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CONVIVIUM is a graduate student group that organizes a series of dynamic gatherings for any student interested in discussing matters of architecture, urbanism, and their relationships to cultural production. Held primarily at the historic Miller-Heller House, these salon-style informal discussions are intended to nurture and foster extracurricular whims, fleeting and/or critical thoughts, and resulting questions that arise pertaining to student work and experiences at Cornell. Through student-prepared presentations and collections of curated readings, visual materials, and exhibitions, CONVIVIUM aims to provide an atmosphere where unique discourse can exist as it relates to architecture as a pedagogical and professional discipline and beyond.
CONVIVIUM was founded in 2008 by alumni Kyle Jenkins (M.Arch.1 ’11) and Melissa Constantine (M.Arch.1 ’11), following the 2008 Preston Thomas Memorial Symposium "Architecture of Disbelief" (organized by visiting associate professors Mark Morris and Jim Williamson). This particular symposium addressed the role of speculation within the discipline, in relation to specific forms of representation, techniques, and media. The symposium and the critical questions that surfaced — both internal to architecture and expanding beyond conventional understandings of the profession — revealed a clear need for a comfortable and informal environment to pursue specific discussion topics curated for the students and by the students. Their response to this need resulted in the founding of the graduate student group: CONVIVIUM.
CONVIVIUM typically hosts these salon-style discussions two to three times per semester, resulting in three general body meetings per event for general organization, topic selection, and content. Past events have covered a wide range of topics at various levels of specificity depending on the interests and desires of the student body each semester. To get involved in the topic selection process and discussion organization, please contact cornell.convivium@gmail.com.
Past CONVIVIUM Events
CONVIVIUM 2011–12
The Void and Architecture
Death | Architecture
Body [Space_Object]
Projections
CONVIVIUM 2010–11
Teaching Architecture ≈ Learning Architecture
Digital vs. Analog
Design/Non-Design
Ambiguity
Convivium x Pidgin
Authorship
Architecture and Desire
Sidewalks, Streets, and In-betweens
CONVIVIUM 2009–10
How is Architecture Located?
Design & Taste
Buildings, Per Se
What is an Act of Design?
CONVIVIUM 2008–09 Ethics
Paradigm Shift
Music & Architecture
Pedagogy
Publications
Currently, all CONVIVIUM documentation and materials are being collected for archives and a projected publication. Primary publication content and organization is being led by Melissa Constantine and Sophie Hochhausl. If you are interested in helping with the publication please contact Sophie at seh232@cornell.edu.
Get Involved
The current officers are leaving for a semester at AAP NYC in fall and the group is actively looking for new candidates for the administrative board! Please contact cornell.convivium@gmail.com if you are interested in leading or participating in CONVIVIUM for the 2012–13 academic year.
2011–12 CONVIVIUM Board
Youngin (Jin) Yi, president: yy256@cornell.edu
Whitten Overby, vice president: wo44@cornell.edu
DeJeana Chappell, treasurer: dmc327@cornell.edu
