All posts by Vanesa Zelaya

Rosenwald Schools full lecture now available on Youtube

Diversity, Events, The Octagon Museum

In December 2022, the Octagon Alliance hosted the first of its continuing lecture series.  “Revealing Parallel Histories Hidden in Plain Sight” is a premier lecture series to give visibility to BIPOC voices and stories underrepresented in the national architectural canon, aiming to educate and engage attendees in topics related to Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.

As the first installement in the series, photographer Andrew Feiler and Brent Leggs, Executive Director of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, discussed Feiler’s book on The Rosenwald Schools.

Watch the full lecture below.

 

Octagon Alliance members receive exclusive benefits for Octagon visitation and events like the The Rosenwald Schools with Andrew Feiler and Brent Leggs. Become a member today.

 

Meet the 2023 Richard Morris Hunt Prize Laureates

Historic preservation, Press, Scholars, Scholarships

The Architects Foundation is proud to present the 2023 Richard Morris Hunt Prize Fellow and scholar, selected at the December 2022 jury in Washington, DC at The Octagon. Congratulations to Lurita and Marika!

Lurita McIntosh Blank

Lurita McIntosh Blank, NCARB, RBEC, APT RP, has received a 6-month travel fellowship to France to study Vertical Timber Framing Practices.

Lurita is a Principal with Raths, Raths & Johnson, Inc., a national engineering, architecture, and forensics consulting firm headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.  She is a Registered Architect in multiple states, a Registered Building Envelope Consultant through the International Institute of Building Enclosure Consultants (IIBEC), a Recognized Professional through the Association for Preservation Technology (APT), and holds of Master of Science in Historic Preservation from Columbia University. 

 With a 15+ year career in architectural forensics, Lurita’s practice focuses on issues with material degradation, building performance, and water intrusion.   Her expertise includes masonry, heavy timber, and roofing/waterproofing.   At RRJ, Lurita leads the historic preservation and federal markets, providing investigation, diagnosis, and repair design for heritage structures across the country.  Her current work includes multiple projects in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, on French colonial vertical log structures.

 

Marika Dalley SniderMarika Dalley Snider, PhD, AIA is the recipient of the 5-week scholarship whose research topic focuses on Curating Paris’s Layers through Historic Preservation.

Marika is an architect, educator, and storyteller who celebrates the small, the forgotten, and the under-appreciated architecture and its associated people through film and visualization, writing, and historic preservation.

Marika’s architectural practice spans a wide variety of small and medium-sized project types but her passion is history and historic preservation. Museum-quality restorations to state owned historic sites such as the home of former U.S. President Warren G Harding and investigative fieldwork on Harriet Beecher Stowe’s House are some of her proudest work. She is equally proud of her work on historic storefronts and supporting preservation in small towns in Ohio, Utah, and Tennessee.

Marika teaches undergraduate and graduate comprehensive studios and the history of architecture series at the University of Memphis. Her research  focuses on virtual and augmented reality for interpretation of historic African-American neighborhoods.

Learn more about the Richard Morris Hunt Prize here.

Sign up for Communities by Design’s spring webinars

Communities by Design, Events

Spring Webinar Series – The Future of Cities

Our society is undergoing a profound transformation. By mid-century, an estimated two-thirds of our global population – 6 billion people – will live in cities. Global population growth and urbanization are putting enormous stress on our civilization, fueling a host of cascading crises from climate change to housing, health to inequality. Despite the unprecedented challenges facing us, cities are uniquely positioned to serve as the hub of a global strategy to address our current crises. This series will focus on a number of key themes facing the future of our cities, offering provocative ideas about how we conceptualize our collective future and the role of design leadership in achieving global goals.

Technology & the Future City

1 LU  |  February 1 at 2pm ET

This session will provide a broad overview of the major implications of key emerging technologies unfolding in cities and a framework for understanding urban design and development connections to them.

Decarbonization for Cities

1 LU HSW  |  February 22 at 2pm ET

This session will identify some of the common gaps in current city approaches and highlight innovative work happening at the local level that may provide broader guidance to community decarbonization strategies across the country.

Public Process Leadership in an Age of Distrust

1 LU HSW  |  March 15 at 2pm ET

The session will address technique selection, as well as tools, resources and networks where participants can develop skills in public participation and building trust.

The 15-Minute City: Sustainable Urbanism in the Future City

1 LU HSW  |  April 5, 2023 at 2pm ET

This session will feature real-world applied settings for the 15-Minute City with lessons learned for other jurisdictions seeking to mobilize action for more sustainable urbanism.

Introduction to Design Assistance Teams

1 LU HSW  |  April 26, 2023 at 2pm ET

This session will explain the guiding principles and methodology that Design Assistance Teams employ to help communities reach more equitable and sustainable outcomes.

Building the Equitable City: Lessons Learned in Anti-Displacement and Equitable

1 LU HSW  |  May 17, 2023 at 2pm ET

The session will share practical lessons learned from a range of diverse experiences in major American cities that can provide guidance to other community practitioners, designers and civic leaders.

Join one or all of our live courses. Want to join the entire series? Receive 25% off when you purchase all 6 courses in the series (discount will be applied at checkout). Explore the series and register >

Architecture scholarships now open!

Scholarships

The Architects Foundation, the philanthropic partner of The American Institute of Architects (AIA), is now accepting applications for five scholarships awards for architecture students and emerging professionals.

Diversity Advancement Scholarship
This multiyear scholarship supports high school and undergraduate minority students who are entering, enrolled in, or transferring into an undergraduate architecture program recognized by the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB). Scholarships may be renewed every year for up to five years or until the degree is completed ($20,000 total award toward tuition and fees).

Scholarship sponsors include The American Institute of Architects, Benjamin Moore & Co. Foundation, ConstructConnect, The Curry Stone Foundation, The Custom Residential Architects Network, Fireclay Tile, GGLO, HKS, Lord Aeck Sargent, Material Bank, RS&H, Safdie Architects, Semihandmade, The Sherwin-Williams Company, and ZGF.

Payette Sho-Ping Chin Memorial Academic Scholarship
The Payette Sho-Ping Chin Memorial Academic Scholarship is a $10,000 award toward tuition and fees supporting a woman studying architecture within a NAAB-accredited bachelor or master’s degree program. The awardee will also receive a senior mentor from Payette for the scholarship year.

Yann Weymouth Graduate Scholarship
The Yann Weymouth Graduate Scholarship supports a graduate student whose work demonstrates an exemplary focus at the design intersection of sustainability, resilience, wellness and beauty. The scholarship recipient receives $5,000 toward tuition and fees and mentorship from Yann Weymouth, AIA, for the scholarship year.

Jason Pettigrew Memorial ARE Scholarship

This scholarship covers the full cost of the Architect Registration Exam and provides study materials for emerging professionals working toward their architecture license.

Student Loan Relief Grant

This grant covers $5,000 in loan payments for emerging architects with student debt.

The application period for these five scholarships is open through Jan. 20, 2023. More information on the Foundation’s scholarship programs can be found online. Interested applicants should read the scholarship FAQ.