Eleven projects got the nod in this year’s Education Facility Design Award program, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) recently announced. The program, a longstanding initiative of AIA’s Committee on Architecture for Education, recognizes schools and other learning facilities based on criteria such as enhancing learning in classrooms; balancing function with aesthetics; establishing a connection with the environment; being respectful of the surrounding community; demonstrating high-level planning in the design process; and integrating sustainability in a holistic fashion. The awards… Read More »AIA Architecture Award Spotlights the Best in Education Design

A holy grail of community-minded designers has been the establishment of a Federal loan-forgiveness program for architecture and planning students who pursue careers in public or community service upon graduation. Such a program exists for teachers who work five consecutive years in low-income communities, as well as for other occupations.  The College of Environmental Design at the University of California, Berkeley, led by architect, urbanist, and dean Vishaan Chakrabarti, has stepped into the breach by offering donor-funded, free-tuition fellowships for… Read More »UC Berkeley Launches Free-Tuition Fellowship for Design Students Pursuing Careers in Social Justice

One of Germany’s greatest postwar architects passed away on June 9 in Cologne, at the age of 101, according to The New York Times. The son, husband, and father of architects, Gottfried Böhm completed his first project, a chapel, in 1947, shortly after the end of the Second World War.  Böhm went on to become a leading figure in his country’s reconstruction, particularly in Cologne, filling gaps in the urban fabric caused by Allied bombing and other military actions. He… Read More »Losing a Giant of Postwar Modernism: Pritzker Architecture Prize Winner Gottfried Böhm Dies at 101

Veteran curator Raymund Ryan is setting a 21st century standard with his latest exhibition at Pittsburgh’s Heinz Architecture Center at the Carnegie Museum of Art. As reported by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, “The Fabricated Landscape” examines the work of 10 emerging practices from around the globe, all in the context of an exhibition design by Los Angeles–based IN-FO.CO. Those unable to attend in person may enjoy the three-part catalogue, organized along the themes of domestic, civic, and territorial.  The 10 participating… Read More »An Exhibition at Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Museum of Art Introduces 10 Young Global Architecture firms

It was seemingly the least likely place to enact progressive planning policies: a mid-sized regional capital in Brazil. Yet Mayor Jaime Lerner did precisely that in Curitiba, a landlocked city of 3 million, located a six-hour drive southwest of São Paulo. Lerner, who died on May 27 at the age of 83, according to the Wall Street Journal, trained as an architect and worked as Curitiba’s first planning director before getting elected as mayor in 1971. He held that position… Read More »Brazilian mayor Jaime Lerner, pioneer of socially conscious planning and transportation, dies at 83.