STEAM stands for \;Science\,&n bsp\;Technology\, \;Art\, and \;Math. This year\, we are joined by a special group of women who are leaders\, educators\, researche rs\, and creators in the STEAM world. Don't miss out engaging with these b rillant thinkers as they share their journey through a traditionally male- dominated industry and how their work has contributed to communities\, glo bally. \;
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\nLife in a Bubble: From the Suburb to the Space Habitat
\nAt a time of rapid development of prefabricated\, coo kie-cutter suburban neighborhoods in the US\, California architect Wallace Neff envisioned homes that resembled bubbles. Formwork in the shape of a large rubber balloon would be sprayed with thin layers of concrete for qui ck\, inexpensive\, and durable single family structures\, called Airforms. In 1941\, he convinced Goodyear Tire and Company to manufacture a large b alloon for the first Airform neighborhood: ten homes for defense workers o utside of Washington\, D.C. This talk will trace Neff&rsquo\;s decades-lon g efforts to house the world&rsquo\;s population in his structures\, which saw only limited success on Earth&mdash\;they were too unconventional. Th en\, it will consider the enduring presence of inflatable bubbles in space habitat designs since the early 1960s\, initially championed by Goodyear. One of two remaining Airhouses in the US today is in Hobe Sound\, Florida \, where it has withstood decades of hurricanes and floods. The talk will examine whether the bubble is best relegated to space\, or whether we migh t reconsider its benefits for housing on Earth.
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\nAbout Dr. Katarzyna Balug: \;
\nKatarzyna Balug\, PhD is a historian of modern and contempora ry architecture. Her research explores feedback loops between techno-polit ical change and subjectivity as mediated by architectural experiments. Bal ug&rsquo\;s current book project examines air-filled inflatable structures prevalent in the 1960s as a prescient meditation on human relations with the planet and its environment informed by the Space Race. Her curatorial work and public art practice reflect her commitment to making knowledge ac cessible and cultivating public space as a site of critique. Balug&rsquo\; s writing been published in\, among others\, Geoforum\, Critical Sociology (co-authored)\, and the edited volume NASA in the American South (Univers ity of Florida Press). She holds a Ph.D. in Architecture from Harvard Univ ersity and was previously a lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Des ign.
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\nUpcoming talks: \;
\nMonday\, S
eptember 21\, 7-8pm
Dr. Rhona Trauvitch\, Fiction-Science Pattern Mapping in Liter
ary STEM
Wednesday\, September 23\, 6-7pm
Dr. Rebecca Clark\, The Past &\; Future o
f Human-Environmental Interaction in Florida
This program is made possible by the Broward Publ ic Library Foundation.
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A Service of the Broward County Board of County Commissioners. \;
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