The Miami Center for Architecture & Design (MCAD) is proud to announce LISTEN TO THIS BUILDING, a collaborative project between MCAD and EXILE Books, a Miamibased popup artist’s book store. LISTEN TO THIS BUILDING is a groundbreaking program that seeks to bridge the understanding between downtown Miami architecture, independent publishing, and accessibility, specifically addressing visual impairments. John DeSalvo is proud to provide his personal hand drawn building illustrations from the “Pocket Guide to Miami Architecture” to aid in the realization of this exhibit.

The exhibition is believed to be the first architectural exhibit designed to address accessibility for persons with visual impairments. During the six week exhibition, MCAD and EXILE Books will cohost a slate of weekly events to engage the public on issues of art, architecture, and accessibility. In addition to regular programming, blindfolded Orientation Mobility Tours using only a mobility cane will take place through MCAD during Downtown Art Days on September 12th and 13th provided by Miami Lighthouse for the Blind. All programming will be free and open to the public.

EXILE Books Showcases Groundbreaking Architecture Exhibition for Persons Who Are
Blind and Visually Impaired at Miami Center for Architecture and Design

Project title: LISTEN TO THIS BUILDING
Project dates: September 3rd – October 17th, 2015
Downtown Art Days: September 12, 2015
Location: Miami Center for Architecture and Design, Downtown Miami
A Partnership between EXILE Books, MCAD, and Miami Lighthouse for the Blind EXILE Books is proud to announce LISTEN TO THIS BUILDING, a collaborative project between MCAD and EXILE Books, a Miami-based, pop-up artist’s bookstore. LISTEN TO THIS BUILDING is a groundbreaking program that seeks to bridge the understanding between downtown Miami architecture, independent publishing, and accessibility, specifically addressing visual impairments. Opening September 3, 2015, the exhibition coincides with the 25th anniversary of Americans with Disabilities Act.
LISTEN TO THIS BUILDING will transform ten Downtown Miami buildings into a living, multimedia tableau via four main components:
• The MCAD gallery will feature tactile relief works of selected downtown buildings with accompanying wall texts provided in braille.
• The public, front steps of the Miami Center for Architecture and Design (MCAD) will house the project’s central component: an outdoor audio piece that will share engaging stories
about the Old U.S. Post Office and Courthouse (MCAD’s home) as well as surrounding downtown buildings. The audio installation will be accompanied by a large, vinyl, floor applique inviting passersby to “LISTEN” to the building.
• To further enhance the exhibit, students from FIU’s College of Architecture + the Arts (CARTA) at Miami Beach Urban Studios will create models of selected downtown buildings using a 3-D printing process. These renderings will be displayed in covered boxes obscuring their visual properties so that audiences must feel the building to experience the architecture.
• To commemorate the exhibition, EXILE Books will also produce an artist’s book in which the architectural narratives from the outdoor audio piece will be transcribed in braille. There will be no photographs or printed text in the publication, only tactile reliefs of each building, effectively compelling the viewer to experience Miami through new and distinct paradigms.
The exhibition is believed to be the first architectural exhibit designed to address accessibility for persons with visual impairments. MCAD and EXILE Books will co-host a slate of weekly events during the six-week exhibition to engage the public on issues of art, architecture, and accessibility. In addition to regular programming, EXILE will partner with Miami Lighthouse for the Blind to produce guided, blindfolded Orientation and Mobility Tours of the Old U.S. Post Office and Courthouse’s architecture during Downtown Art Days from 11am – 2pm on September 12th. All programming will be free and open to the public.
The exhibition will take place at 100 NE 1st Avenue, Miami, Florida, 33132 from September 3rd to October 17th, 2015. For more information on the exhibition and a schedule of programs, go to www.miamicad.org or www.exilebooks.com.
The exhibition, mobility tours, and braille artist book are made possible with the support of the Miami Downtown Development Authority. Support for EXILE Books is made possible through the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Printing and consulting for the project generously provided by Miami Lighthouse for the Blind. Tactile illustrations offered by John De Salvo and Judith McBrien as featured in the Norton’s Pocket Guide To Miami Architecture. Programming partners include Miami Lighthouse for the Blind, Ability Explosion, Florida International University’s College for Architecture + the Arts, and IlluminArts. Additional sponsorship provided by Thomas Printworks and SFCA isaw + Subtropics.
EXILE Books is a pop-up, artist’s bookstore that migrates throughout Miami, spending two to three months in each location. The hybrid art installation, bookstore, and programming outlet is dedicated to advancing the circulation, understanding of, and engagement with artist’s publications. EXILE seeks to establish a pervasive print culture in Miami by creating hubs for independent publishing that represent and serve South Florida’s diverse community.
Miami Center for Architecture and Design (MCAD) is the place for everyone interested in design and the built environment, with community meeting space and educational programs to enhance public appreciation for architecture and design. The facility, which serves as home to AIA Miami, includes the Visitors’ Center for downtown Miami, established in partnership with the Miami Downtown Development Authority. For more information please contact Sara Rose Darling at sararosedarling@gmail.com

Sun Sentinel

http://www.southflorida.com/theater-and-arts/sf-miami-listen-building-blind-architecture-20150902-story.html

Miami Herald

http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/article34389720.html

Miami New Times

http://www.miaminewtimes.com/arts/pop-up-exhibition-at-mcad-offers-architectural-tour-for-the-visually-impaired-7873853

Ravelin Magazine

http://ravelinmagazine.com/portfolio-posts/expanding-accessibility-immersion-exile-books-mcad-present-listen-to-this-building/

An exhibition of current Chicago Architecture opened this evening and included John DeSalvo Design’s renovation of a Louis Sullivan Row House in Old Town, Chicago. The exhibition will travel the globe after it closes its current gallery at 332 South Michigan Avenue.

The 2015 CONNECT entries were reviewed by a panel of jurors including Steve Gibbs, Senior Manager, Hot Glass Programs, Corning Museum of Glass; Laura Murphy Doyle, National Fine Art Specialist, Chubb Personal Insurance; Monica Obniski, Demmer Curator of 20th and 21st Century Design, Milwaukee Art Museum; Duane Reed, Owner, Duane Reed Gallery, St. Louis; Ravi Ricker, Principal, Wrap Architecture; and James Yood, Professor of Art Criticism and Theory, School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Chicago hosts another SOFA expo. For those who don’t know, the acronym stands for Sculpture Objects, Functional Art and Design.

This year’s event, the 21st annual and held in the expansive Festival Hall at Navy Pier, features thousands of disparate works from hundreds of artists in the realms of glass, ceramics, wood, textiles, jewelry and more. There’s also a lecture series as well as special exhibits.

“The fair is really a venue where you can find something for everyone from around the world,” said SOFA Chicago fair director Donna Davies.

Paul Florian taught an Advanced Design Studio as the Robert A. M. Stern Visiting Professor at Yale University School of Architecture in the Spring term of 2019. An interview with Paul conducted by Nina Rappaport, the editor of the Yale University School of Architecture publication Constructs, can be found in the magazine’s Jan 2019 issue.

John DeSalvo, AIA. Dipl. Ing. Arch
Director of Graduate Admissions
Associate Studio Professor
Curator Second Year- Advanced Master of Architecture
Founder/ Owner JDD Architects, John DeSalvo Design

M. Arch, B. Arch Cornell University , Ithaca , NY
Masters of Urban Design & Business Management

John DeSalvo, AIA. Dipl. Ing. Arch
Director of Graduate Admissions
Associate Studio Professor
Curator Second Year- Advanced Master of Architecture
Founder/ Owner JDD Architects, John DeSalvo Design

M. Arch, B. Arch Cornell University , Ithaca , NY
Masters of Urban Design & Business Management