Kristen Zeiber Lecture | October 6

Lecture: “Scaling Up: Design with People and Places”Kristen ZeiberFriday, October 6th12(noon) — 1pmCUDC, 1309 Euclid Avenue, Suite 200Free and open to the public

RSVPs encouraged on Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/573039656153285/

In her talk, Kristen will speak about navigating scales, from architecture to urban design to regional design, in her exploration of the connection between people and the places they live. Work presented ranges from small-scale design/build to watersheds, from the post-Katrina Gulf Coast to post-coal Pennsylvania. She argues that across all scales, designers should work for people, and with respect for their relationship to the landscapes where they have chosen to live—even if those places have environmental or economic risk.

Kristen Zeiber is a Project Manager, Urban Designer, and Adjunct Faculty at Kent State University’s Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative (CUDC). She has been with the CUDC since 2013, and contributes to the organization’s neighborhood planning, research, mapping, and student advising. She also teaches the annual Midwest Urban Design Charrette for Masters students in Architecture and Urban Design in collaboration with several other universities. She is on the Board of Directors and co-chairs the Scholarship Committee for the Cleveland chapter of ACE Mentors, a nonprofit extracurricular program which introduces high school students to the Architecture, Construction, and Engineering professions.

Kristen’s previous Community Design Center and Design/Build experience includes over four years post-Katrina at Mississippi State University’s Gulf Coast Community Design Studio in Biloxi, MS, with founder David Perkes; and short internships with the Center for Urban Pedagogy in New York and the Yestermorrow Design/Build School in Vermont. She holds a MS in Architecture Studies (SMArchS-Urbanism) from MIT, and a Bachelor’s of Architecture from Penn State University.

Publication Release: NEW LIFE FOR OLD HOMES

We’re happy to announce the publication of New Life for Old Homes: Design Guide for the Low-Cost Rehab of Vacant & Affordable Housing!New Life for Old Homes is a user-friendly guidebook of low-cost, high-impact ideas for the rehabilitation of vacant and abandoned houses that would otherwise be demolished. The project was conceived in tandem with our Design/REbuild initiative, a vacant brick home in the St Clair-Superior neighborhood that was rehabbed by students from KSU’s College of Architecture and Environmental Design (and lots of community volunteers). While Design/REbuild could only address one house at a time, New Life for Old Homes captures the larger design ideas around refreshing Cleveland’s vacant houses to make them vibrant again.Cleveland’s historic neighborhood fabric is threatened by the 1,000+ demolitions that take place every year. These houses form the basis of our traditional city neighborhoods and, while they may not have dramatic architectural or historic significance, they contribute to the familiar scale and character of Ohio’s cities. The goal of New Life for Old Homes is to repair, rather than demolish, and to rediscover the unique appeal that older houses have to offer. We hope the guide inspires Clevelanders to look again at our sturdy homes that are too good to throw away.New Life for Old Homes was generously sponsored by the Ohio History Fund, which supports innovative historic preservation projects across the state. We’re deeply grateful for the support of the OHF in creating this publication.Please feel free to browse the publication below, and if you’d like to purchase a print-on-demand copy for yourself, you can find our Amazon link here. We also have copies of the printed book available for free at CUDC. If you'd like to pick up a copy, just stop by the CUDC office between 9am - 5pm and ask for the New Life for Old Homes book.

Ben Herring Lecture | September 22

Lecture: "Source Material: Identities in Architecture"Ben HerringFriday, September 22nd12(noon) - 1pmCUDC, 1309 Euclid Avenue, Suite 200Free and open to the publicRSVP on the Facebook event page.Join us at the CUDC this Friday, September 22nd for a talk by Ben Herring, project manager at redhouse studio architecture. His interactive presentation will explore meaning through materiality in architecture. The applications of architectures are no longer simple, nor simply for providing shelter. The uses of architecture include identities as concrete as defining the face of business (Facebook Headquarters, Gehry Partners), as personal as defining home (Incremental Housing Complex Quinta Monroy, Elemental), and as controversial as redefining our memory (Vietnam Memorial, Maya Lin). These projects are young. However, architecture is prehistoric. In turn, many well established views on the state of the art of architecture have been declared and deconstructed throughout architectural history.The aim of this presentation will be to review an abbreviated collection of these influences on architectural history. This survey of trademark architectural definitions, agendas, and identities will then be used to provide a groundwork for discourse on how we approach architecture today.Clifford Benjamin Herring is a designer specializing in new materials and architectures for public good. Ben was administered various honors at Ball State University where he received degrees in Architecture and Economics. He has previously served as a board member for PBS and NPR member stations in Southern Indiana and is currently seated as the executive board treasurer for the Refresh Collective (the organization responsible for the Fresh Camp). Ben is a project manager at redhouse studio architecture where his work includes new material developments and various non-for-profit and commercial architectures. As a workshop director for the CUDC's Making Our Own Space (MOOS) program, Ben works with youth throughout Cleveland, Ohio to influence their neighborhoods through design and construction.Let us know you're coming. RSVP on the Facebook event page and please spread the word!View the CUDC's full 2017 Fall Lecture Series.