Dear Temple architecture graduate,
I am writing with an awful lot of good news.
First and foremost, Temple Architecture is getting a new building! I keep hearing nostalgic comments from alumni about the Engineering and Architecture Building and how you will miss the place. I sympathize, momentarily, but know that you all will be pleased with our new facilities and location.
Groundbreaking for our new building will take place on Wednesday, Sept. 15.
We will be located next to Presser Hall, on 13th Street between Norris and Diamond streets, and the building will front onto the Tyler School of Art's courtyard. The primary facade and entrance will be west-facing, but there will also be an entrance through the Tyler atrium. This is the best of both worlds for us -- we are linked to Tyler, but in a facility that is solely for architecture, giving us identity and presence in the city.
Designed by H2L2 as the last piece of the Tyler fine arts complex, the building will double our current size, just in time for new programs: a B.S. pre-professional degree in architecture, a B.S. in facility management, a B.S. in architectural preservation and a two-year M.Arch. professional degree program. Its four floors will house all these programs: the first floor will have critique and exhibit space, and six studios will be spread out between the second and fourth floors. The third floor will have a Facility Management Workplace Solutions Lab and an Architectural Preservation Materials Lab. The woodshop will be joined by a computer lab, as well as digital fabrication and other digital manufacturing equipment, and there will be added space for fabrication and research. As our programs continue to grow, and as Temple develops its arts campus in North Philadelphia, the timing for this move couldn't be better.
Save the Date: To celebrate this exciting time, please join us for an alumni gathering on Thursday, Oct. 7 in the Tyler atrium – where we can eat, talk and look at new foundations going in across the courtyard. Look for additional information on this event via e-mail next month.
The gathering has another purpose: Professor Brooke Harrington is retiring this December. He did not want to have a retirement party, but would rather have a time for you all to say goodbye before he moves permanently to Maine. Most of you (if not all of you) have had Brooke for "Environmental Systems" or "Comprehensive Design." He is generous in offering this as an opportunity for you to roast him -- maybe to get back at him for the pain you suffered in the course or, in retrospect, thank him for the amount you learned!
I look forward to seeing you on Oct. 7!
Kate Wingert-Playdon
Chair, Architecture Department
Tyler School of Art
Other Upcoming Events
"INPUT_OUTPUT" Exhibit and Young Alumni installation (part of DesignPhiladelphia)
Oct. 6-16;
Tyler School of Art, lower level, Stella Elkins Tyler Galleries
"INPUT_OUTPUT" will address the convergence of several significant and fundamental advancements in the ways that materials and environments are designed, evaluated and experienced within architecture and related disciplines. Click here for more information (PDF).
Repurposing Sacred Space by John Pron
Reception: Oct. 1; 3rd Street Gallery, 58 N. Second St., Philadelphia, PA 19106
Lead Pencil Studio exhibition
Dec. 1 - Feb. 26;
Temple Gallery, located on the first floor of the Tyler School of Art
Lead Pencil Studio is a Seattle-based art and architecture collaborative founded by Annie Han and Daniel Mihalyo. Working collaboratively on projects since 2002, their interdisciplinary practice investigates the social and perceptual aspects of spatial conditions at the architectural scale. Click here for more information.
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