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By Heather Riley Chadwick

BLACKSBURG, Va., February 5, 2009 -- On Monday, Feb. 9, at 3 p.m. in Virginia Tech's Cowgill Hall lobby, multidisciplinary five-person student teams -- including one third-, fourth-, or fifth-year student per team from architecture, interior design, industrial design, and landscape architecture in the School of Architecture + Design and visual communication design in the School of Visual Arts -- will be presenting innovative design proposals.

The design proposals are for a 10x20’ space, basically the size of a typical parallel parking space. The students participated in a two-week workshop led by three members of Kansas City, Mo., architecture and industrial design firm KEM STUDIO.

Jonathon Kemnitzer, Jon Taylor, and Brad Satterwhite, of KEM STUDIO, approached Scott Poole, School of Architecture + Design director, and Robert Dunay, the T. A. Carter Professor of Architecture and Center for Design research director, with the idea for the workshop. “Brad and I have teaching experience, and value the interaction between students and the studio,” said Kemnitzer, “They inspire us as much as we inspire them.”

KEM STUDIO’s overarching philosophy about the research process and the emphasis of collaboration among various design disciplines made the pedagogy of Virginia Tech’s School of Architecture + Design a perfect match for their workshop proposal. “Extending our research philosophy in an educational context at a similarly minded institution helps us test the value of these principles,” said Taylor. “It’s also valuable for the students to gain experience on a real-world multi-disciplinary project and add to their portfolios.”

The public is welcomed to attend the Feb. 9 presentations and offer feedback on the student’s projects. Blog with KEM STUDIO about the presentations.

Contact Heather Riley Chadwick at hrchadwi@vt.edu or (540) 231-2108.

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