February 25, 1999

Gary Kamemoto, an architect with Maki & Associates in Tokyo, presents an update on some of his firm's concepts for the planned Visual Arts and Design Center Feb. 16 to a group of about 30 faculty and staff from the School of Art. The proposed building is to house the schools of art and architecture, the Department of Art History and Archeology, the Gallery of Art and the Art and Architecture Library.

Two schools join to study Midwest cities By Ann Nicholson A new collaborative program between Washington University's School of Architecture and the College of Architecture and the Arts at the University of Illinois at Chicago will bring together graduate students at both schools to explore ways that architectural and urban design can help revitalize cities. The two-and-a-half year program is being funded through a $75,000 grant from the Graham Foundation for Advancement in the Fine Arts. Beginning this fall, students in both programs will study current urban policy issues and devise design strategies for projects in their own cities, while sharing lectures, reviews, symposia, site visits and other opportunities for mutual exchanges of ideas and research. The project will involve historical and comparative studies of the two cities and further both schools' commitment to working within their communities to address urban design issues. "St. Louis and Chicago provide important and varied insights into the impact of economic and social change on the built environment," noted Eric Mumford, Ph.D., assistant professor of architectural history and theory, who, along with Jo Noero, the Ruth and Norman Moore Professor of Architecture and director of the graduate architecture program, is overseeing the St. Louis portion of the project. "Although both cities were major centers of culture and economic growth during the age of industrialization, they are among the U.S. cities most affected by de-industrialization," he continued. "Despite their historical importance, they have been largely ignored in recent decades as sources of architectural and urban design research. They provide good sites for developing a variety of models for urban design in the post-industrial age." Noero added: "The decline of Midwestern urban neighborhoods, characterized by dilapidation and abandonment, was once a problem of the inner city, but now has begun to press outward to the inner ring of suburbs. Click to see entire article

'American Cities' symposium March 11-13 North American urbanization will be the topic when the School of Architecture's Urban Research Center hosts a symposium March 11-13 titled "Design, Modernity and American Cities." The symposium, which is open to the campus community and the general public, will include lectures, panel discussions and research and design presentations. The symposium will consider American cities as the expression of a rich and varied national culture, evolving against a backdrop of an increasingly global, modern civilization, said Jacqueline Tatom, visiting assistant professor of architecture, who, along with Eric Mumford, Ph.D., assistant professor of architectural history and theory, is organizing the conference. The symposium will emphasize a broad, pluralistic approach to the design challenges posed by American metropolitan conditions. These include design issues related to land use in or near historic core areas and providing new infrastructure for outlying areas that are rapidly being converted from agricultural uses. Click to see entire

A sharpshooter for the Old Gray Dragons fires away against the St. Francis County All-Stars at Saturday's Special Olympics Missouri East Area Basketball Tournament. The competition, held at the University's Field House, featured 50 teams and involved more than 500 student volunteers. Zeta Beta Tau fraternity and the Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity have sponsored the Special Olympics for 13 years.