Alumni updates

Brandon Becker '98, who founded and leads the design/build firm Building Detail, was featured on the cable TV show House Crashers on the DIY network.

Mark Duluk '85 joined C.C. Hodgson Architectural Group.

Jeffrey Johnson '97, senior associate at Integrated Design Solutions (IDS), was recently awarded the prestigious AIA Detroit Young Architect of the Year Award.  (Even though by design the UDM School of Architecture is smaller than other area schools of architecture, our alumni have won this award three of the last five years!) Also, IDS won the coveted AIA Michigan Firm of the Year Award in June.

James Ribbron '08, who earned a Master of Community Development, was named director of the Detroit Board of Zoning Appeals.

Faculty News

Libby Balter Blume, professor of Psychology and co-director of the Community Development program housed in the School of Architecture, facilitated a workshop for The Alley Project (TAP Gallery), entitled "Southwest Detroit: Art impacting a neighborhood," Aug. 18, during MicroFest Detroit, a national conference sponsored by the Network of Ensemble Theatres.

Steve LaGrassa, professor of Architecture, was selected to serve on the national Intern Development Program Advisory Committee. This 13-person, nationwide committee is selected by the American Institute of Architects and is composed of representatives from the American Collegiate Schools of Architecture, the American Institute of Architecture Students, the National Council of Architecture Registration Boards, and the AIA.

Tony Martinico, professor of Architecture, who is on exchange at the Department of Architecture, Warsaw Politechnika during term II, was invited to co-teach an architectural theory course to students enrolled through the ASK Program (Architecture for the Society of Knowledge). Students from throughout the European Union are competitively selected for full scholarship in the ASK Program.  The ASK Program, taught in English, is funded by the European Union at the Politechnika and is in its second year.

Allegra Pitera, assistant professor of Digital Media Studies, and Laurie Britt-Smith, assistant professor of English, gave the presentation, "Digital composition across programs," at the Writing In Digital Environments conference, held at Michigan State University, Oct. 20.

Dan Pitera, associate professor of Architecture, was featured in an Aug. 5 Detroit Free Press article about the Detroit Works project, for which Pitera serves as co-chairman of the long-term planning effort.

Gilbert Sungera, S.J., assistant professor of Architecture, through his role in the UDM Liturgical Consulting Service, was instrumental in the planning and design of a new Jesuit community residence in Fairfield, Conn.  The project has won numerous design awards and was recently named one of the American Institute of Architects 10 Best Houses of 2012.

Student Achievements

Mattia Malone, a current Master of Architecture student, was recognized by the national office of the American Institute of Architecture Students as the Chapter Leader of the Month, July 2012.

Agnieszka Wir-Konas, an exchange student studying in the SOA last fall won first place in the Central Region in the ACSA Sustainable Home Competition. (There were four first place prizes in each of the ACSA regions.) "The jury appreciated the simplicity of the plan, its orientation to the sun, its consideration of cost-effective manufacturing construction techniques and its ability to grow and transform over time, to become a larger home or a multi-generational living space. The house has a clear planned diagram and a convincing composition. The design is very handsome, pushing the visual notion of what a Habitat house could be, while exploring modularity and production."