Simpson Center
The Simpson Center for Urban Futures within the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning supports the integration of visionary and interdisciplinary urban studies into curricula and provides a range of opportunities to further the urban planning and architecture programs. Working across topics including future collectives, ecological urbanism, urban placemaking, land use, and adaptive reuse, the Simpson Center seeks to make impactful change that reimagines urban futures in the region and beyond.
Learn more about Orville Simpson's legacy.
What We Do
Futures Collectives
Instructor: De Peter Yi, School of Architecture and Interior Design
As the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood in Cincinnati continues to grow, it needs more affordable housing and spaces for community organizations. This course explores the design of buildings that combine both housing and collective amenities.
Instructor: Sergi Serrat, School of Architecture & Interior Design
"Out There" is a research about alternative living models for contemporary human settlements using rural conditions as a platform for urban experimentation. The studio is interested in alternative forms of organization and production exceeding traditional linear economies to improve urban habitability, social equality and ecologic balance through landscape reconnection, program reconfiguration and technological innovation.
Instructor: Sergi Serrat, School of Architecture & Interior Design
The studio aims to complete the investigation started by the "Out There" graduate design studio during the fall of 2022. Then, the students proposed human-centered settlements built around productive programs found in the rural areas of Ohio. The goal was to define spaces and programs that could challenge the way humans live, work, and play together in the rural context of Akron and the abandoned rubber bowl stadium.
Ecological Urbanism
REIMAGINING COVINGTON'S RIVERFRONT
Instructor: De Peter Yi, School of Architecture and Interior Design
The Ohio River waterfront in Covington, Kentucky, which once operated as the city’s service yard for shipping is currently underutilized. A new zoning plan for the site will change what had been industrial warehouses into a mixed-use residential neighborhood.
Instructors: Hyesun Jeong and Leah Hollstein, School of Planning
Over the past decades, the Greater Cincinnati metropolitan area has been undergoing significant changes due to new development and investment around the banks of the Ohio River.
In what ways can we address environmental, economic, and social challenges to strengthen the watershed’s region and its value to citizens living in this region?
Instructor: Sergi Serrat, School of Architecture & Interior Design
The development of the regional waterfront reflects the tensions in local and global economics, the changing role of technology in structuring urban form, and the dynamic demographic profile of this international city, Cincinnati. We will examine the architectural and urban implications of the greater waterfront plan.
RETHINKING THE MULTIPLE FUTURES OF THE MILL CREEK WATERSHED
Instructor: Sangyong Cho, School of Planning
The studio focuses on six distinct locations in the vicinity of the lower Mill Creek. The Advanced Topical Planning Design Studio is an intricate course tailored for fourth-year undergraduate students pursuing a major in urban planning. A core aim of the studio is to cultivate a practical environment where students can both apply and augment their existing knowledge, immersing them in real-world challenges that necessitate a diverse range of methods and skills.
Placemaking and Transportation
THE FUTURE OF SOCIAL AND GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE
AIA Upjohn Grant Initiative Award: led by Hyesun Jeong Collaborators: Brian Hammersley (Hammersley Architecture) and Matthew Ables (ARUP)
This research-design project, sponsored by the American Institute of Architects’ national Upjohn Initiative Program, enacts the idea of adaptive reuse as sustainable place-making, incorporating small-scale architectural interventions that promote walking and cycling, and serve to foster social cohesion in urban communities.
CINCINNATI STREETCAR CULTURAL CORRIDOR
Instructor: Hyesun Jeong, School of Planning
This studio explores urban scenarios of streetcar corridors that rethink existing buildings, streets, and public spaces as a connective pedestrian realm.
MASTERING DIGITAL GRAPHICS AND HAND DRAWING FOR EXPRESSIVE DESIGN COMMUNICATION
Instructor: Hye Yeon Park, School of Planning
This course aims to enhance creativity and precision. Through hands-on learning, students develop proficiency in both freehand drawing and digital tools, enabling them to craft compelling 2D and 3D designs.
Land and Material Reuse
Instructor: De Peter Yi, School of Architecture and Interior Design
Cincinnati Reuse Collective falls somewhere between an urban research course, a building survey course, and a making course. The course uncovers the urban scale forces at play in Cincinnati through a survey of buildings under the city’s Historic Structure Stabilization Program.
Who We Are
The Simpson Center for Urban Futures is housed on the third floor of the University of Cincinnati’s 1819 Innovation Hub. It provides work, research, and seminar space for faculty and students. The center also maintains a permanent archive of Orville Simpson’s work, accessible to researchers and the public. In 2011, Orville Simpson II made a generous commitment to endow a Center for Urban Futures at the University of Cincinnati. It was developed and organized by Provost Designee, Professor and Dean Emeritus, Robert Probst.
Directors
Edward Mitchell
Director and Professor, School of Architecture + Interior Design
De Peter Yi
Assistant Professor of Architecture, School of Architecture + Interior Design
Fellows
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