The theme of the AIA Colorado and AIA Western Mountain Region 2009 Design Conference is Legacy Learning Leadership. The conference committee set out to assemble a cross section of design, practice and service leaders that would speak to the diversity of interwoven issues we face today, from politics to design, and the need for ongoing learning within the ever-changing landscape of architecture. The goal: to engage, to educate and to inspire.
Coker is founder of buildingstudio (New Orleans) and his presentation will focus on the work of buildingstudio and the environmental and social responsibility issues in the practice of architecture, particularly in New Orleans after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. The session will conclude with the showing of the trailer for the upcoming film, Snake Bit, which features Coker and his involvement with Rural Studio. Coker founded buildingstudio in 1999 after a thirteen year partnership with Samuel Mockbee as Mockbee/Coker Architects. In 1995 their work was collected in, Mockbee/Coker, Thought and Process. With the formation of buildingstudio, Coker sought to blur the boundaries between art, architecture, craft and thinking. His work puts a strong emphasis on the phenomenological quality of presence and being in the world through the things we make as one small part of that interconnected whole. Click here for more information on Coleman Coker.
Hartman is a Design Partner at Skidmore Owings & Merrill LLP (San Francisco) and his presentation will focus on the design for the Cathedral of Christ the Light and how it resonates as a place of worship and conveys an inclusive statement of welcome and openness as the community’s symbolic soul. Ultimately, this cathedral, like those throughout history, is about the consideration of light as a sacred phenomenon – and the poetic introduction of light within spaces of worship. Hartman’s work in the United States, Europe and Asia ranges from entire urban districts to singular works of commercial, civic and cultural architecture and is consistently sympathetic to issues of contemporary place and time, as well as the sustainability of urban and natural ecologies. Working within a multi-disciplinary practice, Hartman’s work demonstrates how projects can achieve innovation in design and building performance by encompassing architecture, planning, engineering, interiors and graphic design. Click here for more information on Craig W. Hartman, FAIA.
Monica Ponce de Leon
Ponce de Leon is the dean of Taubman College at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, Mich.) and a principal of Office dA, the internationally-known design practice she launched in 1991. The firm’s synthesis of research and design has led to a remarkable body of work and includes institutional, residential, commercial, housing, governmental, industrial design and urban design projects all over the world. Ponce de Leon’s work addresses the critical importance of digital production to the future of the profession and the reestablishment of the architect’s role in the construction industry.
Through her strong commitment to teaching and her successful practice, Ponce de Leon has proven her ability to link the profession and the academy. Ponce de Leon received a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Miami (Coral Gables, Fla.) and a Master of Architecture in Urban Design from the Harvard Graduate School of Design (Cambridge, Mass.). Ponce de Leon joined the Harvard Graduate School of Design faculty in 1996 and has held visiting professorships at a number of universities throughout the country. Her firm’s more recent projects include the Fleet Library at Rhode Island School of Design (Providence), the Tongxian Arts Center in Beijing and Helios House/Rebranding of a Gas Station in Los Angeles.
