By Annette Gallagher
UM News

Alberto Cairo, the Knight Chair in Visual Journalism and director of CCS’s Visualization Program, says VizUM will provide new ways to deal with “oceans of data.”

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (December 12, 2014)—Places & Spaces: Mapping Science, the extraordinary Indiana University exhibition of 100 artistic big-data visualizations that debuted on the University of Miami campus in September, held its capstone event last week. But it signaled a beginning, not an end.

“There are no endings,” said Sawsan Khuri, chair of the Places & Spaces committee and director of engagement for the Center for Computational Science (CCS), which joined with the College of Arts and Sciences, School of Communication, School of Architecture, and Otto G. Richter Library to bring the exhibit to campus. “Places & Spaces may be leaving, but this is also the beginning of VizUM, a visualization project that will connect the visualization efforts already in place on the campus and initiate new efforts as well.” Read the full story

By Robert C. Jones Jr.
UM News

Chloe Pereira, an architecture student from Port-au-Prince, Haiti, points out one of the features of her East Hialeah master plan to Xinyu He.

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (December 9, 2014) – When University of Miami architecture student Chloe Pereira and more than 50 of her classmates toured a 90-acre, transit-oriented site in east Hialeah last September, they quickly took note of the area’s close proximity to Miami International Airport, the historic train station that now serves as the southern terminus for the Tri-Rail commuter coach, and large tracts of land dotted by factories and warehouses.

What they didn’t see were mom-and-pop stores, boutiques, parks, and pedestrian-friendly streets—urban design characteristics reminiscent of Midtown Miami. “But we knew the site had boundless potential,” said Pereira. Read the full story

Places & Spaces, a traveling exhibition of 100 maps that present data in visually stunning formats, opens at UM.

By Robert C. Jones Jr.
UM News 

Fifty data visualizations are now on display at the School of Architecture’s Stanley and Jewell Glasgow Hall, where UM students, faculty, staff, and visitors got the opportunity to examine some of the works at the Places & Spaces exhibition opening.

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (September 5, 2014) – From a visual guide that shows how your federal tax dollars are spent, to an interactive chart capable of simulating a naked-eye view of the sky from anywhere on Earth, Places & Spaces: Mapping Science debuted on the University of Miami campus Thursday evening, showcasing 100 maps that present data in visually stunning formats. Read the full story

Thirty-seven artistic works by Professor Thomas A. Spain, whose enormous talent and unwavering devotion to teaching design and drawing have indelibly impacted two generations of students, are on exhibit at the School of Architecture’s Irvin Korach Gallery through Friday, September 12, when a closing celebration of ‘Thomas A. Spain—A Retrospective’ and lecture by Professor Jorge L.  Hernandez will begin at 6 p.m. in Glasgow Hall. A reception with the artist will follow the lecture.

Thomas Spain

Professor Thomas Spain, M.A. ’70, who joined the School of Architecture in 1966, still remembers taking his—and the school’s—first study trip to Rome in 1999. “For me, it was just an overwhelming experience,” he says. “I had never been to Europe before, and I was like a kid in a candy store.” Since that trip, Spain has returned to Rome many times as a drawing instructor for students in UM’s Rome Program, contributing his artistic talent, teaching skills, and financial support.

Now a member of the school’s senior faculty, Spain is a key donor for the annual School of Architecture Golf Tournament at the Biltmore Golf Course to benefit the Tom Spain Rome Program Endowment, which was established in his honor, and scholarships for the Rome Program. The program has grown through the years and now includes visits to Venice and Florence, Italy.

With his wife, Dona, B.Arch. ’91, M.Arch. ’92, historical resources director for the City of Coral Gables, Spain has helped raise $210,000 for the scholarships, including his and his wife’s personal donations, in the past five years. “The Rome trip is such a terrific experience for our students that I wanted to make sure it continued,” Spain says.

A Virginia native who has enjoyed drawing all his life, Spain came to UM as an instructor 48 years ago. After serving in the military, he earned his master’s degree in painting and became a professor in the School of Architecture, where he has influenced multiple generations of students.

A master visual interpreter of architectural structures and places, Spain was invited to exhibit a collection of his drawings at the Coral Gables Museum in May 2013. The show, Thomas A. Spain: A Retrospective (1980-2012), featured more than 60 drawings in pencil, ink, watercolor, and chalk and included several lectures and drawing workshops for adults and teens. Some of those drawings are now on display at another retrospective of his work at the School of Architecture’s Irvin Korach Gallery.

Recalling his experiences sketching and drawing with students on the streets of Rome, Spain says, “Seeing the architectural treasures of Italy can be a life-changing experience. Through our endowment program, we provide that unique learning opportunity to students who otherwise couldn’t afford to travel. It’s very satisfying to give back to our University.”

Read about other faculty and staff who support the U.