Kean University creates Michael Graves School of Architecture

Kean University announces the newly formed Michael Graves School of Architecture as an integral event that celebrates the 50th anniversary of his Princeton, New Jersey-based firm Michael Graves Architecture & Design. Winner of the AIA Gold Medal, the National Medal of the Arts, the Topaz Medallion and the Driehaus Prize for Architecture, Graves is best known for his contemporary building designs and prominent public commissions.

“Michael Graves and his namesake, Kean’s Michael Graves School of Architecture embrace the University’s principle goals – teaching students to think critically, creatively and globally,” said Kean University President Dawood Farahi. “Providing our students with the opportunity to learn from his visionary philosophy and world-class approach to design will empower them to succeed as premier architects of the 21st century.”

“Developing the curriculum for the Michael Graves School of architecture at Kean University and Wenzhou-Kean University has been a deeply gratifying experience for me,” said Michael Graves. “Students will develop a well rounded understanding of the role of architecture in society, with a respect for its history and clear vision for the future.”

The School’s curriculum will intensively utilize the New York/New Jersey metropolitan area and the Wenzhou region of China, where Kean University has an English-speaking campus, as a pedagogical component of the curriculum. Students will engage with the discipline within a real-world context. The program, which consists of 185 credit hours, will address the increasing level of professional design services required in the 21st century, and the increasing globalization of architectural design. Students are encouraged to complete a 4-year Bachelor of Arts degree in Architectural Studies, followed by a 2-year professional Master of Architecture degree.

David Mohney, Acting Dean of the Michael Graves School of Architecture, describes the unique approach of his former instructor and mentor. “In our technologically savvy world, to this day, Michael Graves’ philosophy is to draw by hand first so that the students see, “feel” and experience the new building spatially. Then, only after the drawing is complete will the students transfer the design to a computer so that the computer becomes an execution tool, not an ideation tool.”

In 1962, after a two year fellowship at the American Academy in Rome, Michael Graves began a 39-year teaching career at Princeton University, where he is now the Robert Schirmer Professor of Architecture, Emeritus. He has received 14 honorary doctorates, is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects.

In 2003, an infection left Graves paralyzed from the waist down. He partially credits his strong empathetic sense to design with his ordeal as a patient. Graves remains active in his practice, designing buildings and objects that are beautiful, accessible and highly functional.

“One of the market differentiators of the Michael Graves School of Architecture will be the ability to study architecture abroad such as the classically designed buildings in Italy and some of the oldest buildings in the world in China,” added Dean Mohney.

David Mohney, FAIA, previously worked as the Dean of the College of Design at the University of Kentucky and taught at the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies in New York City, the Graduate School of Design at Harvard, and the Southern California Institute of Architecture in Los Angeles. A practicing architect, he was educated at Harvard University and Princeton’s School of Architecture. David serves on both the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Board of Directors, and the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture Board of Governors.

The Michael Graves School of Architecture will be housed in the award-winning Green Lane Academic Building that opened in early 2014 on Kean’s Union Township campus. There will also be a building designed by Graves that will house the Michael Graves School of Architecture on Kean’s Wenzhou China campus.

The International Code Council (ICC), the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), and the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IES) announce the launch of the International Green Construction Code (IGCC), representing the merger of two national efforts to develop adoptable and enforceable green building codes.

| Aug 11, 2010

David Rockwell unveils set for upcoming Oscar show

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and 82nd Academy Awards® production designer David Rockwell unveiled the set for the upcoming Oscar show.

| Aug 11, 2010

Construction employment declines between January '09 and '10

| Aug 11, 2010

More construction firms likely to perform stimulus-funded work in 2010 as funding expands beyond transportation programs

Stimulus funded infrastructure projects are saving and creating more direct construction jobs than initially estimated, according to a new analysis of federal data released today by the Associated General Contractors of America. The analysis also found that more contractors are likely to perform stimulus funded work this year as work starts on many of the non-transportation projects funded in the initial package.

Museums | Aug 11, 2010

Design guidelines for museums, archives, and art storage facilities

This column diagnoses the three most common moisture challenges with museums, archives, and art storage facilities and provides design guidance on how to avoid them.

| Aug 11, 2010

Broadway-style theater headed to Kentucky

One of Kentucky's largest performing arts venues should open in 2011—that's when construction is expected to wrap up on Eastern Kentucky University's Business & Technology Center for Performing Arts. The 93,000-sf Broadway-caliber theater will seat 2,000 audience members and have a 60×24-foot stage proscenium and a fly loft.

| Aug 11, 2010

People+Firms

| Aug 11, 2010

Citizenship building in Texas targets LEED Silver

The Department of Homeland Security's new U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services facility in Irving, Texas, was designed by 4240 Architecture and developed by JDL Castle Corporation. The focal point of the two-story, 56,000-sf building is the double-height, glass-walled Ceremony Room where new citizens take the oath.

| Aug 11, 2010

Carpenters' union helping build its own headquarters

The New England Regional Council of Carpenters headquarters in Dorchester, Mass., is taking shape within a 1940s industrial building. The Building Team of ADD Inc., RDK Engineers, Suffolk Construction, and the carpenters' Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee, is giving the old facility a modern makeover by converting the existing two-story structure into a three-story, 75,000-sf, LEED-certif...

Currently Reading

Kean University creates Michael Graves School of Architecture

Tags

| Aug 11, 2010

| Aug 11, 2010

| Aug 11, 2010

| Aug 11, 2010

| Aug 11, 2010

Museums | Aug 11, 2010

| Aug 11, 2010

| Aug 11, 2010

| Aug 11, 2010

| Aug 11, 2010

Most Popular Content

Magazine Subscription

Get our Newsletters

Follow BD+C: