Signature Architects Return to UC s MainStreet

Their vision put the wind behind the “Wow” factor of revolutionizing a cramped, cracked, aging urban campus into an exciting, thriving center of learning and living, with spectacular buildings, open green spaces, and fountains and pedestrian walkways that cover what were once parking lots and driveways in the heart of campus. The transformation of the University of Cincinnati’s Uptown Campus has garnered national and international attention in Architecture magazine, the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post. As part of the University of Cincinnati’s “Meet Me on MainStreet Celebration,” these visionaries will return to campus for “A Symposium on the Importance of Place” at 2:30 p.m. Friday, May 19, in the Great Hall of Tangeman University Center (TUC).

“The symposium will focus on the importance of the initiatives set forth by UC|21; namely creating a sense of place and putting the students first. On May 19 the symposium assembles influential world-class architects, UC students, faculty, alumni and visitors to discuss the innovation in design, the urban characteristic and true insight behind MainStreet,” says Ron Kull, University Architect.

Frances Halsband of R.M. Kliment and Frances Halsband Architects of New York will facilitate the discussion between the architects who contributed to MainStreet:

Thom Mayne – Mayne is the 2005 Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, the most prestigious architecture award in the world. Mayne’s firm, Morphosis, in collaboration with local firm KZF Design, Inc., designed UC’s new Campus Recreation Center, the largest and most complex building of UC’s MainStreet construction project.

Buzz Yudell – Buzz Yudell of Moore Ruble Yudell Architects and Planners of Santa Monica, in collaboration with local firm glaserworks, designed the Joseph A. Steger Student Life Center, the building named among the world’s most notable building projects just this year by the most prestigious group in American architecture, the American Institute of Architects.

Also contributing to the symposium will be students representing the UC College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning, who have been studying the concept of “place” over spring quarter.

The event is free and open to the public, but reservations are required. For more information on the symposium, contact University Conferencing at 513-558-1810.