Sheila Kennedy (architect)
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Sheila Kennedy is an American
architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
and
professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...
at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...
(MIT) who is known for including
green technology Environmental technology (or envirotech) is the use of engineering and technological approaches to understand and address issues that affect the environment with the aim of fostering environmental improvement. It involves the application of scien ...
, such as flexible
solar cell A solar cell, also known as a photovoltaic cell (PV cell), is an electronic device that converts the energy of light directly into electricity by means of the photovoltaic effect.
s, into her designs. She is interested in using technology in new ways and in re-examining traditional ways of building and designing structures.


Biography

Kennedy shares that as a teen, she was interested in electronics. Kennedy attended
Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the Methodi ...
, receiving a bachelor's degree in history, philosophy and literature in 1979. She received graduate degrees in architecture from first the Ecole National Supérieure des Beaux Arts in 1981 and later from
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
in 1985. From Harvard, she won the SOM National Traveling Fellowship. Kennedy was awarded the 2014 Berkeley-Rupp Prize by the UC Berkeley's College of Environmental Design. This $100,000 prize includes a semester-long professorship, public lecture, and gallery exhibition. She received the award for “distinguished design practitioner or academic who has made a significant contribution to advance gender equity in the field of architecture, and whose work that emphasizes a commitment to sustainability and community,” according to a press release. Kennedy was an associate professor at Harvard University's Graduate school of Design from 1991 to 1995. She is currently the Professor of the Practice of Architecture at MIT, the first woman to hold that position.


Work

Kennedy is the principal and founder of Kennedy & Violich Architecture (KVA) in Boston. KVA was founded in 1990. When the firm started, it was just her and her partner, Juan Frano Violich, who she met in graduate school. The firm is still small, with about 13 members. In 1993, Kennedy created a temporary "elegant frame" passageway for the Interim Bridges Project in Boston. One of the firm's earlier projects was the redesign of the Urban house in New York city in 1999. KVA turned the house inside-out, in a way, making the couple's 48 foot pool and exercise area part of the living room. Kennedy sees one of the roles of an architect as having the ability to see alternative uses for materials and to use these materials creatively. Kennedy sees solid-state technology and wireless embedded technology as important "design drivers" for architecture. She also is interested in different ways to use the "hollow wall" of modern construction, in which walls contain the "guts" of the building itself. She wonders how the surface of the wall, which she compares to skin, can itself become the "source for the transmission of light, heat, color, or information." She has also taken a
feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...
critique to the "buts" of the house in a lecture she gave at the
Bunting Institute The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, also known as the Harvard Radcliffe Institute, is an institute of Harvard University that fosters interdisciplinary research across the humanities, sciences, social sciences, arts ...
in 1999 called "Electricity, the Fairy and the Hollow Wall: Rethinking the Spaces of Infrastructure in Architecture." Kennedy also sees interesting ways to tackle additional problems such as
carbon emissions Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from human activities intensify the greenhouse effect. This contributes to climate change. Carbon dioxide (), from burning fossil fuels such as coal, petroleum, oil, and natural gas, is the main cause of climate chan ...
and gray energy through using new materials, or old materials in new ways. In 2000, Kennedy, along with her partner, Violich, created a materials research division, known as MATx, in their firm. Kennedy is the director of design and applied research at MATx. The goal of MATx is to "forge a new relationship with materials, on that will draw on
mass customization Mass customization makes use of flexible computer-aided systems to produce custom products. Such systems combine the low unit costs of mass production processes with the flexibility of individual customization. Mass customization is the new fro ...
." MATx also explores ways that renewable resources can be used, and also how to incorporate bio-materials into architectural design. MATx's first project was used in Africa and was called "Portable Light." Portable Light, developed in 2005, is a lightweight, portable textile which can harvest electricity and each kit costs less than $16. Another Portable Light initiative was started in Brazil in July 2012, named The ''Luz Portatil Brasil.'' In
Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after SĂŁo Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...
, nearly five hundred families were outfitted with these kits in order to live off-grid. Another project that came out of MATx was named the Soft House. This house is able to work off-grid. The Soft House ironically uses solid wood for the structure, which creates a "hyper-insulated envelope" and then it has a fabric-like membrane of
photovoltaic Photovoltaics (PV) is the conversion of light into electricity using semiconducting materials that exhibit the photovoltaic effect, a phenomenon studied in physics, photochemistry, and electrochemistry. The photovoltaic effect is commercially ...
cells which are able to shade the building, harvest energy and provide privacy like a curtain. Interior curtains, seeded with LEDs, provide lighting for the house. Soft House won first place in the International Building Exhibition design competition. Kennedy has worked for clients such as
DuPont Dupont, DuPont, Du Pont, duPont, or du Pont may refer to: People * Dupont (surname) Dupont, also spelled as DuPont, duPont, Du Pont, or du Pont is a French surname meaning "of the bridge", historically indicating that the holder of the surname re ...
, Harvard University and
Herman Miller MillerKnoll, Inc., doing business as Herman Miller, is an American company that produces office furniture, equipment, and home furnishings. Its best known designs include the Aeron chair, Noguchi table, Marshmallow sofa, Mirra chair, and t ...
. In 2001, Kennedy worked with DuPont, using solid-state technologies which integrated into translucent and transparent materials which could later be used as lighting. Another large-scale project that KVA worked on was the
East 34th Street Ferry Landing The East 34th Street Ferry Landing provides slips to ferries and excursion boats in the Port of New York and New Jersey. It is located on the East River in New York City east of the FDR Drive just north of East 34th Street in Midtown Manhattan. ...
in New York City. The public ferry terminal is "the first project in the United States that has taken a low-carbon approach to public infrastructure" and includes a soft roof which has an interactive display for current events on the
East River The East River is a saltwater Estuary, tidal estuary or strait in New York City. The waterway, which is not a river despite its name, connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates Long Island, ...
. The project won the Progressive Architecture Award in 2002. Kennedy has also written about the importance of designing new schools so that they can provide "21st century technological and physical infrastructure." She expounds on this later, in her own essay, "Something From 'Nothing': Information Infrastructure in School Design" (2002), where she compares a computer room to a fictional "electricity room" where people would go to use "artificial lights and power outlets." Instead of segregating technology, she feels it should be everywhere throughout the school. Kennedy is currently exploring "flat-to-form" technology and ideas and other creative ways to "deliver sunlight deep into a building." In 2014, Kennedy was honored by ''
Architectural Record ''Architectural Record'' is a US-based monthly magazine dedicated to architecture and interior design. Its editor in chief is Josephine Minutillo. ''The Record'', as it is sometimes colloquially referred to, is widely-recognized as an important ...
'' for the journal's first annual Women in Architecture Awards, winning in the category of Innovator. Also in 2014, she received the $100,000 Berkeley-Rupp Architecture Professorship and Prize, which also includes a residence at the University of California, Berkeley College of Environmental Design (CED). In January 2015, Kennedy began her residency at CED. Kennedy has exhibited her work at the
Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum is a design museum at the Andrew Carnegie Mansion in Manhattan, New York City, along the Upper East Side's Museum Mile. It is one of 19 Smithsonian Institution museums and one of three Smithsonian facili ...
, the
Vitra Design Museum The Vitra Design Museum is a privately owned museum for design in Weil am Rhein, Germany. The architect of this building was Frank O. Gehry. His architecture was based on the art movement of the early 20th century, deconstructivism. Making the bu ...
, the
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern art, modern and contemporary art museum and nonprofit organization located in San Francisco, California. SFMOMA was the first museum on the West Coast devoted solely to 20th-century art ...
and the
Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...
.


Publications

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References


External links


KVA

SoA Lecture: Sheila Kennedy, 'The Soft'
(video)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kennedy, Sheila American women architects Harvard Graduate School of Design faculty Architects from Boston Wesleyan University alumni American alumni of the École des Beaux-Arts Harvard Graduate School of Design alumni MIT School of Architecture and Planning faculty American women academics