Updates

Monica Ponce de Leon Appointed New Dean

In review and discussion with the Board of Regents Personnel, Compensation and Governance Committee, and pending Regents' approval, President Mary Sue Coleman and Provost Teresa A. Sullivan are pleased to announce the appointment of Monica Ponce de Leon as the next Dean of the A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, effective September 1, 2008.
Monica Ponce de Leon is Professor of Architecture and the Director of the Digital Lab at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. She is also a Principal in Office dA, an internationally known design practice that she launched with Nader Tehrani in Boston in 1991. The firm's synthesis of research and design has led to a remarkable body of work that has been widely published and exhibited and has won numerous honors. Professor Ponce de Leon's work addresses the critical importance of digital production to the future of the profession and the re-establishment of the architect's role in the construction industry. Through her strong commitment to teaching and her successful practice she has proven her ability to link the profession and the academy.

Professor Ponce de Leon received a Bachelor of Architecture degree in 1989 from the University of Miami and the Master of Architecture in Urban Design degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Design in 1991.

She joined the Harvard Graduate School of Design faculty in 1996, following appointments on the faculties of University of Miami, Northeastern University, and Georgia Institute of Technology. She has held visiting professorships at the Southern California Institute of Architecture and the Rhode Island School of Design. She has received honors from the Architectural League of New York (Emerging Voices, 2003, and Young Architects Award, 1997) and the American Academy of Arts and Letters (Award in Architecture, 2002). Her practice has received over 30 design awards, among which are the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award (2007), the AIA/LA Design Award (Helios House, 2007), the I.D. Magazine Award: Environment (2007) and the AIA/ALA Library Building Award (2007) for the Fleet Library at the Rhode Island School of Design, and ten Progressive Architecture Awards. Most recently Office dA was awarded the American Institute of Architects Committee on the Environment?s (COTE) Top Ten Green Projects for 2008 for the Macallen Building in Boston.

Among her authored works are numerous articles in U.S. and international publications on topics ranging from Latin American architecture to eco-tourism to public infrastructure for the tropics.

She has given more than 60 invited lectures and symposia and conference presentations. Between 1991 and 2007, her work has been referenced in over 200 publications world-wide about design. She has curated exhibitions, the most recent in 2005 on "The City of Aleppo: The Veronica Ridge Green Prize in Urban Design," and she has had numerous solo exhibitions in New York, Providence RI, Atlanta, Princeton NJ, Cambridge MA, and elsewhere. She has received grants for research on design, including implications of digital fabrication in relationship to conventional construction practices in the U.S. and invention of new construction systems for unique conditions of the Galapagos Islands, and for archival research in Latin American architecture and landscape architecture.

The portfolio of Monica Ponce de Leon's firm, Office dA, includes institutional, residential, commercial, housing, governmental, industrial design and urban design projects all over the world. Among the more recent are the Fleet Library at Rhode Island School of Design, the Tongxian Arts Center in Beijing, Helios House/Rebranding of a Gas Station in Los Angeles, an Intergenerational Housing Center for the City of Chicago, a dynamic low-cost housing for the Elemental program in Chile, the first LEED certified large residential project in Boston and a border station between the U.S. and Canada.

President Coleman and Provost Sullivan are extremely pleased that Professor Ponce de Leon is assuming the leadership of the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning (TCAUP). Because she is recognized as a leader in the field of design, she will infuse the College with energy and currency in architecture and urban planning. We are confident of her ability to articulate a vision for TCAUP that will position it as a leader in architecture and design education and practice on such important issues as sustainability, digital technologies, diversity and social consciousness. We expect that she will forge relationships with other schools and colleges, and will serve as an ambassador to our alumni and other constituents. The appointment of Monica Ponce de Leon will be a significant milestone in the positioning of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Michigan in the academic and professional world.

4/29/2008  Permanent link to this post.

U-M Reception at 2008 AIA Convention in Boston, May 16, 2008

Friday, May 16, 2008 (note new date)
5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

at Cambridge Seven Associates, 1050 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138, 617.492.7000

Reconnect with your classmates, celebrate the elevation of new fellows Marc L'Italien, FAIA, B.S.'84 and Gordon R. Carrier, FAIA, B.S.'79, M.Arch'81, toast our outgoing dean, Doug Kelbaugh and meet his successor, Monica Ponce De Leon at the Michigan Reception.

Please plan to attend, whether or not you are attending the convention. We hope our many urban planning and urban design alumni in the Boston area will join us too. Let us know who and how many will be attending. You are welcome to bring your spouse, a colleague, or friends and family. Contact Janice Harvey at 734.764.1340 or send an email to jrharvey@umich.edu.

4/28/2008  Permanent link to this post.

Robinson’s Design for MUP/MUD Student Lounge Among AIA Award Winners

The American Institute of Architects Michigan presented plaques for architectural excellence to the owners and architects of 13 buildings at its annual Celebration of Architecture on May 2. Ninety-eight projects were entered in the competition and they were sent off to Omaha, Nebraska for judgement.

Two of the thirteen award winning designs come out of an architect/student collaboration. The lead architect for MUD/MUP Student Lounge at the A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture & Urban Planning in Ann Arbor is B. Neal Robinson, AIA. Students from both the architecture and urban planning program built the 400 square foot room out of reclaimed material using sustainable principles.

4/28/2008  Permanent link to this post.

Taubman College's Work at the U-M Detroit Center

Bianca Harris, a student at Martin Luther King High School in Detroit, has fueled her interest for architecture at the U-M Detroit Design Center's after-school program. The program is a partnership of U-M’s Taubman College of Architecture + Urban Planning lead by our own Craig L. Wilkins and Eric Dueweke. See the write up in the Spring 2008 issue of Michigan Alumnus.

Download the article (PDF, 500k)

4/28/2008  Permanent link to this post.

URP Receives Seven-Year Reaccreditation

Congratulations to our Urban and Regional Planning program for receiving a seven year re-accreditation - the maximum length possible!

Our hats are off to them for this resounding vote of confidence.

4/28/2008  Permanent link to this post.

Opening Reception: Architecture of Objects Exhibition

Friday, 25 April 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm, Duderstadt Center Gallery
The Architecture of Objects Design Studio is a cross disciplinary course led by TCAUP and A&D Professor Shaun Jackson. The studio explores the intersections between designing, making and materials, and the results include beautifully crafted furniture, lighting and object designs. Work from the course has been featured in Interiors and Metropolis magazines and has been exhibited at NEOCON in Chicago. The exhibition runs through May 1st.

4/23/2008  Permanent link to this post.

Ivory Coast Video Documentary by Muhsana Ali

Guest reviewer Muhsana Ali showed a 30 minute video documentary on her artwork in Ivory Coast, Africa with youth gangs. Muhsana is an artist and has exhibited work worldwide as is currently a client for the Senegal Studio with Coleman Jordan's graduate class.

Muhsana Ali, General Secretary of Portes et Passages (USA/Senegal) Ms. Ali is a professional visual artist and Senior Board Member, Secretary General, Co-Founder and Visionary behind Portes et Passages du Retour Association. President and Co-Founder of the U.S. based sister-association, non-profit organization, Doors and Passageways of Return Foundation, founded in 2000. Ali practices art for social change - her mediums include painting, sculpture, installation and interactive art, video production. Ali is the recipient of a Pew Fellowship in the Arts and a Fulbright Fellowship.

4/21/2008  Permanent link to this post.