Message from Dean Stephen Vogel, FAIA

The Nautilus, Fall 2003

Stephen Vogel, teaches design and the Degree Project Seminar. He is a licensed architect with extensive experience in urban design, adaptive reuse, historic rehabilitation and multi-family, mixed housing communities, and is a principal and partner in his firm. He is past president of the American Institute of Architects, Detroit Chapter
and Michigan Chapter. He was inducted into the College of Fellows of the AIA in 1994 and received the AIA Detroit Gold Medal in 1996, among other awards. He holds B.Arch and M.Arch degrees from the University of Detroit.

Dear Alumni:

These are very exciting times at the University of Detroit Mercy and at the School of Architecture. The University has completed its largest fundraising campaign ever and has announced a new Vision for the entire University through the year 2020. The Vision 2020 plan was developed in large part through the efforts of the School of Architecture and the Detroit Collaborative Design Center. This plan includes a dynamic new Riverfront Campus with a new School of Law as its centerpiece and a re-energized McNichols Campus with a host of improvements, including renovated and new student residence halls to accommodate the growing full-time student enrollment.

This enrollment growth is very evident in Architecture as we welcomed in 2003 our largest ever first-year class. The class has, consequently, been capped. An enrollment cap is also in effect for next year as we bring in the best and brightest of new students. We have limited the School to approximately 250 students to continue to achieve the sense of personal attention and community that we all remember from our days here.

To celebrate the renovation of the Loranger Architecture Building, we held a program on Wednesday, October 8, 2003—with many of you in attendance—to honor Warren Loranger and dedicate the Genevieve Fisk Loranger Architecture Center. We also honored the GM Foundation for its contributions to the operations of the Design Center. If you have not seen the new exhibition hall, critique space and student lounge, you must find an opportunity to stop by.

We are now ready to move into the next phase of fund raising to complete the building and to support our academic programs—including scholarships. We are also finalizing the second floor studios and a new lecture space. These studios will open to the steel truss work spanning the roof structure to allow flexibility in the size of studios as we accommodate a building full of budding architects. The "smart" lecture space will accommodate students with laptops downloading the lecture notes and images presented by architecture professors. Although we have a number of named spaces in the building, there are still many naming opportunities available. Please consider a gift to the School to help advance our programs and to help us continue to give the quality education that you received. Stop by and see us!

Sincerely,

Stephen Vogel, FAIA
Dean of UDM School of Architecture