John Hertz does not know what he would do as dean of the Graduate School of Architecture.
“I would not be here to invent something out of nothing,” he said. “The school is the result of a collective effort.”
Hertz said the quality and direction of the school comes from the faculty and students, not from the dean.
“I would find the potential of the people that are here,” he said.
Hertz is the final candidate for dean to visit the Graduate School of Architecture. He spoke about his work as an architect to an audience of students, faculty and local architects Tuesday.
Hertz told his audience about houses he designed. Hertz’s work addresses problems of heating in design, and his work contains elements that conserve energy. Hertz designed a house with a beautiful view from the northwest corner. This corner is the part of the house that gets hottest in the summer and coldest in the winter, so Hertz added a series of doors to his design to insulate the windowed corner.
Hertz also uses native elements in his designs, such as adobe in the desert and wood framing and stone in the tropical areas of south Texas.
Hertz is currently dean at the University of Puerto Rico school of architecture. He spoke briefly about the different attitudes toward architecture education in Latin America.
“There is a much greater sense of social purpose,” he said. “They do projects that have social implication.”
Latin American students often do their projects in teams, including the final thesis project. Latin American students focus more on the construction of projects than U.S. students, because construction is often where the money comes from a project.
Hertz has experience in construction as well as in architecture, and in his early projects he was both the contractor and the architect.
“There’s a lesson in detail, trying to build what you draw,” Hertz said.
Hertz is the fourth potential dean to speak to the Graduate School of Architecture. The dean search committee received 21 applications, and after reviewing the work and research projects of the candidates, committee members selected eight to interview by phone. Of those eight, the committee selected four to visit the campus so the members can add a human face to the candidates’ resumes, according to Peggy McDonough, who is an auxiliary faculty member on the dean search committee.
While visiting the U, the candidates interviewed with the dean search committee and other concerned groups. The candidates also met with area architects.
The committee is looking for a dean with leadership ability, understanding of the position of the school and good suggestions on the direction the school should take, according to McDonough.
The committee will make a recommendation for dean on Jan. 31.