Designing Futures Foundation
Kids Go Green Workshop
April 18th, 2013
Please join HMC Architects and ArchLab for a two-part sustainability workshop for kids (grades 2-5) that focuses on water and energy!
When:
Saturday, April 20
10am to 12pm
Where:
HMC Architects
3546 Concours Street
Ontario, CA 91764
Part 1: Water
The water workshop will include an interactive presentation about the importance of water conservation and water quality. Kids will build aquifers and then study how pollution affects our precious ground water resource.
Part 2: Energy
The energy workshop will answer the following questions: What is energy? Why do we need it? How can we conserve it? Kids will also learn how they can use the power of the sun to create energy and make yummy treats through a solar cooker experiment.
The workshops are modeled after a successful program that HMC’s ArchLab developed for SMMUSD’s McKinley Elementary School (thanks to a grant from our Designing Futures Foundation). Since then, the workshop has received the USGBC’s IMPACT! award, is being developed into a book, and will be provided as a workshop template on the USGBC’s website for other schools and entities to use.
The workshops are a great opportunity to help educate our future stewards of the environment. If you would like to attend, please RSVP to Eera Babtiwale at eera.babtiwale@hmcarchitects.com or 909-263-9909.
Posted in Designing Futures Foundation,High Performance Architecture
Fremont Academy of Engineering and Design Career Day Event
April 2nd, 2013
by Rita Saikali by Israel Peña
Follow our photo diary of Fremont High School’s career day visit to our Ontario studio.
1. Brian Staton welcomes students arriving from Fremont High School Academy of Engineering and Design Academy.
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Posted in Designing Futures Foundation
The City: Birth, Life and Death of Earth’s Longest Living Organisms
March 30th, 2013
By Charlie Payne
In early February I traveled to Detroit to embark on the first leg of a three-part Xref journey to study cities as living organisms in various stages of life, and the role that architecture plays in those stages. Detroit, of course, has fallen on extremely difficult times. It’s often regarded as one of the worst urban tragedies of the nation, perhaps one of the worst in the world, and thus the city was (originally) representative of the “death” of the city organism.
Michigan Grand Central Station, an iconic symbol of the Detroit’s grandiose past and troubled present.
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Posted in Designing Futures Foundation,Xref
Bringing Architecture Alive: A Design Education Program at Fremont Academy
February 19th, 2013
By Rita Saikali Carter and Israel Pena
Last month, we both met up with Gilbert Baez bright and early on a Friday morning at Fremont Academy of Engineering and Design in Pomona to lead the first in a series of workshops as part of an architecture education program that we had designed for high school students. Initially proposed as a Community Project in November 2011, our team received a $2,000 grant from the Designing Futures Foundation to support the creation of a program that would teach students about architecture and design, and inspire them to consider pursuing careers in these fields.
Posted in Designing Futures Foundation
California Baptist University Launches New Architecture and Interdisciplinary Arts Program
February 19th, 2013
By Marco Eacrett, Principal
An interview with Mark Roberson, Dean of Architecture, Visual Arts & Design, about Cal Baptist University’s new architecture program.
Mark, tell me about your vision for the new architecture program at Cal Baptist.
The mission of the CBU architecture program is to develop architects who demonstrate professional excellence and personal integrity, are servant leaders in their communities and who live biblically based, missional lives within the profession. This makes CBU Architecture truly unique in that we believe in encouraging students to use their creative talents to engage and inspire the world around them. We are committed to helping students understand how to be good stewards of both their talents and the resources it takes to make their creative visions become reality. We are excited about seeing a new generation of architects with a Christian foundation who are bold in their pursuit of artistic excellence and leadership. We believe in a practice-based approach that connects students directly with professionals throughout Southern California. This approach, combined with our extraordinary location, provides abundant opportunities for our students to not only get hands-on experience using architecture to address a wide variety of environmental and social challenges, but also to experience and explore a great number of architectural masterworks.
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Posted in Designing Futures Foundation
Steelcase Knows How to Throw a TOMS Party!
December 19th, 2012
By Kaysha Bucher
“Giving is what fuels us. Giving is our future.”
–Blake Mycoskie, Founder and Chief Shoe Giver TOMS
Having fun while helping others inspired several of us at HMC LA who were able to attend Steelcase’s holiday party, which was hosted at their Santa Monica showroom.
Steelcase, a company with an award winning corporate social responsibility program, used the “Style Your Sole” event to not only connect with their clients, but also to make a positive impact. The event was hosted in partnership with TOMS Shoes, where guests were invited to pre-order a pair of Tiny TOMS shoes to be decorated at the event, alongside their kids and a TOMS shoe design artist—yes, this job really exists and is as amazing as it sounds! Each pair was transformed into a one-of-a-kind, creative, and functional mini work of art.
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Otis College of Art and Design: 2012 Creative Economy Report
December 19th, 2012
By Adrienne Luce
Did you know a total of 664,000 jobs, 1 in every 8, are tied to Southern California’s creative economy?
Last week I attended the 6th annual Otis College Creative Economy Report event held at Google’s new YouTube Space LA—a state of the art digital production studio—in Playa Vista. The event brought together more than 200 leaders from corporations, creative enterprises, local government, education, non-profits, and philanthropy. After hearing about this year’s fundings, the participants shared their ideas about how to create cross-sector collaborations that can grow the region’s creative economy.
Posted in Designing Futures Foundation
Who Rules the Earth? The Social Rules Project Update
December 18th, 2012
By Steve Prince, Managing Principal
“Because recycling is not enough.”
Who rules the earth? It’s an important question and is the title of Paul Steinberg’s new book, “Who Rules the Earth? How Social Rules Shape Our Planet and Our Lives,” that will be published by Oxford University Press in 2014. The book is part of The Social Rules Project, an extraordinary environmental sustainability advocacy and education initiative led by my friend Paul Steinberg, Associate Professor of Political Science and Environmental Policy at Harvey Mudd College. Professor Steinberg, whose teaching focuses on global environmental politics, has an impressive background, having received his undergraduate degree from UC Santa Barbara, master’s degree in public policy from Harvard, and Ph.D. from UC Santa Cruz in environmental studies. Paul and I met through our volunteer work with the Boy Scouts about a year ago.
When Paul told me about The Social Rules Project, I immediately thought that the initiative, because of its focus on environmental sustainability, would be a great fit for HMC and the Designing Futures Foundation. Earlier this year, I submitted a community project proposal and the DFF awarded a $5,000 grant to Harvey Mudd College to support The Social Rules Project.
Professor Steinberg’s goal is to create new and innovative ways to bridge academia and real world challenges, and to empower students to make a positive impact on the planet. Two weeks ago, Professor Steinberg invited a team from HMC, along with Michael Akavan of MA Engineers (who also donated $5,000 towards the project), to the Harvey Mudd campus to give us an update on his progress.
One compelling aspect of The Social Rules Project is that it is multifaceted and consists of four main parts: a book, website, film, and video game.
1. Book – Professor Steinberg’s new book, “Who Rules the Earth? How Social Rules Shape Our Planet and Our Lives,” is the centerpiece of the initiative. It is being published by Oxford University Press and is scheduled to be released in 2014.
2. Website – A portal where students can learn more about “Social Rules,” and how they can take action, is currently under development in beta testing.
Posted in Designing Futures Foundation
Support Concept 7 and Sponsor a Child This Holiday Season
November 28th, 2012
By Israel Pena
With the holidays upon us, Concept 7 has been selected as the Ontario office’s Employee Charitable Organization. This is the seventh season HMC has participated in the Concept 7 annual Gift-Giving Drive in collaboration with Horizon Hobby. Concept 7 is a foster care agency that rescues children from neglectful and abusive households. With three offices throughout Southern California and a satellite office in Ontario, Concept 7 provides services to 700 children each year.
Posted in Designing Futures Foundation
