Monthly Archives: June 2010

Prefaboo: LivingHomes’ Steve Glenn Visits Art Center

LivingHomes founder and CEO, Steve Glenn

Have you made it to each and every one of this term’s Big Picture Lecture Series? No? Did you know you can watch them, in their entirety, on Art Center’s iTunes U page? Just make sure you have the latest version of iTunes and start watching!

This past Monday, ecological entrepreneur Steve Glenn spoke to a standing-room-only crowd in Art Center’s Los Angeles Times Media Center about his company LivingHomes, which works with renowned architects, like Ray Kappe and KieranTimberlake Associates, to create prefabricated homes.

During the lecture, Glenn made a compelling argument for why prefab homes can be built “better, quicker, cheaper and with a smaller ecological footprint” than traditional on-site construction.

LivingHomes first building, Glenn's house

He also shared some personal history and provided insight to his business decisions.

On his earlier aspirations:

“I wanted to be Frank Lloyd Wright. In college I [entered] a design program and learned that I neither had the talent nor the temperament to be an architect. I also learned that [Frank Lloyd Wright] wasn’t such a nice guy.”

On Ray Kappe:

“Ray Kappe is one of my all-time favorite architects. He has a big ego about design but not about himself. His public reputation . . . is nowhere as great as it should be, based on the work that he does. He’s a rare modernist that integrates a craftsman-like attention to detail and warmth.”

On the ecological benefits of prefab:

“In typical site-built construction, 30 to 40 percent of the materials end up as construction waste. Indeed, if you talk to any of the landfill guys, they’ll tell you the biggest part of any landfill, up to one third, is construction waste.”

On why he chose his house as LivingHomes’ first project:

“I didn’t want any other customer to bitch at us if anything was wrong. I’d be the customer. There’d be no one else to bitch at. I’d take the biggest grenades.”

Glenn’s home, a modernist structure chock-full of ecological amenities—a photovoltaic “LivingRoof” that produces 75 percent of the home’s power needs, a cistern that recycles water into a pond and a waterfall, and low-flow faucets, just to name a few—was the first home to ever receive LEED Platinum certification.

Be sure to check out the entire lecture online.

Next up in the Big Picture Lecture series: LA Weekly’s Pulitzer Prize-winning food critic Jonathan Gold presents “Authenticity, Culture and the Kimchi Taco” (July 5, 1 pm, Los Angeles Times Media Center).

The Image Gets Ready for Its Close-up: Art Center’s Imaging DNA Conference

Sure, Imaging DNA might sound like a new song from the Stanford biology rappers, but it’s actually an upcoming two-day conference (July 10–11) that Art Center, in association with NMC Partners, has organized to gather leaders and innovators in imaging, technology, media and education. The goal of the gathering? To immerse attendees in the ideas, discussion and debate surrounding all things image – their production, display, licensing and, in general, their usage.

“Imaging DNA is poised to be the crossroads for artists, educators, photographers and futurists, and therefore a perfect fit for Art Center,” said Dennis Keeley, chair of Art Center’s Photography and Imaging Department, who will moderate the two-day event. “The way the world captures, enhances and distributes photographs is continually transformed by technology. In the Photography and Imaging Department at Art Center, we focus on what does not change: the essence of great photography.”

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Taking Action Through a Day of Service

On Saturday, June 12, Art Center students, staff and faculty participated in the College’s first Art Center Takes Action: A Day of Service in Pasadena, a volunteer initiative launched in celebration of Art Center’s 80th anniversary.

The day of service kicked off Saturday morning with a breakfast with College President Lorne Buchman and representatives from participating organizations. Sponsors Peet’s Coffee & Tea, Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market and Autunno Catering provided breakfast for volunteers.

“Art Center Takes Action is the first in what I hope will become a long-standing College tradition of providing service to those in need,” Buchman said at the breakfast.

“When the Art Center community comes together to participate in volunteer initiatives such as this, we help elevate Art Center’s reputation not only as a good neighbor, but as a meaningful place to pursue an art and design education.”

Volunteers visited with the residents at the Villa Gardens Retirement Community, helped beautify and paint the The Boys & Girls Club of Pasadena, collected trash at the Rose Bowl, and acquired goods and donations for the AIDS Service Center.

“Pasadena is a city with a lot of need,” said Ben Sanders, a third-term Illustration major who spent the day volunteering at Villa Gardens, a retirement community that 200 residents call home. “It’s a great idea for Art Center to make its presence known in the community. Not by showing what we as artists and designers have made, but by simply showing people we’re here and we care.”

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Big Picture Lecture Series: Steve Glenn

Don’t miss Monday’s Big Picture Lecture Series featuring Steve Glenn.

Glenn develops modern, prefabricated homes that combine world-class architecture with a commitment to healthy and sustainable construction. He is founder and CEO of LivingHomes, a company that creates homes with a small ecological footprint. The first LivingHome, designed by Ray Kappe, was installed in eight hours.  It became the first home ever to receive a LEED for Home Platinum rating, and was the only home to win the AIA’s top sustainability award in 2007.

Before LivingHomes, Glenn worked with the Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative (CHAI) and was a founding partner of idealab.

Big Picture Lecture Series:
Monday, June 14, 1 pm
Los Angeles Times Media Center, Hillside Campus

Take Action: Volunteer

This Saturday Art Center students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends will come together for Art Center Takes Action: A Day of Service in Pasadena, a volunteer initiative launched in celebration of Art Center’s 80th anniversary.

“We strive to provide opportunities for our students to get the most out of their educational experience both inside and outside the classroom,” explains Dean of Students Jeffrey Hoffman. “Art Center’s Day of Service will provide such an opportunity for students from diverse backgrounds to build relationships with their local community—a place they call home.”

The local organizations that Art Center volunteers will engage with include AIDS Service Center, which develops and delivers services, advocacy and education tailored to improve the quality of life for those impacted by and at risk for HIV/AIDS; Boys and Girls Club of Pasadena, whose goal is to improve the lives of children by helping them build self-assurance and develop leadership skills while reinforcing positive values; the Rose Bowl Operating Company, which manages Pasadena’s historic stadium and professional quality golf course; and Villa Gardens Retirement Community, one of the City’s premier retirement communities offering residents opportunities both stimulating and relaxing.

The day of service will kick off at 8 am Saturday, June 12, with a breakfast with College President Buchman and representatives from participating organizations.

It’s not too late to join us. To sign up or for more information, contact Betsy Edmunds in the Center for the Student Experience at cse@artcenter.edu or stop by the CSE. Also be sure to check the The Dotted Line next week for coverage and photos of the event.

South Campus Gallery Salon June 19

Don’t miss the South Campus Gallery Salon, featuring the work of illustration alums Seth Drenner, Katherine Guillen and David Jien. A portion of all sales will be donated to the Art Center student scholarship fund.

The salon will be hosted by Archetype Press and Art Center professors Leah Toby Hoffmitz and Gloria Kondrup. Don’t miss it!

South Campus Gallery Salon: “IMPRESSION”
Saturday, June 19, 6-9 pm
South Campus Gallery

Student Sylvia Liu Wins G.I.R.L. Scholarship

Entertainment Design student Sylvia Liu is the winner of Sony Online Entertainment’s $10,000 2010 G.I.R.L. Scholarship. She has been awarded a 10-week paid internship at SOE’s headquarters in San Diego as well as a $10,000 scholarship.

Liu was one of over 200 applicants vying for the Gamers in Real Life, or G.I.R.L.,  scholarship, which aims to help more women enter the video game industry. Finalists were asked to submit original concept art depicting a new game environment and new characters for either Free Realms or EverQuest II.

Congrats, Sylvia!

Read more: Sylvia’s G.I.R.L. Q&A and at Gamasutra

Designmatters Fellow Spending Summer at UNICEF

Graduate Media Design student Dustin York has been awarded an Designmatters Fellowship for 2010. He is spending this term at UNICEF headquarters in New York.

York is spending the summer working in the groundbreaking Innovation Unit at UNICEF, working with students from NYU to develop new strategies around, and devise new visual and sensory experiences for, telling UNICEF’s global stories.

York’s keen ability for communication and media design, his seasoned professionalism and, in his own words, “interest for shaping experiences to communicate across great distances, and bringing new ideas to life” made him the ideal candidate for appointment as Designmatters Fellow.

Join us in wishing Dustin a wonderful and productive summer in New York!

Big Picture Lecture Series: Jack Rakove

Don’t miss Monday’s Big Picture Lecture Series featuring Jack Rakove.

Rakove is a history and political science professor at Stanford. Among his numerous publications, Rakove  is the author of five books including Original Meanings: Politics and Ideas in the Making of the Constitution, which won the 1997 Pulitzer Prize in history. His most recent book, Revolutionaries: A New History of the Invention of America, was published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Big Picture Lecture Series: Jack Ravoke
Monday, June 7, 1 pm
Los Angeles Times Media Center, Hillside Campus