Studio d’ARC Presents “Practice Versus Product”
WHEN: Thursday March 18 at 6:30pm
WHERE : Virtual. Streaming link will be sent via email after registering
Pending 1 AIA LU
Cost: FREE
Gerard Damiani, AIA and Joseph Biondo, FAIA will discuss the work and influences of studio d’ARC architects, a practice based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Considering his practice as a laboratory for the search for architecture, Gerard Damiani, AIA has produced a limited but thoughtful body of work that takes into consideration aspects of place, time and circumstance. The practice operates on a rational approach to materials with careful consideration given to both their meaning and their assembly.
Using this difficult time as a moment to reflect on architecture and the related profession of architecture, architect and educator Gerard Damiani, AIA, will discuss his thoughts about the current state of practice and how his office, studio d’ARC architects, navigates the boundaries between practice and the search for architectural ideas.
Gerard, originally from upstate New York with ties to eastern Pennsylvania, received his architectural education at Syracuse University. Confronted with what he considered a disconnect between architectural education and the profession, he established his practice six years after graduation.
Considering his practice as a laboratory for the search for architecture, he has produced a limited but thoughtful body of work that takes into consideration aspects of place, time and circumstance. The practice operates on a rational approach to materials with careful consideration given to both their meaning and their assembly.
He spends his time both as a practitioner and as an architectural educator at Carnegie Mellon University where he teaches courses in beginning design fundamentals, building construction, architectural detailing and advanced upper level design studios focusing on art/ architecture, the architecture of place and architectural theory. During the most recent fall semester his students made speculations on Reyner Banham’s The Architecture of the Well-tempered Environment as seen though present day practice as well as speculations about its future.
Learning Objectives:
- The use of construction practices to leverage the intrinsic properties of materials as both a spatial and construction system
- The use of environmental systems as an active part of a building’s construction and use
- The role and influence of place as a vehicle in the formation of architectural ideas
- The role and need for mentorship in post-architectural education