minnesota magazine.
Patrick Redmond (MA DHA
’90) had a woodcut included
in the 2009–10 Art and
Design Department faculty
exhibition at the Furlong Gallery,
University of Wisconsin–Stout.
John Shardlow (BA Arch ’77;
BLA ’78) has been inducted
into the American Institute of
Certified Planners (AICP) College
of Fellows. Currently about
16,000 practicing urban and rural
planners have AICP certification;
of these, approximately 400
are fellows. A principal with
Bonestroo—an engineering,
planning, and environmental
firm with offices in St. Paul and
11 other Upper Midwest cities—
Shardlow was named a fellow
for his outstanding contributions
in professional planning practice.
Monica Sklar (PhD DesignApparel Studies ’10,) was
awarded an Adele Filene
Student Travel Award from
the Costume Society of
America (CSA). The award
allowed her to travel to the
annual CSA conference
held in May in Kansas City,
Sarah Wolbert (MArch ’09)
presented “Cafe Scientifique:
Waste = Food,” a view of
rebalancing urban food
systems based on her
graduate design thesis, at the
Bryant-Lake Bowl Theater in
Minneapolis in February.
Missouri, where she made an
oral presentation of a portion
of her dissertation on punk
dress and the workplace.
Anne Splinter (BS Retail
Merchandising ’07) is an
associate merchant at
Abercrombie & Fitch’s home
office where she is responsible
for all steps of the garmentmaking process for knit tops,
from development to delivery.
Send your alumni news to
[email protected].
DEATHS
Bobbie Sumburg (MA DHA
’93; PhD DHA ’01), curator of
costume and textiles at the
Museum of International Folk
Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico, has
published Textiles: Collection
of the Museum of International
Folk Art (Gibbs Smith, 2010).
Sumburg also coauthored
Sleeping Around: The Bed from
Antiquity to Now (University
of Washington Press, 2006).
Daniel R. Tindall (MArch ’90)
has been promoted to vice
president of KPS Group, Inc.,
based in Birmingham, Alabama.
Tindall has been KPS director
of information technology.
The work of modernist architect
Donald Wexler (BArch ’50) was
showcased during “Wexler
Weekend” in Palm Springs,
California, January 22–24,
2010, timed to coincide with
Wexler’s 84th birthday. Wexler’s
body of work, more than
200 structures, includes the
Palm Springs airport, projects
for Dinah Shore and Frank
Sinatra, and prefabricated
steel constructions. Festivities
included a screening of the
documentary Journeyman
Architect: The Life and Work of
Donald Wexler. Wexler’s legacy
will also be explored in an
exhibition at the Palm Springs
Art Museum in January 2011.
Architect James Stageberg
(BArch ’52) died in July at
age 85. After graduating from
Harvard’s Graduate School of
Design, Stageberg returned
to Minnesota and formed The
Hodne-Stageberg Partners,
followed by The Stageberg
Partners and then Stageberg
Beyer Sachs. Local designs
(among many other structures)
include the remodeled Walter
Library, Elmer L. Andersen
Library, and Aquatic Center, all
at the U of M (as well as the
1976 new construction and
renovation that joined McNeal
Hall with Old Horticulture on
the St. Paul campus, today
home to half of the College
of Design); the Southdale
Library; Mary Mother of the
Church in Burnsville; and a
wide variety of houses. He
won the highest honor of the
Minnesota AIA chapter, its
Gold Medal. In 1996, he was
one of five architects then
living selected by members
of AIA Minnesota as among
Minnesota’s 12 all-time best
architects. Stageberg was
equally dedicated to teaching
architecture. His “Grade Two
Design” at the U of M was
known for its rigor. In 1991 he
was awarded the University’s
Ralph Rapson Award for
Distinguished Teaching.
COLLEGE OF DESIGN FALL 2010 13
ALUMNI
CHRIS WENDEL: PRODUCT DESIGN MAJOR PIONEER
By Laura Walton
When Chris Wendel
attended the University of
Minnesota in the 1970s, not
only was a major in product
design not an option, but
neither was one in graphic
design. With the support
and encouragement of his
professors, Wendel created
his own program in product
design, with an emphasis in
graphic design.
“I was in uncharted territory,”
said Wendel. “Because I
was given the opportunity
to tailor the program to
suit my needs, I was able
to make the best of the
given situation.” He crafted
his own degree program,
took classes in studio
arts and design, and in
1979, graduated from the
former College of Home
Economics with a BS in
applied design.
Following graduation,
Wendel worked at a
small firm in New Hope,
Above: Bank of Ameria Tower,
New York, NY
Left: Bank of Ameria Heritage
Center, Charlotte, NC
Minnesota, designing
animated beer signs. “That
beer design job was pretty
bad,” Wendel recalled, “but
I picked up some skills.”
He’s been on the move ever
since, from Minneapolis to
Chicago to Pittsburgh to
New Jersey/New York, “each
time for a new job, each
time building professional
experience, each time
confronting new challenges.”
After 10 years working
in the field, Wendel
returned to school and
received an MBA with
a focus in international
business from Seton Hall
University. “Gaining a
better understanding of
business practices and
how my work contributes to
HANI AYAD RECEIVES U OF M DISTINGUISHED
LEADERSHIP AWARD FOR INTERNATIONALS
Hani Ayad (MArch, ’84) of Cairo, Egypt, returned to the
University of Minnesota in May 2010 to give the College of
Design commencement address and receive the U of M
Distinguished Leadership Award for Internationals.
Read about Hani Ayad, hear his commencement speech, and
view photos at z.umn.edu/HaniAyad.
Do you know of an accomplished alumnus? Recommend
someone for an alumni award. Send suggestions to Lori
Mollberg, [email protected].
Fall Alumni Events–
something for every major
See events poster insert
or go to design.umn.edu/events for dates and details.
14 EMERGING FALL 2010
Front row: Marcia and Frank Nemeth. Back row (L-R): Dr. Ehab
Michael, Lee Anderson, Mary Makar (Ayad’s wife), Hani Ayad,
Rosslyn and Ron Sawchuk.
business success has been
invaluable,” he said.
Today, Wendel works as
an environmental and
interactive designer with his
design and communications
company ChrisWendel,
Inc., which he founded
in 2002. His company
specializes in creating
marketing environments
and exhibit systems for
tradeshows, retailers, and
museums. Clients include
Hewlett/Packard, Johnson
& Johnson, Kodak, and
Bank of America (see
photos). ChrisWendel has
received numerous U.S.
and international awards
for his work including an
Outstanding Award in the
2009 International Design
Awards from HOW magazine
and gold and silver awards
in the Annual Exhibit Design
Awards from Exhibitor
magazine. Wendel has also
been awarded multiple U.S.
and foreign patents for his
design innovations.
DINA FESLER RECOGNIZED
FOR EXCELLENCE IN
PHILANTHROPIC WORK
Dina Fesler (BS Costume
Design, ’86) was honored
with the 2010 Buckman
Fellowship Award of
Excellence at the annual
Buckman Lecture on April
19, 2010, in Rapson Hall.
Fesler was recognized for
founding the Children’s
Culture Connection in 2004
after a successful career in
fashion design in New York,
Shanghi, and Hong Kong.
Fesler’s work reaches 12
countries through fundraising and programming
for child-focused nongovernmental organizations.
Fesler used her time as a
Buckman Fellow in 2007–
08 to gain nonprofit 501(c)3
status for Children’s Culture
Connection.
Dina Fesler
The Buckman Fellowship
program provides
opportunities to work on
specific philanthropy projects
Learn more at www
.childrenscultureconnection
.com and z.umn.edu
/buckman.
PRIVATE SUPPORT
SUPPORT CRUCIAL TO
ATTRACTING AND RETAINING
OUTSTANDING STUDENTS
By Sue Danielson Bretheim, Director of Development
The College of Design
graduated more than 350
students in 2009–10. Our
newest alumni enter the
economy at a challenging
time. Some are finding work in
the private and public sectors.
Others are pursuing graduate
work or volunteering in their
communities until the market
brightens.
Both graduating and entering
students benefit from the
support provided by donors,
which enables them to
finish their degree work on
time. Gifts from alumni and
friends provided $426,000
in 2009–10 to support 150
students in all areas of
the college. With annual
undergraduate tuition at
$12,000 a year and graduate
and professional degree
tuition nearing $18,000, that
support is crucial to attracting
and retaining outstanding
students. In an uncertain
economy, students value
such support more than ever.
In the past, students often
worked their way through the
University and graduated with
manageable debt. Although
students today often combine
work and study, they are no
longer able to self-fund their
education in this way. Donor
support for students is more
critical than ever.
One of our recent graduates,
Shona Mosites (BS Interior
Design), put it this way in a
thank-you letter to the donor
who funded the scholarship
she received.
“Receiving this scholarship
makes it possible for me to
consider next steps such as
graduate school by making
me more financially stable
upon graduation. It takes
a great deal of stress and
2010 graduate and scholarship recipient Shona Mosites presented her senior interior design
project to faculty and guests this spring. Mosites is now pursuing an MArch degree in the college.
pressure off of me, allowing
more attention to be given
to my schoolwork and future
aspiration. It is truly a blessing
and greatly appreciated.
Thank you so much for your
kindness and generosity.”
Shona is “just the kind of
student we want to attract,”
said Kate Maple, assistant
dean. Shona led the
interior design team on the
University of Minnesota’s
2009 Solar house project,
which earned a fifth place
overall finish, has pursued
undergraduate research, and
minored in architecture as a
way to “understand design
in a more holistic way.” She
will enter the MArch program
in the college this fall.
Ultimately, Shona says she
“hopes to become involved
in humanitarian architecture,
helping those affected
by natural and manmade
disasters.”
Gifts of all sizes can help
support students. Some gifts
also generate matching funds
from the University, doubling
their impact. To find out more
about setting up a named
fund to benefit students, or
to make a gift to an existing
scholarship fund, contact
Sue Danielson Bretheim,
development director, at
612-624-1386 or danie002@
umn.edu; or visit our website
at www.design.umn.edu, and
follow the link for alumni and
donors.
The ribbon was cut August 24 on the new Science
Teaching and Student Services (STSS) building
overlooking the Mississippi River gorge at the head
of the Washington Avenue Bridge. It stands opposite
the Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum, forming a
gateway to the University’s east bank campus, a stark
contrast to the site’s former occupant, the ramshackle
Science Classroom Building. Design principal is
Bill Pedersen (BArch ‘61), founder of the New York
firm Kohn Pedersen Fox. Architect of record is
Minneapolis firm HGA Architects and Engineers;
McGough Construction of St. Paul is the contractor.
The building’s sparkling glass-and-aluminum
curtainwall fills the atrium that faces the Mississippi
with natural light and provides spectacular views of
the river and downtown skyline.
COLLEGE OF DESIGN FALL 2010 15
REBUILDING HAITI
Nonprofit Org.
U.S. Postage
PAID
By Laura Weber
Nine months after the devastating earthquake that hit
Haiti, severe human needs remain. In July, the New York
Times reported that only 28,000 of the 1.5 million Haitians
displaced by the earthquake have moved into new homes.
Minneapolis, MN
Permit No. 155
32 McNeal Hall
1985 Buford Avenue
St. Paul, MN 55108
The College of Design is collaborating with the Minneapolisbased American Refugee Committee (ARC) to provide design
assistance to rebuild communities in Haiti destroyed by the
January quake. ARC is working with Haitian communities and
coordinating with international and local nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs) to help people survive and rebuild.
Three School of Architecture faculty members, John
Comazzi, Ozayr Saloojee, and Leslie Van Duzer (who
departed this summer to become director of the School of
Architecture and Landscape Architecture at the University
of British Columbia), traveled to Haiti in mid-April as ARC
volunteers to assess shelter and community living conditions
and, subsequently, to consult on how to best help displacedcommunities rebuild in both the short- and long-term.
The three observed the overall camp structures in two
ARC-managed camps in Port au Prince, Terrain Acra and
Corail Cesselesse, and learned about access to water and
sanitation, living spaces, health care delivery, availability of
child-friendly spaces, recreational areas, and provisions for
temporary educational facilities.
Water source at Terrain Acra camp.
16 EMERGING FALL 2010
En route to Haiti, the group received a message from HOK,
a global architectural and engineering firm, which had read
with interest a University press release about the Haiti trip.
“We are now working pro bono with HOK’s Miami office to
help structurally engineer transitional shelters to make them
more hurricane-resistant,” Saloojee said.
ARC and the College of Design
spent the summer discussing
ways the college could best
assist with shaping the vision
for long-term reconstruction in
Haiti. The Interim Haiti Recovery
Commission, cochaired by
Haitian Prime Minister Jean-
Max Bellerive and former U. S. President Bill Clinton, the
UN special envoy to Haiti, will likely issue a request for
proposals in January asking for design and construction
teams to suggest ways to rebuild parts of the country.
To prepare for this, ARC hopes to employ a knowledgeable,
recent MArch graduate willing to
commit from six months to a year on
the ground, scoping out opportunities, said Dean Tom Fisher.
“Shelter is a critical issue, and
we’re pleased to partner with the
University of Minnesota to look at
ways to provide safe and healthy
living conditions for the people of
Haiti,” said Daniel Wordsworth, ARC
president.
Top: Ozayr Saloojee in Terrain Acra camp in Port au Prince. Above: Corail Cesselesse
internally displaced persons camp. Photos by Leslie Van Duzer.