The Chronicle stops the presses- Play offers new twist on classic story
- Students create illustrations for Georgia Ports Authority
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Graduate student channels classic horror in thesis film - Alumnus creates mobile gallery
- SCAD libraries hold artist’s book competition for students
- Griffis discusses development of Arthur legend
- Noted author speaks to students
- The Green Scene: 'We have a dream'
- Personnel File: New staff members join SCAD-Savannah
- SCAD hosts regional IDSA conference
- Titus Kaphar to speak at SCAD
- The Bee Line
- Women’s lacrosse sets records in Kennesaw State win
- Athlete Feats highlights for Feb. 22
- Baseball takes series from St. Thomas
- Women’s basketball wraps up second place in Florida Sun
- Athletics updates for Feb. 15
- Baseball off to best start in program’s history
- Big third period leads lacrosse team to victory
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Class in the Spotlight
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Gobel helps construct symposium at SCAD
 Photo by Dennis Burnett David Gobel draws on Savannah’s unique architectural heritage in his role as architectural history professor and co-chair of this year’s Savannah Symposium, held Feb. 8-10. By Monique Bos Published: Friday, February 9, 2007 Savannah College of Art and Design architectural history professor David Gobel, Ph.D., has a busy weekend planned: He is serving as co-chair of the fifth Savannah Symposium, scheduled Feb. 8-10. The symposium, held every other year and hosted by the SCAD architectural history department, provides a forum for building arts practitioners and theorists from all over the world to visit Savannah. Each conference focuses on an element of architectural history and practice inspired by some element of the city’s built environment. Gobel didn’t always aspire to academia, however. “I’d wanted to be an architect since I was pretty young, maybe junior high,” he said. As a student at Texas Tech University — where he earned a Bachelor of Architecture degree — he discovered an attraction to the historic aspects of the field. “Although I enjoyed it, I enjoyed my history classes more than design,” he explained. “I worked one summer for an architect in El Paso, and … became a bit disenchanted.” A study-abroad term in Italy the following summer enforced Gobel’s interest in architectural history. “I lived in a little hill town,” he said. “I loved what I saw in Europe.” He graduated with an architecture degree and went to work for a firm in Washington, D.C., but knew he soon would return to school to pursue his interest in architectural history. Ultimately, he enrolled at the University of Virginia, where he earned a master’s degree in the history of architecture. He then went on to Princeton University, where he received his doctoral degree in the history, theory and criticism of architecture. “That all helped me to look not just at the history, but also at the theory issues,” he said. After his graduation, Gobel became a professor at the Oregon School of Design, an art college that specialized primarily in architecture. He then spent several years as an adjunct professor at several Portland, Ore., colleges. Eventually, he saw a posting for a job in what was then a fledgling department at SCAD. He applied, and he and his wife visited Savannah for an interview. “We loved Savannah,” he said. “Robin Williams had just started the architectural history program the year before, and I thought it was an attractive new department with lots of opportunities for us to invent ourselves.” He added, chuckling, “I think we’re still the best department at SCAD. It’s a collegial group, we get along well, and we’ve been able to do some neat things.” One of those “neat things” is the Savannah Symposium, which Williams and Gobel started eight years ago. “The idea behind it was that we’d like to have the opportunity to have others in our field and related fields come to Savannah and talk about architectural history,” he explained. “We leveraged who we are and where we are.” Savannah’s rich and unique architecture and urban plan make it a natural venue for the event, and each symposium centers on a theme culled from the city’s built landscape. For example, the first symposium focused on the history and usage of city squares, from ancient Greece to the present. “What city on earth is better to talk about city squares than Savannah?” Gobel said. The themes also encompass other disciplines related to building arts, he said. “The topics are related not just to architectural history but to architecture, urban design and planning, to show that history is one way of enjoying the world of ideas,” he explained. Other themes have included authenticity in architecture, commemoration and regionalism. This year’s event focuses on the public realm. “It’s not just about buildings, but about how we build with respect to various publics — national, city and ethnic groups,” explained Gobel, who is co-chairing the event with colleague Celeste Guichard, Ph.D. “What responsibility do architects have to the public? … How does it fit into the city or serve the public or relate to the language of design?” Savannah’s location is only one of the draws for the symposium, however. “It’s put us on the map in the academic world and helps us stay in touch with other scholars,” Gobel said. “It brings people from all over the world, who come to talk and enjoy Savannah’s warm February weather!” Gobel’s interests span urban planning and theory, but he also specializes in Renaissance and Baroque architecture, and it’s these areas that come to the forefront when he participates in the SCAD off-campus program in Italy. He taught in the program for the first time last year and will lead courses again this year, June 4-23. In addition to Baroque and Renaissance Architecture, he will teach Reading the Urban Form. “It’s a great experience,” he said. “I’ve told my architecture students … you have to go to Rome before you can call yourself an architect. It was that way traditionally; architects took the Grand Tour. We do Rome, Florence and Venice. You definitely don’t want to miss those three.” In Savannah, Gobel, like his colleagues, teaches 20th-century Architecture. “Another popular class I teach is Villa and Garden. It often appeals to more than just building arts students,” he said. Teaching a discipline that relies heavily on writing can be a challenge with visually-oriented students, Gobel said, but he finds the classroom experience rewarding. “Students who do paintings or drawings are just not used to talking about buildings,” he said. “There’s lots of vocabulary, probably more in architecture than in painting … [But] I’ve had some fabulous students, some insightful, thoughtful students.” And he’s impressed with the artistic accomplishments of many of his students. “When I see student work, I often am completely amazed at the level of their art abilities,” he said. “It gives me a great appreciation for who these students are. We have fabulous designers and some great scholars.”  |
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