The S/L/A/M Collaborative (SLAM)’s Post

Illinois Institute of Technology Illinois Tech Lewis College of Science and Letters Great Problems, Great Minds Seminar Series: "Planning with Extended Urbanization: Elements of A Strategic Spatial Planning Vocabulary" with Dr. Nicholas Phelps, a Professor, Chair of Urban Planning and Associate Dean International, Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, University of Melbourne, who anchors a facet of planning theory in a language for, and examples of, purposeful planning with the relational complexities of the extended urban forms that characterize our urban age, suggests the theoretically and practically meaningful concepts of 'white space' regions, edges, boundary objects, interstices, and coalescence as part of additions to the strategic spatial planning conceptual vocabulary, and notes how, in their relationality, these elements of a new vocabulary signal how questions of the physical arrangement of settlements - the questions of what goes where and how - cannot be divorced from consideration of urban social relations and questions of for whom and why what goes where Wednesday, February 14, 5 - 6:15 p.m. Online Event: GO.IIT.EDU/GREATMINDS or Zoom Meeting ID: 81726188161 Passcode: 884062 Join Zoom Meeting: https://lnkd.in/eVbQM-GD His research webpage: https://lnkd.in/egXDc9jz #illinoistech #LewisCollege #planning #PlanningTheory #PurposefulPlanning #RelationalComplexities #UrbanForms #UrbanAge #challenge #ConceptualRepertories #StrategicSpatialPlanning #realities #patterns #urbanization #concepts #additions #ConceptualVocabulary #WhitespaceRegions #edges #BoundaryObjects #interstices #coalescence #how #relationality #elements #PhysicalArrangement #settlements #what #where #UrbanSocialRelations #ForWhom #why

Today is Rice University’s 24-Hour Challenge! This initiative is a celebration of our collective spirit, a testament to our shared commitment to excellence, and an opportunity to make a tangible impact on the future of the Rice University School of Architecture and the broader campus community. As we embark on this annual giving day, I invite each of you—students, faculty, staff, alumni, friends, and supporters—to help provide support for three critical areas: 1. Course Travel Fund – Global Workshops (282703):  Empower our students to gain global insights into architectural explorations. 2. Student Organizations – National Organizations of Minority Architecture Students (NOMAS) and Anti-Racism Collective (ARC) (284223): Strengthen our commitment to a more inclusive and equitable community. 3. Dean’s Excellence Fund (282689):  Provide flexible resources for emerging opportunities and challenges, ensuring our position at the forefront of architectural education. Please join us in this 24-hour challenge. Let's leverage our networks, share our stories, and invite others to join us in this pivotal effort. Click the link to give: https://lnkd.in/gFab84My

NBBJ Design’s Westmark School is Designed for Learning Differences. The global firm’s Los Angeles–based studio worked with landscape architects SWA to create an education space dedicated to both physical and emotional well-being. The lower school campus of the Westmark School, a private academy in Encino, California, dedicated to supporting students with learning differences, is a model for charting a new direction. Not just for educational architecture, but for any type of building. Embracing research in neuroscience, education, and architecture, the facility addresses learning challenges from top to bottom, from incorporating nature and natural materials to encouraging multi-sensory learning to limiting stressors like excess noise and clutter. https://lnkd.in/eqz8ApSP

Evolution of unplanned pathways: an example of how unplanned development and historical changes in key pathways and green spaces can become integral to a built environment layout over time. The Oval and Long Walk at Ohio State University were not included in the original campus design but developed organically over time. As new buildings were constructed, students began creating their own paths across the grass, which influenced the eventual layout of sidewalks, including the Long Walk. The campus was initially designed like an English manor, with pathways intersecting what is now the Oval. These features shape the mental map of the university, guiding movement and serving as key reference points. Their evolution reflects the changing needs and formalization of campus navigation. #wayfinding #navigation #mentalmap #UrbanPlanning #LandscapeArchitecture #SpatialDesign

Make a cuppa and have a read of this article about the architectural significance of our beautiful school. https://lnkd.in/egTRbSDe

Schools (K-12) are arguably the most important building type we create. They represent not only institutions for learning, but they help to define the communities they serve. It's important to build them right. If you're in the Portland, Oregon area, this in-person learning opportunity is not to be missed. #SchoolConstruction #ResilientDesign #Schools

The latest read: “The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative” by Florence Williams. What does that have to do with architecture or design? In addition to referencing biophilia, the works of Wilson and Ulrich, ART (Attention Restoration Theory) and SRT (Stress Reduction Theory), it explores current research happening all around the globe. “With more clues about what makes our brains happy and keeps them running smoothly, that information can be fed into public policy decisions, urban planning and architectural design. The research has profound implications for schools, hospitals, prisons and public housing. Imagine bigger windows, more urban trees, mandated lie-on-the-grass sessions, minute-long birdsong breaks… it might even be possible to construct doses of nature so palatable and efficient that we hardly notice them. This approach, of course, is classically Western. Manipulate the environment. Feel nature without even trying.” I’m intrigued not only by the stress reduction and physically healing power being researched, but the marked increase in creativity and problem solving when surrounded by nature. In an ideal world, architects, designers, and urban planners would strive to integrate nature in their designs, and also preserve (or rebuild) as much of the natural environment as possible.

"For Sno-Isle Libraries' reimagined Edmonds Library, we designed and constructed a floor-to-ceiling installation with 3,220 holes lit by individual LED lights, similar to a giant Lite-Brite toy. JA Design Technologist and Associate Shane Leaman designed custom circuit boards to connect the 1,088 magnetic sensors behind the board, which sense when acrylic pegs embedded with a small magnet are inserted into the lower holes. When these pegs are inserted into the wall, the program responds using those LED lights in a myriad of ways." - Jack Chaffin, JA Partner https://lnkd.in/gcJp4uY8 #librarydesign #libraryarchitecture #libraryscience #libraryprogramming #librarians #childrenslibrary #earlyliteracy #welovelibraries #earlylearning #kidslibrary #digitalintegration #activeplayelement #activelearning #snoislelibraries #edmondslibrary #washingtonlibraries #communitylibrary #publiclibrary #libraryremodel #libraryrenovation #libraryupgrade

📰Check out the Spacing article titled Youth Design Jam for Downsview featuring OPPI & Urban Minds! Read the full article. https://ow.ly/6lop50RjjY5 Urban Minds

In January, Sno-Isle Libraries welcomed the Edmonds community back into their beloved library - completely reimagined after an irrigation pipe burst, sending 60,000 gallons of water into the 17,000 SF library and closing it for 18 months. The library used this opportunity to work with JA to design a more flexible, inclusive facility that celebrates interactive learning and equitable access to knowledge and technology, all with an emphasis on strengthening community connections. A focus of the renovation was the children's area, which includes this JA-designed "pebble" which was fabricated by Haskett Works using digital files we created in-house. In the back of the children's area, a wall lit with 3,220 LED bulbs displays colorful designs and is programmed for interactive and collaborative play. JA team members designed, built, and programmed the entire "peg wall" as part of our project scope. You can learn more about how we combined these special features in an article by JA Partner Jack Chaffin for the SEATTLE DAILY JOURNAL OF COMMERCE, linked below: https://lnkd.in/gcJp4uY8 #librarydesign #libraryarchitecture #librarydesigner #libraryarchitect #childrenslibrary #earlyliteracy #earlychildhooddevelopment #earlyreaders #loveofreading #welovelibraries #interactivelearning #technology #parametricdesign #fabrication #customfabrication #edmondswashington #librarydistrict #snohomishcounty #islandcounty #snoisle #publiclibrary #communitylibrary #washingtonlibrary #interiordesign #interiorarchitecture