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Get Lectured: University of Waterloo, Fall '23

2023-09-19T12:02:00-04:00

Classes are back in session, and that means it's time for another edition of our Get Lectured series. Today, we take a look at what’s in store at the University of Waterloo School of Architecture this Fall.

The events begin on Thursday, September 21, with Northeastern University associate professor Marie Law Adams, who will speak about public infrastructure and the work of her Boston-based practice Landing Studio. She is followed by MASS Design Group’s Senior Director of Sustainability and Regenerative Design, Kelly Alvarez Doran, on October 5. UNAM Ph.D. candidate Elena Tudela Rivadeneyra will speak on November 2 about resilient design, and the semester concludes on November 16 with the school’s new Emerging Practitioner Fellow, Quan Thai.

More information about each of the events can be found here.

Want to share your school's lecture series? Send us your poster and details to connect@archinect.com.

Get Lectured: University of Waterloo, Fall '20

2020-10-28T15:50:00-04:00

University of Waterloo School of Architecture shares their Fall lecture series and its emphasis on solidarity. According to the school, their 2020-2021 Waterloo Architecture Arriscraft Speaker Series What is Solidarity? asks: how can architects participate in collective, long-term social movements for change and advocate within and beyond professional obligations?"

Archinect's ongoing Get Lectured series features each school's lecture series and their graphic design prowess with graphic lecture posters.

Want to share your school's lecture series? Send us your lecture series poster and details to connect@archinect.com.

The school's online lecture series goal is to bring three speakers for each set of conversations as they dive into topics of Land Back, Disability Justice, Abolition, Right to Remain, Anti-Extractivism, and Food Sovereignty. Unique to their series is discussions will be linked to student-led workshops to "facilitate deeper conversations about how solidarities might re...

Go with the flow: the case for amphibious architecture

2018-01-10T15:27:00-05:00

Unlike traditional buildings, amphibious structures are not static; they respond to floods like ships to a rising tide, floating on the water’s surface. [...] Amphibiation may be an unconventional strategy, but it reflects a growing consensus that, at a time of climatic volatility, people can’t simply fight against water; they have to learn to live with it.

The New Yorker features Elizabeth English, an associate professor of architecture at the University of Waterloo and founder of the Buoyant Foundation Project which seeks to promote the benefits of amphibious architecture for homes in flood-prone areas and communities that will experience the effects of rising sea levels resulting from climate change.
"The water gets to do what the water wants to do," English says. "It’s not a confrontation with Mother Nature—it’s an acceptance of Mother Nature."

Ila Berman named dean of University of Virginia School of Architecture

2016-04-08T13:06:00-04:00

The University of Virginia announced today that Ila Berman has been appointed the dean of the School of Architecture. Currently a tenured full professor in the School of Architecture at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, as well as a principal of SCALESHIFT design in Toronto, she will assume the role Aug. 15. [...] Berman succeeds Dean Elizabeth K. Meyer, who will return to the faculty at the end of a two-year term.

Previously: Elizabeth K. Meyer named dean of University of Virginia School of Architecture

More dean-ish stories in the Archinect news:

University of Waterloo School of Architecture's former GM on trial for fraud

2016-03-30T12:50:00-04:00

A University of Waterloo employee secretly arranged for his mother to be paid $148,000 from the school’s coffers, his fraud trial heard Tuesday. Jeffrey Lederer is charged with fraud, theft and uttering forged documents. He was employed by Waterloo until 2011, when he was asked to leave his position as general manager of the university’s architectural school.

Although he's no Bernie Madoff, just how does the former General Manager's illegal fund finagling rank in the annals of architectural rip-offs?

Here's a tour of recent questionable architectural appropriations:

ACADIA 2013: Adaptive Architecture conference to present the latest in computational design

2013-09-27T13:46:00-04:00

Mark your calendar for the upcoming ACADIA 2013: Adaptive Architecture conference that will be held at the University of Waterloo School of Architecture in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada on Oct. 24-26. Now in its 36th year, the international conference will present an array of current research and creative design happening in the ACADIA community, an international group of digital designers and researchers dedicated to supporting critical research in computational design.

PLANT Partners Receive Faculty of Engineering Team Alumni Achievement Medal

2012-11-23T11:34:00-05:00

PLANT partners Lisa Rapoport, Chris Pommer, and Mary Tremain have been awarded the 2012 Faculty of Engineering Team Alumni Achievement Medal from the University of Waterloo. The awards ceremony took place on Thursday 22 November 2012 at the annual Dean of Engineering Dinner in Waterloo, Ontario, where Dean Pearl Sullivan presented the medal to the team. Since 2005, this prestigious award has established a tangible recognition of the professional achievements, volunteer leadership, and research excellence of Waterloo Engineering alumni.

Rapoport, Pommer, and Tremain founded PLANT Architect Inc. in 1997, using their academic experience as a launching pad for their collaborative practice. Since that time, the partners have moved beyond architecture, branching into the domains of landscape, ecology, furniture, art, graphic design, and public space.

“We are thrilled to receive this award from the institution that set our careers in motion,” said PLANT partner Lisa Rapoport. “It is ...