School of Building Arts stays current with professional trends

Elizabeth H. Raley
Ryotaro Terasaki assembles a model for his Design Studio I class. Terasaki is a second-year architecture graduate student from Yokohama, Japan.

By: Ally Jackson

Published: Friday, October 4, 2002

Located in Eichberg Hall, 229 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., the School of Building Arts includes architecture, historic preservation and interior design. Academic dean Crystal Weaver said she strives to push the departments and its students to be in step with industry advances both conceptually and technically.

"We plan a very tight integration between all three departments," said Weaver. "We like to stay only a quarter step behind professional workforces, making no mistake that it is the industry which leads education. Because of this, we are forming very tight alliances with professional organizations and firms."

She feels this will be achieved across the board by exciting additions such as an extensive lecture series, faculty members with a breadth of experience and knowledge, as well as advances in technology.


Architecture
Architecture department chair Hsu Jen Huang welcomes new faculty members Joseph Keuler, who brings 22 years of engineering technology experience to the department; Curtis McKenzie, who came to SCAD from working as the digital training facility manager for ACS Systems and Engineering, Inc. in Hanau, Germany; Timothy Morneau, previously an intern architect with Poticny Deering and Felder in Savannah; Conrad Rathman former project designer for Pazdan-Smith Group, Architects, in Greenville, S.C.; and Carole Pacheco from Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design who has 22 years of experience. Pacheco also will teach interior design courses. Returning faculty are Emad Afifi, Peter Calandruccio, Day Ding, Huang, John Longworth, Eileen McGonigal, Simone Medio, LaRaine Montgomery, Fernando Munilla, Huy Sinh Ngo, Judith Reno, Julie Rogers Varland, Patrick Shay, Christian Sottile, Catherine Tabor and Tim Woods.

The main advancement implemented in the architecture department is integration among the studio courses. Placing faculty members who have backgrounds in structural and civil engineering in studio courses offers a more professional studio environment. Studio courses now will be conducted with collaboration in mind, not only between students and faculty, but also with firms outside the classroom environment.

More than a dozen students from the architecture department will be chosen to represent SCAD in two upcoming competitions sponsored by The Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture. Many students and faculty also will compete in the American Institute of Architects Georgia Legacy Charette in Atlanta this month.

Additionally, students will pit themselves against their peers during an in-house competition, the Green Design Project "Connext Into Nature," more commonly referred to as "junkyard wars" Oct. 4, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. between the sheds of Eichberg Hall and Kiah Hall.


Historic preservation
The historic preservation department is incorporating resources such as electronic design, which will give students new opportunities to explore creatively and technically. New faculty members include James Abraham who is well known in Savannah for his extensive restoration of the Lucas Theatre for the Arts and Connie Pinkerton, former assistant director of galleries at SCAD who has extensive archeological experience.

Returning faculty include department chair Hector Abreu, Robert Allen, Robert Dickensheets, Marlborough Packard and Jonna Wensel.


Interior Design
According to department chair Tracy Crow, the interior design department will continue to place emphasis on life after college.

"[We develop] the whole student to establish an outstanding skill set to perform well in the profession," said Crow. "Students are better prepared to think well on their feet and jump right in with a professional attitude."

New faculty include Deborah LaMar Brooks formerly a professor at Valdosta State University; Margo Jones, who is well known throughout the United States for her work with corporate and government clientele; and Monica Letourneau who has worked for the Cooper Carry Architects in Atlanta and Alexandria, Va. Returning faculty include Anne Parker Balance, Gillian Davies, Susan Parker, Weaver and Crow.

"There is a very tight integration between historic preservation, architecture and interior design," said Weaver. "We began this last year by running a joint studio between interior design and architecture courses. We want for [the departments] to mimic what is happening out in the real world, in a natural, conventional workplace."

The department has already begun to work on the Interior Design Educator Council International Student Competition for March 2003. The department also is hand-ling interior restorations on the St. Joseph’s/Candler St. Mary’s Community Center. Students also will be participating in the Architecture for Humanity competition, submitting a mobile, medical transport unit for HIV patients in Africa.

In response to student requests, the School of Building Arts also will host a fall lecture series. Guest speakers so far have been Mark Barnes, Ph.D., a senior archeologist with the National Register Programs Division of the National Park Service’s Southeast Regional Office: Glenn Hill, who created a digital record of the Statue of Liberty for the purpose of documentation, maintenance and operation of the statue.

Helen Hatch of Thompson, Ventulett, Stainback and Associates, an architecture and interior design firm, will speak at Ex Libris Oct. 23, 12:30-2:30 p.m. TVSA is the recipient of the coveted 2002 AIA Firm of the Year Award and recently was contracted to design the new Atlanta Aquarium.

William Morgan of William Morgan Architects of Jacksonville, Fla., will speak to students, faculty and staff Nov. 6 at Ex Libris. The fall quarter lecture series will come to an end with a workshop by Jim Leggitt. Author of "Drawing Shortcuts," Leggitt, will conduct a two-day workshop concentrating on quick-sketch and rendering at Ex Libris, Nov. 5-7, 8 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.