School Notes: School of Architecture
January/February 2011

Religion and architecture in the Middle East

A symposium this month will focus on the intersection of religion and architecture in the Middle East. “Middle Ground/Middle East: Religious Sites in Urban Contexts” will examine the connections between architecture and religion and the ways in which religious sites engage urban regeneration, economic growth, cultural identity, memory, and the limits of multiculturalism. Sessions will focus on the role of religious sites representing the three Abrahamic traditions in shaping urban environments in the Middle East. Recognizing that mosques, churches, synagogues, and other holy sites reflect patterns of social and cultural division, the symposium will address the layering of religious traditions, interfaith relationships, and practices of learning and tolerance. Taking place January 21 and 22, “Middle Ground/Middle East” will feature leading architects and scholars from a variety of fields and religious backgrounds, including the keynote speaker, Nasser Rabbat, the Aga Khan Professor of Islamic Architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. For more information, go to www.architecture.yale.edu/drupal/events/symposia.

Exhibition focuses on Kevin Roche

The first-ever retrospective of the work of Pritzker Prize–winning architect Kevin Roche will take place this spring in the YSA Gallery at Paul Rudolph Hall. “Kevin Roche: Architecture as Environment” will be on view from February 7 through May 6. Designed by Dean Sakamoto and curated by Eeva-Liisa Pelkonen ’94MEnvD, the exhibition is organized into five thematic sections: Spaces for Display and Spectacle; Workspace and Workflow; Context and Community; The Greenhouse and the Garden; and Big, a selection of high rises by the firm. Roche, principal of Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates, is renowned for his designs of the Oakland Museum in Oakland, California (1961–69); the Ford Foundation headquarters building in New York (1963–66); the master plan and extension of the Metropolitan Museum (1967–present); and the Union Carbide world corporate headquarters building (1978–82). In conjunction with the exhibition, the YSA will hold a symposium, “Architecture as Environment: Kevin Roche and His Era,” February 17–20.

Dean Stern honored in New York City

The Historic Districts Council of New York City honored Dean Robert A. M. Stern ’65MArch in October with its Landmarks Lion Award. Since 1990, the award has been given to recognize “unusual devotion and aggressiveness” in protecting the historic buildings and neighborhoods of New York. “By designing so nimbly and writing so prolifically, Bob Stern has broadened minds and drawn attention to countless under-appreciated buildings,” HDC’s executive director Simeon Bankoff said in conferring the honor. Bankoff called Dean Stern “one of the most erudite, influential, and passionate Lions in the two-decade history of this award.