School Notes: School of Architecture
July/August 2024

The conference center of the future

Students in the Spring 2024 advanced studio, taught by Edward P. Bass Distinguished Visiting Architecture Fellow Isaäc Kalisvaart, Bjarne Mastenbroek, Erik Go, and Andrei Harwell ’06MArch, were tasked with designing future transformations of the RAI in Amsterdam, the Netherlands’ largest conference center, taking into consideration the need for housing, accommodation of multiple modes of transportation, sustainability, and the mix of uses on site. These proposals were exhibited at the RAI on the occasion of the 2024 Provada real estate conference on June 11–13 for an audience of over 30,000 visitors. The student projects will remain on display at the RAI for the next year in hopes of energizing public discussions of the RAI’s future transformations.

Bio-based materials in Senegal

Assistant professor Mae-ling Lokko’s summer seminar, Soil Sisters, traveled to Senegal this year, continuing research into soil health, bio-based building materials, and circular economy, which started in last year’s iteration in Ghana. Students were able to conduct research in multiple locations across many areas of inquiry. The course started in Dakar and Mbour, learning about the use of invasive typha reeds in the manufacture of compressed-earth masonry. Then students traveled to Simal to create bio-based textile dyes. In the third week, students visited Saint Louis and learned about the historical and decolonial context for their material research, leading into a final week where they developed and exhibited their own bio-based material prototypes.