#028 - Tony Rizzuto - First You Must Observe

Dr. Tony Rizzuto never had any intention of becoming an academic. He grew up wanting to be a practicing architect, but his professors noticed "he talked a lot" in class, and evidently liking what they heard, encouraged him to become a teacher.

As Chair of Kennesaw State University's Department of Architecture, Tony has an unique ability to connect architectural history and theory to the challenges of modern architectural practice in a way that helps students understand the value of architecture education.

One of the challenges of training architects that Tony and the rest of the faculty face is making students awareness of architecture. It's not  that students have no experience with buildings, but that they have so much experience and have thought so very little about them.

That's why Kennesaw State students begin their education by simply observing and recording public spaces: how people move and react to space, how spaces change over time, the latent potential of space, and the physical characteristics of spaces.

For anyone interested in impacting and changing the buildings, neighborhoods, cities, and communities we live in, a good place to start is simply observing how people and spaces actually interact. 

Lots of names, lots of links this time. Peruse and I think it will be worth your wild. You'll learn a little about high theory, and a little about all the work it takes to become an architect. 

LINKS

Architecture Schools

Kennesaw State Department of Architecture

University of Florida School of Architecture

University of Illinois at Chicago School of Architecture

Georgia Institute of Technology School of  Architecture

Becoming an Architect

National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB)

Intern Development Program (IDP)

Architecture Registration Examinations (ARE)

Georgia State Board of Architects

People to Know

Minoru Yamaski

Stanley Tigerman

Peter Eisenman

Catherine Ingraham

Jeffery Kipnis

Robert Somol and Sarah Whiting

Bruce Graham
Betty Dowling
Le Corbusier (Corbu or just Corb)
Aldo Van Eyck
Alison and Peter Smithson
Ernst May
J.J.P. Oud

Ideas and Groups
Congres International d'Architecture Moderne (CIAM)
Team X
De Stijl
Constructivism
Expressionism
Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity)
Brutalism

Buildings

World Trade Center Towers

Citycorp Building
Rockefeller Center
Atlanta-Fulton Central Library
Farnsworth House

Architecture Firms

Skidmore, Owings, & Merrill (SOM)

Cooper Carry 

Dr. Tony Rizzuto is Chair and Associate Professor of the Department of Architecture at KSU. He has taught architecture and urbanism for over 20 years, written numerous articles on architecture and organized international symposia on the Bauhaus and Le Corbusier. He is currently a member of the KSU Livable Communities Initiative and a member of the Board of Directors of the Midtown Alliance, where he also serves on the Sidewalk Activation and Public Art Committee and the Midtown Comprehensive Transportation Plan Steering Committee. In 2015, he was the Competition Manager for the Atlanta Bridgescape Competition a joint venture between the Midtown Alliance, Central Atlanta Progress, ADID and the Atlanta Design Center. For the past ten years Dr. Rizzuto has served on the City of Atlanta’s Development Review Committee for SPI-16 & 17 and Chaired the Midtown Neighbor’s Association Land Use Committee. He is also the Georgia Regional Coordinator for Future City, a national STEM competition for middle school students.

Before turning to academia, Dr. Rizzuto was Principal of the design firm Metastasis and had previously worked for Cooper Carry & Associates in Atlanta. He earned a B.S.ARCH from the University of Florida, an M.ARCH from the University of Illinois Chicago and a Ph.D. in architectural history and theory from Georgia Tech.

New Lego House (Cir Sept 2015) by my Nephew Owen.