Which concept from this year's UVa Vortex would you most like to see in your lifetime?

University of Virginia

“This year’s UVa Vortex had students in the School of Architecture envision new ways to address congestion and improve the U.S. Route 29 corridor.  Of these three big ideas... If you had to pick one, which of these three ideas would you most like to see in your lifetime?”

~Writes Charlottesville Tomorrow

Click here to learn more and vote

Urban Design Seminar Series

Conversations on the Public Realm in the D.C. Region

Jan. 28, Feb. 11, March 4, March 18 and April 1 from 7-9:30 PM

1021 Prince Street, Alexandria

The School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) and the Washington Alexandria Architecture Center (WAAC) are excited to announce our first interdisciplinary seminar series.  Over the course of the spring term, we will host five sessions exploring intriguing and challenging aspects of the public realm in the National Capital Region.

Speakers will include Virginia Tech faculty from planning, public policy, landscape architecture and architecture along with noted practitioner experts. Each session will include a presentation, a discussion period and a small reception. 

The seminars are free and open to the public, but for space planning purposes we would appreciate it if you would notify us of your attendance by sending an email to udseminar@vt.edu.

Jan. 28: African American Heritage: How is it Represented in the Public Realm and How Does it Affect Planning and Development in the D.C. Region?

Panelists include: 

Audrey Davis, Acting Director, Alexandria Black History Museum 

Nikki Graves Henderson, Director, Tinner Hill Heritage Foundation

Jane Freundel Levey, Director of Heritage and Community Programs, Cultural Tourism DC

Moderator:

Elizabeth Morton (Urban Affairs and Planning faculty)

Rapporteurs:

Derek Hyra (Urban Affairs and Planning faculty)

Matt Dull (Center for Public Administration and Policy faculty)

Feb. 11: Design Review: Opportunities and Complexities in Regulating the Public Realm

Panelists include: 

Roger Lewis, architect and critic for the Washington Post

Elizabeth Miller, Director Physical Planning Division at National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC)

Lee Quill, Founding Principal at Cunningham Quill Architects

Matt Steenhoek, PN Hoffman

Moderators: 

Elizabeth Morton (Urban Affairs and Planning faculty)

Susan Piedmont-Palladino (Architecture faculty)

March 4: The Cultivation of the Potomac River Landscape 

Paul Kelsch (Landscape Architecture faculty)

March 18: 4 Blocks: Lessons in an Urban Campus

Susan Piedmont-Palladino (Architecture faculty)

April 1: Arboreta Washingtonensis: Collecting Trees in the Public Realm

Nathan Heavers (Landscape Architecture faculty)

Ray Mims, U.S. Botanical Garden and head of the Sustainable Sites Initiative (invited)

The seminar series is jointly sponsored by the School of Public and International Affairs, the Urban Affairs and Planning program, the Washington Alexandria Architecture Center, and the new Urban Design Concentration, with the support of the Dean of the College of Architecture and Urban Studies and the Washington, DC Initiative (DCI).

University of Virginia

“On Monday afternoon, 300 students from the University of Virginia’s School of Architecture will walk up and down the area’s busiest traffic corridor to begin imagining how it might be redeveloped in the near future. The expedition along U.S. 29 will come near the start of the school’s third annual ‘vortex,’ a week-long workshop in which students apply their design training to reimagine an aspect of the Charlottesville-Albemarle County area.”

~Writes Sean Tubbs of Charlottesville Tomorrow

Click here to learn more

Virginia Tech's Urban Affairs and Planning

Virginia Tech's "Urban Affairs and Planning's (UAP) diverse programs and interdisciplinary faculty provide a wide range of professional specializations, including: Environmental Planning and Policy; Land Use and Physical Development Planning; Housing, Community and Economic Development; International Development Planning."

Click here to learn more about their program 

UVA Student's Documentary on US29

University of Virginia

A UVA Planning student created this short documentary on the various interpretations of Charlottesville's most notorious road, Route 29. Click here to watch this great video.

Going Mental: Architecture Professor Researches Everyday Travel and the Cognitive Map

University of Virginia

“Do you have a special way of getting to work or to a favorite restaurant? If so, then your cognitive map is doing its job. These routes are mental maps stored in the brain, and new research shows that what people store in their cognitive map often depends on their mode of travel.

Andrew Mondschein, who joined the faculty of the University of Virginia School of Architecture in September as an assistant professor in the Department of Urban and Environmental Planning, led a team that found “cognitively active” travelers, those driving a car or walking, have more accurate mental maps than “cognitively passive” travelers, such as car or bus passengers. The findings were published in the latest issue of ACCESS, which reports on research funded by the University of California Transportation Center.

In his article, ‘Going Mental: Everyday Travel and the Cognitive Map,’ Mondschein and his team show that cognitively active people have a greater awareness of where things like shopping centers, parks and potential employers are located in their cities and towns.”

~Writes Robert Hull of UVA Today

Click here to learn more

U.Va. Alumni Help Children on the Move Take Their Schools with Them

University of Virginia

“For many children around the world – refugees from conflicts, or migrants whose families chase work where they can find it ­– regularly attending a school is not an option. Building Trust International, a nonprofit that provides building support and design advice to charities and communities in need, concluded that if the children can’t get to the school, perhaps there was a way to bring the school to the children. In 2012, Building Trust sponsored an international design competition to create a solution for displaced communities who lack adequate buildings for schools. The goal was to create the opportunity for communities to establish buildings for educational opportunities in their temporary homes.

Amadeo Bennetta and Dan LaRossa, both of whom received master’s degrees from the University of Virginia’s School of Architecture, designed a moving school for migrant and refugee communities of Southeast Asia, creating an opportunity for communities to establish an educational home away from home. As a result of their design’s ability to 'address the issues relating to simplicity, flexibility and the needs of this program to be relocated or adapted over time,' it was selected as the winner from hundreds of competitors.”

~Writes Ashley Patterson of UVA Today

Click here to learn more