The Third Thursday Morning Lecture Series

Transcription

1 Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Michigan presents Architecture: Shaping Buildings, Shaping Us January 11 - February 22, 2018 The Third Thursday Morning Lecture Series A Community Program of the Geriatrics Center

2 Architecture: Shaping Buildings, Shaping Us We shape our buildings, and afterwards our buildings shape us. Winston Churchill s well-known quote is the starting point for our look at the relationship between architecture and our way of living. We start with the early 20th Century, when modern technology and changing social/political relationships in Western Europe led to new thinking about the forms and shapes of the built environment. WWII brought many of the most innovative European designers to the United States. Michigan played a large, and underappreciated, role in the development of Mid-Century Modern. Stimulated by the auto industry, Scandinavian architects, and Americans like Frank Lloyd Wright, Michigan became the center for an organic design philosophy that rejected the classical forms from ancient Greece and Rome. New thinking in the design of furniture, buildings, and cities both reflected and encouraged the changes in lifestyle that persist today. The future looks equally exciting. The digital revolution has changed the way we communicate and it will also change the way we construct and interact with our built environment. There are signs that it can help us to renew places such as the city of Detroit.

3 January 11 January 18 No lecture on January 25 February 1 MICHIGAN MODERN: DESIGN THAT SHAPED AMERICA Eric J. Hill, Ph.D., FAIA Eric Hill is a University of Michigan Professor of Practice, Emeritus in Architecture, Taubman College. His practice experience includes restoration of the Detroit Opera House and Hill Auditorium, as well as consulting work for the State Historic Preservation Office. Hill is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard s Graduate School of Design, and completed post-graduate research at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. He is the co-author of The AIA Guide to Detroit Architecture. Speaker s Synopsis: Michigan Modern is many things at once: a place and time; a design movement and cultural phenomenon; a small world of big achievements; an intersection of indigenous, imported and exported design. This presentation will provide an overview of Michigan Modern design, with a primary emphasis on the art of architecture, from early modern work of Albert Kahn to late modern work of Gunnar Birkerts. THE ARCHITECTURE OF MINORU YAMASAKI Dale Allen Gyure, Ph.D. Dale Allen Gyure is Professor of Architecture at Lawrence Technological University. His research focuses on American architecture of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. His books include Frank Lloyd Wright s Florida Southern College, The Chicago Schoolhouse, : High School Architecture and Educational Reform, and the recently published Minoru Yamasaki: Humanist Architecture for a Modernist World. Dr. Gyure serves on the Board of Directors of Docomomo Michigan and is a member of the Michigan Historic Preservation Review Board. Speaker s Synopsis: This presentation will provide an overview of architect Minoru Yamasaki s most celebrated buildings and his significance to modern architecture. Yamasaki s popularity arose from a unique form of humanist architecture which melded his interest in invoking feelings of serenity and delight with insights gained from studying historical architecture around the world. His work offered a gentler, more decorated style of modernism distanced from the obsession with function or structure that characterized much of contemporary architecture. CRANBROOK S ARCHITECTURE IN THREE CHAPTERS: THE ARTS & CRAFTS MOVEMENT, SAARINEN S MODERNISM, AND CRANBROOK CONTEMPORARY Gregory M. Wittkopp, Director, Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research For more than three decades, Gregory Wittkopp has been shaping and stewarding Cranbrook s collections, first as a curator, then as the Director of Cranbrook Art Museum, and now as the Founding Director of the Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research. Major projects include the restoration of Saarinen House and the creation of the state-of-the-art Collections Wing, a $22 million project completed in Wittkopp holds an MA in Art History from Wayne State University and a BS in Architecture from the University of Michigan. Speaker s Synopsis: Founded in 1904 on the edge of metropolitan Detroit, Cranbrook is many things to many people a world-renowned graduate art academy and contemporary art museum, a prestigious college-preparatory school, a preeminent natural history and earth sciences museum, three historic house museums and gardens, and much more. What they all share is a National Historic Landmark campus that has been described as the most enchanting setting in America. Join Gregory Wittkopp as he shares the stories of Cranbrook s architects and the legacy of its founders, newspaper publishers George and Ellen Booth.

4 February 8 February 15 February 22 Join us for lunch after the lecture! See below. OTHER WAYS OF DOING THINGS: ARCHITECTURE AND URBAN ACTIVISM Anya Sirota Anya Sirota is an Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan s Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning. Her interdisciplinary research focuses on contemporary cultural production and its relationship to architecture and urbanism. Sirota is principal of the award-winning design studio Akoaki and director of the Detroit-based Michigan Architecture Prep program. She holds a Master in Architecture from Harvard s Graduate School of Design and a B.A. in Modern Culture and Media from Brown University. Speaker s Synopsis: In the aftermath of Modernism s perceived urban failures, a cadre of architects is becoming increasingly aware that a building might not always be the best solution to a spatial problem. The lecture will explore how certain practices are reinventing the architectural profession, replacing the model of the heroic visionary with a more collaborative, experimental, and interdisciplinary approach to work in the built environment. PLAUSIBLE FUTURES: APPROACHING ARCHITECTURE AND URBAN DESIGN FROM A COMPLEX SYSTEMS PERSPECTIVE Prof. Geoffrey Thün Geoffrey Thün is Associate Professor of Architecture and Associate Dean for Research and Creative Practice at UM s Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning. He is a founding partner in the research-based practice RVTR. Thün holds an M.U.D. from the University of Toronto, and a Professional B.Arch. and B.E.S. from the University of Waterloo. He uses a complex systems approach in his work, which ranges in scale from high performance buildings, to cities and regional territories. Speaker s Synopsis: Drawing from examples of Thün s work, contemporary practice, and what he perceives as the frontiers of research in architecture and urban design, this talk will outline a manifesto for a future of design for the built environment based upon principles of ecological and complex systems. UPDATE ON THE CITY OF DETROIT John Gallagher John Gallagher is a veteran journalist who holds the title of Senior Business Columnist with the Detroit Free Press, where for 30 years he has covered economic development in Detroit and elsewhere. He has published several books on urban affairs including Reimagining Detroit and Yamasaki in Detroit: A Search for Serenity, a biography of architect Minoru Yamasaki. He and his wife live along the east riverfront in Detroit. Speaker s Synopsis: This lecture will present updates on the major new developments taking place in Detroit and delve into the controversy over Two Detroits the debate over what s happening in downtown Detroit versus what s happening in the neighborhoods. Join other OLLI members for a boxed lunch in the lobby immediately following the February 22nd lecture for some socialization! The cost is $8. You can register for the lunch online or in-person. OLLI will be hosting a lunch once a lecture series. Stay tuned for further details! OLLI Out of Town: Seeing Detroit from the Ground Up Tuesday, April 17, 2018, 8:30 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. Meet at Meijer on Carpenter Road, $ The trip will include a visit to the Historic Jefferson Avenue Presbyterian Church and the Guardian Building, a narrated bus tour of historic Indian Village passing by the Manoogian mansion, and lunch at the historic Whitney Restaurant mansion.(lunch, snacks, and tips included)

5 Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Michigan presents Architecture: Shaping Buildings, Shaping Us January 11 - February 22, 2018 (No lecture on January 25) Time: 10:00 11:30 a.m. Location: Washtenaw Community College, Towsley Auditorium Morris Lawrence Building 4800 E. Huron River Drive Ann Arbor, MI Look for yellow signs: OLLI Event Here. NEW LECTURE VENUE Fee(s): $30 for the 6-lecture series (or $10 per lecture, payable at the door; checks preferable) $20 for the Annual Membership Fee (effective from September 1, August 31, 2018) On-line registration is available or send registration form and payment to: OLLI at U of M 2401 Plymouth Rd., Suite C, Ann Arbor, MI If you have questions: Phone: Website: olli.info@umich.edu This lecture series was planned by Diane Bogenrieder, Jerry Gardner, Charles Garvin, Bette Michael, Sharon Quiroz, David Seaman, Bob Shaw, Anne Smith, Ric Vix, and Al Paas (chair). Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Michigan reserves the right to substitute speakers. Capacity is limited to the first 500 registrants. Lectures are cancelled whenever Ann Arbor Public Schools close due to severe weather. Call (734) or visit to confirm cancellation of the day s scheduled lecture. For more information about Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Michigan visit: REGISTRATION FORM: Architecture: Shaping Buildings, Shaping Us NAME(S): FULL STREET ADDRESS: CITY/STATE/ZIP: ADDRESS: PHONE #: Annual Membership Fee (effective from Sept. 1, Aug. 31, 2018) $20/person Thursday Morning Lecture Series #3 $30/person Luncheon on February 22 $8/person Circle your selection: Turkey & swiss, Ham & provolone, Roast beef & cheddar, Tuna salad, Chicken salad, Hummus & veggies Write check payable to: OLLI at U of M Mail to: OLLI at U of M (can also pay in person) 2401 Plymouth Rd., Suite C, Ann Arbor, MI 48105

6 2401 Plymouth Rd., Suite C Ann Arbor, MI 48105