Professor guest curator for National Building Museum exhibition
Susan C. Piedmont-Palladino, architect and associate professor of architecture at Virginia Tech''s Washington/Alexandria Architecture Consortium, is guest curator of the newly-opened exhibition, "Tools of the Imagination," at the National Building Museum, Washington, D.C.
The exhibition, which explores how design tools have revolutionized the ways in which architects and designers imagine and create buildings, will be open in the museum''s second-floor galleries through Oct. 10.
Covering 250 years of design tools and technologies from historic pencils, ink, and drafting equipment, to the latest and most sophisticated computer software and hardware, simulations and models – the exhibition considers the range of tools used in the last few centuries while also imagining what tools might best address future needs. A wide array of drawings, renderings and sketches from well-known architects like Frank Lloyd Wright, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, I.M.Pei and Frank Gehry are featured in the exhibition, as well as work of the architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, including representations of the World Trade Center site''s Freedom Tower.
"Before the tools of construction ever arrive on the scene, the architect uses a different set of tools to design, develop, display and document the buildings-to-be," said Piedmont-Paladino in explaining the exhibition. "These are the tools of imagination and the elements that this exhibition is designed to explore.
"There is also an important historical aspect here because the exhibition really does peek inside the world of architectural design from the middle of the 18th century to the present, showing just how much has changed – and how much has remained the same – in the architect''s toolbox."
Piedmont-Palladino was chosen by the museum to undertake this project nearly two years ago and began work on the exhibition in March 2004. Although this is the first time she is serving as an official guest curator, she was consulting curator and writer for two other National Building Museum exhibitions, "Big and Green: Toward Sustainable Building in the 21st Century," which opened in 2003 and "Masonry Variations," on view from fall 2003 through spring 2004.
Piedmont-Palladino is author of Devil''s Workshop: 25 Years of Jersey Devil Architecture, Princeton Architectural Press. She has written articles for both popular and professional press, including the Journal of Architectural Education, Journal of Urban Technology and Perspecta 29.
She is the former national president of Architects/Designers/Planners for Social Responsibility and served on the design committee for the National Peace Garden Foundation and on the American Architectural Foundation Television Advisory Board. Piedmont Palladino earned her bachelor''s in the history of art from the College of William and Mary and her master''s from Virginia Tech.
Celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2005, the National Building Museum is America''s premier cultural institution dedicated to exploring and celebrating architecture, design, engineering, construction, and planning. Chartered by Congress in 1980 and open to the public since 1985, the Museum has become a vital forum for exchanging ideas and information about the built environment through its exhibitions, education programs, and publications. The Museum is located at 401 F Street NW, Washington, D.C. Museum hours are Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free. Public inquiries: (202) 272.2448 or visit www.nbm.org.
Virginia Tech''s College of Architecture and Urban Studies is one of the largest of its type in the nation. CAUS is composed of two schools and the departments of landscape architecture, building construction, and art and art history. The School of Architecture + Design includes programs in architecture, industrial design and interior design. The School of Public and International Affairs includes programs in urban affairs and planning, public administration and policy, and government and international affairs." The Washington-Alexandria Architecture Center has been functioning as the urban extension of the College in the Washington Metropolitan Area since 1980. Since 1985, the Center has served to house a Consortium of architectural schools from around the country and around the world, including schools from California, Texas, Germany, Estonia, and Argentina.
Virginia Tech has fostered a growing partnership with the greater metropolitan Washington, D.C. community since 1969. Today, the university''s presence in the National Capital Region includes graduate programs and research centers in Alexandria, Falls Church, Leesburg, Manassas, and Middleburg. In addition to supporting the university''s teaching and research mission, Virginia Tech''s National Capital Region has established collaborations with local and federal agencies, businesses, and other institutions of higher education.
