Completing the requirements for the Kyle D. Taylor Memorial Scholarship, the following presentation explored the diversity of historic synagogue architecture in the Southeast, offering a comparative survey of a building typology that exemplifies the very essence of American architecture as a fusion of Old and New World precedents.

Since 1916, The Arts Club of Chicago has been a preeminent exhibitor of international art, a forum for established and emerging artists, and a celebrated venue for performers from around the world. For over 100 years, The Arts Club has opened its membership to artists and patrons of the arts, and its exhibitions to the public.

The mission of the Club has since grown and expanded, and is now:

To encourage, foster, promote, and sponsor activities and presentations which would aim to increase public interest in the arts and related activities;

To expand the artistic horizons of a public interested in the arts and related activities, which will include lectures, lecture/demonstrations, symposia, gallery talks, films, music, and dance presentations, and related educational programs designed to further these purposes;

To maintain a facility for the presentation of these activities and exhibitions;

To acquire by gift or purchase, and maintain a permanent collection of fine art, and to present temporary exhibitions of the fine arts in a gallery open to the public.

Originally known as the ‘Terminus’ for its confluence of railroads, Atlanta’s urban plan formed along extensive arterial corridors of the rail industry which still exist today. While serving to connect the city to a regional network of commerce and travel, this converging infrastructure would simultaneously demarcate growing socio-economic discrepancies between diverging communities ‘across the tracks’

Dating to 1912, the Krog Street Tunnel, has become a symbolic center of artistic expression for the East Atlanta community, a visual ‘sounding board’ for the voices of Atlanta citizens, and a prime example of the connective tissue of the Beltline’s pedestrian-focused trail-front traversing underneath Atlanta’s historic Hulsey Yards Depot. A literal space of heightened resonance, the roughly 500ft tunnel has a reverberation time of approximately 3 seconds and amplifies the voices of pedestrians along its flanking walkways, mixed in with the soundscape of a key historical corridor of transportation for the city (cars, pedestrians, and MARTA still pass through tunnel and Hulsey Yards Rail Depot overhead). It is within earshot of major historical landmarks, including the Martin Luther King Center, birthplace, and relocated Ebenezer Baptist Church.

Drawing from the legacy of Atlanta’s diverse choral traditions championed by the late Grammy Award winning conductor, Robert Shaw, during his leadership of the Atlanta Symphony, the following performance, entitled Resurgens Requiem, is a nod to Atlanta’s timeless motto, “Rise Again”, and the many great musical ‘requiems’ or ‘tokens of remembrance’ conducted by Shaw in his storied career, celebrating the resounding resilience of Atlanta’s diverse artistic communities. By bringing the sounds of Atlanta’s premiere HBCU choir, Spelman Glee Club, to a space of acoustical and historically symbolic resonance, we hope to pay tribute to the diverse communities and industrial history along the Dekalb Ave Corridor through spiritual repertoire historically tied to the railroad industry, notably performed by the world-renowned Robert Shaw Chorale, accompanied by readings of Shaw’s writings on the ‘Conservative Arts’ to give additional context to the choral performance.

The performance is part of the South Arts Foundation’s annual Creative Placemaking Summit, and will tie into an accompanying tour of the local art installations that will include art within the Krog Tunnel and adjacent Forward Warrior Murals Project, as well as the artistic work of the Cabbagetown style writers.

The lecture, entitled “You Listen to Brick”: The Building Blocks of Acoustic Consulting, delved into the history of acoustics and urban noise mitigation, an overview of the role of an acoustic consultant within a greater architectural effort, and discussed cutting-edge research in sound auralization, recent built projects pushing the limits of architectural design for desired acoustical properties, as well as experimental production efforts in acoustical immersion through architectural design and music performance.

For more information about courses offered at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music: CLICK HERE

The Luminaries are a creative, ambitious group of young and emerging professionals advancing the mission of the ICAA Chicago Chapter through a series of immersive and educational events that encourage community, inclusivity and fun.

The Luminaries come from a diverse range of industries, united by a passion for the arts, architecture, history, design and culture. Join us year-round as we learn new skills, gather inspiration, form friendships and explore our beautiful city of Chicago together. For more information and upcoming events: CLICK HERE

Founded in 2009, AIA Chicago’s Bridge program connects AIA Fellows and rising professionals within their first three-to-ten years of practice. It offers an eight-month curriculum of curated programs coupled with informal, one-on-one meetings between mentors and mentees. The program fosters mentorship, inspires leadership, and encourages AIA members to reinterpret and evaluate the trajectory of the practice. The result is a dynamic, multi-generational network of Chicago architects who continue to learn from one another long after the program ends.

Each selected Bridge participant is paired with a local AIA Fellow acting as their mentor. The program incorporates informal social events and organized mentorship discussions focusing on past experiences, career development, and the future of the architectural profession. Throughout the program, the mentors and mentees will also meet in a one-on-one setting to informally discuss specific professional goals while further developing and strengthening their relationship.

This program intends to Bridge the gap between the need for mentorship in our profession and the ability of experienced architects to pass on what they have learned to the future generation of architects.

Davis Butner is a Designer II in Studio Gang’s Chicago office. He brings an interdisciplinary and international background to the Studio, having worked with the Atlanta Symphony and Philadelphia Orchestras, Threshold Acoustics, and Theatre Projects Consultants. As a 2019 Henry Luce Scholar, Davis worked as an architect and researcher for Neri&Hu Design and Research Office in Shanghai, studying adaptive reuse and restoration efforts across China, Japan, and Southeast Asia.

Originally from Atlanta, Davis holds a Master of Architecture from Yale University and Bachelor of Arts degrees in Architectural Design and in Music from the University of Pennsylvania. He is the 2023 Kyle Danley Taylor Fellow of the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art, studying the history and acoustics of synagogue architecture in the Southeastern US, and serves as a creative consultant for the South Arts Foundation’s annual Creative Placemaking Summit. Outside of the office, Davis is a violinist and violist, currently performing with Chicago’s Lakeview Symphony Orchestra.

For more information about Studio Gang Architects, please visit studiogang.com

The Kyle Danley Taylor Memorial Scholarship for Architectural Studies is a $5,000 travel and research stipend to be awarded annually. The travel and study are to be executed in any of the southeast states, with a focus on classical and traditional design.

Developing a fascination in the history of the Southern Jewish diaspora while tracing family genealogy to the founding of Macon, Georgia and Montgomery, Alabama's first reform synagogues, I will examine the diversity of historic synagogue architecture in the Southeast, offering a comparative survey of a building typology that exemplifies the very essence of American architecture as a fusion of Old and New World precedents. Through a series of measured drawings and watercolors, I aim to study features of synagogues across the Southeast dating to the late 19th and early 20th centuries in an attempt to capture the earliest fusions of Jewish identity and American classical vernacular.

Recipient of a fellowship sponsored by the ICAA Southeast Chapter to attend the organization’s fifth Regional Intensive, and first ever in Chicago.

The Intensive is an eight-day immersion in the ICAA’s core curriculum. The program is designed for professionals and students with limited time who seek a methodical introduction to the language of classical architecture. Participants learn how to draw, identify, and compose with the classical elements to form an understanding of the basic tenets on which the classical tradition is founded.

Topics include: The classical elements and composition, proportion, architectural representation through drawing and rendering, the study of precedent, and the literature of classical architecture. The week culminates in a studio project in which students use the classical canon in the design of a small building. Students are guided through a design process rooted in the Beaux-Arts system in which an initial parti is developed during an esquisse and a charrette into a finished design proposal. The program concludes with a review by an esteemed panel of architects.

Selected as the winner of a full scholarship to attend the 2022 Spring ‘Ramble’, organized by the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation, in Augusta, GA. Held twice a year, rambles consist of a three day immersive tour of an historic city or town in the state of Georgia, educating participants about local history, architecture and preservation efforts within the region. The ramble combines exclusive tours of historic properties not usually open to the public, conferences, lectures, and social events to connect leaders and preservation enthusiasts from across the state.

Home to the Masters Tournament, one of the most prestigious golf tournaments in the world, Augusta has a richly layered history of hospitality and Southern tradition diversely reflected in its architectural heritage. Originally serving as the state capital of Georgia from 1785 until 1795, the city has maintained and restored many historically significant homes and buildings such as the Cotton Exchange, the boyhood home of Woodrow Wilson (28th president of the United States), the Ezekiel Harris House, the George Walton home (signer of the Declaration of Independence), and Springfield Baptist Church, the oldest African American church in America.

Leading a team of summer interns from Auburn University through an in-depth analysis and design effort, we would dive into the layered history of the town of Gay and surrounding county in the hopes of developing a restorative masterplan for the community. After initial visits to the Atlanta History Center archives and conversations with President and CEO, Sheffield Hale, about contemporary precedents for rural restoration, we sorted through archival material left within the aging structures of the Gay Ga fairgrounds. Documenting conversations with various members and leaders within the community, we then studied restoration efforts in similar-scaled towns across central Georgia, visiting adaptive reuse sites in and around Atlanta including Ponce City Market, The Goat Farm Art Center, T3 West Midtown Lofts, and The Georgia Trust’s headquarters in Atlanta’s Rhodes Hall. The culmination of the summer’s efforts were compiled into an application to nominate the fairgrounds for the GA Trust’s Places in Peril program.

The Gay, GA Fairgrounds revitalization effort has committed to promoting local business, participating in Georgia Agritourism efforts, and supporting environmental initiatives such as the Dark Sky Project. Work on the “Gay, GA Fairgrounds” is already well underway with the recent dedication of the town's 911 Emergency Center, the opening of a local brewery and taproom on the grounds, and the reopening of the town’s biannual fair following closure by the pandemic.

Upcoming events:
● November 27, 2021 - Chili Cook-off and Sheep Racing
● December 11, 2021 - A Not-So-Silent Night Tree Lighting
● June 12, 2022 - “Pasture Dash” Triathlon

Summerour & Associates looks forward to working with the Georgia Trust on the restoration of the fairgrounds, and in building a continued legacy for the town of Gay.

11.19.2021 - MAXXI - Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo opens ‘Traversing Thresholds’ in collaboration with Neri&Hu Design and Research Office. The exhibit, part of an annual ‘Studio Visit’ series sponsored by the Alcantara Corporation, partnered with Neri&Hu Design and Research Office to illustrate techniques and thematic approaches to design captured in the drawings and iterative studies of Venetian designer/architect, Carlo Scarpa, which are housed in the Maxxi Museum's architectural archive. Through careful analysis of hundreds of his layered sketches encompassing even his most obscure unfinished design projects, spatial techniques characteristic of Scarpa's work were cataloged and reinterpreted by Neri&Hu Design and Research Office with the use of innovative uses of of Alcantara materials. The result invites visitors into a labyrinth of thresholds, curious and playful moments that immerse viewers within the spatial conditions translated from his original sketches carefully curated throughout the gallery.

The Chinese notion of ‘jian’, or Japanese concept of ‘ma’, can be roughly translated as a "gap", "space", or "pause". In an architectural sense, this term is often used to describe a threshold condition, or the physical mediation between two contrasting spatial environments, such as interiority and exteriority, or that which is public or private. For Carlo Scarpa, who in his late career was known to be heavily influenced by his visits to Japan, the ever-evolving concept of a spatial threshold would come to evoke some of the most iconic explorations of scale, accessibility, and intimacy within his architectural designs. A consummate craftsman revered for his obsession over detail, Scarpa’s threshold conditions, showcase some of the architect’s most inventive experimentation with architectural scale and human form.

In the following exhibit concept, we aimed to celebrate Scarpa’s notions of the architectural threshold by examining ways in which the architect explored conditions of materiality, voyeurism, and the concept of circulation to create expressive and intimate moments within his designs. In our proposal, an expanded field of threshold conditions is created through a series of intersecting walls, inviting visitors to explore the materials, views, and intimate interactions created within each of these intersections. We hope that through the same attention to craft and detail that characterized the work of Carlo Scarpa, we may highlight the tactility, versatility, and elegance of Alcantara materials within architectural design.

The scholarship provides tuition subsidy for the Christopher H. Browne Drawing Tours, which expand practical and theoretical knowledge of the classical tradition as manifest in the architecture, urbanism, and landscapes of Paris and Rome through the means of observational and analytical drawing.

The 2021 Christopher H. Browne Savannah Drawing Tour provides an opportunity to study, through field drawing, the rich diversity of architecture and unique urbanism of Savannah, Georgia - a living laboratory of design, building, and planning from the 18th century to the present day. Each day is structured around studying of representative examples of building types that form the fabric of Savannah, with a focus on their composition, detail, and contribution to the urbanism and landscape of the city.

Drawing locations will include the Independent Presbyterian Church, Juliette Gordon Low House, Owens Thomas House, Harper Fowlkes House, Telfair Academy, US Custom House, Scarbrough House, and the Andrew Low House. The four-day program will also include discussion and drawing studies of the squares of Savannah, and access to the recently restored Armstrong-Kessler Mansion.

Served as a remote collaborator on the compilation and categorization of the last five years of multidisciplinary efforts across Neri&Hu Design Research Office. Rooted in the concept of ‘reflective nostalgia’ as characterized by philosopher, Svetlana Boym, projects within the firm span scale, typology, and approach to preservation within the fast-changing urban landscapes in which the firm engages. Efforts included site visits in Shanghai, Suzhou, and Kuala Lumpur, as well as theoretical research, drawing, editing and translation.

“Based in research, Neri&Hu “anchors their work on the dynamic interaction of experience, detail, material, form, and light” rather than limiting designs to one specific style. This ethos allows the company to thrive in a number of design disciplines, including architecture, interior design, furniture design, branding, and product design. As engaged with the world of interior design as with large-scale urban redevelopment projects, Neri&Hu’s corpus spans a wide range of works that display Western influences adapted to the particular contexts of Asia. This collection is a beautiful design resource and a must-have for admirers of the firm.” - Thames & Hudson

Serving as honors thesis advisor for Rongxuan (Roxanne) Zhou

“What We See, What We Hear: Experiencing and Designing Architecture through the Auditory Sense”

The subject of the thesis must be specifically related to sociocultural or ecological concerns, or both, and link architecture with another discipline of study within the College of Arts & Sciences. The proposal must include the names, academic rank and email addresses of each of the proposed thesis advisors and explain in 1-3 sentences how the academic or research interests of each advisor relate to the subject of the proposed thesis. For academic year 2020-21, each Honors Thesis is limited to no more than three and no less than two advisors, with at least one in architecture and one in another discipline within the College of Arts & Sciences. Either one of these advisors may be the primary or secondary advisor.

The converging and ongoing crises of COVID-19, climate change, radical economic inequality, pervasive racism, and racist violence require that all systems, infrastructures, and institutions, including architecture, space, and cities, be re-imagined. This re-imagining must include how and to what ends architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design can act in the world. How might members of the class of 2020 reimagine their role as designers and thinkers trained to understand and shape space? What are the questions, what are the issues, and what are the potential approaches to engaging the complexity of these crises?

This workshop, organized by The Architectural League, will bring 2020 graduates in architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design from across the United States together in small online groups to discuss these issues. Each group will meet weekly for conversation over three consecutive weeks to listen to each other, identify critical issues, and develop ideas about what might and should be done.

To listen to the workshop town hall presentations:

Invited by professors Bill Ashmanskas and Richard Farley to return as a guest lecturer for the University of Pennsylvania Physics 009 course, ‘Physics for Architects’, discussing the field of acoustic consulting and previous work in the visualization of sound through techniques of computer animation and physical modeling.

The lecture sought to provide examples of practical applications to the study of acoustics and sound propagation, considerations and collaborative initiatives between architects and acoustical consultants on a variety of projects across diverse scales and programs, and a conversation about the future of live performance and impact on the architectural design on performance spaces in the wake of COVID-19.

To view a recording of the lecture and visual presentation:

Selected to engage in a special virtual edition of the 2020 Edinburgh Cultural Summit regarding the ‘Transformational Power of Culture’. Through a series of free webinars and published interviews, the summit aims to address the impact of a global pandemic on decades of economic and social behavior in considering how imaginative perspectives, creative endeavors, and multidisciplinary, cross-cultural collaboration can help sustain us during a period of intensified global isolation.

Asked to participate in the webinar concerning the future of ‘Culture and Education’, Tuesday August 25th, 5pm BST

Luce Fellowship notes from the field published by The Asia Foundation blog, In Asia

Shanghai Baroque Youth Orchestra - under the artistic direction of violinist, Dr. Wei, and conductor, Chang Lin, the orchestra provides young musicians who learn musical instruments with the opportunity for face-to-face learning with international coaches. Through the coordination and training of the orchestra, children can find the joy of learning music in an orchestral ensemble.

For the complete article: CLICK HERE

For complete profile: CLICK HERE

Click HERE for a recording of the conference

Presentation of RAM[P]ED Proposal for a New Mode of Sustainable Urban Habitation with advanced studio partner, Millie Yoshida

The International Festival of Arts & Ideas and Digital Surgeons invite you to a presentation and discussion about the history of New Haven's architecture and how that history can be used to look towards the future.

The New Haven Industrial Heritage Trails explore a set of interpretive proposals for buildings and landscapes that reflect New Haven's history as an industrial city—a city of factories, coal-fired power plants, railroads, and trolleys. The built legacy of this history is distributed across the city in different ways. Some buildings have been adapted and reused. Others remain dormant. Some are threatened by neglect. And, in some cases, the buildings themselves are gone but have left traces. Created by students in the Ghost Town seminar at the Yale School of Architecture, our intention is to provide public consideration of these places and to propose creative ways to market these diverse and sometimes dissonant narratives. What have these buildings and landscapes meant in the past and what might they mean for the future of New Haven?

Special thanks to DistriCT New Haven: