Phoebe Crisman in the News

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Four A-School Students Win Kenan Fellowships for Summer 2008

The William R. Kenan Endowment Fund of the Academical Village summer fellowships support educational opportunities for students to conduct research projects that increase public understanding of the Academical Village. Each student receives a $4,000 stipend and his/her faculty advisor receives $1,000. The resulting project is intended for public dissemination at the end of the summer and may include an exhibition, publication, or public event. Kenan Fellowships have been awarded to the following School of Architecture students for summer 2008: Lydia Mattice Brandt (faculty advisors: Elizabeth Meyer and Richard Guy Wilson); Benjamin Trudel (faculty advisor: Peter Waldman); Danielle Willkens (faculty advisor: Peter Waldman); and Edwin Wright (faculty advisor: Phoebe Crisman.

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Learning Barge Project Wins 2008 AIA Education Honor Award

The Learning Barge Project, directed by Associate Professor of Architecture Phoebe Crisman, has been named one of six projects around the nation to be awarded the 2008 Education Honor Award from the American Institute of Architects, as announced by the organization yesterday. According to a statement issued by the AIA, "The jury looked for evidence of exceptional and innovative courses that dealt with broad issues, particularly in cross-disciplinary collaboration and/or within the broader community, contributed to the advancement of architecture education, had the potential to benefit and/or change practice, and promoted models of excellence that could be appropriated by other educators." The awards will be presented in May during the AIA National Convention in Boston.

Monday, December 3, 2007

Assoc. Professor Phoebe Crisman to Receive ASCA Collaborative Practice Award

Assoc. Professor of Architecture Phoebe Crisman will receive one of four 2007-08 Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ASCA) Collaborative Practice Awards for her directorship of the Learning Barge Project at the ASCA's annual conference in March, 2008. Each year, the ACSA honors the best practices in school-based community outreach programs. Crisman will have the opportunity to present the project at a special focus meeting during the national conference.

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Learning Barge Project Receives $125K Grant

Representatives of the Lowe's Charitable and Educational Foundation were present at the Learning Barge Project's reception at the School of Architecture Friday to make an award of $125,000 for construction of the barge's onboard educational classroom. The Learning Barge Project, directed by Associate Professor of Architecture Phoebe Crisman, is a partnership between the UVa School of Architecture and the Elizabeth River Project. The barge will provide a floating classroom space from which elementary through high school students will have the opportunity to experience urban river restoration as well as learn about the ecology, culture, and possibilities of sustainable practices along Virginia's Elizabeth River. Students from the architecture school and from UVa's School of Engineering and Applied Science are active designers and builders, and the construction is scheduled for completion by Fall 2008. This award is the largest single monetary grant received to date for the project, which received a start-up grant from the Virginia Environmental Endowment, an EPA P3 Grant, and other awards.

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

"Help for a Degraded River"+

From Virginia Magazine, Fall 2007: "Late next year, the University will launch a floating environmental classroom on the Elizabeth River, one of the nation’s most polluted waterways. Dubbed the Learning Barge, it will be anchored at various points along the river and will teach schoolchildren how the river was polluted and what needs to be done to clean it up...." [For the complete article, see the Virginia Magazine, Fall 2007]

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Students Win Top ASLA Honors in Design and Communications

School of Architecture students are recipients of awards in two categories in the American Society of Landscape Architects 2007 Student Awards program. Graduate student in the Architecture and Landscape Architecture programs, Toshihiko Karato, received the highest honor in the General Design Category, The Award of Excellence, for his project Plugging In: Bringing the Stream Back to Watts. Associate Professors Elizabeth Meyer and Elissa Rosenberg served as faculty advisers for the project. The awards jury commented: "Lyrical. Visitors would be transformed by this place. A great concept that could convert this park into a safe, valuable, much needed resource for this neighborhood. Well presented with great sections and a beautiful palette; organized in a very successful manner." The graduate student editors of the second volume of lunch: dialect, Shanti Levy, David Malda, and Ryan Moody, won an Honor Award in the Communications Category. Faculty advisers for lunch:dialect were Associate Professors Phoebe Crisman and Elizabeth Meyer. The jury commented,"This is a very strong online journal. It's beautifully presented with strong graphics and good design framing important content. This would be a great model for other universities." Images of both projects are available for viewing on the ASLA website.

Monday, June 18, 2007

Four Faculty Members Receive Promotions from U.Va. Board of Visitors

At the University of Virginia Board of Visitor's meeting last week it was announced that the following four School of Architecture faculty members are receiving promotions: Michael Bednar is promoted to Professor of Architecture; Phoebe Crisman is promoted to Associate Professor of Architecture; Sanda Iliescu is promoted to Associate Professor of Art and Architecture; and Louis Nelson is promoted to Associate Professor of Architectural History. Congratulations to our talented and dedicated faculty!

Monday, June 11, 2007

University Launches Sustainability Website Featuring SARC Initiatives+

The University of Virginia has launched a website to collect information about sustainability measures, research, and design/build projects underway by faculty and students. Several School of Architecture initiatives are featured on the site.

Monday, May 7, 2007

Learning Barge Project Wins $75,000 EPA P3 Award for Sustainable Design

A team of University of Virginia architecture and engineering students won the EPA's prestigious Third Annual P3 (People, Prosperity and the Planet) Award in the National Sustainable Design Expo, a student design contest for sustainability, held on the Washington, D.C. Mall on April 24 and 25. U.Va.'s entry, "The Learning Barge: Environmental + Cultural Ecologies on the Elizabeth River," was one of six projects to be recognized with Sustainability Design Awards of $75,000.

Friday, April 27, 2007

Learning Barge Project Cleans Up at EPA P3 Awards+

The Learning Barge Project, directed by Assistant Professor Phoebe Crisman, was awarded one of six Environmental Protection Agency People Prosperity and the Planet (EPA P3) Sustainability Awards of $75,000 at this week's National Sustainable Design Expo held on the National Mall. The Learning Barge was one of 42 teams competing for the award. In addition, the project is winner of the 2007 Youth Council for Sustainable Science and Technology P3 Design Award from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. At the Expo, several media outlets noted the Barge and coverage of the awards has or will be carried by MSNBC and WTOP radio (D.C.), among others. The team for the Learning Barge project includes 12 architecture students and 6 engineering students (electrical, mechanical and civil) working under the guidance of Prof. Paxton Marshall from the School of Engineering and Applied Science.

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

ecoMOD and Learning Barge Win Awards in JRGBC's "Go Green" Awards Program

At the Go Green Awards ceremony sponsored by the James River Green Building Council (JRGBC) on April 20, the ecoMOD Project, directed by Assistant Professor John Quale, won both the JRGBC High Performance Building Award Grant of $10,000 and the Honor Award in the Built Work category. Quale announced that the grant funds will support the modular green roof and evacuated tube solar hot water panel at the third ecoMOD house to be sited in the Castle Hill / Fifeville neighborhood of Charlottesville. The Learning Barge Project, directed by Assistant Professor Phoebe Crisman, won the Honor Award in the Unbuilt Work category. Also, several projects designed by alumni practitioners won merit awards.

Friday, April 20, 2007

Learning Barge Featured at National Sustainable Design Expo on National Mall

On April 24 and 25, a full-scale mock-up of the The Learning Barge will be on display at the annual National Sustainable Design Expo which brings together students, nonprofit organizations, and government agencies that are working to create a sustainable future. The Learning Barge Project is also participating in the second phase of the People, Prosperity and the Planet Sustainability Competition at the Expo, having won a $10,000 grant in the first phase of competition. The Expo and competition are organized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and sponsored by more than 40 government departments and nonprofit associations.

The Learning Barge Project is directed by Assistant Professor of Architecture Phoebe Crisman. The team includes 12 architecture students and 6 engineering students (electrical, mechanical and civil) working under the guidance of Prof. Paxton Marshall from the School of Engineering and Applied Science.

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

ecoMOD Project and Learning Barge Project Win National Prizes+

Two projects based at the UVa School of Architecture won 2007 NCARB Awards, it was announced March 10th. The National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) sponsors an annual awards program to honor a total of six projects across the nation that reflect “creative integration of practice and education in the academy.” The jury consists of six architecture school deans.
The ecoMOD Project , directed by Assistant Professor John Quale, received the $25,000 Grand Prize, its third major award this year to date, following the AIA National Education Honor Award and the 2007 ACSA Collaborative Practice Award.
The Learning Barge Project, directed by Assistant Professor Phoebe Crisman, received one of five $7,500 awards. The project has won other important accolades, including the American Society of Landscape Architects Student Collaboration Award of Honor in 2006.
Prize-winning submissions will be exhibited at the NCARB Annual Meeting, featured in NCARB's Direct Connection, and highlighted in the NCARB Prize Book.
This is the first time that two projects from the same university have been selected for NCARB awards, a significant achievement.

Monday, March 26, 2007

Plan for Money Point Wins Prestigious Planning Award

The Plan for Money Point, spear-headed by the Elizabeth River Project and facilitated by UVa Institute for Environmental Negotiation (IEN) Director Frank Dukes and IEN Associate Christine Gyovai, has won a prestigious 2007 Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA) Places, Planning Award. Asst. Professor of Architecture Phoebe Crisman and Michael Petrus's design firm Crisman+Petrus Architects provided the urban design for the project as well as prepared the final report. Others who contributed include: graduate student of urban and environmental planning, Clark Larson; the students in PLAC 524 during the 2004-05 academic year who developed a community history and did other work; and Margaret Kirby and Casey Williams who worked on the project as IEN interns. The plan calls for a host of environmental improvements in Money Point, an industrial area just west of I-464 in South Norfolk, Virginia. To be implemented over the next ten years, the work is timed to coincide with a $5.5 million cleanup of contaminated sediment at the bottom of the Elizabeth River. Other features of the plan include the creation of a 100-foot-wide buffer of vegetation designed to filter chemicals out of storm water running off Money Point into the river and the construction of a playground, sidewalks, and other civic improvements in the small Money Point residential community.

Also in the plan is the creation of a Learning Barge, a floating classroom, where school-aged children will learn about the revitalization process taking place on and along the Elizabeth River. The jury complimented "the design of a 'learning barge' that will allow schoolchildren to experience the life of the river." The team of students and faculty who are researching / designing / building / preparing curriculum for the barge form the Learning Barge Project, directed by Asst. Professor of Architecture Phoebe Crisman. According to EDRA: “EDRA/Places Awards recognize projects whose significance extends beyond any one profession or field. The awards emphasize a link between research and practice. They demonstrate how a careful understanding of people and their interactions with places can inspire design.” The Plan for Money Point will be published in the journal Places, volume 19, issue 3. Jury members included:
- Buzz Yudell Principal, Moore Ruble Yudell
- Roberta Feldman Professor of Architecture, University of Illinois-Chicago
- Michael Pyatok Pyatok Associates, and Arizona State University
- Ann Forsyth Director, Metropolitan Design Center, University of Minnesota
- Anne Whiston Spirn Professor of Landscape Architecture, MIT

Friday, September 29, 2006

Faculty Members Collaborate on Public Art Project High Above the Elizabeth River

Assistant Professor of Architecture Phoebe Crisman and Assistant Professor of Art and Architecture, Sanda Iliescu have collaborated to create three enormous yellow banners made from plastics that will hang from the silos beginning on October 19. For the past two years Crisman, whose professional work combines architecture and urban planning, has collaborated with a task force to develop a sweeping revitalization plan for the heavily polluted Money Point area.

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Graduate Students Win Honors in 2006 ASLA Student Awards Program

A graduate studio at the School of Architecture, Associate Professor Phoebe Crisman's “Learning Barge” in Spring 2006, and a MLA student from Professor Robin Dripps' "New Orleans Studio" in Spring 2006, Bridget Belkacemi won awards in the 2006 American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) Student Awards Program+.

The students in the “Learning Barge” studio won the Student Collaboration Award of Honor + for their research and design work during the spring semester with Phoebe Crisman’s multi-year project to design and build a floating classroom for children on the Elizabeth River that will educate about a wide variety of environmental issues. The awards jury commented, “What an imaginative idea to get kids outdoors to learn about the environment and sustainability. Fun, refreshing, creative, and cost-effective."

Belkacemi won the Communications Award of Honor+ for her project, "Bayou as Infrastructure," a video narrative and representational interactive model of New Orleans. The awards jury commented, "Amazing in its use of simple materials and the tactile nature of the message delivery. Using a puzzle and storytelling as a way to inform and engage the general public is an effective and responsible example of how landscape architects should communicate about possible solutions."

Monday, June 19, 2006

Learning Barge Project Featured in Richmond Times-Dispatch+

The Learning Barge Project, directed by Assistant Professor Phoebe Crisman, is featured in the June 18, 2006 edition of the Richmond Times-Dispatch in an article titled, "$1 million 'Learning Barge' would study Elizabeth River: U.Va. plans to study pollution and conduct research on the barge." For detailed information about the project's timeline, design, and student participation visit Learning Barge.

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Asst. Professor Crisman Receives VEE Grant for Learning Barge

Assistant Professor of Architecture Phoebe Crisman is the principal investigator for the project, “The Learning Barge: researching + teaching about environmental + cultural ecologies on the Elizabeth River,” which has been awarded a one-year grant from the Virginia Environmental Endowment to cover the first research and development phase. Crisman’s design for the barge calls for the creation of a floating environmental education field station for children in grades K through 12 located on the Elizabeth River that will monitor as well as teach about the river’s restoration, ecosystem, and role as an international port. The barge will rely completely on energy derived from the sun and wind, and the classroom components will be constructed by UVa students from recycled materials in 2007. Crisman is collaborating with the Institute for Environmental Negotiation in this project, as well as with faculty from the Department of Environmental Sciences, the Curry School of Education, and the School of Engineering and Applied Science. Students in Crisman’s courses from this semester through the fall of 2007 will be involved in researching, designing, and building the project.

Friday, May 20, 2005

Asst. Prof. Phoebe Crisman Selected for Virginia Design Medal

Hanbury Evans Wright Vlattas + Company, a design firm headquartered in Norfolk, VA, has awarded the second annual Virginia Design Medal to Assistant Professor of Architecture Phoebe Crisman. Crisman will spend two weeks at the firm's studio this summer participating as an Associate Designer on various current projects as well as taking part in reviews and giving lectures. In announcing the award, firm partner S. Michael Evans (BSArch'72) noted, "Our selection group was delighted with Ms. Crisman's extensive study / travel, her current involvement with the Elizabeth River Project, and sincere motivation for involvement with our firm and staff….She has many experiences and talents that are complimentary to our work, and we look enthusiastically to her voice and active participation in our current work." Last year's inaugural award recipient was Professor Peter Waldman. In addition to Evans, alumnus John Paul C. Hanbury (BSArch'57) is also a partner in the firm.

Tuesday, December 14, 2004

Asst. Professor Phoebe Crisman Receives VEE Grant to Support Design Work for "site out of mind" in Norfolk

Assistant Professor of Architecture Phoebe Crisman has received a $15,000 grant from the Virginia Environmental Endowment (VEE) to support design work for a 330-acre neglected site along the Elizabeth River in Norfolk. Crisman will explore strategies for environmentally sustaining architecture and urbanism on the Money Point site, and intends that the public design process, specific design proposal and supporting principles will be a model for development along the River and beyond. Her work will provide the design component for a community process facilitated by Frank Dukes, Director of the Institute of Environmental Negotiation (who has a separate Andrus mediation grant) in association with the non-profit Elizabeth River Project. The process will begin in January and will complement Crisman’s theoretical work to be developed in a forthcoming book,“site out of mind.”


Urban Bridge; Phoebe Crisman

Urban Bridge; Phoebe Crisman.

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