College of Architecture News

Alumni At A Glance

Atlanta (October 31, 2006) — The CoA alumni represent a varied, talented, and diverse community.

Alumni At A Glance is a good way to stay in touch with your classmates and colleagues. But to do that, you must stay in touch with us. Visit http://www.coa.gatech.edu/resources/alumni/submit.php and let us know what you are doing.

1950s

John Portman, BS 1950, was honored by Atlanta’s Urban Design Commission for his significant contributions to the architectural history of Atlanta and the world at large.

Thompson, Ventulett, Stainback and Associates (TVS) was recently commissioned by Dubai Properties to design a landmark 650,000-square-foot, 51-story office skyscraper to be located at the main entrance of Business Bay, a 64 million-square-foot “city within a city” development in Dubai that will serve as the new central business district of the Emirate. Thomas Ventulett III, BS 1957, B Arch 1958, is founding principal of the firm.

1960s

The Woodruff Arts Center expansion received a 2006 Award of Excellence for the Renzo Piano Workshop from Atlanta’s Urban Design Commission. Lord, Aeck & Sargent were the architects. Larry Lord, B Arch 1965, is one of the founding principals of the firm.

Eugene Surber, FIAI, BS 1961, B Arch 1965, principal of Surber Barber Choate & Hertlein Architects, received the 2006 Mary Gregory Jewett Award, the Georgia Trust’s highest honor, at the Preservation Awards Ceremony in Athens in April.

1970s

Perkins + Will received an Award of Excellence from Atlanta’s Urban Design Commission for their Henry Grady High School additions. Manuel Cadrecha, BS 1977, M Arch 1979, is design director at Perkins + Will.

Daniel Brooks Jenkins, BS 1977, was named a principal of The John Buck Company. Jenkins, a licensed architect and LEED Accredited Professional, was responsible for design and construction of the world’s first LEED-CS Gold Certified project, the fifty-story 111 South Wacker Building in Chicago. Jenkins joined The John Buck Company in 1988. He and his wife, Young-Mi Kim, ChE 1978, have two sons, Mike and Matt, born in 1986 and 1988.

Two of Sizemore Group’s projects recently won Build Georgia Awards for Best in Construction. Holder Construction Group LLC, general contractor for Goizueta Business School’s Center for Research and Doctoral Education at Emory University, won first place in the Construction Management at Risk cate-gory. Cork-Howard Construction Company, general contractor for the revitalization of The Center for Family Resources in Cobb County, won the competition in the Design-Bid-Build Renovation category. Michael M. Sizemore, B Arch 1966; Thomas M. Sayre, BS 1977, M Arch 1978; William J. de St. Aubin,BS 1983, M Arch 1985; and Ben R. Darmer, M Arch 1980, are principals of the firm. Bruce E. Morris, BS 1981, M Arch 1985; and Adem Gusa, MCP 2005, are associates of the firm.

James “J. M.” Turner, B Arch 1974, has been elected mayor of Huntsville, Texas. This is Turner’s first election to public office after a twenty-six-year career as a licensed architect.

1980s

Sally Bethea, MS CP 1980, was named among the “100 Most Influential Georgians” by Georgia Trend magazine. Bethea is executive director of Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper. The organization has rallied considerable support for the maintenance of the river, which provides water to 70 percent of the population of the metropolitan Atlanta area.

Steve Cover, BS 1978, M Arch 1981, MS CP 1981, of Atlanta was appointed by Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin as commissioner of Planning and Community Development. Cover, who will oversee day-to-day operations of the Planning and Community Development Office, previously was director of the Environmental and Community Development Department for Fulton County, Georgia.

James H. Determan Jr., BS 1983, M Arch 1986, has been promoted to vice president of Cochran,Stephenson & Donkervoet(CSD). Determan has been with CSD’s education studio since 1998, where he specializes in K-12 private and public schools and in university work.

Lisa Stevens Epstein, BC 1983, has founded LSE Enterprises of Northwest Florida, a property development and construction management firm. The com-pany’s flagship project will be Robinson’s Mill, a residential development in Pensacola. Epstein and her son, Austin, live in Navarre, Florida.

The Atlanta Urban Design Commission recognized architectural firm Harrison Design Associates with a 2006 Urban Design Award of Excellence in New Construction for The Row Houses at Inman Park Village. Bill Harrison, B Arch 1995, is the founding principal of Harrison Design Associates.

Richard Kramer, BS 1980, M Arch 1982, has been promoted to associate with the firm of Pieper O'Brien Herr Architects. He had been with the firm for more than two years and is director of pre-design services. Kramer lives in Alpharetta, Georgia, with his wife, Regina, and their three children. Christopher, their oldest child, is a junior at Georgia Tech majoring in computer science.

Manuel Mergal, BS 1979, M Arch 1981, was recently named a senior associate at Cooper, Robertson & Partners.

George Nicholos AIA, Esq., M Arch 1984, joined the law firm of Vandeventer Black LLP in Norfolk, Virginia, as an attorney-architect in October 2004. Nicholos concentrates his practice in construction, architectural, and public contracts law.

The Glen Hotel received a 2006 Award of Excellence for historic preservation from the Atlanta Urban Design Commission. Stevens & Wilkinson Stang & Newdow were the architects. Ron Stang, BS 1977, M Arch 1983, is one of the principals of the firm.

Janice Wittschiebe, BS 1978, M Arch 1980, received the Outstanding Alumna Award for her fortitude and contributions to the Georgia Tech community at the Women’s Leadership Conference in November 2005. In July, Wittschiebe succeeded Bill Goodhew, IM 1961, as Georgia Tech’s Alumni Association chair. Wittschiebe is a partner with Richard + Wittschiebe Architects of Atlanta. She is a member of the Georgia Tech Foundation board as well as the College of Architecture development council and program advisory board.

1990s

Michael Arad, M Arch 1999, recently announced the birth of his daughter, Ariel Zohar Arad. Ariel was born on August 27. Mother Melanie, MCP 1997, and new daughter are doing well. Nathaniel, Ariel’s brother, is being very sweet to his sister.

David E. Curovy, B Arch 1999, MS IDT 2002, was named vice president of technology of operations for The Home Depot and relocated back to the Atlanta area from New York over the summer.

Sarah Lorenzen, M Arch 1997, principal of Plasmatic Concepts, participated in the New Blood: Next Gen exhibit at the A+D Museum in Los Angeles. Plasmatic Concepts also recently received a Graham Foundation grant to make a documentary film about the Los Angeles River Redevelopment Project.

J. Scott Odom, LEED, M Arch 1998, of Sasaki Associates, has been promoted to an associate of the firm. Odom’s work has received awards from the American Institute of Architects and the American Planning Association and includes the University of California, Davis Segundo Commons; the University of California, Santa Barbara Recreation Center expansion; Yosemite National Park design and construction of Yosemite Lodge, expansion of Camp 4, and relocation of Northside Drive; and, most recently, the design of the firm’s new offices in downtown San Francisco.

Robert S. Rule, M Arch 1990, started a new full-service architecture and interior design firm with R. Joseph Trammell, Arch 1968, and two other partners. Rule and his wife Cindy live in Marietta, Georgia, with their three children, Christian, 7, Ben, 6, and Lexie, 3.

John T. Wood, BS 1994, was named an associate at CMH Architects, a Birmingham, Alabama, design firm that focuses on retail, office, hospitality, and education architectural design. Wood, his wife Chere, and son Nicholas live in Birmingham.

2000s

David Bingham, MID 2006, has moved to Louisville, Kentucky, to join GE Consumer Products as interaction design manager. This position is new to GE’s industrial design operations and crosses all appliance categories such as refrigeration, laundry, and cooking as well as all GE brands including Hotpoint, GE, Profile, and Monogram.

Rhonda Johnson, BS 1999, M Arch 2002, received her Georgia architecture license and married Sean Donehoo of Duluth, Georgia, last November.

Tracey De Poalo, MID 2003, and partner Dave Lynn, MID 2006, have recently formed Laughing Dog Design Studio LLC, specializing in functional interiors, transportation design, and graphics. For more information, visit www.laughing-dog.us.

Cathlyn Newell, BS 2003, received her master’s in architecture from Rice University and is the recipient of the grand SOM Foundation Prize, a $50,000 research and travel grant created this year to celebrate the Foundation’s twenty-fifth anniversary. The special prize enables Newell to do in-depth research, collaborate with other designers, and pursue independent study outside the realm of established patterns. She will visit six Nordic countries to study the effects extreme weather conditions have on the design of structures and building sites. Her research has timely implications as architects and engineers grapple with the aftermath of recent natural disasters and continue to expand on the promise of environmentally conscious design. Newell currently is an entry-level designer with Office dA in Boston, the firm of Monica Ponce de Leon and Nader Tehrani, previous chair holders of the College’s Thomas W. Ventulett III Distinguished Chair in Architectural Design. While at Georgia Tech, Newell was a President’s Scholar.

The entry of Travis Ridenbaugh, M Arch 2004, and Ning Wang, M Arch 2004, in Architectural Record’s High Density on the High Ground competition was named to the short list of commendable projects in February. The competition focused on examining post- Katrina housing typologies in New Orleans and was aimed at designing high-density housing and mixed-use on an area of high ground along the Mississippi River. Ridenbaugh and Wang’s entry included an urban strategy derived from a historical, social, and formal analysis of the city as a whole. Their boards will join the other winners in a traveling exhibition. So far, they have been to Ogden Museum in New Orleans and the AIA convention in Los Angeles. The boards will also hang at the Venice Biennale this year.

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