{"id":989,"date":"2016-01-04T17:28:37","date_gmt":"2016-01-04T22:28:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cws.charlotte.edu\/backup-coaa\/criticalmass-graduate-research-symposium\/"},"modified":"2025-06-04T15:40:47","modified_gmt":"2025-06-04T19:40:47","slug":"criticalmass-graduate-research-symposium","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/cws.charlotte.edu\/backup-coaa\/architecture\/graduate-programs\/criticalmass\/","title":{"rendered":"CriticalMASS"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

CriticalMASS 2025 will take place on April 18. <\/strong> This year’s Distinguished Critic is Kai-Uwe Bergmann.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kai-Uwe Bergmann, FAIA, is a partner at BIG and brings his expertise to proposals around the world, including work in North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Kai-Uwe heads BIG’s business development, in which the office is currently active in over 40 different countries. He also oversees BIG’s urban development projects and supports BIG Landscape. He is registered as an architect in the United States (13 states) and Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

History of CriticalMASS<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

CriticalMass started in 2002. It was the idea of a handful of graduate students wishing to share thesis project work with other graduate schools of architecture from the Southeast Region. At that time, the students were interested in the idea of place and region, and the event sought to bring diverse projects from different institutions together so that the students could share, and perhaps understand, what commonalities might be present in their final project work. The students themselves identified and invited international and national architects and critics to discuss the work and to give an evening presentation. These critics have varied over the past ten years, from those interested in regionalism to those that were launching practices on a more global scale. In all cases, the critics invited reflected the students’ interests and the work they had been exposed to in the David R. Ravin School of Architecture curriculum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the efforts of that first handful of students, CriticalMASS has fostered a tradition of collaboration and exploration across schools of architecture. Year after year, the event continues to inspire students to reach across institutional boundaries and come together with shared interests; no other such forum for cross-institution student interaction and learning currently exists. With coordination from a selected student committee and hard work from graduate student volunteers and faculty advisors, each Spring CriticalMASS hosts a series of presentations and discussions from selected students and Distinguished Guests. Each project that is presented responds to a unifying theme, but explores architectural ideas and issues independently through the lenses of technical methods, urban design, and theory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The yearly success of CriticalMASS is a result of the effort and dedication provided from the current, first-year graduate class and continued support of the students, faculty, and local practitioners. Together we organize and integrate a unique outlet for student work that has become a respected part of the UNC Charlotte David R. Ravin School of Architecture and a joint identity of current graduate students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Past CriticalMASS Distinguished Guest Critics<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2002 Anderson + Anderson Architecture
2003 Pugh + Scarpa Architecture
2004 Rick Joy and Brian MacKay-Lyons
2005 Glenn Murcutt
2006 Jose Rafael Moneo
2007 SHoP
2008 Lewis.Tusrumaki.Lewis
2009 Office dA and Kieran Timberlake
2010 Bryan Bell, Marlon Blackwell, and Coleman Coker
2011 David Yocum and James Dallman
2012 Brigitte Shim
2013 Johnsen Schmaling Architects
2014 Joshua Prince-Ramos
2015 Laurie Hawkinson
2016 Patricia Patkau
2017 Jenny Wu
2018 Anton Garcia-Abril
2019 Charles Renfro, DS+R
2021 Perry Kulper
2022 Mark Foster Gage
2023 Lydia Kallipoliti 
2024 Florian Idenburg<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CriticalMASS 2025 will take place on April 18. This year’s Distinguished Critic is Kai-Uwe Bergmann. Kai-Uwe Bergmann, FAIA, is a partner at BIG and brings his expertise to proposals around the world, including work in North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Kai-Uwe heads BIG’s business development, in which the office is currently active […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":8,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_clt_a11y_last_scan":"1778689713","_clt_a11y_has_violations":"0","_clt_a11y_violations":"[]","_clt_a11y_suppressions":"","_clt_a11y_needs_validation":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-989","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCriticalMASS - College of Arts + Architecture<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"CriticalMASS - College of Arts + Architecture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"CriticalMASS 2025 will take place on April 18. 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