Christine Lampert’s youngest daughter, Michele Lang has chosen her college. She was looking for a traditional small town, preferably historic with an established college close to the historic downtown. She found California State University Chico. The town was founded in the 1860’s and the campus was founded in the 1880’s originally as a teaching college. The historic downtown and the beautiful redbrick campus are next door to each other. From the foothills of the Cascade Mountains nearby Bidwell creek runs through town and bisects the campus. Bidwell park is the largest municipal park in the USA and offers many swimming holes up in the foothills of Butte County for the students during hot weather. The school is tucked away in a corner of California where many tourists have never visited. Lassen National Park is about an hour north and even in the summer the snow capped peak of Mount Lassen is seen in the distance. The town is on the edge of the San Joaquin Valley which is the great agricultural valley of California. The Sierra Mountains are just to the south and the Cascades foothills are touching the edge of the town.
Michele was accepted into an elite honor’s program with 34 other students and 5 professors. This program blends almost all of the general education requirements into the first year with a 17 unit study program each semester combining history, english, science, psychology and the arts. The first month the class traveled to Ashland, Oregon to see 4 plays. They meet weekly for star gazing for the astromony portion. They have dissected a sheeps brain combined with studies of the human brain for psychology and science and there are many other exciting discussions and exercises that they engage in. The rest of the semester includes trips to San Francisco museums and a campout at the university science nature center.
Christine Lampert will serve on the accrediting team for the School of Architecture at the University of Arizona this month. She has been invited to serve on the NAAB team (the National Architecture Accrediting Board). The team meets at the campus in Tucson, Arizona from September 26 to September 30. Their goal is to review the architecture program and to interview the faculty, administration and students to better understand how the school manages and runs the architecture programs. The team recommends improvements and determines if the school will be accredited for another term. Christine has been serving on NAAB teams since 1998.
CONGRATULATIONS TO CAROLYN DIAS WHO IS NOW OFFICIALLY “LEED AP”
LAMPERT DIAS ARCHITECTS, INC HAS ALWAYS PROVIDED SUSTAINABLE DESIGN BUT NOW WE HAVE THE OFFICIAL DESIGNATION.
WE LOOK FORWARD TO A VERY GREEN FUTURE………………………
ON THE DRAWING BOARDS RIGHT NOW IS A NEW BUILDING PROJECT IN DOWNTOWN SAN CLEMENTE AT 155 AVENIDA DEL MAR. THIS NEW 3 STORY MIXED USE BUILDING WILL HAVE A GREEN ROOF. THE ROOF TOP PATIO WILL ALSO BE PLANTED WITH A GARDEN FOR THE OWNERS OF THE 3RD FLOOR LIVING UNITS.
A Blog is an opportunity to talk about all of the wonderful things that I would like to discuss.
It’s also a great way to keep a record of these thoughts so that they don’t just dissipate in the wind when I am done talking about them………………………….
This past year has been a whirlwind of exciting events, ideas and visits to new destinations.
I have had no place to consolidate my thoughts, ideas and memories.
This new Blog is my place holder for these thoughts.
It comes with an invitation to all my friends and acquaintances to take a look and visit these places with me.
Perhaps it will lead to new discussions and maybe all of the unwritten books that I have in the back of my head will start to creep out an onto the pages where they belong.
Here are some topics that I will touch on this next year:
Recent trip and places that I have visited and a brief discussion of the architecture and history including:
Hearst Castle
the new De Young Museum, San Francisco
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC
FDR House, Hyde Park, NY
Valkil, Eleanor Roosevelt’s House, Hyde Park, NY
the Vanderbilt Mansion, Hyde Park, NY
the Biltmore House (another Vanderbilt mansion) Ashville, NC
Charlotte, NC
Anchorage, Seward, Whittier and Valdez, Alaska
San Clemente issues and politics :
Dog and Cats at my house and their friends and where they like to travel…………..
Good food, wine, saki and friendships………………