Design x Technology Lecture: Sung Ho Kim & Heather Woofter

This lecture can be watched on campus or online. Sung Ho and Heather will speak in the LEAR Auditorium.

Join Lawrence Technological University College of Architecture and Design for another important Design x Technology lecture featuring Sung Ho Kim Architecture Program Director at Kent State University and Heather Woofter Dean of the School of Architecture the University of Texas at Austin.

“Invisible Practice” introduces the works of Axi:Ome—a design practice led by Heather Woofter and Sung Ho Kim formerly in St. Louis and now in Cleveland and Austin. Presentation maps the trajectory of an architectural investigation into the processes explored through blending academic research with practice, challenging the boundaries of conventional architectural practice. From built constructs to conceptual investigations, which is the intricate dance between ideas and reality that uncovers the complexities that shape the contemporary environment by cartographing the legitimization of architectural practice that engages the pedagogical visions of the profession and the education.

Axi:Ome was formed in 2003 primarily as an architectural research practice of Heather Woofter and Sung Ho Kim. Currently, Heather Woofter is the dean at University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture and Sung Ho is the director of Architecture and Urban Design at Kent State University. Together they have balanced teaching with design practice, focusing on the concept that a building’s spatial form and innovation are inextricably woven to one another and that architecture’s progressive future lies in speculation, imagination, research and resolution of the intellectual development of design process.

This lecture will offer a sample of different types of practice for students and young architects into developing a body of work that defines one’s agenda in the world and describe how a regional practice can gain global perspectives by developing projects with research-based explorations about culture, environment, economics and history.

CEU: This lecture equals 1 professional architecture credit towards licensure requirements.

As part of CoAD's Design x Technology Lecture Series, this lecture is free and open to the public. Guests may watch online or on campus. Register for the location/viewing details. Your on-campus registration includes a pizza lunch.

About Sung Ho and Heather:

Heather Woofter studied biochemistry as a teenager at the University of Maryland and chemical engineering at Virginia Polytechnic Institute. She received a Bachelor of Architecture from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and Master of Architecture from Harvard University Graduate School of Design. She was a project architect and manager for Bohlin Cywinski Jackson in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, Marks Barfield in London, UK and Robert Luchetti Associates in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She is a registered architect in Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and Missouri and has a Royal Institute of British Architects Parts I and II. Heather taught at the Harvard Graduate School of Design Career Discovery Program, Boston Architectural College and Roger Williams University. She was an Assistant Professor at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Visiting Professor at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and Konkuk University in Seoul, Korea. She was an endowed Sam and Marilyn Fox Professor and Director of College of Architecture and Graduate School of Architecture & Urban Design at Washington University in St. Louis. Currently, she is the Dean at School of Architecture at University of Texas in Austin. Heather is a founding Co-Director and Owner of Axi:Ome llc with Sung Ho Kim since 2003.

Sung Ho Kim studied drawing and sculpture as a teenager at the Art Students League of New York and Harvard Graduate School of Design Career Discovery Program. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts and Bachelor of Architecture from Rhode Island School of Design and an AA Diploma from Architectural Association of London, UK with Royal Institute of British Architects Part I and II. He also received his Master of Science in Architecture Studies from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was a project designer for Nasrine Seraji in Paris, France and Wellington Reiter in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He served as a principal researcher for the Interrogative Design Group at Center for Advanced Visual Studies at MIT. Sung Ho taught at Rhode Island School of Design and was an Assistant Professor at Northeastern University. He was a Visiting Professor at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and Konkuk University in Seoul, Korea. He was an endowed Raymond E. Maritz Professor of Architecture and engaged in research with Biology and Computer Science at Washington University in St. Louis. Currently, he is the Director of Architecture Program at Kent State University. Sung Ho is a founding Co-Director of Axi:Ome llc with Heather Woofter since 2003.

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