Monday, June 17, 2013
Pittsburgh Projects: Revealing the History & Diversity of our Build Environment
Kelly Hutzell and Rami el Samahy awarded Berkman Grant for educational web-based application
MONDAY, JUNE 17, 2013 --- Recently in the news, people from around the world are hearing about Pittsburgh. Once a dismissible smoky rust-belt city, Pittsburgh is now the city where Tony winners such as Patina Miller and Billy Porter got their start in CMU’s School of Drama, and where a giant Rubber Duck will soon float in the Allegheny River for the International Festival of Firsts. With an increase buzz about Pittsburgh, we may find more visitors walking the streets of our great city, ready to explore what we have to offer.
What if someone walking downtown can access a database of diverse and architectural significant buildings in Pittsburgh? This past academic year, School of Architecture Professors Kelly Hutzell and Rami el Samahy received a Berkman grant to develop the first phase of Pittsburgh Projects, “an educational web-based application that focuses on the city’s architecture throughout its history.” The Berkman Faculty Development Fund, made possible by a gift in memory of Sybiel Altman Berkman, A’31, supports full-time faculty each year, including other CFA faculty projects, such as Joshua Bard’s “Morphfaux: Recovering Plaster as Architectural Substrate “ and Ali Momeni’s “Manual to Mobile Urban Projection”.
Hutzell and el Samahy anticipate Phase One of Pittsburgh Projects to focus on forty-five of the most significant buildings in Pittsburgh, drawing from international, national, and local architects, including places of work for many SoArch faculty and alumni. Notable local contemporary firms include EDGE studios, Lubetz Associates, Studio d’ARC and Loysen + Kreuthmeier Architects.
A shortlist of buildings will be chosen with a range of represented eras, locations, programs, architectural languages (vernacular, neoclassical, neo-gothic, federalist, modern, postmodern, or contemporary), and building conditions (built, demolished, unrealized, or renovated). Hutzell and el Samahy are grateful for the help of fellow SoArch faculty and staff that includes Martin Aurand, Kai Gutschow, Charles Rosenblum and Hal Hayes, who have helped create the final shortlist of buildings. 
“A list of those who have designed projects, built and unrealized, for Pittsburgh includes a wide spectrum of great masters,” el Samahy states. “Richardson, Burnham, Furness, Cram, Wright, Mies van de Rohe, Gropius, and Breuer all designed for the city. More recently, they were joined by Meier, Venturi Scott Brown, Graves, Johnson, and Barnes.” We can’t forget Eisenman, Viñoly, Hornbostel, and so many more whose work will grace the mobile screens held by students, tourists, and architecture enthusiasts as they explore Pittsburgh’s great architectural accomplishments through Pittsburgh Projects.
Hutzell and el Samahy see this new project as an educational app that will greatly benefit people with a range of interests and knowledge about Pittsburgh and architecture. Hutzell states, “We hope that Pittsburgh residents, visitors, and architecture buffs will benefit greatly from this educational app. While Pittsburgh is the subject of many architectural history books, this would be the first portable digital repository on the city’s diverse architecture.” The interface will organize each building as an icon tile in a grid. With one touch, the icon tile will flip and reveal a short text preview of the building. With another touch, a user will gain access to further text, pictures, sources, and a map of the building’s location. The locator map will highlight the location of the selected building and show its relationship to other buildings in the database.
Pittsburgh will be the third city to use this interface, which was first conceived by Hutzell and el Samahy’s firm over,under. “The idea was first deployed by our firm over,under in Boston as part of an exhibition we designed and curated for the Boston Society of Architects, with major help from Spencer Gregson (B.Arch ʼ10). Using O,Uʼs software design and concept, we then took the idea to Doha, Qatar, where we hold a joint teaching appointment at Carnegie Mellon Qatar. The 4dDoha: Buildings project was designed with our team of CMUQ research associates (and School of Architecture alumni), Spencer Gregson, Adam Himes, and Kristina Ricco, (with help from Morgan Stampf).”
The School of Architecture is excited to see Phase One completed, and are excited to see the final outcome of this project. Congratulations Kelly and Rami!
The project 4dDoha can be accessed at www.4dDoha.com/collection, and other projects completed by over,under can be seen at www.overcommaunder.com.