Ashley and Erik visit Weir Court at Yale University with Joyce Hsiang, Assistant Dean and Critic at Yale University school of Architecture and Bimal Mendis, Assistant Dean and Director of Undergraduate Studies at Yale University school of Architecture. 

January 15, 2018

WEIR COURT WITH JOYCE HSIANG &  BIMAL MENDIS

This episode of Site Visit was recorded live in Weir Hall, a Victorian Collegiate Gothic building located within Jonathan Edwards College – one of Yale’s first residential colleges. Opening in 1925, Weir Hall, served as the home to the Department of Architecture from until 1963, when the school moved to its current building, Rudolph Hall. Today Weir Court looks over the Art and Architecture Building designed by Paul Rudolph and Louis Kahn’s Yale Art Gallery.

Joyce Hsiang is an Assistant Dean and Critic at Yale University’s School of Architecture. Bimal Mendis is an Assistant Dean and Director of Undergraduate Studies at the Yale School of Architecture. Joyce and Bimal are both Principals of Plan B Architecture & Urbanism, an interdisciplinary design and research collaborative based in New Haven, Connecticut. Their passion for Yale’s history and landscape has influenced their own work, as evidenced by their recent participation in the 2017 Exhibit Columbus -- an annual exploration of art and architecture in Columbus, Indiana.

Ashley and Erik visit the Chicago Pedway with Kelly Bair, Partner at BairBalliet, and Assistant Professor of Architecture at the University of Illinois at Chicago. 

January 1, 2018 

WALKING THE PEDWAY WITH KELLY BAIR

This episode of Site Visit was recorded live in the Chicago Cultural Center, which is currently playing host to the 2017 Architecture Biennial titled Make New History. On today's Site Visit, Ashley, Erik and Kelly visit the Chicago Pedway, a complex network of underground tunnels, bridges and concourses, connecting an assortment of skyscrapers, transportation hubs, and department stores in the central business district of Chicago. Development of the Pedway began in 1951 and today it links more than 40 blocks and 50 buildings. As we discovered, there are many dead ends, construction zones, and closed corridors in the Pedway. However, we managed to find joy in the many twists and turns -- getting a little lost -- and especially in the conversation about Kelly's current practice which often focused on lines, thresholds and endless interiors. 

Kelly Bair is principal of Central Standard Office of Design and Partner at BairBalliet. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally including in the inaugural Chicago Architecture Biennial (2015) and the 15th International Architecture Exhibition in the U.S. Pavilion at the Venice Biennale (2016). Her writing on architecture has been published in Project, Log, and Room One Thousand among others. Bair is an Assistant Professor of Architecture at University of Illinois at Chicago. She is also co-founder of Possible Mediums, a collaborative of four architects and educators interested in shaking up the context and format in which architecture is taught, produced, and engaged.

Ashley and Erik visit the Michigan League to see a musical with John McMorrough, Associate Professor at the University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, and a principal architect in Studio APT (Architecture Project Theory). 

November 1, 2017

GOING TO THE THEATER WITH JOHN MCMORROUGH

Ashley and Erik visit the Michigan League to see a musical with John McMorrough, Associate Professor at the University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, and a principal architect in Studio APT (Architecture Project Theory). The building is currently home to a staged production of One Hit Wonder. Written by Jeremy Desmon, this jukebox musical is set to a soundtrack that includes notable one-hit wonders such as "Walking on Sunshine" by Katrina & The Waves and "Closing Time" by Semisonic. 

John McMorrough's work is motivated by the conviction that architecture, as a field of knowledge, continually needs to situate its productive and projective capacities, in both the reconsideration of its conceptual legacies and the testing of its competencies vis-à-vis the specifics of building. John has worked for design offices in Kansas City, New York, Boston and Rotterdam and has taught architectural theory & design at Yale University, the Ohio State University, and the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. 

September 1, 2017

MENARDS WITH ELLIE ABRONS

Ashley and Erik visit Menards with Ellie Abrons, Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning and principal of the architecture firm T+E+A+M, with Thom Moran, Adam Fure and Meredith Miller. 

Prior to joining Taubman College, Ellie Abrons worked as a project designer in numerous offices such as servo, GregLynnFORM, and Office dA. Ellie is the recipient of residency fellowships at the Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart, Germany and The MacDowell Colony in New Hampshire. Her work has been exhibited at the Venice Biennale, Storefront for Art and Architecture, A+D Gallery, and the Architectural Association. T+E+A+M was the winner of the 2017 Adrian Smith Prize for the Ragdale Ring and is a participant in the 2017 Chicago Architecture Biennial. From 2010 to 2015, Ellie led the design practice EADO.