UMBC's Center for Art and Visual Culture presents The HOME House Project, an innovative multi-year initiative organized by the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art (SECCA), Winston-Salem, North Carolina, on view now through November 27, 2004. The exhibition will be enhanced by public programs and a K-through 12 educational outreach program at area schools.
About the Exhibition
Through a competition and subsequent exhibition addressing the future of affordable housing, SECCA challenged artists and architects to propose new designs for affordable and sustainable single-family housing for low and moderate income-families. These designs were guided by the existing building criteria and price parameters for typical three and four bedroom Habitat for Humanity houses, supplied by Habitat International in Americus, Georgia. Competition participants were required to use the Habitat information as a point of departure.
The design criteria also focused on green and sustainable materials, technologies and methods. Response was overwhelming, with house designs from more than 442 individuals and firms from the United States, Spain, the Netherlands, Italy, Canada, Russia and England.
The jury consisted of three nationally-known figures who share the multiple designations of critic, architect, educator, author, designer and builder: Michael Sorkin (New York), Ben Nicholson (Chicago) and Steve Badanes (Seattle).
The 100 works represented in this exhibition are the award winners plus other selections from the initial group. Presented as framed two dimensional works or in virtual format, they offer a range of design solutions?from the adventurous and visionary to the traditional and everything in between.
The HOME House Project was made possible by grants received from the North Carolina Arts Council, an agency funded by the State of North Carolina and the National Endowment for the Arts; the Elizabeth Firestone Graham Foundation; and an anonymous gift. The HOME House Project Design Awards were made possible by a generous gift from Bank of America. For its exhibition at UMBC, funding for The HOME House Project is provided by the Neighborhood Design Center, AIABaltimore, the Enterprise Foundation, the Baltimore County Commission on Arts and Sciences, and the Maryland State Arts Council, an agency funded by the State of Maryland and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Public Programs
The HOME House Project exhibition will be enhanced by public programming, including a lecture, a panel discussion, a symposium, a film series, a solar home tour and co-sponsorship of Baltimore Architecture Week:
October 9?16
The Center for Art and Visual Culture partners with American Institute of Architects Baltimore Chapter, the Neighborhood Design Center, the Baltimore Architecture Foundation, and Baltimore Heritage, Inc. to sponsor the first annual Baltimore Architecture Week, a week of lectures related to architecture and planning in the Baltimore/Washington areas. Support for this program has been provided by media sponsors WYPR and urbanite and host sponsor Century Engineering.
For more information, call AIA Baltimore at 410-625-2585
October 11
The Center for Art and Visual Culture and the Neighborhood Design Center present Michael Pyatok, who is considered the leading designer of low-income housing in the United States.
Pyatok's lecture, "Affordable Housing in the US: Who is Responsible for Good Design?? will review the role of twelve different players who contribute to the circumstances that can improve the chances for quality design (from elected officials to residents, and ten other participants in between, one being the architect).
Pyatok is a professor of architecture at the University of Washington, is principal of Pyatok Architects, Inc., and is part-time tenured professor and Director of the Center for Affordable Housing and the Family at Arizona State University. A practicing architect for some 30 years, Pyatok is known both for his innovative design work and for his efforts to assist in the creation of the community groups that design and build low-income housing projects.
6?8 p.m., Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery.
$10 general admission (payable by cash or check), free for UMBC students with an ID and free for members of the Neighborhood Design Center.
October 14
As part of the HOME House Project Film Series, the Center for Art and Visual Culture and The Commons present The Rural Studio, directed and produced by Chuck Schultz. Fine architecture is usually reserved for wealthy patrons or grand civic spaces. But in 1993, MacArthur Fellow and Auburn University Professor Samuel Mockbee set out to change that. He and Professor D.K. Ruth founded The Rural Studio, which guides students in the design and construction of homes and community spaces in economically depressed Hale County, Alabama.
6 p.m., the Sports Zone at The Commons
October 28
In partnership with the Neighborhood Design Center and the UMBC Department of Geography and Environmental Systems, the Center for Art and Visual Culture presents "Community Building by Design: Affordable Housing and Neighborhood Revitalization," a panel discussion on affordable housing and neighborhood revitalization in the Baltimore-Washington area.
Panel Moderator: Ralph D. Bennett, Jr., School of Architecture, University of Maryland College Park
Panelists:
? David Brown, Senior Curator, Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Winston Salem, North Carolina
? Jelili Ogundele, Director of the Harlem Park Revitalization Corporation
? Stephanie Prange Proestel, Housing Initiative Partnership
? Dr. John Rennie Short, Professor and Chair, Department of Geography and Environmental Systems, UMBC
? Thomas J. Vicino, doctoral student, UMBC Department of Public Policy, Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education
6?7:30 p.m., Fine Arts Building Room 306
November 4
As part of the HOME House Project Film Series, the Center for Art and Visual Culture and The Commons present Blue Vinyl, which searches for the environmental truth about vinyl.
With humor, chutzpah and a piece of vinyl siding firmly in hand, Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Judith Helfand and co-director and award-winning cinematographer Daniel B. Gold set out in search of the truth about polyvinyl chloride (PVC), America's most popular plastic. From Long Island to Louisiana to Italy, they unearth the facts about PVC and its effects on human health and the environment.
6 p.m., The Commons Cabaret
November 11
In partnership with the Neighborhood Design Center, the Center for Art and Visual Culture presents "Building Community Through the Arts," a symposium on the role of the arts in community development and cultural activity in neighborhoods. Speakers will include:
? Steven Goldsmith, Director of the Rose Fellowship of the Enterprise Foundation, who will address Affordable Housing in the Art Community.
? Jennifer Mange, Public Art Coordinator, Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts
? Nick Francis, Executive Director of Gateway Municipalities Community Development Corporation, who will discuss successes and challenges in developing the Gateway Arts District along Route 1 in Prince George's County.
? A representative from Station North, who will speak about recent accomplishments in the Station North Arts District in Baltimore.
6?7:30 p.m., Fine Arts Building Room 306.
November 18
As part of the HOME House Project Film Series, the Center for Art and Visual Culture and The Commons present two films: Up Close and Toxic and Ecological Design: Inventing the Future, which examine issues related to environmental hazards related to indoor pollution and the evolution of environmentally aware design.
6 p.m., The Commons Cabaret
December 2
As part of the HOME House Project Film Series, the Center for Art and Visual Culture and The Commons present The Next Industrial Revolution, directed by Chris Bedford and Shelley Morhaim, which outlines the work and vision of architect William McDonough and chemist Dr. Michael Braungart, two leaders in a growing movement to transform the relationship between commerce and nature.
6 p.m., The Commons Cabaret
For more information on the HOME House Project exhibition and programming, call 410-455-1440.
