URSP Student Elissa Silverman Elected to At-Large Seat of Washington, D.C. City Council
Last month, D.C. residents elected MAPP’s own Elissa Silverman, a graduate student in the Urban Studies and Planning Program, to the At-Large Seat of the Washington, D.C. City Council. After narrowly losing a seat in her first council campaign in 2013, Elissa won her second election handily, capturing 12% of the vote in an unusually large pool of 15 candidates. Once more, she did so without any corporate campaign contributions, a feat not often seen in a city like Washington.
HISP Students Cast New Light on a Fundamental Skill
Students employ LiDAR technology to offer new insights in historic restoration in VirginiaFairfax County’s Ash Grove Plantation has seen its fair share of history. Built by the county’s namesake, Brian Fairfax, in 1790, the Plantation was at different times a family home, a boarding school for young women and a refuge in the American Civil War.
Alumni Profile: Meet Abraham Murrell
Before MAPP alum Abraham (Abe) Murrell (B.S. Architecture ’13) starts his master’s degree in architecture this fall, he has a small to-do list. It’s an ambitious list to squeeze into six months: Abe wants to travel, volunteer and also get some hands-on experience in construction. Even more ambitious, is how he plans to do it: On May 22, 2015, Abe will set out with 31 other volunteers on a cross-country, 4,200-mile fund-raising bike trip to benefit affordable housing efforts. The program, called Bike and Build, will take the team from Charleston, South Carolina, to Santa Cruz, California.
PALS Delivers One Million Dollars in Project Value to Maryland Communities
Sixteen disciplines. Three hundred and fifty students. Nearly one million dollars in project value. This year, a new campus-wide program proved its strength in numbers, delivering sustainable solutions to environmental, social and economic challenges to two Maryland cities. Twenty-nine projects—which ranged from calculating greenhouse gas emissions to re-envisioning a downtown block—were the culmination of coursework from the inaugural year of the University of Maryland’s Partnership for Action Learning in Sustainability, or PALS.
Going the Distance: Delivering Meaningful Education in a Virtual World
It’s a beautiful April afternoon and ARCH 402 students are sketching unit layouts for a multifamily housing project. Clinical Assistant Professor of Architecture Brittany Williams is reviewing one student’s work while others observe, offering feedback on outdoor spaces and sketching over the drawing to show how they might consider light and air in their design. It is a typical scene for the undergraduate design studio, with one major caveat: it’s happening entirely online. The feedback is happening in a Zoom meeting; the sketching, using a stylus and Zoom’s annotation tool.
Lindsey May named Associate Dean of Academic Affairs & Strategic Initiatives
Lindsey May, a clinical assistant professor of architecture and assistant director of the architecture program, has been named Associate Dean of Academic Affairs & Strategic Initiatives for the University of Maryland School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. May will oversee several priority initiatives at the school, including advising and recruitment, and will work closely with program directors to plan and manage undergraduate and graduate curriculum.
Casey Dawkins on the Latest Housing Crisis Casualty: Mobile Homes
Work to Preserve Former Slave Quarters Featured on 60 Minutes
The Epic Story Behind MAPP's First Study Abroad
In the summer of 1971, just three years after the University of Maryland established the state’s first-ever architecture program, Dean John Hill, Kea Distinguished Professor Charles Moore, and then-Assistant Professor Roger Lewis took the program’s inaugural class on an epic architectural trek across Europe, the Middle East and Northern Africa. Over the course of 32 days, the intrepid group traveled across eight countries over two continents exploring architectural marvels both extravagant and every day.
New Grant to Fuel Affordable Housing Efforts Along Maryland’s Purple Line
The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG) Board of Directors has awarded The Purple Line Corridor Coalition (PLCC) a $75,000 grant to safeguard affordable housing along the tracks of Maryland’s Purple Line Light Rail. The grant, part of the new Housing Affordability Planning Program (HAPP) and backed by the Amazon Housing Equity Fund, was one of 10 awarded to support regional projects that address transit-oriented affordable and low-incoming housing initiatives.