Speakers
Anya Sirota
Design Keynote Speaker
Anya Sirota is an architectural designer, Associate Professor, Associate Dean of Academic Initiatives at Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning and founding principal of Akoaki. Her work, situated at the intersection of architecture and urban design, explores how a distinct synthesis of aesthetics, social enterprise, and cultural programming can offer contemporary and multi-disciplinary strategies for urban transformation. Her ongoing research and design efforts have received international recognition with recent projects featured at the Vitra Design Museum, the Brussels Design Museum, the Centro Pecci Prato, the Saint Etienne Design Biennale, and the Chicago Cultural Center. She is the recipient of the Architectural League Prize (2018), the ACSA Faculty Design Award (2016), the SXSW Eco Place by Design Award (2015), and the R+D Award from Architect Magazine (2013), and other honors. Sirota regularly contributes to international lectures, panels, workshops, and expositions addressing socially driven architectural practice and its impact on cities.
Sirota earned her Master in Architecture from Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, where she was awarded the Araldo Cossutta Prize for Design Excellence. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Modern Culture and Media from Brown University.
Anya Sirota is an architectural designer, Associate Professor, Associate Dean of Academic Initiatives at Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning and founding principal of Akoaki. Her work, situated at the intersection of architecture and urban design, explores how a distinct synthesis of aesthetics, social enterprise, and cultural programming can offer contemporary and multi-disciplinary strategies for urban transformation. Her ongoing research and design efforts have received international recognition with recent projects featured at the Vitra Design Museum, the Brussels Design Museum, the Centro Pecci Prato, the Saint Etienne Design Biennale, and the Chicago Cultural Center. She is the recipient of the Architectural League Prize (2018), the ACSA Faculty Design Award (2016), the SXSW Eco Place by Design Award (2015), and the R+D Award from Architect Magazine (2013), and other honors. Sirota regularly contributes to international lectures, panels, workshops, and expositions addressing socially driven architectural practice and its impact on cities.
Sirota earned her Master in Architecture from Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, where she was awarded the Araldo Cossutta Prize for Design Excellence. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Modern Culture and Media from Brown University.
Craig Kolstad
Environment Keynote Speaker
As Design Director, Craig is responsible for the HKS overall design vision. He assists project teams to establish and deliver an appropriate design strategy for each individual client within their unique context and need.
With over +20 years of international design experience, (Canada, USA, Middle East and China) he has learned that the practice of architecture begins with a collaborative team culture and critical design thinking, recognizing that if you design the problem first the solution will follow.
Craig’s design approach balances Beauty and Performance through technical innovation and sustainable design, tailored to meet the needs of all project stakeholders: clients, users, co-creators, the environment and the larger community.
As Design Director, Craig is responsible for the HKS overall design vision. He assists project teams to establish and deliver an appropriate design strategy for each individual client within their unique context and need.
With over +20 years of international design experience, (Canada, USA, Middle East and China) he has learned that the practice of architecture begins with a collaborative team culture and critical design thinking, recognizing that if you design the problem first the solution will follow.
Craig’s design approach balances Beauty and Performance through technical innovation and sustainable design, tailored to meet the needs of all project stakeholders: clients, users, co-creators, the environment and the larger community.
Dan Baisden
Civic Keynote Speaker
Dan Baisden is a neighborhood planner and the Public Art Manager for the City of Fort Wayne located in Northeast Indiana. Growing up near Akron Ohio, Dan is passionate about the Legacy Cities and distressed communities of the Midwest and has dedicated years of research toward community development and engagement strategies for communities that have limited resources. A graduate from Arizona State University with degrees in Urban Planning and Sociology, Dan is currently pursuing a master's degree in Community Development from Penn State and additional certification in the field of Urban Psychology. At the City, Baisden and his colleagues have completed a new Public Art Master Plan that was adopted earlier this year and was honored with the Gold in Urban Design from the American Planning Association for their Downtown Public Realm Action Plan. In addition to work and schooling, he is also the Vice-Chair for CNU Midwest (Congress for the New Urbanism), an organization that works toward building places people love.
Dan Baisden is a neighborhood planner and the Public Art Manager for the City of Fort Wayne located in Northeast Indiana. Growing up near Akron Ohio, Dan is passionate about the Legacy Cities and distressed communities of the Midwest and has dedicated years of research toward community development and engagement strategies for communities that have limited resources. A graduate from Arizona State University with degrees in Urban Planning and Sociology, Dan is currently pursuing a master's degree in Community Development from Penn State and additional certification in the field of Urban Psychology. At the City, Baisden and his colleagues have completed a new Public Art Master Plan that was adopted earlier this year and was honored with the Gold in Urban Design from the American Planning Association for their Downtown Public Realm Action Plan. In addition to work and schooling, he is also the Vice-Chair for CNU Midwest (Congress for the New Urbanism), an organization that works toward building places people love.
Peter Exley
Design Speaker
Peter Exley, FAIA, has established an internationally recognized practice of architecture for children, families, and communities, elevating the standards of design for learning and play environments.
He is the co-founder of Architecture Is Fun, a Chicago-based architecture, design, and consulting firm. Dedicated to helping the next generation of architects, Peter has also been an adjunct professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) for more than 25 years.
Peter has served AIA in a number of roles, including as president of AIA Chicago, Illinois regional representative to the Strategic Council, chair of the Public Outreach Committee, and liaison to the Young Architects Forum.
Peter Exley, FAIA, has established an internationally recognized practice of architecture for children, families, and communities, elevating the standards of design for learning and play environments.
He is the co-founder of Architecture Is Fun, a Chicago-based architecture, design, and consulting firm. Dedicated to helping the next generation of architects, Peter has also been an adjunct professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) for more than 25 years.
Peter has served AIA in a number of roles, including as president of AIA Chicago, Illinois regional representative to the Strategic Council, chair of the Public Outreach Committee, and liaison to the Young Architects Forum.
Terry Schwarz
Environment Speaker
Terry Schwarz faicp is the director of Kent State University’s Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative. Her work at the CUDC includes neighborhood and campus planning, commercial and residential design guidelines, and ecological strategies for vacant land reuse. Terry launched the CUDC’s Shrinking Cities Institute in 2005 in an effort to understand and address the implications of population decline and large-scale urban vacancy in Northeast Ohio. As an outgrowth of the Shrinking Cities Institute, she established Pop Up City, a temporary use initiative for vacant and underutilized sites in Cleveland. In 2009, Terry received the Cleveland Arts Prize for Design. She teaches in the graduate design curriculum for the KSU College of Architecture and Environmental Design. She has a master's degree in City and Regional Planning from Cornell University. The Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative is a community service organization with a professional staff of designers committed to improving the quality of urban places through technical design assistance, research and advocacy. Supported by the College of Architecture and Environmental Design at Kent State University, the CUDC offers architectural and urban design expertise in the service of urban communities, design
professionals, and Ohio’s public universities.
Terry Schwarz faicp is the director of Kent State University’s Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative. Her work at the CUDC includes neighborhood and campus planning, commercial and residential design guidelines, and ecological strategies for vacant land reuse. Terry launched the CUDC’s Shrinking Cities Institute in 2005 in an effort to understand and address the implications of population decline and large-scale urban vacancy in Northeast Ohio. As an outgrowth of the Shrinking Cities Institute, she established Pop Up City, a temporary use initiative for vacant and underutilized sites in Cleveland. In 2009, Terry received the Cleveland Arts Prize for Design. She teaches in the graduate design curriculum for the KSU College of Architecture and Environmental Design. She has a master's degree in City and Regional Planning from Cornell University. The Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative is a community service organization with a professional staff of designers committed to improving the quality of urban places through technical design assistance, research and advocacy. Supported by the College of Architecture and Environmental Design at Kent State University, the CUDC offers architectural and urban design expertise in the service of urban communities, design
professionals, and Ohio’s public universities.
Keith Lashley
Civic Speaker
"I graduated from the Howard University School of Architecture in 1977 with a BArch. Upon graduation I worked for Turner Construction for 3 years in Boston based on my internship with them during my 5th and final year at HU. The first project was the Affiliated Hospital project by Bertram Goldberg. The complexity of the integration of MEP systems within the architecture was something I had never imagined. I decided to apply to graduate school at Harvard University's GSD and was accepted. I was admitted to the advanced degree program, graduating in 1999 with my MDesS.
I went to work for HKS after graduate school. This was not my initially goal, teaching in a graduate school was my aim. I did end up taking the position with HKS Architects as a CA which allowed me to capitalize on both my construction experience and architectural experience. I have been there for the past 21 years and greatly enjoying it.
Also, not on my radar post Harvard, was the Healthcare architecture field. Being in the field starting with line and grade changed my life. The field, I feel, should be a mandatory experience for all recent college architectural grads. The world of construction was enlightening. The world of design manifested via the T-square and adjustable triangle was great. The excitement of the field combined with design became my life very quickly. I have been practicing in both the architecture and construction management fields for 38 of the past 41 and have never regretted it."
"I graduated from the Howard University School of Architecture in 1977 with a BArch. Upon graduation I worked for Turner Construction for 3 years in Boston based on my internship with them during my 5th and final year at HU. The first project was the Affiliated Hospital project by Bertram Goldberg. The complexity of the integration of MEP systems within the architecture was something I had never imagined. I decided to apply to graduate school at Harvard University's GSD and was accepted. I was admitted to the advanced degree program, graduating in 1999 with my MDesS.
I went to work for HKS after graduate school. This was not my initially goal, teaching in a graduate school was my aim. I did end up taking the position with HKS Architects as a CA which allowed me to capitalize on both my construction experience and architectural experience. I have been there for the past 21 years and greatly enjoying it.
Also, not on my radar post Harvard, was the Healthcare architecture field. Being in the field starting with line and grade changed my life. The field, I feel, should be a mandatory experience for all recent college architectural grads. The world of construction was enlightening. The world of design manifested via the T-square and adjustable triangle was great. The excitement of the field combined with design became my life very quickly. I have been practicing in both the architecture and construction management fields for 38 of the past 41 and have never regretted it."
Paul Bamson
Design Speaker
Paul was born in Nigeria and grew up in Nashville, TN. During his architecture and landscape architecture education at UTK, the marriage of ecology and ecosystems with the built environment and technology became a passion. This passion led him to SOM Chicago, where he practices urban design to impact the built environment on a larger scale. He aspires to continue sharing knowledge, learning to master his skills and craft, and better lives through design.
Paul was born in Nigeria and grew up in Nashville, TN. During his architecture and landscape architecture education at UTK, the marriage of ecology and ecosystems with the built environment and technology became a passion. This passion led him to SOM Chicago, where he practices urban design to impact the built environment on a larger scale. He aspires to continue sharing knowledge, learning to master his skills and craft, and better lives through design.
Hamil Pearsall
Environment Speaker
Hamil Pearsall is an Associate Professor in the Geography and Urban Studies Department at Temple University. She is an urban geographer, and her research investigates urban sustainability and environmental justice. She has focused on environmental gentrification and the social and environmental justice impacts of sustainability planning in post-industrial cities in North America. Her research draws on mixed methods and includes qualitative approaches and spatial and statistical analysis.
Hamil Pearsall is an Associate Professor in the Geography and Urban Studies Department at Temple University. She is an urban geographer, and her research investigates urban sustainability and environmental justice. She has focused on environmental gentrification and the social and environmental justice impacts of sustainability planning in post-industrial cities in North America. Her research draws on mixed methods and includes qualitative approaches and spatial and statistical analysis.
Alan Mallach
Civic Speaker
Alan Mallach is a senior fellow with the Center for Community Progress in Washington DC and teaches in the Graduate Center on Planning and the Environment at Pratt Institute in New York City. He has worked at the Brookings Institution and the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, taught at Rutgers University and Stockton State University, lectured widely at universities in the United States, Europe, Japan and Israel, and served as director of housing & economic development for the city of Trenton, New Jersey. He is the author of many books, journal articles and research studies on housing, planning and urban development. His most recent book is The Divided City: Poverty and Prosperity in Urban America, which looks at urban and neighborhood change in shrinking Rust Belt cities, and the uneven effects of urban revival on lower income residents and communities of color. He is also a concert pianist and author of two well-received books on 19th century Italian opera. He holds a B.A. degree from Yale College, and lives in Roosevelt, New Jersey.
Alan Mallach is a senior fellow with the Center for Community Progress in Washington DC and teaches in the Graduate Center on Planning and the Environment at Pratt Institute in New York City. He has worked at the Brookings Institution and the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, taught at Rutgers University and Stockton State University, lectured widely at universities in the United States, Europe, Japan and Israel, and served as director of housing & economic development for the city of Trenton, New Jersey. He is the author of many books, journal articles and research studies on housing, planning and urban development. His most recent book is The Divided City: Poverty and Prosperity in Urban America, which looks at urban and neighborhood change in shrinking Rust Belt cities, and the uneven effects of urban revival on lower income residents and communities of color. He is also a concert pianist and author of two well-received books on 19th century Italian opera. He holds a B.A. degree from Yale College, and lives in Roosevelt, New Jersey.
Benjamin Herring
Design Speaker
Clifford Benjamin Herring is the Principal Designer at PAADG Studio where he specializes in new materials, visualizations, and architectures for public good. Ben has spoken at various universities on topics ranging from design theory, to distributive justice, and digital craft in contemporary design. Ben was administered various honors at Ball State University where he received degrees in Architecture and Economics. He has previously served as a board member for PBS and NPR member stations in Southern Indiana. He presently serves on the board of the Refresh Collective (formerly known as the Fresh Camp), as a workshop adviser for MOOS (Making Our Own Space), and as a board member for the Haitian Vision Foundation. Ben has worked alongside various notable design teams such as MASS Design Group, Hood Design Studio, Seventh Hill Design, Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative, Local Projects, Stantec Urban Places, Agnes Studio, and LAND Studio.
Clifford Benjamin Herring is the Principal Designer at PAADG Studio where he specializes in new materials, visualizations, and architectures for public good. Ben has spoken at various universities on topics ranging from design theory, to distributive justice, and digital craft in contemporary design. Ben was administered various honors at Ball State University where he received degrees in Architecture and Economics. He has previously served as a board member for PBS and NPR member stations in Southern Indiana. He presently serves on the board of the Refresh Collective (formerly known as the Fresh Camp), as a workshop adviser for MOOS (Making Our Own Space), and as a board member for the Haitian Vision Foundation. Ben has worked alongside various notable design teams such as MASS Design Group, Hood Design Studio, Seventh Hill Design, Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative, Local Projects, Stantec Urban Places, Agnes Studio, and LAND Studio.
Elaine Goetz
Environment Speaker
Elaine has been the Director of Sustainability since November 2018. She has worked in the Ohio University Office of Sustainability since June 2014. Her background is primarily in engineering, with degrees in Chemical Engineering (B.S.), Chemistry (B.S.), Bioengineering (M.S.) and Civil Engineering (PhD). Prior to the Office of Sustainability, she worked in the pharmaceutical industry, in academia and in local government. She is a LEED AP O&M and has an Engineering Intern certification. Elaine is the sustainability reporter for the university, creating reports such as the Second Nature Carbon Commitment annual Greenhouse Gas Inventory, AASHE STARS, APPA KFM, US EPA Green Power Partnership, and the Ohio University Board of Trustees sustainability updates. She focuses on Climate, Energy, Buildings, Water, Food, Procurement, Investments and Research initiatives. Elaine's husband, Doug, is a Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering professor at Ohio University, and one of their 4 sons is an Ohio University graduate student. Elaine enjoys spending time with family and friends, playing and watching soccer, playing tennis, biking, reading, and vegetable gardening. Please contact Elaine if you have questions related to initiatives in her topic areas.
Elaine has been the Director of Sustainability since November 2018. She has worked in the Ohio University Office of Sustainability since June 2014. Her background is primarily in engineering, with degrees in Chemical Engineering (B.S.), Chemistry (B.S.), Bioengineering (M.S.) and Civil Engineering (PhD). Prior to the Office of Sustainability, she worked in the pharmaceutical industry, in academia and in local government. She is a LEED AP O&M and has an Engineering Intern certification. Elaine is the sustainability reporter for the university, creating reports such as the Second Nature Carbon Commitment annual Greenhouse Gas Inventory, AASHE STARS, APPA KFM, US EPA Green Power Partnership, and the Ohio University Board of Trustees sustainability updates. She focuses on Climate, Energy, Buildings, Water, Food, Procurement, Investments and Research initiatives. Elaine's husband, Doug, is a Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering professor at Ohio University, and one of their 4 sons is an Ohio University graduate student. Elaine enjoys spending time with family and friends, playing and watching soccer, playing tennis, biking, reading, and vegetable gardening. Please contact Elaine if you have questions related to initiatives in her topic areas.
Elizabeth Ellis
Civic Speaker
Elizabeth Ellis is the Studio Director of the Toledo Design Collective (TDC). Elizabeth works to increase awareness of the TDC’s mission that thoughtful urban design and planning should be a right of everyone, not a privilege of few. She has fostered meaningful relationships with neighborhood organizations through her passion of equity through sustainable urban design.
Elizabeth has been with the Toledo Design Collective since 2017. She is a Toledo native and a graduate of Kent State University, with master’s degrees in Architecture and Urban Design
Elizabeth Ellis is the Studio Director of the Toledo Design Collective (TDC). Elizabeth works to increase awareness of the TDC’s mission that thoughtful urban design and planning should be a right of everyone, not a privilege of few. She has fostered meaningful relationships with neighborhood organizations through her passion of equity through sustainable urban design.
Elizabeth has been with the Toledo Design Collective since 2017. She is a Toledo native and a graduate of Kent State University, with master’s degrees in Architecture and Urban Design
Tracks
Civic
As industrialization fell, communities were hurt culturally, economically, and socially. Civic impact should be a driving force in the revitalization of our urban communities in order to protect the communities in which we build.
Design
Looking at architecture as a medium for innovative and imaginative solutions to reviving areas of any scale. Architects can use these tools to reuse and adapt cities that have suffered due to the fall of industrialization.
Environment
Through creative solutions such as adaptive reuse, the exploration of the relationship between the environment and infrastructure can further the conservation our communities and our planet simultaneously.
Schedule
All times are in Eastern Standard.
