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Photos by Ryan S. Brandenberg / Temple University
Fifth-year architecture student Josh Kaltreider carefully studies the measurements of his minuscule thesis model. His eye for detail and creative design earned him first place in a recent regional competition.
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For a long time, the Architecture Department at Temple has received rave reviews from its students, and recently, several of those students have brought similar praise back to the program.
Students and alumni of the Architecture Department have been awarded top honors in three different competitions for their creative and “urban-friendly” designs.
Thanks to Temple’s urban-based curriculum and research, these students had no problem working with the challenges a city environment can pose.
“The [Architecture] Department draws heavily from Philadelphia’s urban and professional condition,” said
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department Chair Lindsay Bremner, who joined Temple from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa.
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“The city is used as a primary laboratory for deep critical engagement, architectural investigation, operative transformation and application to global opportunities.”
Currently, the Architecture Department offers two degrees: the five-year accredited bachelor of architecture and the four-year non-accredited bachelor of science in architecture studies degree.
Two of the program’s 36 fifth-year Temple architecture students and two alumni of the program, recently received praise for their designs in an annual statewide contest held between the six accredited schools of architecture in Pennsylvania — Temple, The University of Pennsylvania, Drexel, Philadelphia University, Carnegie Mellon and Penn State — known as the John Stewardson Memorial Competition.
Students were required to engage in a 10-day-long untutored design competition, which was open to fifth-year students and alumni who had graduated in the past two years. The project called for students to design a recreation and media center that would help bridge the gap between the socioeconomic differences found in the geographical area linking Kensington and Fishtown residents in North Philadelphia.
“[Contest participants] were given 10 days to design a center that would fit in a specific location that has sociological factors that need to be addressed,” Josh Kaltreider, a fifth-year student, explained. “It was really challenging but also rewarding to create something from nothing.”
This year, Temple scooped up two of the top five places; first place went to Kaltreider while fifth place was awarded to Michael Blumenthal, who earned his bachelor of architecture in 2005. The university also received two honorable mentions for designs by fifth-year student Dustin Tobias and Andrew Hart, also a 2005 grad.
“This is unprecedented in the history of the competition and a great achievement on the part of our students, former students and faculty who taught them,” architecture lecturer Elizabeth Masters said of the 100-year-old competition.
Bremner said that the university’s location helps to underscore the importance of citywide collaboration. In order for students to see firsthand how architects benefit from partnerships, they work with other urban agents such as planners, developers, political activists, researchers, artists and other professionals.
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“Here at Temple I’ve learned how to deal with restraints and think about the social impact my designs have,” Tobias said. “I’m glad I’ve been exposed to this kind of urban environment because I am more aware of the challenges that will come up when I’m working for a firm after I graduate.”
A big focus of the program is to encourage its students to see architecture as a social practice. Students in the program investigate the complex socioeconomic, cultural and political dynamics of the contemporary, post-industrial city and to explore these as opportunities for design, instead of as negative barriers, Bremner said.
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Dustin Tobias, a fifth-year architect student, shows off the award-winning design that garnered him an honorable mention for his vision of a state-of-the-art media center in North Philadelphia.
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“Forces such as migration, crime, fear, religion and climate change, which have shaped the modern metropolis since its beginning but have taken on additional urgency under the impact of globalization, as well as more traditional forces of commercial capital and politics, are explored,” Bremner explained.
Along with the success of students at the John Stewardson Memorial Competition, the university’s architectural muscle was also on display at two other regional contests.
Fifth-year student Adam Mercier received third place at the 2007 Vitetta Awards, an annual competition that features three students from each of the four accredited architecture programs in Philadelphia and is sponsored by the Vitetta Group of Companies.
Mercier’s innovative design for a state-of-the-art skyscraper located along the Schuylkill River won him his third place honor in the “Best and Brightest” competition.
Emmanuel Gee, also a fifth-year student, added to the list of student achievements with his second-place finish at the American Institute of Architects West New Jersey Student Design Competition. Gee presented the ‘DIGIFAD’ laboratory and fabrication studio he had designed in Temple’s vertical studio last semester to earn the recognition.
Building on the momentum created by the achievements of Temple’s architecture students, the program is hoping to expand into some new territory. Bremner said that she has recently submitted a proposal that would create a graduate program for the department.
“Moving the program to an undergraduate and graduate program will really help us to get involved in the research aspect of architecture,” she said.
With the current dedication of faculty and enthusiasm of students, Bremner said, a graduate program would be a nice addition to the already-successful department.
“Temple gives students far more attention on a one-on-one basis. The students and staff are incredibly dedicated to their work,” she explained. “I’ve never seen anything like it at any other institution.” |
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