Archinect - News

Jennifer Ly wins 2017 Rotch Travelling Scholarship

2017-04-20T14:51:00-04:00

Jennifer Ly, a designer at Foster + Partners, was recently announced as the lucky winner of the 2016-17 Rotch Travelling Scholarship. Founded in 1883 in honor of Benjamin Smith Rotch, it allows the recipient to travel for at least 6 months studying architecture.

Starting with 110 entrants in stage one, only five finalists advanced to present their projects to the jury in Boston. Jennifer Ly ultimately won the jury's favor with her project “New Common”. Based in Silicon Valley, Ly — who received her master's in architecture at Harvard GSD in 2014 — will receive $38,500 to fund at least six months of travel in the coming year.

New Common

Project text: “Situated in Boston’s City Hall Plaza, the Forum is a contemporary civic place that promotes information, dialogue and collaboration. It fosters education and social interaction through the spatial intersections, ranging from intimate encounters to larger, urban spectacle.”

“The public auditorium serves as the center of the Forum, and opera...

Rotch Scholar Christopher Karlson publishes yearlong research on European performing arts-based architecture

2014-07-24T20:41:00-04:00

After Christopher Karlson won the coveted Rotch Travelling Scholarship in 2011, he was required to document his research as images, drawings, and text to be submitted as a compilation report to the Rotch Trustees. Now, that report is finally available to the public as a print-on-demand book.

The 363-page document shows Karlson's yearlong journey to 35 European performance arts landmarks as an exploration of commercialized culture in the 'post-Bilbao' period (1997 to the present).

More details on Karlson's research right below:

"Research Brief: A total of 35 examples of performing-arts-based architecture - spanning almost 240 years of civic metamorphosis - was observed in 28 autonomous cities using Europe’s crowded and competitive urban network as a point of reference and comparative analysis."

"The intention is to investigate the results of such completed projects that all encounter distinctive urban scales, cultural settings, and political footing - with focus on engagement in urban re...

Robert Alexander Wins 2013 Rotch Travelling Scholarship

2013-04-10T20:15:00-04:00

Robert K. Alexander of San Pedro, California, an adjunct faculty member of the architecture department at California State Polytechnic Institute University, Pomona’s College of Environmental Design, has been named the 2013 Rotch Travelling Scholarship recipient. Alexander will receive a $37,000 stipend to spend eight months traveling and studying architecture around the world.