Architect, Robert Nicol FAIA pledges major gift to advance Deaf Studies

What:
Fresno State to announce the receipt of the largest gift in the history of the College of Health and Human Services. Robert Duncan Nicol’s gift will support “The Silent Garden,” a project within the Department of Communicative Disorders and Deaf Studies to cultivate communication for the deaf and hard of hearing in Central California. Nicol, who was born deaf, is an award-winning architect and vineyard-owner. Nicol reads lips and speaks audibly. During the event he will share his inspiring life story with children and adults in the local deaf community.

When:
10:00 a.m. Friday, January 27

Where:
Fresno State’s Kremen Education Building, Huggins Early Childhood Center, Atrium 54/58. Media can park in the loading zone in front of the Kremen building.

Who:
Robert Duncan Nicol
Dr. John D. Welty – Fresno State President
Dr. Andrew Hoff – Dean of the College of Health and Human Services
Dr. Paul W. Ogden – Professor Emeritus
Members of the deaf community including families, teachers and Fresno State students.

PARK(ing) Day is an annual, worldwide event that inspires city dwellers everywhere to transform metered parking spots into temporary parks for the public good.

This is being organized by a new design club and CSUF student magazine called Verge. To find out more about them check out their twitter, facebook and blog. After Park(ing) Day we’ll give them and their new issue some more coverage.

A streetview of the M Street and Inyo Street site is below. The plan is the transform the metered parking stall into a grassy park with seating plants and amenities like a Seed Bomb Vending Machine. Stop by between 6am-6pm Friday September 17th. Say hi, hang out, buy a Seed Bomb, play a game of soccer in the empty lot, etc.

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You can see the Facebook event listing here

The Henry Madden Library at CSU Fresno is perhaps the most high profile new building in the San Joaquin Valley. It surely is has become a landmark building and destination of the Fresno State campus.

The Madden Library warrants a full detailed review, which my take sometime. However, recently a note was posted to the Library’s Facebook page that we found of interest.

The sound issue with the stairs has been a lightning rod for discussion. The metal mesh stairs cantilevering in a large volume. Architects AC Martin Partners in association with RMJM Hillier chose the metal mesh on the stair are part of a reoccurring theme, intended to evoke the qualities of Native American basket weaving. The linear stairway the runs the length of the building and is one of the primary interior features.

In some ways it takes on the qualities of a Native American percussion instrument more than the qualities of a Native American basket. Though we have word that the stairs were heavily value engineered so it was not built the way it was detailed/designed. That said, the expanded lath isn’t adhered to the frame and stringers so each time you take a step, it pushes the extruded metal down against the metal.

Perhaps it is a post justification of a flawed design that the modern library is not the whisper quiet space that it once was. However, the results from the Institute of Public Anthropology’s study of student needs for the library interior showed that students desire “loud areas”. Area that students feel free to socialize and collaborate.

So what are your thoughts? Have you spent time in the new Library? Was the sound of people walking on the stairs distracting from what you were doing? Has the Library’s design balanced aesthetics and function? What are potential solutions?