Lance LaVine, Professor
Lance LaVine
Professor
Email: lavin001@umn.edu
Expertise
- Technology and Design
- Elemental Form
- Philosophical Premises: Pattern in Seminal Architecture
Lance LaVine is a professor (1991) in the School of Architecture who has taught a broad range of design studios, a number of technology classes concerning building energy use and has mounted three design theory classes. He was the principle investigator in a large research project ($1,600,000 from 1988-94) which created a successful design assistance program with the Weidt Group. He initiated and directed the School’s study abroad program in Oaxaca, Mexico from 1998-2014. Professor LaVine is the author of four books, Five Degrees of Conservation, Mechanics and Meaning in Architecture, Constructing Ideas, and Architecture, Place, Empathy, and recently completed the text of a fifth, Architectures in Tension. He was short listed for the University of Minnesota Morris Award for teaching excellence in 2012.
Recent Work
Var Vac + Hex Wall
Our design research explores the growth of surface complexity through careful attention to program and technical performance criteria. We contend that purposeful difference along the length of an architectural surface can offer locally fine-tuned solutions to the fluctuating situational needs of occupants. This approach is in direct opposition to conventional construction logic. Therefore, our materials research challenges traditional, static construction methods, replacing them with flexible techniques that produce inexpensive, differentiated surfaces. While this type of research is not new, our recent approach to building difference through dynamic mold making is.
Recent Work
OSWall (Open Source Wall)
