Stephen Vogel & Dan Pitera
University of Detroit-Mercy
Part I (Dan Pitera) If it Works, Then it is Obsolete
Part II (Stephen Vogel) The 8 Mile Divide
Monday, October 9th, 6:00 PM
School of Architecture Annual Fund
Stephen Vogel, FAIA has been Dean of the School of Architecture at the University of Detroit Mercy since 1993. During that time he has focused the school’s mission to be engaged in service to the urban community and to educate future architects committed to building sustainable communities. To that end he co-founded the Detroit Collaborative Design Center, a university-based center providing professional design services to non-profit civic and community organizations, and the International Center for Urban Ecology that advocates community participation in the re-ordering of post-industrial cities. The School and the Design Center have been recognized with the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards 2002 Grand Prize for the Creative Integration of Practice and Education in the Academy; and the 2002 Dedalo Minosse International Prize for the design of Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles, CA. The work of the Design Center has been featured in the 2002 publication from Princeton Architectural Press University- Community Design Partnerships: Innovations in Practice. Most recently the Design Center was a co-curator for the Detroit portion of the international study of “Shrinking Cities” funded by the German Federal Cultural Foundation and is an invited exhibitor at Archilab 2004 in Orleans, France. For the Shrinking Cities publication, Mr. Vogel authored an essay on the “Self Organizing Systems” of Detroit neighborhoods.
Stephen Vogel, FAIA is a founding principal of Schervish Vogel Consulting Architects, PLC. He has over thirty years of experience in architecture and urban design. He has directed projects that range from multi-family housing, adaptive reuse, historic preservation, urban design and master planning to large scale, mixed-income communities. Mr. Vogel is also a partner in the Harmonie Development Corporation (formerly SVM Development), which develops small and medium sized urban, historic and adaptive reuse projects and is the developer of the Harmonie Park/Madison Avenue Redevelopment Project in downtown Detroit. This project has received a national American Institute of Architects Honor Award for Regional and Urban Design and a national Merit Award for Urban Design from the American Society of Landscape Architects. Schervish Vogel Consulting Architects has additionally received over fifty design awards from local, state and national organizations for the excellence of its work.
Mr. Vogel is past president of the American Institute of Architects Michigan and Detroit chapters and is a past Commissioner of the Mackinac Island State Park Commission and the Detroit Historic Districts Commission. He currently serves on the Board of the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Non-profit Facilities Center, and the WARM Training Center. He has lectured extensively nationally and internationally on the topics of urban design and urban development. In 2004 he was awarded the AIA Michigan Gold Medal for his work.
Dan Pitera is a political and social activist masquerading as an architect. He is presently the Director of the Detroit Collaborative Design Center at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Architecture. With the view that “design” is an essential force in establishing human relations, the Design Center is dedicated to fostering university and community partnerships that create inspired and sustainable neighborhoods and spaces for all people. The sustainability of any neighborhood lies in the hands of its residents. Thus, the Design Center provides not only design services but also empowers residents to facilitate their own process of urban regeneration.
Mr. Pitera has recently returned from a year-long sabbatical where he was the 2004-2005 Loeb Fellow at Harvard University. He was a finalist for the 2006-2007 James Stirling Memorial Lectures on the City. Under his direction, the Design Center has won the Grand Award in the first annual national 2002 NCARB Prize and was included in the international exhibit/conference ArchiLab 2004 and 2001 in Orleans, France. The Design Center has also been the recipient of the 2002 Dedalo Minosse International Prize. In the past year the work of the Design Center was published or exhibited in six countries.
In 1998, Mr. Pitera was the Hyde Chair of Excellence at the University of Nebraska. He has lectured and taught extensively throughout the North America, South America, and Europe. He likes “fallout shelter” yellow…
Additional Information
Stephen Vogel 