Grace E. La, Associate Professor

Bio
Grace La is Associate Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and principal of LA DALLMAN. She is also a 2010 Design Critic in Architecture at Harvard University Graduate School of Design. Co-founded with James Dallman, LA DALLMAN is engaged in the transformation of site through spatial and material investigations of diverse scale and type. The practice has been awarded over thirty professional honors, including seven Design Awards from the American Institute of Architects Wisconsin, and several prizes in international design competitions. LA DALLMAN was named a 2010 Emerging Voice by the Architectural League of New York and received the Bruner Award for Urban Excellence Silver Medal. The firm is the 2011 recipient of the Spotlight: The Rice Design Alliance Prize, an international honor that "recognizes exceptionally gifted architects in the early phase of their career." LA DALLMAN is the first United States practice to receive the prize, which was previously awarded to acclaimed architects Antón García-Abril of Spain and Sou Fujimoto of Japan. Read More

Completed projects by LA DALLMAN include the Miller Brewing Meeting Center, permanent science exhibits for Discovery World, the Marsupial Bridge, the UWM Hillel Student Center, and the Levy House. Current work includes the Masterplan for the Harmony Initiative (a collaborative endeavor between the Milwaukee Ballet, the UWM Peck School of the Arts, and the Medical College of Wisconsin), and a Trail Hub / Land bridge for the Oneida Nation. LA DALLMAN's work is featured in publications by a+t, Architectural Record, Azure, Praxis, Princeton Architectural Press, Routledge, and Topos, and they have exhibited widely, including at the Carnegie Museum of Art Heinz Architectural Center. LA DALLMAN has delivered lectures in numerous symposia, and at prestigious universities and cultural institutions including the New Museum in New York City, the National Building Museum in Washington DC, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston.

Grace La is co-editor of Skycar City (Actar, 2007), co-founder and three-time editor of UWM's Calibrations, and a member of the editorial board of the Journal for Architectural Education. Her current research and teaching at UWM are funded by KI and this work was featured in the annual Metropolis Conference at ICFF in 2010. UWM has bestowed her with the 2005 UWM Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching Award. Demonstrating a unique ability to link the profession and the academy, the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture has also bestowed Grace La with four Faculty Design Awards, which honor outstanding projects that "advance the reflective nature of practice and teaching."

Grace La also serves as Chair of the Planning, Curriculum & Coordinating Committee (PCC) at UWM SARUP Department of Architectgure, where she has led efforts in the department’s Strategic Plan, the Dissemination Plan, and several Hiring Initiatives including SARUP’s new Fellowship Program. She is actively involved in Search & Screen responsibilities for new faculty hiring, and is currently leading an initiative to re-envision the school’s facilities in relationship to curriculum goals and new technology, including expansion of the RP Lab.

Grace La received her professional M.Arch with thesis distinction from Harvard University Graduate School of Design, winning the Clifford Wong Housing Prize. She graduated A.B. magna cum laude from Harvard College in Visual and Environmental Studies. She was accepted to graduate school prior to completing her undergraduate degree, as a junior of the College and one of the youngest students in the history of the GSD.

Education
Harvard University, Graduate School of DesignM. Arch, 1995, with thesis distinction
Harvard University B.A., magna cum laude, 1992, in Visual and Environmental Studies
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Architecture, spring, 1989

Reseach Focus

Courses
Arch 410 Arch Design I
Arch 685/885 Auditoria Redux
Arch 685/885 Learning Landscapes
Arch 790 Directed Research, funded by KI.
Arch 794 Master’s Pre-thesis Research (Chair)
Arch 891 Master’s thesis (Chair and Committee Member)

Selected Work
Skycar City, edited Winy Maas and Grace La. Actar, Barcelona, 2007.
A+T, In Common, Spain, publication about the Marsupial Bridge, 2006.
Azure, Canada, forthcoming. Architectural Record, December 2002.
Architectural Record, April 2001
La, G., Editor, University of Wisconsin Journal of Architecture, Calibrations, 2000, 2003.
Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, MA, May 1997,
Exhibited theoretical housing design.
Selected for publication in GSD Studio Work 1992-93
(Housing Project under critic Jonathan Levi), Studio Work 1993-94
(Toronto Museum under option critic Brigitte Shim), Studio Work 1994-95
(Thesis Housing Project) and GSD News (Thesis Housing Project), 1995.
Programming the Image of City (Train Station for Valparaiso, Chile under Prof. Jorge Silvetti), forthcoming

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