Brenda Scheer has spent most of her architectural career studying how urban neighborhoods change with time. As dean of the Graduate School of Architecture, Scheer would like to apply these studies to the cities of Utah.
Scheer is the third of four candidates for dean of the Graduate School of Architecture to address faculty, students and local architects at the U. During her address on Thursday, Scheer discussed her studies of “urban morphology” and how those studies have affected her design projects.
“I want to talk to you about my work rather than philosophy,” she said.
Scheer’s work has focused on the historic, economic and cultural forces that shape a neighborhood.
She talked about an area in Cincinnati about four blocks away from the center of downtown. The area was impoverished, but the architecture is “so compelling, visitors can’t understand why it’s not revitalized.”
After studying the records of the city and old maps of the architecture, though, Scheer understood the neighborhood better.
The area began development as an out-lot area in Cincinnati when the city was founded in 1789. By 1819, the neighborhood was formed in a “very straightforward layout” squared along a canal.
By 1991, however, the neighborhood had disintegrated into larger open spaces because the canal was no longer in use and the function of the buildings changed. These studies offered Scheer insights on patterns of loss in inner cities and helped her understand the nature of a neighborhood and of disorder.
Scheer also showed her small audience different patterns of development in other parts of the city. She said there are some kinds of urban development such as city blocks with houses on them that are very stable, but there are other more commercial neighborhoods that do not exhibit formal order. The areas with larger lots and larger developments are more likely to change over time.
Scheer also discussed her architectural practice and the projects she has designed. She is the president and principal architect of Scheer and Scheer.
Scheer’s practice applies the ideals of urban morphology to her design projects. She showed the development of an inner-city recreation center project that attempted to mimic the form and structure of buildings that stood on the site before.
Scheer believes architecture should be value-oriented and consider public welfare, urban restructuring, sustainability and history in design.
“People cannot operate unconscious of their values,” Scheer said. “Architecture requires a broad knowledge base, politics, laws, real estate development and shifts in local economics.”
She said architects should also consider social appropriateness in their designs, and that buildings should not be designed from the inside out.
Scheer discussed the lessons of Sept. 11 for architects, saying that buildings are symbols and one thing terrorists want to attack.
“Architecture has a great deal of meaning,” she said.
The final candidate for dean of the Graduate School of Architecture will address the school today at 5:30 p.m.