“Memos From An Inconvenient Studio” Interior Architecture and Product Design Distinguished Lecture delivered on January 25, 2013 at Kansas State University. Photos courtesy Kansas State University Photo Services.

Photos courtesy UX-India Conference and Usability Matters

The conference took place February 26-28, 2012 at the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, India

See a report on Irish Higher Education completion rates.

Also see a summary of the summit.

 

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99qKDhl8hXw[/youtube]

Elected to the editorial board of IJAC (#3 ranked publication in the field of architecture) through the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA). Will serve a two-year term from January 2013 to December 2014.

The International Journal of Architectural Computing (IJAC) is a peer-reviewed journal founded by international organizations dedicated to promoting collaborative research and development of computer-aided architectural design. IJAC is committed to deepening the understanding of the foundations of digital systems for architectural design and the technologies enabling their development and application.

There are four issues of IJAC per year: published in both electronic and hard copies. Successively, one issue each year is supervised by Editorial Board members from its four founding organizations:

eCAADe Education and Research in Computer Aided Architectural Design in Europe

ACADIA Association of Computer Aided Design in Architecture

SIGraDi Sociedad Iberoamericana de Grafica Digital

CAADRIA Computer Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia

The Journal is also strongly supported by the CAADFutures Foundation and the Foundation also contributes to the editorial arrangements for IJAC.

The journal features high-quality, original research papers (including state-of-the-art reviews), brief papers, and letters in all theoretical and technological areas that make up the field of Architectural Computing. Certain issues will have contemporary themes.

(Source: http://www.multi-science.co.uk/ijac.htm)

NSF Workshop on Research in Materials and Manufacturing for Extreme Affordability has successfully concluded on March 19, 2011. A book has been published in March, 2012 The workshop has been live streamed and archived. Please visit the website for a link to video.

 

The video “Woven Topographies” wins honorable mention in the ACSA Archive 100 Event Space competition. The video depicts the collaboration between “The Unclass” that I taught in fall 2011 and two artists. The video was made by Ball State’s teleplex.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUFj9yQ-Y8s[/youtube]

 

ACSA College of Distinguished Professors web site.

Press release from Ball State University.

A medallion and certificate were presented by the president of ACSA at a special Career Awards Ceremony during the 100th ACSA annual meeting in Boston this year. Recipients become members of the College of Distinguished Professors of Architecture and may use the title ACSA Distinguished Professor, DPACSA in perpetuity.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTNkrEhgTX0[/youtube]

ACSA Archive design competition held a competition called “The Beauty Pageant.” The project “Morpholuminescence” produced by students Adam Buente, Elizabeth Boone, Eric Brockemeyer and Kyle Perry was a winner. The project was done in “An Inconvenient Studio 2009.”

Jurors for the competition included Mark Foster Gage, Associate Professor and Acting Assistant Dean, Yale University School of Architecture; Emmanuelle Bourlier, co-founder & CEO, Panelite; and Richard Rose, Partner & Creative Director, PopKitchen Co.

 

CONVERSATIONS

Up close and personal dialogs about leadership

The CONVERSATIONS series will present up close and personal dialogs about leadership with prominent leaders from the profession. The conversation will start with a presentation of a brief life sketch of the guest, followed by an open dialog with the guest about his or her life journey, the origins, the development and the ascent to the leadership position. The freewheeling and informal format of the discussion elicits thick and intense perspectives into the life and work of the guest. A broad range of topics will be covered that might include, but not limited to, the guest’s views about the profession, education, changing context of architecture, and emerging trends. The series will offer rare and unique glimpses into the life of leaders in the profession, which would be a source of inspiration for the academic community. After 40 minutes of dialog, the forum will be opened for questions from the audience. The event will be webcast live.

The first of the CONVERSATIONS featured architect Joe Mrak in dialog with Mahesh Daas, Chair of the Department of Architecture, on October 31, 2011.

News Coverage:

http://www.bsudailynews.com/architect-shares-life-lessons-with-ball-state-students-1.2663019

http://www.bsudailynews.com/architect-to-be-first-speaker-in-new-series-1.2661908

Video Recording:

http://dvisweb1.bsu.edu/media/bsu/CAP/Conversations_with_Mahesh.html

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqwHzHMQCgM[/youtube]

In collaboration with Classical Guitarist, late Robert Bluestone, and weaver Rebecca Bluestone and Dustin Headley, the ARCH598: Design Thinking and Innovation Methods course students designed and developed an installation that turned the Ball State University’s College of Architecture and Planning building into a musical loom. The Bell Tower of the university with the musical instrument Carillon was incorporated into the event via live television link. Multi-colored yarn was woven into a fabric that is four-stories tall. A thousand paper planes were then released as a climactic event. The planes bore writings of many Ball State Cardinals. The news item could be found here.

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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUFj9yQ-Y8s[/youtube]

“Memos from An Inconvenient Studio” brought together digital fabrication, interactive environments and entrepreneurship with social justice. Emphasizing the need for a change in the direction of architectural education and practice, the talk touched upon the four memos: Base of the Pyramid, Scalability, Reverse Innovation and Extreme Affordability. The talk took place in the new Interdisciplinary Sciences building auditorium on USF campus on October 3, 2011.

For an opinion editorial column published in The Star Press of Muncie, please visit: http://tinyurl.com/dym7ojw

Diversity is not only a great recipe for advancing our community, but also a sound investment and a harbinger of innovation and prosperity.

Delivered the lecture as part of the Ball State Diversity Lecture Series.

 

 

Summary: We normally talk about diversity as a social, ethical and cultural issue. Seldom do we put diversity in the same sentence as innovation, let alone equate the two. But if we dig deep enough, we realize that innovation is not possible on a consistent basis without systemic diversity. Innovation is brought about by ‘thiking differently’ and by thinking outside a given box of assumptions. How can we think differently unless there are people with different viewpoints around the table? While it is possible to imagine that people with similar life background, cultural makup, education paths and worldviews can be trained to think differently from each other for sometime, it is difficult to sustain such a dynamic for obvious reasons. In a similar vein, it is possible for people from vastly different cultural backgrounds and life experiences can be taught to think the same way (conform) for sometime, but difficult to prevent them from thinking differently on a sustainable basis. I hope the central premise of my argument is clear enough. Innovation is NOT possible on a consistent basis without true and systemic diversity. Of course, diversity alone does not guarantee innovation, nor is it easy to build systemic diversity without falling into the trap of “prosthetic additions” of few diverse individuals as tokens. The economic, regulatory and political environments define whether innovation is permitted to take root or not. Assuming conditions are comparable, places with diversity outshine places without diversity by any measure of innovation productivity: patents generated, startup companies created, disruptive innovations heralded, value created for stake holders, etc. Emerging research in these areas is intriguing.

Just as many people have argued recently, including Thomas Friedman, innovation is a dire necessity to address the puzzling global challenges of the emerging world. I will add to that urgency by stating that diversity is also a dire necessity from the perspective of innovation. First diversity, then innovation. For more about this lecture, please click the link below and read the report.

News can be found here: http://www.bsudailynews.com/news/last-of-diversity-lectures-teaches-students-innovation-1.2417406

Keynote lecture delivered at the Sociedad Iberoamericana de Gráfica Digital (SIGRADI) international conference held in Bogota, Colombia on the topic of At the Intersection of Design, Fabrication and Extreme Affordability. Here is a link to the photos: