E.R. Bartley lecturers discuss growth management

November 4, 2011

Dean Christopher Silver (from left), Charles Pattison of 1000 Friends of Florida, David Tillis of WilsonMiller Stantec, Inc., Kristin Larsen, chair and associate professor of the urban and regional planning department, and Richard Schneider, professor and graduate coordinator of the urban and regional planning department.

Florida’s growth management: Where are we, and where are we going?

That was the central topic of this year’s E.R. Bartley Memorial Lecture Series, presented by the University of Florida and the Department of Urban and Regional Planning.

Charles Pattison of 1000 Friends of Florida and David Tillis of WilsonMiller Stantec, Inc., were the lecturers at the standing-room only event held on Oct. 27, 2011, at the UF Hilton Hotel and Conference Center.

“Our intent is to provide a thought-provoking look at where we are relative to growth management from different perspectives,” said Richard Schneider, professor and graduate coordinator for the department of urban and regional planning. Read the rest of this entry »

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Posted by ginnylawrimore

Preston Haskell lectures at DCP

October 10, 2011

From left, Joe Farcus, principal of Joe Farcus Architect, Dean Christopher Silver and Preston Haskell stand in the atrium of the Architecture Building.

Preston Haskell, founder and chairman of The Haskell Company, had a clear message about design build for the DCP-student packed audience at Rinker Hall on Sept. 29.

It’s all about best practices and advocacy of design build procurement.

“I can’t emphasize the importance of best practices enough,” Haskell said. “Design build, when properly done, delivers all of the [expected] results and advantages. Design build poorly done can be a complete disaster. And the thing that we, meaning all of us, should be vigilant in, is not letting poorly delivered design build projects by an uninformed or inexperienced entity put a bad name on the delivery process itself.”

Haskell said that The Haskell Company and Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA), of which he was the founding chairman, spends a lot of time promulgating best practices – making sure that people who do indeed deliver do it right, and do it well.

“The second big thing that DBIA does is sell the advantages of design delivery to owners and other decision-makers, policy-makers, government officials and procurement executives and decision makers in the private sector, as well,” Haskell said. “[We] do that in a number of ways, speaking and appearances and simply selling one on one and publicizing successful design build projects to owners and using the usual business development methodologies for selling not necessarily your own company, but selling a delivery method.”

Haskell said that the trend in design build deliver is positive, significant and upward.

“You, as students, as future design builders, are standing I think on the inflection point of design build delivery in terms of its popularity, its applicability, its advantages, and also its challenges and requirements,” Haskell said. “So I would encourage all of you to continue your interest in design build and to learn as much about all of the various disciplines as you possibly can.”

Haskell graduated with honors from Princeton University with a degree in civil engineering, received a master of business administration with distinction from Harvard University, and attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology for graduate study in building engineering and construction. He received the Distinguished Builder award in 1998 from the M.E. Rinker, Sr. School of Building Construction.

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Posted by ginnylawrimore

Joe Farcus lectures at DCP

October 6, 2011

Dean Christopher Silver (left) stands with Joe Farcus and his wife, Jeanne Farcus, in the atrium of the Architecture Bulding

Joe Farcus, principal of Joe Farcus Architect, visited DCP for a lecture titled “A Conversation on Things I’ve Learned” on Sept. 29 as part of the University of Florida School of Architecture Fall 2011 Lecture Series.         

When preparing his lecture, Farcus said, the following four words came to mind that sum up how he sees what an architect should be or consider when doing their work:

  1. Art
  2. Ingenuity
  3. Determination
  4. Skill

Farcus said that as the designer of a project, one needs to use acquired knowledge and talents to produce a very personal design.

“It does require cleverness apart from talent and providing interesting spaces,” Farcus said. “I think that it’s very, very important to think out what the user of the building or whatever you’re designing is going to be doing and try to surprise them. Try to give them things that they would never think about because you’re the professional – you’re the person who has devoted all of your talents, energy, time, etc., and you are serving them to give them something special.” Read the rest of this entry »

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Posted by ginnylawrimore

Team Florida’s return, Part II

October 5, 2011

Members of Team Florida prepare to leave at 5 a.m. on Sept. 20 for Washington, D.C., to compete in the 2011 Solar Decathlon. Pictured is: Nam-Kyu Park, Robert Ries, Rodrigo Castro, Krista Framer, Carole Dockree, and Eduardo Lam.

A group of DCP students and others from Team Florida, a collaboration of four major Florida research universities, recently took part in the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2011. 

FLeX House, a flexible modular, pre-fabricated building system that can adapt easily to different site situations and resident needs, was devised from a partnership between students and faculty from UF, USF, FSU and UCF.

We asked two of our own DCP students about their experiences on Team Florida and at the U.S. Solar Decathlon. Below is part two of a two-part series. 

For this interview, we talked to interior design graduate student Eduardo Lam.

What was your favorite part about the Solar Decathlon 2011?

In addition to getting to work with such a diverse group of people (vertical integration of students), for me, my favorite part was getting to see the actual house get built and being able to give tours on sight (at Washington, D.C.) and letting people know about the FLeX House.  The people’s reaction reassured me that all of our efforts were worth it.  We got nothing but positive feedback from complete strangers that were just so fascinated by what students can accomplish.

What were you most proud of about FLeX House?

Although, I have already had sometime in practice and seen my projects get built, for me the proudest moments were seeing my peers’ reaction to what we had developed.

What did you take away from the experience of being on Team Florida?

Friendships with people from different universities, interdisciplinary cooperation, and memories that were formed during charrettes that eventually led to our fun adventures at Washington, D.C.  The experience truly made me realize how much I could rely on my Interiors Team.  Especially when we would get called upon at odd hours to deliver almost the impossible, but we always managed and met every demand on time and of the best quality we could produce. 

The rest of Team Florida shared some final thoughts on their experience at the Solar Decathlon here.

For more information, visit the Solar Decathlon website.

 

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Team Florida’s return, Part I

October 4, 2011

First row: Maruja Torres, Paige Prebor, Marcela Laverde and Julie Emminger, and Pam Cotera. Second row: Nam-Kyu Park, Cristian Camargo, and Rodrigo Castro. Last row: Jeannette Price, Krista Farmer, Eduardo Lam, Carole Dockree, and Robert Ries. Not pictured: Thao Ho and Natalie Horan.

A group of DCP students and others from Team Florida, a collaboration of four major Florida research universities, recently took part in the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2011. 

FLeX House, a flexible modular, pre-fabricated building system that can adapt easily to different site situations and resident needs, was devised from a partnership between students and faculty from UF, USF, FSU and UCF.

We asked two of our own DCP students about their experiences on Team Florida and at the U.S. Solar Decathlon. Below is part one of a two-part series. 

For this interview, we talked to interior design doctoral student Pamela Cotera.

What was your favorite part about the Solar Decathlon 2011?

I would have to say that my favorite part about the Solar Decathlon was the way its utilized a vertical structure. In this way, juniors, seniors, graduates and Ph.D. students were all able to work hands on together and learn from each other. This was unique to any other course offered in the DCP college and proved to produce a successful learning environment. 

What were you most proud of about FLeX House?

 In a recession, times are tough for everyone. Still, the Team Florida students were able to build partnerships with several “big name” vendors who supported our teams efforts and supplied us with a number of donations. In just the interiors alone we featured lights from Lithonia, appliances from Bosch, bathroom and kitchen fixtures from Kohler, furniture and textiles from IKEA, acoustic fabric from Mayer, countertops from Parksite, electrical controls from Lutron, paint by Colorwheel, and more. Without the support of such sponsors, the completion of our home would not have been possible and we were proud to have to opportunity to work with each of our generous sponsors.

What did you take away from the experience of being on Team Florida?

From start to finish, this was a challenging project. Between the school rivalries, stringent deadlines, and distance between our partners, it always felt as if the interior’s “to-do” list was changing. However, despite these obstacles, I admired our teams ability to persevere and continuously produce beautiful work. This was perhaps a life lesson to always put your best foot forward and press onward.

The rest of Team Florida shared some final thoughts on their experience at the Solar Decathlon here.

For more information, visit the Solar Decathlon website.

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Posted by ginnylawrimore

Witters Winners

April 4, 2011

The winning team from the 2011 Witters Competition with Ravi Srinivasan.

Members of the winning team were: Nick Steshyn (ARC), Thomas Reeves (BCN), Eduardo Lam (IND), Kaley Dunlap (LA), Qing Feng (MSE), Pamela Cotera (IND), Cao Yun (URP) and Tingting Huang (URP).

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Posted by alayos

Witters Competition 2011

March 24, 2011

This week marks the return of the Witters Competition, a competition in which student design teams from DCP will compete for a $3,500 prize. This year the teams will race to create designs and solutions for Alachua County’s proposed Resource Recovery Park project.

The park, to be built at the Leveda Brown Environmental Park, would be implemented in response to Florida’s ambitious goal of recycling at least 75 percent of the municipal solid waste by the year 2020. After visiting the site, teams will develop project feasibility and conceptual plans for the park’s economic development.

Teams will receive the project at 3 p.m. tomorrow. From that point on, they will have just 48 hours to complete and submit their projects, as presentations to judges begin at 4 p.m. Sunday in Rinker Hall.

In the real world, architects, contractors, interior designers, planners and landscape architects interact with each other every day. In the academic environment, as students learn their specific discipline, they don’t always have the opportunity to work with the other disciplines as they will when they graduate.

The Witters Competition provides this opportunity. Each team consists of a student from each discipline in the college: architecture, building construction, interior design, landscape architecture and urban and regional planning. As each student on the team provides input regarding his or her part of the project, the team learns more about the other professions and the issues affecting their work.

Established in 1993, the Witters Competition is endowed by Arthur G. and Beverley A. Witters for a collegewide interdisciplinary academic competition to foster better understanding among design, construction and planning students.

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Posted by alayos

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