astronomy

Martin Felsen

Martin Felsen is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Martin Felsen rather than just read about it. In short: Martin Felsen (born 1968) is an American architect and Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (FAIA). He directs UrbanLab, a Chicago-based architecture and urban design firm.

Key takeaways

Martin Felsen belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Martin Felsen to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Martin Felsen from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Martin Felsen (born 1968) is an American architect and Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (FAIA). He directs UrbanLab, a Chicago-based architecture and urban design firm. Felsen's projects range in scale from houses such as the Hennepin, Illinois Residence, mixed-use residential and commercial buildings such as Upton's Naturals Headquarters, public open spaces such as the Smart Museum of Art Courtyard at the University of Chicago, and large scale, urban design projects such as Growing Water in Chicago and a masterplan (13 square kilometers / 5 square miles) for the Yangming Lake region of Changde, China. Felsen was awarded the 2009 Latrobe Prize by the American Institute of Architects, College of Fellows.

Biography Felsen earned his Bachelor of Architecture from Virginia Tech College of Architecture and Urban Studies in 1991 and a Master of Science in Advanced Architectural Design from Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation in 1994. Prior to founding his own firm, he worked for Peter Eisenman, Stan Allen, and OMA/Rem Koolhaas in Rotterdam. In addition to practicing architecture at UrbanLab, Felsen has lectured internationally, and curated and participated in several international exhibitions about contemporary architecture and urbanism. Two public exhibitions curated by Felsen were held at the Chicago Architecture Center in 2016 and 2017. The 2016 show, titled "50 Designers, 50 Ideas, 50 Wards," exhibited transformative proposals aimed at improving the quality of life for residents in each of Chicago's 50 wards. Felsen invited fifty notable architects and teams of architects/artists to participate and produce original work. The 2017 show, titled "Between States - 50 Designers Transform Chicago's Neighborhoods," exhibited design solutions to transform underappreciated and underperforming parts of Chicago into rejuvenated civic anchors. Again, fifty notable architects and teams of architects/artists were invited to participate and produce original work. Felsen has publicly spoken about these exhibitions, along with the importance of architecture in tackling urgent issues such as globalization in cities on several occasions. Felsen was invited to participate in the Venice Biennale of Architecture (La Biennale de Venezia) in 2010 and 2012, and the Chicago Architecture Biennial in 2015 and 2017. In 2010, as the Director of Archeworks, an alternative design school, Felsen exhibited "Mobile Food Collective" in the U.S. Pavilion at the 12th International Venice Biennale of Architecture. In 2012, Felsen and UrbanLab exhibited "Fresh Water District" at the 13th International Venice Biennale of Architecture curated by David Chipperfield. In 2015, Felsen and UrbanLab exhibited "Filter Island" at the Chicago Architecture Biennial curated by Sarah Herda and Joseph Grima. In 2017, Felsen and UrbanLab exhibited "Re-Encampment" at the Chicago Architecture Biennial curated by Sharon Johnston and Mark Lee. Felsen's work has also been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, the National Building Museum, and the Art Institute of Chicago. Felsen has been featured in several publications such as Architect Magazine. He has received many honors for his work, including several design awards from the American Institute of Architects. Since 1996, Felsen has taught architecture and urban design as an associate professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology. He has been a visiting professor at Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation and the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis. Felsen served as Director of Archeworks, an alternative design school in Chicago from 2008-11. Under his leadership, Archeworks completed several significant public interest design projects, and developed and organized two influential urban design workshops titled Infrastructures for Change. During Felsen's tenure, Archeworks’ projects were exhibited internationally at the Venice Biennale of Architecture and The Architecture Foundation in London. Felsen founded and served as editor of a new Archeworks publication titled Works.

Bowling UrbanLab: Bowling is a new book about UrbanLab's work authored by Martin Felsen and Sarah Dunn, published by Applied Research + Design. The book explores relationships and realities between cities, architecture and water. As populations steadily increase in cities, the world's natural resources are consumed at ever-faster rates. The majority of the world's populations live in countries where clean water supplies are dwindling, and these water shortages are also quickly translating into food shortages. What can designers do to avert looming water-related realities? UrbanLab: Bowling views potential water crises as opportunities to speculate on future urban design possibilities, especially in cities. Several projects are presented that take an ecological approach to re-thinking received urban design methodologies of addressing the design of water-related infrastructures in existing and new cities.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Martin Felsen

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Martin Felsen claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Martin Felsen before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Martin Felsen ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Martin Felsen

In research: Martin Felsen appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Martin Felsen in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Martin Felsen is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1968 births, 21st-century American architects, Architects from Chicago, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Martin Felsen outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Martin Felsen in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Martin Felsen means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Martin Felsen out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Martin Felsen in simple terms?

Martin Felsen (born 1968) is an American architect and Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (FAIA). He directs UrbanLab, a Chicago-based architecture and urban design firm.

Why does Martin Felsen matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Martin Felsen?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Martin Felsen.