The College of Environmental Design Undergraduate Advising Blog

The Brief Shelter is pleased to invite architects, planners, students, engineers, designers, thinkers, NGOs and organizations from all over the world to take part in the third annual Dencity Competition.  Rapid world growth and urbanization is not allowing cities to adapt and provide for their inhabitants. Towns are quickly growing into cities, and some of the densest places in the world are comprised of makeshift homes, otherwise referred to as slums. There are currently over 1 billion slum dwellers in the world. This number is expected to reach 2 billion by the year 2030. The intent of this competition is twofold: to foster new ideas on how to better handle the growing density of unplanned cities and to spread awareness of this massive problem. Contestants should consider how design can empower communities and allow for a self sufficient future. For this years competition, the focus will be on improving living conditions in urban settings. There are no restrictions i...

Background Information: At Project Potential, we are creating an alternative university for rural youth to pursue conscious living and to find a balance between the self, community and environment.  We don't have any teachers, syllabus, or degrees, and instead, Swayam Seekhis (self-learners) pursue self-designed learning--including apprenticeships, workshops and collaborative projects--in a rich intellectual community . Project Potential University Campus: We are working on building our 20 acre campus, incorporating principles of eco-architecture (using bamboo and mud), permaculture, water management, waste management, natural farming and others. Take a Semester On program: Under this program, we invite youth from across the globe to take a semester off and to come and work with us. They will be free to undertake their own self-designed learning projects, under the larger umbrella of our campus design and in collaboration with our architect. To apply follow the direct li...

On September 29, the UC Berkeley campus will transform into a day-long celebration of the arts, with Cal Performances' fourth Fall Free for All. The entire day is dedicated to bringing together the diverse and stunning talents of world-class musicians, dancers, and performers. Wander through Spieker Plaza and you'll catch the spirited Cal Band; step into Zellerbach, Hertz, and Wheeler halls and Alumni House to experience classical music, Medieval pop music, award-winning jazz, indie folk-rock, and so much more. Children will delight in taking part of shadow puppet creation, or picking up an instrument for the first time in our ever-popular Instrument Petting Zoo. Fall Free for All, hailed as "the coolest open house on the planet" showcases a sampler of performing arts with offerings for every palette. This event on September 29 is no exception, with more than 15 different performances including: Classical, Vocal and Early Music: New Century Chamber Orchestra, membe...

BEACN is an interdisciplinary undergraduate student organization that provides consulting services to local green businesses, and it is design for the interest of Architecture and Sustainable Environmental Design majors. However,BEACN is currently recruiting students from all years and majors to join the consulting project teams. This semester specifically, BEACN has two projects that involve working with sustainable design and architecture businesses. For more information, come to one of our information sessions next week: Info Session #1 : Monday, 9/9 at 7pm in 140 Barrows Info Session #2 : Wednesday, 9/11 at 7pm in 24 Wheeler Check out BEACN's Facebook page, visit beacn.berkeley.edu or email beacn.berkeley@gmail.com for more information.

The College of Environmental Design Students of Color (CED-SOC) is a student-run group with representation from all CED departments - Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and City and Regional Planning- that hope to increase awareness and participation in issues of diversity. The CED-SOC Mission: To develop and expand the academic and social support, mentorship, career networking, and advocacy efforts for students of color and other underrepresented students within the College of Environmental Design. Students of color include those who identify themselves as African-American, Native American, Asian American, Latina/o, and Pacific Islander, however CED-SOC is inclusive and embraces all forms of diversity including LGBTQ students, low-income students, and allies who value and work for equity and justice within low-income communities and communities of color. CED-SOC also promotes and advocates for greater attention and leadership toward social justice and equity within our respect...

Volunteering for WindAid is an opportunity to explore Peru, to enforce the necessity of renewable energy, to learn in depth the design, construction, and installation of a wind turbine, and see its social impact on a community, a school, or a microenterprise. WindAid started up over five years ago with the simple idea to bring energy to a school in the rural mountains of Peru. Since then they have achieved an incredibly diverse set of installations with more than 35 projects bringing electricity to hundreds of Peruvians. They have installed the first wind park in Peru, two mobile turbines – both on an automobile and a ship, and the Guinness World Record breaking Highest Wind Turbine in the World! WindAid has won awards from the BiD Network at The Hague in Holland, and the Ashden Award in London, England. Absolutely all of this is possible thanks to the over 200 amazing volunteers hosted from 28 different countries and from some of the most prestigious universities in the world. Th...

Here's a special note for your students who plan to enter the Spark Concept Awards during the Spring semester: The Spring Early deadline is next week, on April 15. If students would like to have the lowest entry fees of the year, they shouldn't miss this deadline. If their project is not finished yet, students can still take advantage of this low Earlybird entry fee. They just need to register at the site, pay the fee and submit temporary descriptions and photos to the competition. They can come back at a later time, when the project is finished and upload the correct media. This will give students until the final deadline on June 17 to upload the finished work. To learn more about the award, please visit the Spark Concept pages at www.sparkawards.com . You will find entry guidelines, FAQs, mission statement, galleries of past entrants, winners and schools and much more. Also, the Concept press release may be found at PRWeb: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/2/prweb104849...

INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL STUDIES UNDERGRADUATE MERIT SCHOLARSHIP Description: IIS is seeking to award a series of merit scholarships of up to $2000 each to support undergraduate research in any area of international studies. Research may be conducted while in EAP, or independently. The scholarship recipients will be called IIS Junior Scholars. After completing their research projects, award recipients are required to submit a four-page research summary and attend the IIS Junior Scholars Conference held on-campus at the end of the 2012-2013 academic year. Several Junior Scholars will be asked to present their work in poster format at the conference. Junior scholars with the strongest research project, as determined by an IIS faculty panel, will each receive an additional $1000 prize. There will also be an opportunity to compete for the Best Poster Award, an additional $250 prize. Eligibility: Open to any UC Berkeley junior or senior with a minimum 3.5 GPA who has completed...

This year Metropolis challenges you to develop solutions that empower, advance, and include groups often overlooked in the design process (including but not limited to, our rapidly increasing aging population and citizens with disabilities). The annual Next Generation® Design Competition is open for entries. Consider the 1.13 billion people with unique needs worldwide. 1.13 billion is a difficult figure to wrap your head around. Think of your own mother, father, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and friends. Your submissions should help your own relations, as well as others, to live better lives, beautifully. The competition strives for solutions at all scales, from systems, experiences, places, to spaces, products, or any area that needs to be made inclusive and empowering. Submissions can be conceptual, in the early stages of development, near completion, or completed and ready for the next phase of development. The ideas must have the potential to be made, built, or other...

Dear Department of Architecture, I am a co-chair of "Inner Sunset Sundays", an exciting and popular community-organized 4-event series in San Francisco, scheduled for later this year. The events will look something like a cross between a street fair and a block party, but with emphasis on the street space as a place to gather - a kind of plaza or square. In creating such a gathering space, we would like to inquire if any Architecture students/faculty would be interested in helping to design the space as part of a school project. Hopefully the collaboration would be greatly beneficial to everybody involved.  I've attached to this email a proposal with full information about Inner Sunset Sundays as well as a compressed file containing information and images of public spaces around the world that inspire our current vision.* Let me know if you would like any more information. I'm also happy to visit and discuss anything with you in person.   Thanks in...