MITArchA at AIA Orlando

MITArchA would like to thank everyone who came to the reception hosted at the AIA Convention in Orlando by Mina Marefat, MITArchA VP of Communications and John Klein, Research Scientist at MIT. More than twice the number initially registered attended the gathering and were encouraged to join.

Several attendees had been to the AIA Philadelphia as well as a number who came for the first time. The mission and activities of MITArchA in various cities including New York, Hong Kong, Detroit, DC, and Cambridge and was discussed and John Klein (who teaches at MIT) gave a synopsis of activities at SA+P.

Building an Affinity with Architecture

Article by Nancy Duvergne Smith (MIT Alumni Association). Reposted with edits from Slice of MIT. See original article here.

MITArchA tour of I.M. Pei’s National Gallery.

When some 45 MIT alumni and friends met April 2 for a private tour of the newly renovated East Wing of the National Gallery in Washington, they were doing more than celebrating the 100th birthday of I.M. Pei. ’40. True, Pei remains one of the world’s most influential architects and the building is one of his masterpieces. But the tour, led by Mina Marefat PhD ’88, was also a perk of participation in MITArchA, a two-year old affinity group dedicated to sharing common interests of School of Architecture and Planning (SA+P) alumni, faculty, and students, as well as all MIT alumni and friends.

Marefat, who teaches at Georgetown University and is the principal of Design Research, based in Washington DC, was a perfect guide for the behind-the-scenes tour of the building’s Center for Advanced Study since she was a fellow there. She commented on Pei’s groundbreaking design that accommodated the galleries and public spaces for the museum as well as its administrative, curatorial, educational and scholarly needs.

Jeffrey Heller ’64, MArch ’67 will receive the MITArchA Alumni Achievement Award in May.

The National Gallery East Wing tour was one of several MITArchA gatherings this spring. On April 28, the Alumni Association group will join with the Department of Architecture to host a casual gathering at the AIA convention in Orlando, Florida. On May 18 in San Francisco, Jeffrey Heller ’64, MArch ’67 will receive the Inaugural MITArchA Alumni Achievement Award. On June 6, MITArchA members will be invited to a talk in New York City by Marcel Botha, SMArchS ‘06. Learn more about upcoming MITArchA events here.

“MITArchA was founded in 2015 to represent the more than 5,000 MIT architecture alumni world-wide by a group of course IV alumni,” says Jacob Kain MArch ’00, the group’s president and a project architect at Elkus Manfredi Architects in Boston. “It was time to organize our alumni community in order to develop a greater awareness of one another and to connect to each other, the School of Architecture and Planning, and the Institute. "Our events offer opportunities for our alumni to share their work with the MIT community, often by collaborating with established regional MIT alumni clubs. In our short history, we have held events from coast to coast and as far away as Hong Kong.”

Course IV Alumni touring the Detroit Center for Design and Technology as part of MITArchA's recent ACSA event.

The group also celebrates MIT’s role as the first professional school of architecture. “The first woman to graduate with a degree in architecture was from MIT and the first professionally credentialed African American architect was an MIT alum,” says Marefat, communications vice president of the group. “MIT invited cutting-edge architects like Alvar Aalto, Eero Saarinen, and I.M. Pei to build modern buildings on campus, a trend that has continued well into the 21st century with a campus that represents a physical history of our profession. All this to say that as we face unprecedented challenges today, bringing together MIT architecture alumni helps remind us of the privilege we all share and the responsibility we all bear toward the well being of our planet and its inhabitants.”

Learn more about MITArchA and its activities.

MITArchA Tour of the National Gallery of Art East Building

Some 45 MIT alumni and guests met at the National Gallery of Art on Sunday, April 2 to tour the newly renovated exhibition spaces in the East Building.  This event was organized by MITArchA in collaboration with the MIT Club of Washington D.C. to commemorate the upcoming centennial birthday of celebrated architect and MIT alum, I.M. Pei ‘40.  Commissioned in 1968 and completed in 1978, the building remains an iconic addition to the National Mall in Washington honoring the historic legacy of both Pierre Charles L’Enfant, who conceived the city of Washington, and John Russell Pope, the architect of the National Gallery’s first building. 

Mina Marefat, MIT alum and VP of Communications with MITArchA led the tour, which included the Library and the Center for Advanced Study wing of the East Building, rarely seen by visitors.  Having been a pre-doctoral fellow at CASVA, Mina discussed the museum’s scholarly mission and the successful architectural solution I.M.Pei provided in his design to accommodate the galleries and public spaces for the museum as well as administrative, curatorial, educational, and research needs.  The open atrium of the library recalls the lofty symbolism found in the great libraries of the world.

Pei’s groundbreaking design solved the spatial needs of the museum in a very difficult trapezoidal space through a triangular geometry resulting in a modern masterpiece that celebrates the Mall and its symbols.  Setting the building in its historic context, Mina discussed the public-private partnership that has been the hallmark of this extraordinary institution through the role of its patrons, Andrew Mellon, Paul Mellon and Ailsa Bruce Mellon as well as that of the museum directors—especially J. Carter Brown, whom Mina knew personally and whose contribution was invaluable to the architectural success of the East Building. 

The newly renovated interior offers an ingenious solution that upgrades the mechanical systems, meets accessibility requirements, and expands the gallery space by 12,260 square feet within the existing structure. It includes the creation of an outdoor terrace that offers a magnificent view of Pennsylvania Avenue and Washington adorned with a 15-foot electric blue rooster by Katharina Fritsch.  

The new galleries, dedicated to Mark Rothko, to Alexander Calder, and to temporary exhibitions now showing the work of contemporary artist Theaster Gates work seamlessly with the original Pei design. The triangular geometry of the new stairways improve access to each of the five levels in each of the three towers and while the original monumental stairs and escalators beckon the visitor to enjoy the many vistas the building offers to the city of Washington.  The indoor-outdoor fluidity and the sense of Zen in the main atrium, graced by the enormous Calder mobile, is magnified as the changing light filters through the large triangular skylights; it is a reminder, a space-time assurance to the visitor of both season and time of day. The East Building, showcasing the very best of our national collection of art, has aged gracefully as it reaches almost 40 and is now rejuvenated for another few decades. 

The tour ended with a gathering at the Terrace Café around a cake modeled in the form of the East Building.  All attendees expressed their appreciation for the East Building and for its architect.  Happy Birthday I. M. Pei!  MITArchA and the MIT Club of Washington pay tribute to an illustrious architect whose contribution to Washington architecture, to world architecture, to modernism and its lasting tenets makes the MIT community proud.  

MITArchA@ACSA Detroit

On Friday, March 24, 2017, during the 105th ACSA Annual Meeting in Detroit, Lawrence Technological University (LTU) hosted a group of MITArchA members at the Detroit Center for Design & Technology (DCDT). MITArchA President Jacob Kain MArch, ’00, flew from Boston to lead the event, explain MITArchA’s mission, and encourage membership. Course IV alumni involved in architectural education, including: Marilys Nepomechie MArch ’83, Associate Dean at Florida International University and immediate past President of ACSA, Mina Marefat PhD '88, MITArchA VP of Communications and Lecturer at Georgetown University, and local architect Robert Ziegelman, FAIA MArch ‘59 were in attendance, with other alumni and guests.

Constance Bodurow SMArchS ’91, Professor of Architecture at Lawrence Tech and Midwest Regional Board member of MITArchA, handled logistics and arranged participation by LTU design students. CoAD Dean Karl Daubmann SMArchS ’99 and DCDT Associate Director Chris Stefani provided a tour of the facility and spoke about its programs. Ms. Nepomechie observed that this was the first alumni gathering at an ACSA annual meeting, and hoped it would become a new tradition. Members and several guests (including GSD alumni) provided input and ideas, and engaged in a wide-ranging conversation. At the end of the event, Mina Marefat asked attendees to describe their favorite building at MIT—Saarinen’s Chapel and Aalto’s Baker House were the most popular responses.

MIT named No. 1 University for Architecture and the Built Environment

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For the third year in a row, MIT has been named the top university in the world for “Architecture/Built Environment” in the latest subject rankings from QS World University Rankings. In “Art and Design,” the Institute ranked No. 2 globally for the second year in a row. Twelve other subject areas at MIT were ranked No. 1.

Photo: Sham Sthankiya via news.mit.edu

"This ranking recognizes the excellence of our faculty, students and staff. It also recognizes our unwavering commitment to work together in order to imagine, design and build a better world."

-Hashim Sarkis, Dean of SA+P

Of the three years “Architecture/Built Environment” has been assessed by QS as an individual subject area, MIT has been the only institution to hold the No. 1 position. According to survey sponsor Quacquarelli Symonds, an education organization based in the U.K., the annually published subject area rankings “aim to help prospective students identify the world’s leading schools in their chosen field.”

The QS rankings reflect academic reputation, reputation with employers, and research impact. Reputation measurements are based on surveys of academics and employers; the 2017 survey polled 74,651 academics from around the globe, along with 40,643 graduate employers. MIT has been ranked as the No. 1 university in the world by QS World University Rankings for five straight years.

The full 2017 QS subject rankings can be found at topuniversities.com.

Note:
Article reposted from sap.mit.edu and edited. See original article here.

Course IV Alumni Social: MITArchA New York

On January 31st, 2017, the MIT Club of New York and the MIT Architecture Affinity Group (MITArchA) hosted a Course IV Alumni Social event in New York City. The event was held at WeWork Charging Bull, located in New York’s Financial District, and was hosted by Melissa Marsh, M.Arch ’04, MITArchA’s Vice President of Membership.

The event was set up as a combined social and presentation event. Alumni working in architecture or related disciplines were invited to give presentations on their personal or professional work.

Reflecting the fact that MIT architecture alumni work in many diverse fields, the presentations covered a wide range of topics, including: interaction design, urban planning, structural engineering, social justice, and architecture. The work presented also varied in type and scale, from responsive light installations to gravity-defying skyscrapers.

Ten alumni gave presentations: Jacob Kain, (President of MITArchA), Liz Burow, Elliot Felix, Erik Olsen, Li Lian Tan, Frank Hebbert, Ifeoma Ebo, Ahmed ElHusseiny, and James Patten.

The social event was implemented as part of an ongoing engagement initiative intended to expand MITArchA membership, foster an active architecture alumni community, and advance the missions of the MIT Club of New York and MITArchA.

Keep an eye out for news and events from other MIT student and alumni groups including DesignX, an SA+P-affiliated incubator that supports student, faculty, and alumni entrepreneurs as they start their ventures.

Toast to IAP Tram Party: MITArchA + MIT Club of Hong Kong

On January 21, 2017 MITArchA, the MIT Club of Hong Kong, and the MIT Hong Kong Innovation Node joined forces to Celebrate Toast to IAP with a Tram party.  70 professors, alumni, family and guests enjoyed a 2-hr ride along the vibrant streets of Hong Kong Island on 2 antique trams, served with light dinner and drinks, had a wonderful time celebrating the new year and IAP together.

6 Course IV Alumni and their family, including one couple visiting from LA participated in the event. Participants enjoyed a memorable evening critiquing the architecture of Hong Kong, reminiscing about studio, catching up with old friends, making new connections, learning that MIT has a school song and then singing it on the tram.

The event ended with a renewed sense of camaraderie and a renewed feeling of connection with MIT. The tram party proved to be an extraordinarily popular event, and will become a new IAP tradition for the Hong Kong alumni community.

Course IV IAP Externships Start!

Image: MIT CPS via Flickr

The Department of Architecture has placed undergraduate and graduate students in IAP externships across the country. This program, a long-held MIT tradition, allows students to work in leading architecture firms and research groups between the fall and spring semesters. This experience provides students with valuable hands-on training, an opportunity to improve design skills, receive alumni mentorship, and gain an inside look at architectural research and practice. This program strengthens professional connections between the alumni community and the student body, and often leads to offers of full-time employment.

This year's cohort of externs were placed in prominent design practices all across the country, including Snøhetta, Morphosis, OMA, and nArchitects. 

Design and Civic Engagement: a Talk by Christine Gaspar M.Arch/MCP '04

On November 3, 2016, the Club of New York and the new MIT Architecture Alumni Affinity Group hosted a talk by  Christine Gaspar, M.Arch/MCP ‘04, Executive Director of the Center for Urban Pedagogy. The Center (known as CUP) leverages art and design to increase meaningful civic engagement—its projects clarify complex policy and planning issues, empowering individuals to participate in civic life.

Mrs. Gaspar began by discussing CUP’s working method, a dual approach that includes youth education initiatives and community programs, allowing it to reach a wide audience while touching on a wide variety of issues including: zoning, housing, law enforcement, energy, and infrastructure. Having explained CUP’s broader goals, Gaspar showed the audience some recent projects, beginning with Power Trip, an investigation into New York City’s electrical infrastructure conducted by students and a CUP teaching artist. Students interviewed energy experts and went on field trips to learn about the subject, consolidating their findings in a poster printed in multiple languages. This poster has since become a resource for science educators.

Gaspar then discussed CUP’s community education initiatives, in which designers and artists partner with advocacy groups to educate residents about important issues. Gaspar discussed Rent Regulation Rights, a bilingual brochure explaining rent law and tenant rights to residents of Chinatown. To make the final product accessible to its intended audience, designers and community advocates worked together closely to understand cultural concerns and local sensibilities. Gaspar discussed a number of other projects before concluding her talk. Engaged alumni asked many detailed and thoughtful questions, creating a lively atmosphere at the end of the event.

MITArchA kicks off its presence in New York.

Image: Pexels.com / CC0 License

MITArchA will kick off its presence in New York with a talk by Christine Gaspar, MArch/MCP '04, Executive Director of the Center for Urban Pedagogy. She will speak to local alumni on November 3 about the work of her organization, which leverages the power of art and design to help citizens understand the policy and planning issues that impact their communities.

Board members Melissa Marsh, M.Arch '04, and Matthew Chua, M.Arch '08, will lead MITArchA's programs in New York in conjunction with Kenneth Namkung, M.Arch '03 who will coordinate between MITArchA and the MIT Club of New York. Both groups will work to engage the sizable community of Course IV alumni in the area, many of whom work in leadership roles in the design industry.