As a child, Stephen Lee dreamed of being an architect, even “without knowing what an architect really was.” He sat atop a phonebook on a stool and began to learn the craft from his grandfather, a draftsman for the Iroquois Gas Corporation in Buffalo, N.Y.
Likewise, John Folan (below) says he “can’t remember wanting to do anything else.” His father, a Chicago bus driver, drove him around the city, and Folan was particularly fascinated by the construction of the gigantic Sears Tower.
Today, the two Carnegie Mellon architecture professors are introducing new generations to the field, helping students hone their skills and sensibilities, “positioning them,” Folan says, “for real life.”
Both men talk about wanting to connect their students with the community, advocating, as Lee emphatically says, “the role of an architect in social justice.”
Lee, head of the department, stays “in the trenches” with students, devising an integrated curriculum, implementing study-abroad programs, creating the Emerging Media Master’s program, and digging in actual ditches with projects like the Solar Decathlon, a competition to build cost-effective, energy-efficient, sustainable housing.
Folan, director of the Urban Design Build Studio (UDBS), heads CMU’s partnership with Construction Junction and the Trade Institute of Pittsburgh, demonstrating innovative ways of using reconstituted materials. He and his students are in the final stages of building a 10,000-square-foot workshop that will make way for bigger projects in the UDBS: students can engage in real projects for real clients with real needs in challenged communities.
It’s only appropriate these two professors are among the “30 Most Admired Educators” for 2015, according to Design Intelligence, which is published by th e Design Futures Council, an interdisciplinary network of design, product, and construction leaders who explore global trends, challenges, and opportunities to advance innovation and shape the future of the architect/engineer/contractors industry.
—Julie Albright (DC’92)
