Faculty Meetings

The next Tenured Faculty Meeting will be on Thursday, June 4, 11:10am-12:00pm in 05-201A (Faculty Conference Room).

The next General Faculty Meeting has been rescheduled from Thursday, May 21, to Thursday, May 28, 11:10am-12:00pm in 05-201A (Faculty Conference Room). This will be the last General Faculty Meeting of the quarter.

The next Curriculum Committee meeting will be on Tuesday, June 2, in 05-201A, 11:00am-1:00pm, in 05-201A (Faculty Conference Room).

Important Dates

May 31 - CAED Awards Reception - To RSVP and to pick up a ticket, stop by CAED Reception Desk

June 5 - Student Evaluation of Faculty Due in Architecture Office

June 1-6 - Crit Week

June 10 - Year End Celebration picnic

June 8-12 - Finals Week

June 13 - Commencement

Department News

Japan Blog

You are invited to visit the Cal Poly Architecture in Japan blog to keep up with Don Choi and his students while they are in Japan on the Japan Extended Field Trip.

Student Digest is now on the Architecture Department Web Site

For the most recent Student Digest go to the 05-26-09 Digest web page of the Architecture web site. We encourage you to let your students know about this valuable resource and to check it out yourself!

Toot Your Own Horn

Please continue submitting items for Toot Your Own Horn to Henri and Kathi. Include dates and complete titles of awards, papers, conferences, etc., relative to the announcement, and send to Henri an electronic copy of any papers published. Please also continue forwarding information on achievements by alumni and students.

Social Events

Year End Celebration - Remember to RSVP by June 5

June 10, 2009, 11:00am-2:00pm

You are cordially invited to the Year End Celebration for the Architecture Department on Wednesday, June 10, 11:00am - 2:00pm at Meadow Park at the Meadow Park Building. Trip-tip and Chicken BBQ, Beans, Garlic Bread, Salads, Cake and Lemonade will be served. Children are welcome. The Faculty Merit Award will be presented. Please RSVP by email to Kathi Good or call her at (805)756-1135. Download the Year End Celebration (pdf) flyer for more information.

Exhibits/Crits/Invitations

New Crit Schedule Procedure

In an effort to be more efficient and also to be more sustainable, the Architecture Department has instituted a new process for announcing crit schedules and locations.

You will find a Studio Review Form on the Administration page of Architecture web site. For any review that you would like to have published on the Architecture web site, please fill out and submit a Studio Review Form on line. For those who have already scheduled a crit/review for Crit Week please fill out a Studio Review Form as soon as possible.

Your crit/review will be placed on the Studio Reviews section of the News & Events page as soon after we receive your form as possible.

For Crit Week we will still post an updated schedule next to the faculty mailboxes, but will no longer place schedules in each mailbox. We look forward to your participation in this new process. Please contact Shane McKeague at 6-1316 or kmckeagu@calpoly.edu if you have any questions.

Announcements

Lecture by Richard Gage

Friday, May 29, 2009, 6:00pm, Phillips Hall (PAC Annex)

Richard Gage, AIA and founder of Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth will speak on the collapse of the three buildings on 9/11 with evidence for controlled demolition. The lecture will be followed by a Q&A.

ACSA News

ACSA is soliciting feedback regarding the NAAB Final Draft of the 2009 Conditions for Accreditation. A PowerPoint presentation is posted on their web site, along with extensive information regarding the two-year process to update the Conditions. A preliminary response from ACSA to NAAB will be sent on April 15, but you can comment until that date. Otherwise you may send feedback directly to NAAB until June 1.

The ACSA is also collecting feedback on their publications such as JAE, ACSA News, etc. To Comment you may take a brief publications survey.

Go to ACSA's NAAB Accreditation Review Conference web page to see any of the above links.

Competitions

There are currently no Competitions.

Opportunities

Design Opportunity in Costa Rica

John Stolte, Coastal Productions, is a Cal Poly alumni, Jour '76, and is producing a television program in Costa Rica about building a Community Art Center in an environmentally sensitive cloud forest. The site is a 5000 square meter parcel, located in the mountains of the Central Valley near the city of  Turrialba. He is looking for a few design submissions that are compatible with the local culture, utilize cutting edge sustainable technology and are cost effective as well.

The Art Center would be a focal point for the community, providing jobs and income through artist workshops, educational retreats, charity art auctions, and benefit concerts. The center would house a large versatile work area for painting, sculpture, pottery etc., it would include a commercial kitchen, public areas and private living quarters for visiting groups and individuals. It would be built with local materials supervised by a licensed Costa Rican engineer and architect.

If you know of any students who would like to take this on as a team project, it would be a good way to gain media exposure, travel, and serve as a creative inspiration for other projects built in a sensitive tropical environment. For more information, photos, and videos, please contact John Stolte via email or call him at (541)436-2992.

California Architectural Foundation's Off-Grid 2.0 Ideas Competition

Submissions due: July 30, 2009

The California Architectural Foundation's Off-Grid 2.0 Ideas Competition is an open ideas competition to further the general public's understanding about the synergistic relationship between the built and natural environment in California. Awards will be considered in two categories: Student and Professional. The most highly ranked submissions will receive cash prizes totaling $12,500. The award recipients will receive recognition as the "2009 William Turnbull Prize" winners at the 2009 Monterey Design conference.

Go to the California Architectural Foundation web site for more information on the Foundation or for the Off-Grid 2.0 Ideas Competition program details and specifications, or email Melissa Harper-Barton.

ASCA and CAPT Pilot Program Research Opportunity

To be launched in Fall 2009

ASCA and CAPT are looking for faculty interested in participating in a pilot program to gather research on project teams for the 2009-2010 academic year. See the CAPT-ACSA Teamwork Research Project flyer for more information. If interested, email CAPT's Director of Research Dr. Bob McPeek or phone (352) 375-0160.

This is a joint project between the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture and the Center for Applications of Psychological Type (CAPT), a not-for-profit training and research organization founded in 1975 by Isabel Briggs Myers. Go to the CAPT web page for more information, or contact Dr. McPeek at the above phone or email address.

Summer Sustainability Series - Summer 2009

June 22-26, 2009, Portland, Oregon

The Summer Sustainability Series is NOT a conference. It offers two unique five day professional programs, for the summer of 2009, in Sustainability in the Urban Built Environment or Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems. The programs provide direct engagement with experts and examples, with immediate solutions for city leaders, planners, businesses and educators to address today's most pressing sustainability challenges. They are based on the ground-breaking work of Oregon's businesses, universities, non-for-profits and policy makers. Each of these fast-paced five-day mobile symposiums is limited to just 20 professionals, plus 15 top graduate students. For more information to go the Summer Sustainability Series web page.