Newsletter | Mar/Apr 2015

OWA Founding Membership at the SF Art Institlute 1973 (photo: Jeremiah Bragstad)


Sheila Kennedy, 2014 Recipient of the Berkeley-Rupp Prize
by adapted by Lucia Bogatay from the Berkeley-Rupp Prize website
The faculty position and prize created by Sigrid was awarded last year to Sheila Kennedy, who will be in residence and whose interesting work will be on display.

As a recipient of the Berkeley-Rupp Prize, Sheila Kennedy will present an exhibition of her work along with a public lecture (which was given on March 4th) at the College of Environmental Design. She will also teach a series of interdisciplinary workshops at CED.

On Wednesday, March 4th, Sheila Kennedy gave a public lecture at Wurster Hall Gallery on soft infrastructure including her work on the Portable Light Project—a Matx non-profit design, research and engineering initiative that builds upon the skill sets of women makers in the developing world by integrating clean energy and lighting with textile craft traditions.

From April 8th through April 29th, 2015, in Wurster Hall Room 108, Kennedy hosts the exhibition HERE THERE —Urban Infrastructure Goes Soft, an interdisciplinary design initiative launched at the College of Environmental Design. The HERE THERE exhibit will include recent projects by KVA Matx, and full scale design prototypes by Berkeley students for pop-up solar streetlights, portable vaccine carriers and dispensary kits. New materials, fabrication techniques and project delivery methods for urban infrastructure in energy, global health and water will be explored. See the website http://ced.berkeley.edu/events-media/events/here-there-exhibit


Here work looks fascinating, and I highly recommend visiting the Rupp Prize website (http://rupp.ced.berkeley.edu/2014-sheila-kennedy/sheila-kennedy-gallery/) for a preview of it, which will surely make you want to see the exhibit!

For the Spring 2015 semester, Sheila Kennedy will lead UC Berkeley students in computation, architectural design, engineering, and city planning in a series of hands-on design workshops exploring new urban infrastructure. Using soft materials—from paper to wood to bio-plastic—the group will develop open-source digital fabrication techniques and create adaptable prototypes such as pop-up solar streetlights, soft refrigeration kits for bicycle vendors, and public benches that collect and clean fresh water. These prototypes will be exhibited at UC Berkeley and fabrication kits will be shared with NGOs and the public online.


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