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For Thursday 02/06/25, the campus will be closed until 12 noon today due to the severe weather. All classes scheduled after 12 noon will take place as scheduled. Students should check Canvas for details on classes.

Gary Karp

September 10, 2024

Ideas on Architecture, Suburbs, and Disability

Join Lawrence Technological University's College of Architecture and Design on Tuesday, September 10th at 12:30pm ET for our first Design x Technology Lecture of the Fall 2024/25 semester as we present Graduate Architect, Gary Karp.

This lecture will take place on the LTU campus inside the College of Architecture and Design and it will also be livestreamed.  Register for more information.

As an idealistic, naive, architecture student with certain talents yet little mentoring in the 1970s, I have some thoughts on how I would have oriented myself to my education had I known better. Fifty years after the fact, I've come to understand the so many avenues possible with an architectural education, and ways to play a role in good architecture in our communities without necessarily designing buildings! Having grown up in the suburbs (Southfield!), my Fifth Year thesis offered an alternative to the typical single family home development. Now, current cultural, demographic, and economic trends have made that conversation highly relevant. As a wheelchair user who had to be carried up and down steps into the architecture building for five years, I personally know that full inclusion and accessibility is not an "extra" in the built environment. It is integral to any design — which comes out the better for it — the principle of "Universal Design."

My graphic design career after LTU might have been better applied in architectural graphics and signage, and my experience as President of the Student Chapter of the AIA could have led me to a career of public influence leading to more quality architecture in the community — unlike the drab designs going up in the downtown neighborhood where I currently live in Phoenix, Arizona. I did, however, have the pleasure of inadvertently tricking Dr. Buell into showing up in front of a student advocacy program I led on campus! While I worked little in the profession, I have more than a few thoughts to share, driven by my continuing love of buildings and cities.

This lecture is free and open to the public. As part of CoAD's Design x Technology Lecture Series, guests may watch online or on campus. Register for the location/viewing details. Your on-campus registration includes a pizza lunch

Why you should attend:

  • This lecture will help students focus on the wide array of professional paths that an architectural education makes possible
  • Give historical perspective on how architecture used to happen.
  • You will be challenged to commit to safe use of modern design technologies.
  • Gary will ensure that they have a place, in any of so many ways, to help bring about great design that aligns with people's lives and goals — from individuals to whole communities.
  • Gary intends to offer an engaging lecture.

About:

Gary Karp arrived at the LTU School of Architecture in the winter of 1973, only months after having broken his back and injured his spinal cord in a fall from a tree. He had a unique impact on the campus as a student leader, rising to the level of President then National Board Member of the Student AIA. After working in two architecture / urban planning firms, he followed an eleven year career in graphic design, as a computer graphics (in 1980!) production artist of 35mm presentation graphics, a production manager, and then department manager in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he moved from Detroit in 1984.

After having established one of the first desktop presentation services groups, he left computer graphics due to chronic strain injuries in 1992, and began a solo ergonomics consulting practice. In the mid-90s, offered a book contract, he began writing about disability, ultimately publishing four books, numerous journalistic articles and profiles, and traveled worldwide as a disability awareness speaker and trainer at rehab settings, universities, and for corporate and government clients. In 2007, the National Spinal Cord Injury Association inducted him into their Hall of Fame as a Disability Educator. In addition to his disability work, he currently works as a Reservist for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and is a consultant on emergency planning and for people with disabilities and access and functional needs. He lives in downtown Phoenix, Arizona.

Tower - Gary Karp

axonometric - Gary Karp

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Use Your Cell Phone as a Document Camera in Zoom

  • What you will need to have and do
  • Download the mobile Zoom app (either App Store or Google Play)
  • Have your phone plugged in
  • Set up video stand phone holder

From Computer

Log in and start your Zoom session with participants

From Phone

  • Start the Zoom session on your phone app (suggest setting your phone to “Do not disturb” since your phone screen will be seen in Zoom)
  • Type in the Meeting ID and Join
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  • Select “share content” and “screen” to share your cell phone’s screen in your Zoom session
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To use your cell phone as a makeshift document camera

  • Open (swipe to switch apps) and select the camera app on your phone
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