The College of Fine and Applied Arts will present its final Uncorked and On Topic event of this academic year at 5:15 p.m. April 14 in the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts Tryon Festival Theatre foyer. The free event is open to the public and held in conjunction with Krannert Center’s weekly Uncorked event.
The April session will explore “Mega” through the eyes of Mary Pat Mattson McGuire, department of landscape architecture, and Marci Uihlein, School of Architecture. These two faculty members regularly traverse the expanding range of scales at which design can impact human life. They will explore questions such as: How are architects of environments responding to the new capabilities, problems and demands of planetary-scale design? What new challenges do mega-scale projects present in creating spaces that facilitate intimate engagement and personal connection?
Kevin Hamilton, a senior associate dean and a professor of new media, will moderate the discussion.
McGuire is a registered landscape architect, a professor and Master of Landscape Architecture program chair in the department of landscape architecture. Her research and teaching focus on water-based landscape architecture and urbanism. She has a B.A. in international political theory from the College of William and Mary, an MLA from the University of Virginia and a certificate in leadership in sustainability management from the University of Chicago. McGuire has more than 10 years of professional project design and management experience. She is starting up the Water Lab, a small practice devoted to critical practices in the area of urban water, and is currently starting a project called Depave Chicago.
Uihlein is a licensed professional engineer with a graduate degree in architecture. She has worked on projects for both the private sector and academic institutions. She first became involved in academia while working as a visiting lecturer for the School of Architecture with the Study Abroad Program in Versailles, France, from 2007 to 2010. In 2008-09, she was the recipient of the Hilfinger Faculty Fellowship, awarded to faculty members who are able to bridge practice and education along with architecture and structure. Her research areas include the integration of structure in architectural projects, structural pedagogy in schools of architecture and examining the professional relationship between architects and engineers.
