ACSA Architectural Education Awards

John Folan, professor and head of the Department of Architecture, received two awards in the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture’s 2023 Architectural Education Awards program for work executed in public interest design: the Collaborative Practice Award and the Faculty Design Award.

Since arriving at the Fay Jones School in 2019, Folan has been honored with seven ACSA awards in the areas of Design Build, Collaborative Practice, Practice and Leadership, Faculty Design, and Timber Education. In addition to teaching in the Fay Jones School, Folan is the founding director of the Urban Design Build Studio (UDBS).

In recent years, faculty members in the Fay Jones School have won additional ACSA recognition in the areas of Collaborative Practice, Housing Design Education, Faculty Design and Distinguished Professor — bringing the total honors to 18 since 2014.

“Recognition by the ACSA of faculty accomplishment at the Fay Jones School is recognition of the entire school community — all our faculty colleagues, our good students and the fundamental support of the school staff,” said Dean Peter MacKeith. “The school has a foundational commitment to teaching: the faculty are passionately devoted to their work with students. This has been continuously inspiring to me and is a memorable dimension of the school for our graduates of any age. In this sense, all of our faculty distinguish themselves and all our students and alumni are distinguished by their degree and lasting affiliation with the school.”

Folan was one of three educators selected for a 2023 Faculty Design Award. The award was given for “Redemption,” a permanent installation at the EQT tower in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, commissioned by Heinz Endowments, that physically and tangibly represents inherent dignity, integrity and pride often unrecognized in under-represented communities.

The work was designed and completed through a series of job skill training programs offered by PROJECT RE_, a 501c3 organization that Folan founded in 2012 and has remained executive director for since. The project is the product of a collaboration between the Urban Design Build Studio (UDBS), which Folan directs; the Trade Institute of Pittsburgh (TIP), an apprentice training program that teaches construction skills to people from the Allegheny County/Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Municipal Region; and Construction Junction, a material repurposing center.

Folan was recognized with a 2023 Collaborative Practice Award for “Deconstructing Blight.” One of four winning projects, it tangibly demonstrates the relationships between building systems of different utilitarian dimension — both explicit and inferred — and reveals broader structural interdependencies that influence socio-economic dimensions of dwelling.

This project aimed to address dramatic shifts in regional housing needs that have occurred over the past 70 years in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. The vertically integrated, interdisciplinary Urban Design Build Studio (UDBS) executed a pilot building deconstruction project in collaboration with the City of Pittsburgh, a regional material repurposing center (Construction Junction), and a national material reuse association (The National Building Material Reuse Association).