Earlier this month, Teaching Professor Jade Polizzi’s Color Theory course traveled to Green Mountain Falls to tour the James Turrell Skyspace exhibit during sunset. Skyspace is a naked-eye observatory where visitors view the ever-changing sky through an oculus while experiencing a kinetic light and color encounter.

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Coming together after spring break

Welcome (virtually) back ENVD students, from what was very likely a somewhat strange spring break. I hope this note finds all of you and your families healthy and doing well through this unprecedented event. I know that many of you are adjusting to the remote version of ENVD. Faculty and staff understand the mixed emotions that everyone is going through. It is perfectly normal to be experiencing some frustration, some anger, some disconnect, and especially for seniors, some loss. We are all feeling those things and we all empathize.

But now we are back from spring break and we all have to work together to make the rest of this semester as positive and successful as we can make it. This will, in fact, take all of us working together. Faculty worked diligently over the course of spring break to adjust courses, get technical issues resolved and to develop assignments that reflect our situation. Staff are also working to make sure you have what you need to succeed, to figure out how all the changes are affecting our students, and on making sure you feel connected to this program. Each of you now has a role to play in making the rest of this semester a success. We are not asking for anything more than normal—attend class, give it your best effort, and feel confident in your work. Will everything feel different—yes.  Will things go smoothly every class—no. Will we work as hard as we can to make sure each and every one of you succeed—absolutely.

There have been some major developments while you were away on break that you need to make sure you are aware of. Pass/Fail grading is now available for every class this spring. It is student optional, so make sure you read the new guidelines and processes. But be aware—ENVD grade requirements for advancing in some courses are higher than a D- grade which gets a P in the university.  Make sure you check with your advisor if you have any questions.

Summer session: For those who are considering taking coursed during the summer session, Maymester, A, and C terms will be remote learning. B term will be decided by April 15, 2020. The courses will still happen, but expect remote learning and look for a final word on B term.

Graduation: I know many of you that are graduating are disappointed that the May ENVD ceremony is being postponed. However, know that we are planning for an in-person ceremony at a later date. We are trying to determine what that date will be. Stay tuned—you will get that opportunity to walk across the stage and have your parents applaud your accomplishment. We will not abandon that event.

Things are going to be unstable as we continue. We will get you information as soon as we have it. However, many times we are receiving the information just as you are. So, know that we are not holding anything back. I will also have a weekly online Zoom session where you can ask me or any of the other ENVD leadership team questions. Look for that announcement in this newsletter.

Thank you for being patient with us during this time. I do want you to know that you have my word and the commitment of all the faculty and staff that we are putting everything we have into making this a successful semester. The ENVD students are our number one concern. I won’t lie to you and say everything is going to be perfect, but I will say that I have confidence in you, in our faculty, and in our staff that we can demonstrate to the rest of the university how to make this a successful semester.

Welcome Back and remember – We are ENVD!

Paul Chinowsky
Director, Program in Environmental Design

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Welcome back ENVD student community

I hope that all of you had a chance to get some rest and enjoy some downtime over the break. As we welcome 2020, we are excited to celebrate the 50th anniversary of environmental design. We will be celebrating both the past and the future throughout this year. We will host special speakers, guest jurors and some surprises. 

We will also be launching the first ENVD capital campaign to raise funds for building our scholarship funds, our emergency funds and to continue to build our technical capacity.

As we enter our 50th year, I thought you might be interested in a few ENVD facts:

• ENVD is the only program in the Rocky Mountain Region where you can major in architecture, landscape architecture, planning, and product design at an AAU university – this is the highest recognition for a research university in the United States and CU Â鶹ӰԺ is one of only 39 public universities who have this distinction.
• ENVD has more environmental design graduates than any ENVD program in the country.
• ENVD has more applicants to its program right now than at any time in the last decade.

We are very excited about our 50th anniversary year and to share this special year with you. It is going to be an exciting semester and all the staff and faculty look forward to making it a great start to a new decade.

As always, my door is open whenever you would like to share some thoughts about ENVD.

Happy New Year!

Paul Chinowsky
Director, Program in Environmental Design

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Welcome back ENVD students!

It is hard to believe we are already in the third week of the semester. Everyone is in a routine and it is exciting to see the initial project reviews happening in studios. I hope all of our new first-year students are beginning to feel that they are a part of the ENVD community. The Emerging Leaders Program and the student organizations are doing a great job with all the events that are happening this month in ENVD. I hope everyone is taking the opportunity to get involved with the great organizations we have in ENVD.

By now you will have noticed some of the changes that occurred in ENVD over the past summer. We are excited to welcome a new group of faculty representing all of the majors. The new curriculum is in full implementation and the 8-week studios are bringing new energy to the first and second-year studios. The new maker space on the third floor and the new gallery are getting finalized and ready for use.

All of the changes have been implemented with one goal in mind – to provide our students with the best environmental design education in the country. As we enter the 50th anniversary year of environmental design at CU Â鶹ӰԺ, the faculty and staff are excited to introduce our students to new challenges and new opportunities. I look forward to introducing these new opportunities over the next year as we celebrate together the golden anniversary of ENVD.

Welcome back to the start of the 2019-2020 academic year. It will be an exciting year as ENVD once again shows we have the most creative and hard-working students at CU!

As always – drop by any time if you have any questions or thoughts on the program.

Paul Chinowsky
Director, Program in Environmental Design

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Kate Sector, a senior in architecture and co-president of AIAS at CU Â鶹ӰԺ, was selected to participate in this year’s CRIT Scholar research program. CRIT Scholar is a research-based program that is supported by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) in partnership with several prominent architecture firms.

As a recipient, Sector will receive a $1,000 grant for her research project and will be matched with a mentor involved in conducting research at an architectural firm.

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In summer 2018, 12 Environmental Design students participated in our Medellín, Colombia Global Seminar, a six-week program abroad. It is a hands-on planning studio that collaborates directly with the community of Manantiales, helping to define, design and develop infrastructure projects that can be used to improve the quality of life in their community. The overall goal of the studio is for students to understand the potential impact of the project. Alongside students and faculty from the Facultad Arquitectura Universidad Nacional, ENVD students develop and refine their design skills to understand and work with members of a community in need. A faculty grant from the Office for Outreach and Engagement sponsored on-site work. 

An info session for the 2019 Medellín, Colombia Global Seminar will take place in ENVD 102 on October 18, at 5:30 p.m. 

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Instructor Stacey Schulte’s conservation and recreation in the American West course traveled to Rocky Mountain National Park last week. Students learned about the park management design strategies that are used for reducing the impact of high visitation. Resource Specialist Scott Esser took the class to various spots around the park where staff has implemented various management strategies, which included fencing, parking and signage. The group left Â鶹ӰԺ early in the morning but was rewarded with three rainbows during the trip. 

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On Thursday, September 27, Emily Greenwood and her senior plant identification and design class traveled to Denver Botanic Gardens for a field trip. 

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On September 4, Professor Ping Xu and her landscape design and feng shui class held a site visit to Saint Malo's Chapel on the Rock in Allens Park, Colorado. The students visited the impact area of the 2013 debris flows that were initiated from MT Meeker, which is five miles away. 

On September 14, ENVD 4100, an architectural design studio, visited their project site at Mesa trail to learn about site selection and feng shui.  

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On September 7, students in ENVD 3100, a city planning studio, met with Rhys Duggan and Chris Wood, principals with Revesco Properties and the owners and developers of Elitch Gardens in downtown Denver. Views from the observation tower gave students a unique perspective for their class case study, which is the re-development of the Elitch Gardens site into a mixed-use neighborhood. Throughout the semester, student teams will prepare a master plan and apply their plan to solving an urban design problem.  

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