AIA Baltimore & Baltimore Architecture Foundation: 2022 Spring Lecture Series Current[ly]

Recent events have created uncertainty but hope about the future. How do we transform architecture and design to address rapidly changing needs and demands in our homes, workplaces, and public spaces? The 2022 AIA and BAF Lecture Series will explore current trends and changes in local and international work in the design industry as we look to our post-pandemic future.
The second lecture in the series will probe public space design, branding environments, graphic design, architectural fabrication, and education in light of the pandemic. Multidisciplinary designer Bruce Willen, of Public Mechanics and Post Typography, will discuss participatory design while sharing projects that jaywalk through the intersection of experiential design, placemaking, public art, and cultural branding. Rick Sommerfeld of the Colorado Building Workshop at the University of Denver, will present simple typologies that are often cast aside by architects as vapid structures unworthy of their efforts and relegated to engineers and contractors to design. From 2012- 2020 each of these typologies was undertaken by the University of Colorado Denver’s Colorado Building Workshop as part of their emerging design-build program. The hunch was that even the most mundane projects require our attention and, when appropriately questioned, could be invaluable learning tools for a student’s architectural education.
About Our Speakers
Rick Sommerfeld
Erik “Rick” Sommerfeld is an Architect, Assistant Professor and the Director of ColoradoBuildingWorkshop, the design-build program at the University of Colorado Denver. Since founding Colorado Building Workshop in 2009 Rick has built twelve community projects, including 21 micro-cabins for the Colorado Outward Bounds School, and in collaboration with DesignBuildBLUFF at the University of Utah, five charitable homes and two cabins in Southern Utah.
Rick’s work with ColoradoBuildingWorkshop and DesignBuildBLUFF has been featured in over 35 publications worldwide and received over 40 local, national, and international design awards. He has lectured internationally and the work has been part of exhibitions in Paris, Vancouver, Munich, Vienna, and the US.
Rick’s pedagogical vision for design-build is heavily focused on integrated project delivery. This requires students to work closely with engineers and consultants at the earliest stages of design, testing their ideas against contextual and programmatic constraints. He believes this enhances the practical application of architectural theory and promotes a blend of hands-on skills, authentic learning, and material exploration helping enrich student’s architectural education.
Bruce Willen
Bruce Willen is a multidisciplinary designer, artist, and the founder of Public Mechanics - a design and art studio working in public and cultural spaces. Prior to Public Mechanics, Bruce co-founded acclaimed design agency Post Typography where he led high-profile projects that have shaped the visual language of Baltimore and beyond. His work has appeared on the covers of Time Magazine, The New York Times, ESPN, and in dozens of design books and periodicals, including a Post Typography monograph. He is the co-author of the Book Lettering & Type and has written for the Washington Post, Design Observer, and other publications. As a musician, Bruce has composed new scores for silent films, performed on multiple continents, and released dozens of recordings with the groups Peals and Double Dagger.