Press Releases
UT Arlington Architecture Students' Work Displayed at Finnish Embassy Last summer, architecture Visiting Architecture Professor Brad Bell led fourteen students—seven from the University of Texas Arlington, along with seven students from two other U.S. universities –- to Helsinki, Finland. The students’ journal entries, photographs and drawings from the trip formed part of an exhibition at the Heikkenen and Komonen Finnish Embassy in Washington, D.C. this spring. The exhibition—a joint work of Professors Scott Wall, University of Tennessee at Knoxville; Jari Jetsonen, Finnish architectural photographer; Sirkkaliisa Jetsonen, Finnish architectural historian; and Professor Brad Bell—was on display April 24 through June 8, 2008.
The abroad program in Finland focused on the role of architecture within the Finnish national cultural identity. In order to learn about Finnish architecture, students spent a great deal of time examining Finnish culture, history and tradition. The summer coursework focused on developing an understanding of architecture through studies of Finnish culture and its impact on design culture, with particular emphasis on the work of two of the most celebrated architects of the early modern era in Finland – Erik Bryggmann and Alvar Aalto. Courses were conducted from the facilities on Alvar Aalto’s Otaniemi campus of the Helsinki University of Technology (TKK). Extended field trips to southwestern Finland, Stockholm, Sweden, and St. Petersburg, Russia, and related exercises exposed students to other areas and aspects of Finland and the Baltic region. Professor Scott Wall from the University of Tennessee Knoxville started the Finland abroad program as an associate professor at Tulane University in New Orleans in 2003. Professor Brad Bell joined the program as assistant director in 2004 and continues in that capacity through UT Arlington. The exhibition included work from students participating in the program from the past five years. Professor Bell and a group of seven UT Arlington students will return to Finland this summer.
posted: 2008-06-10 15:49:00
Dean featured on TCU's Design Talk Radio The University of Texas at Arlington’s School of Architecture Dean Donald Gatzke was featured on Design Talk Radio, a live, hour-long talk show about the holistic world of design and architecture hosted by architect Joe Self and designer Tracy Self, both alumni of UT Arlington. Dean Gatzke discusses recent changes in design education, the special role of designers in our culture, the house he designed for himself and some of the projects that the School of Architecture at UTA are sponsoring.
The program is broadcast in the Dallas/Fort Worth area on KTCU FM 88.7 – The Choice, or around the world on KTCU’s live web stream.
Dean Gatzke can be heard on Design Talk Radio #94, broadcast on May 5, 2008.
posted: 2008-05-21 15:16:00
UT Arlington Architecture featured in new DMA Center Students and faculty from The University of Texas at Arlington’s School of Architecture have contributed to the Center for Creative Connections at the Dallas Museum of Art, premiering on May 3, 2008. The 12,000-square-foot interactive learning environment will allow visitors to experience works of art and artists with a focus on the Museum’s collections.
UT Arlington students and faculty designed two walls that explore meanings associated with materials used by architects and interior designers to shape the spaces around us.
posted: 2008-04-15 13:52:00
New ranking subject of campus newspaper article School of Architecture ranks second among Harvard, Texas A&M
by Sarah Lutz
UTA Shorthorn, April 2, 2008
posted: 2008-04-04 12:05:20
UT Arlington School of Architecture ranked second regionally by Design Intelligence In the ninth annual publication of America’s Best Architecture & Design Schools for 2008, Design Intelligence has ranked the Graduate Architecture Program at The University of Texas at Arlington’s School of Architecture as second in the South, just behind Clemson University. This area includes Texas and Oklahoma and the states extending to the East Coast, stretching up to Virginia.
UT Arlington’s graduate program was actually ranked in second place in the region in two separate analyses, based on evaluations provided by architectural firms within the Southern region. The first provides a ranking of schools within the region, while the other compares the program at UT Arlington among architecture schools across the country the nation. Harvard University was ranked third.
The survey was conducted by Design Intelligence in mid-2007 and involved leaders of architecture firms who have had direct experience over the past five years in the hiring and performance of recent architectural graduates. Many of the firms that participated in the study are leaders in their market sector and have won major national, state, local and market-sector awards.
In America’s Best Architecture & Design Schools for 2006, UT Arlington’s School of Architecture was ranked fifth overall in the region and and tied for first place with Rice University in the “Most Innovative Architecture Programs” category.
“Any ranking system has questionable merits,” said Architecture Dean Donald Gatzke, “but it is indicative of a rising reputation of the school within the profession and testimony to the success of our graduates.”
Design Intelligence is a bi-monthly report on the future and the repository of timely articles, original research, and industry news. It is published by the Design Futures Council, an interdisciplinary network of design, product, and construction leaders exploring global trends, challenges, and opportunities to advance innovation and shape the future of the industry and environment. Members include leading architecture and design firms, dynamic manufacturers, service providers, and forward-thinking AEC firms of all sizes that take an active interest in their future.
posted: 2008-03-31 13:18:48
Architecture staffer publishes memoir Memoir recounts love, growth when meeting the ‘’monster’‘
ARLINGTON – Rob Rummel-Hudson, communications coordinator in the UT Arlington School of Architecture, has written a love story in his first book, “Schuyler’s Monster: A Father’s Journey with His Wordless Daughter.” Published by St. Martin’s Press, the book will be released Feb. 19.
The story is about Rummel-Hudson’s daughter, Schuyler, who fights her monster, a rare neurological disorder caused by a malformation of the brain. When Schuyler was 18 months old, a question about her lack of speech by her pediatrician set in motion a journey that continues today.
When she was diagnosed with Bilateral perisylvian polymicrogyria her parents were given a name for the monster that had been stalking them from doctor visit to doctor visit and throughout the search for the correct answer to Schuyler’s mystery.The condition prevents Schuyler from talking. But the story is more than the struggles and joys of a parent coping with a child who has a disability. Rummel-Hudson says the story is about his journey to become the father his daughter needed and required.
“It’s a story about love and sometimes that’s all you have in a fight against the monster,” Rummel-Hudson says.
The first-time author’s initial book signing is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 22, at Barnes & Noble, Plano/Creekwalk Village, 801 W. 15th St., in Plano. Another discussion and signing event will be at 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 23, at the Barnes & Noble at Prestonwood Center, 5301 Belt Line Road, in Dallas. A third discussion/book signing will be at 2 p.m. Saturday, March 1, at the Barnes & Noble in South Arlington, 3909 S. Cooper St.
In addition, a story about the book titled “Love Beyond Words” will be featured in the February 2008 of Good Housekeeping. Find out more about the memoir at www.schuylersmonster.com.
posted: 2008-02-23 16:28:00
UT Arlington features work of noted architect A. L. Aydelott in exhibition The University of Texas at Arlington’s School of Architecture is currently hosting an exhibit of paintings and photographs featuring the work of noted architect A. L. Aydelott. “Architecture: Now and Then” features Aydelott’s paintings of famous cathedrals of the world, as well as photographs of the Pet Building and Plaza in St. Louis, designed by Aydelott and built in 1969 for the Pet Milk Company.
At the time of its completion, the Pet Building was describes by George McCue, Art and Urban Design critic for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, as “restrained in size, big in ideas, and in form arrestingly expressive in its functions.” The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004 and is now in the process of being converted into luxury apartments.
Although a celebrated architect, Aydelott has focused on art for the better part of the last thirty years. His watercolors of such noted Gothic cathedrals as those found in Amiens, Chartres, Segovia, and Florence celebrate what Aydelott calls “the scope and integrated arts of the Gothic Cathedrals.”
A. L. Aydelott is an emeritus fellow of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and has served as visiting design critic and architect-in-residence at Yale University, the Carnegie Institute of Technology and Auburn University. After serving in World War II, Aydelott founded his own design firm in Memphis, where he acquired a reputation as the foremost figure of Memphis Modernism. He is now retired and lives in California.
The exhibition is sponsored by Christian Brothers University in Memphis, a campus designed in part by Aydelott. In addition to its stay at UT Arlington, the exhibition will travel to the University of Tennessee, the University of Arkansas, Auburn University in Alabama, Mississippi State University, Tulane University in New Orleans and Washington University in St. Louis.
“Architecture: Now and Then” will be on display at the UT Arlington School of Architecture Gallery in Room 206 through the end of February. It is free and open to the public.
posted: 2008-02-13 17:25:49
UT Arlington Architecture Dean Honored by AIA Fort Worth University of Texas at Arlington School of Architecture Dean Donald Gatzke, AIA was presented the President’s Award by the American Institute of Architecture’s Fort Worth Chapter. The award was given at the AIA Forth Worth’s Honors and Awards Dinner on January 22, 2008.
Dean Gatzke was recognized by the organization for his work with AIA Fort Worth and AIA Dallas in partnering with UT Arlington, and strengthening the bond between the university community and professionals in the area.
“He has truly reached out to the architecture community,” said outgoing 2007 AIA Fort Worth President Stephen Darrow, NCARB, AIA. “He has worked to get both the business and academic communities to realize the needs of the other, and to learn to respect those needs.”
In presenting the award, Darrow cited Dean Gatzke’s work with the AIA Fort Worth Student Design Awards Program, as well as his participation in Vision North Texas, the North Texas Council of Governments and the Urban Land Institute. Gatzke joined the AIA Fort Worth Executive Committee in 2007, where Darrow says “Don takes his board position seriously and is constantly looking for ways to further the relationship that we all feel is so important.”
AIA Fort Worth, a chapter of The American Institute of Architects (AIA), is a professional organization of architects from North Texas. AIA Fort Worth seeks to promote the value of architecture to the public, and to unify the membership in service to and growth of the profession. The Fort Worth Chapter was founded in 1946 and maintains a membership of over 400 architects.
posted: 2008-02-11 16:21:33
Firm led by UTA alum Ralph Hawkins opens Arlington office HKS opens Arlington Office
Architecture firm HKS Inc. has opened a new office in Arlington.
Dallas-based HKS is designing the new Dallas Cowboys stadium in Arlington. The stadium is set to be the largest stadium in the National Football League, and is near to the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, which was also designed by HKS.
Arlington Memorial Hospital in December opened a new surgical tower designed by HKS.
HKS aims to have 25 employees at the Arlington office by the end of 2008. The architecture firm is led by Ralph Hawkins, a graduate of the University of Texas at Arlington. Nasser Gittiban is managing the Arlington office’s operations.
HKS was founded in Dallas in 1939 and also has an office in Fort Worth, among its 23 offices globally.
(from Dallas Business Journal, 1/4/08)
posted: 2008-01-11 11:42:00
UTA Shorthorn features Architecture staffer The Shorthorn (UT Arlington) – “Breaking Her Silence” (September 7, 2007)
posted: 2007-09-07 15:56:18
UTA Alumnus editor of bold new architectural journal FOR RELEASE: Thursday, August 23, 2007
Architecture in Black
New journal examines racial issues in architecture, other creative disciplines
FAYETTEVILLE, ARK. – A mug shot of a black man is a gutsy choice for the cover of Appx, a new journal that examines architecture and other creative disciplines through the lens of race. Darell Fields, the journal’s editor and an associate professor of architecture at the University of Arkansas, chose the image in part because “I could be in jail as easily as anywhere else. I’m more likely to be in jail, statistically speaking,” he said.
Instead, Fields has beaten the dismal odds for black men to join the vanishing small number of African Americans who practice architecture in the United States. (There are 1,558 black licensed architects in the United States, about 1.5 percent of the nation’s total, according to data from the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards and the University of Cincinnati Center for the Study of Practice.)
Appx builds on Fields’ earlier scholarly work – a journal, dissertation and book completed at Harvard University – that blew open the hermetic world of architectural criticism with an entirely new racial perspective on the field.
“Most of the talk is highly uncritical: pretty drawings, pretty buildings. That’s not all that architecture is,” Fields said. “With Appx, we’re only scratching the surface. Look at what we could be doing, could be thinking!”
Take, for example, the first article, “Kant, Formalism and the Latent Anthropology of Race” by Charles Davis, a doctoral student at the University of Pennsylvania School of Design. Laced with inflammatory pull quotes, including one in which Kant equates dark skin color with diminished intellectual ability, to take an especially egregious example, the article questions the deployment of Kant’s philosophy without the racial underpinnings of his anthropological work
“Can anyone talk about Kant in a serious way without addressing his anthropological treatises? Kant himself states you can’t divide the body of work,” Fields said.
The theme of racially driven anomaly also surfaces in an essay on the early-20th century Viennese architect Adolf Loos by Caroline Constant, a professor of architecture at the University of Michigan. While most of Loos’ work was characterized by restrained ornamentation, whitewashed facades and simple geometric forms, his theoretical design for Josephine Baker’s Parisian townhouse featured a boldly striped façade and a first floor pool embedded with windows that would have allowed passersby to peep in on an “underwater revue.” Constant places the work in context and explores Loos’ conflicted attitudes toward women by comparing the Baker house with two other domestic interiors designed for female clients.
Paul Kelsch’s article “Cultivating Community: On African Americans, Nature and Landscape Architecture” draws on oral history narratives to discuss how the black diaspora weakened traditional ties to the land and current attempts to cultivate community through urban garden programs. Kelsch is an assistant professor of landscape architecture at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Md.
Two full-color portfolios round out the first issue of Appx. Kristin Musgnug’s eerily silent mini-golf scenes and other domestic landscapes nicely complement Kelsch’s article. Musgnug is a professor of art at the University of Arkansas and is represented by the Inman Gallery in Houston. A site guide to African American churches in the Sweet Auburn area of downtown Atlanta, written by Atlanta architect Margaret Fletcher and illustrated by photographs by Reed Simonds, completes the journal with a straightforward documentation of richly varied architectural form.
Fields is pleased with the mix of substantial yet readable articles and eye-catching visuals.
“As a compilation these articles demonstrate that race as an aesthetic principle is a very fruitful way to pursue scholarship in any number of venues,” he said.
Add comic books to the list: Fields is already at work on an article for the next issue that will analyze DC Comics superhero narratives from the 60s and 70s.
“It’s so refreshing,” he said, gesturing at a cover showing the Green Lantern (black) vs. the Green Lantern (white) facing off. “There’s racial theory, and it’s right there.”
The journal’s contributors range from emerging scholars to well-established critics and artists. Not all of them are African American, which Fields views as a plus.
“For the race issue to become truly innovative, we have to get beyond the notion that blackness can only be comprehended as a closed racial experience. Blackness, in fact, is a comprehensive aesthetic methodology,” he said.
In addition to his teaching and scholarly work, Fields has developed a prefabricated housing system that offers sleek customizable housing at spec house prices. To bring costs even lower, he is also pursuing patents for innovative new building components. Fields received his Bachelor of Science in architecture from the University of Texas at Arlington. He earned a master’s degree from the Graduate School of Design and a doctoral degree from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, both at Harvard University. He taught at Harvard and Northeastern University before joining the University of Arkansas School of Architecture faculty in 2005. Fields has won awards in numerous national and international design competitions and has initiated and participated in projects in Dallas, New York, Boston and Tokyo.
Appx is published annually and distributed by the University of Arkansas Press. For more information visit http://architecture.uark.edu/apx.html.
—-
Contact:
Darell Fields, associate professor of architecture
School of Architecture
(617) 413-2574, dwfields@uark.edu
posted: 2007-08-31 15:58:32
Former acting dean of UT Arlington Architecture dead at 71 ARLINGTON, TX (August 16, 2007) – Richard L. Dodge Jr., who served as acting dean of The University of Texas at Arlington’s School of Architecture from 2002-2003, died Friday, August 10, 2007. He was 71.
Professor Dodge received his Bachelor of Architecture from Berkeley in 1961 and his Master of Architecture from Yale in 1967. He served on the faculty and as associate dean at The University of Texas in Austin as Bartlett Cocke Regents Centennial Professor (Emeritus). In 2002, he was appointed Acting Dean of UT Arlington’ School of Architecture and guided the institution through the difficult period following the dismissal of former dean Martha LaGess. Richard Dodge was succeeded by Donald Gatzke, the current Dean of Architecture at UT Arlington.
“Richard Dodge took over the helm of the School at a turbulent time and did an exceptional job of steadying the course of the School in the brief time he was acting dean—and certainly made my job easier when I arrived in 2004 to succeed him as dean,” said Dean Gatzke. ”He should be remembered for his success as an educator through his long time membership on the architecture faculty at UT Austin and then his influential role here at UTA. He was a lively character but an extremely kind and generous human being. ”
Richard Dodge is survived by his wife, Kirsten; a daughter, Aina Dodge and her husband Steve Chapman; a son, Michael; and a grandson, Alex. A memorial service has been scheduled for Tuesday, September 25, from 6-8 p.m. at the Texas Exes Alumni Center at UT Austin.
posted: 2007-08-21 13:00:21
UT ARLINGTON PROGRAM DIRECTOR SELECTED AS OUTSTANDING ADMINISTRATOR Pat D. Taylor, Director of the Program in Landscape Architecture at The University of Texas at Arlington, has been selected as the Outstanding Academic Administrator in landscape architecture for 2007. The award is sponsored by the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA.) It will be presented to Dr. Taylor at CELA’s annual meeting in State College, Pennsylvania later this summer.
Taylor has served as Program Director at UT Arlington since 1992. During his time as Director, the Program has received five accreditations from the Landscape Architecture Accreditation Board. Its students and faculty have received numerous awards for design and research and its reputation has grown internationally, with virtually all of the Program’s graduates finding professional positions within three months of graduation. Most have jobs by the time they graduate.
Taylor credits the award to the students and faculty of landscape architecture, and to outstanding leadership from Don Gatzke, Dean of the School of Architecture. “We also benefit from the support shown by Provost Dana Dunn, Vice President for Research Ron Elsenbaumer, and Graduate Studies Dean Philip Cohen,” Taylor says. “Since ours is exclusively a graduate program, it takes special understanding of our educational mission for us to thrive. Our administrators have that understanding.”
Criteria for the award include innovative improvements that have a direct impact on a program’s initial accreditation or re-accreditation; major new initiatives benefiting performance and/or the reputation of a program; and unique fund-raising successes leading to lasting positive improvements in a program. Previous winners of the award have been chairs, directors or deans at Syracuse, Minnesota, Clemson, Kansas State and the University of Colorado at Denver.
posted: 2007-08-02 14:23:14
UT Arlington professor and students participate in community beacon of hope Dallas Architect and UT Arlington School of Architecture Adjunct Professor Brent Brown and a group of his students recently worked to help redesign and renovate an abandoned house in the 1100-acre Frazier neighborhood of South Dallas, transforming it into a distnctive structure for use as office space for the nonprofit organization Frazier Revitalization Inc. and a public meeting space for members of the community.
The house is an abandoned 1930s bungalow which has sat vacant for a number of years. The reconstructed walls are formed out of a sturdy, double-paned plastic material called polygal. A 500w bulb will light the house from within, serving as a beacon and symbol to this struggling community.
Professor Brown says that due to the efforts of the seven students in his studio, more than seventy-five student volunteers were recruited, mostly from the School of Architecture but also including students from a variety of different campus areas such as Liberal Arts and Business.
The project grew out of Professor Brown’s buildingcommunity WORKSHOP, a nonprofit that works to incorporate various design techniques into affordable housing. Frazier Revitalization spent from $7,000 to $10,000 on the house. Its parent company, the Foundation for Community Empowerment, assists southern-sector community organizations and is headed by J. McDonald “Don” Williams, chairman emeritus of Trammell Crow Co.
Professor Brown says that the unique building will serve as a metaphor to a community long accustomed to broken promises. Students consulted with residents of the neighborhood in the planning of the house renovation and intend to use the location as a site to plan future community projects.
——-
Other media coverage:
Old House Becomes Source of Light for Community (Fox 4 News)
Turning a house into a beacon (Dallas Morning News)
posted: 2007-03-30 15:13:46
In memoriam - Dean Emeritus George S. Wright Dear Colleagues, Alumni and Friends;
George S. Wright, dean of the UT Arlington School of Architecture from 1976 to 1987, died on January 19 in Ann Arbor Michigan, after a protracted illness. Dean Wright was a distinguished educator, who as the second dean of the school was crucial to success of the school in the subsequent years. His many accomplishments include the establishment of the Architecture Library as a separate collection within the UT Arlington Library System and construction of a separate facility for the School of Architecture, the Architecture Building, which is the home of the School today. Dean Wright was especially proud of the creation on the Myrick Courtyard as part of the design of the School of Architecture. He was a Harvard graduate and served his country in the U.S. Navy during World War II.
Dean Wright was also a superb architect with a number of significant buildings across the Southwest, with most located in New Mexico. In his memory we’ve made available a brief show of some of his projects.
Donations in his memory can be made to the George S. Wright Scholarship Fund.
posted: 2007-03-01 13:46:00
Dean featured in Star Telegram article Architecture Dean Don Gatzke was featured in the February 18, 2007 edition of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The story, written by John Austin, focused on Dean Gatzke’s design for his new home in Arlington, as well as some of his thoughts on the world of architecture.
posted: 2007-02-27 15:21:00
Architecture student's work featured in photographic exhibit Photographs by University of Texas at Arlington School of Architecture student Morgan Newman were selected for inclusion in the Sixth Annual Joyce Elaine Grant Photography Exhibition, held at the West Gallery of the Visual Arts Building at Texas Women’s University. The exhibition ran from January 23 to February 16, 2007.
The annual exhibition provides a national venue for the presentation of artistic expression as seen through the eyes of the camera. The Joyce Elaine Grant Photography Exhibition and Endowment were established in 2001 by a small group of TWU graduate students and are named in memory of the mother of TWU photography professor Susan Kae Grant.
Morgan Newman is a graduate of Lamar High School in Arlington, Texas. She attended the United States Air Force Academy for two years, majoring in Foreign Area Studies Middle East, before completing a BS in Biology at UT Arlington. She is currently participating in the School of Architecture’s Path A Architecture Program and plans to graduate in December 2007.
posted: 2007-02-27 14:30:00
"Be a Maverick" Campaign A new advertisement in UT Arlington’s “Be a Maverick” campaign features architecture student alumni Amin Gilani and Josh Spoerl, winners of last year’s New Orleans Housing Competition.
(Requires Flash Player.)
posted: 2007-02-23 13:32:00
UT Arlington Interior Design Professor Recognized by Real Estate Industry School of Architecture Interior Design professor Marian McKeever Millican was selected by the Greater Fort Worth Commercial Real Estate Women’s Network (GFW CREW) to receive the 2006 Texas Star Achievement Award, representing the University of Texas at Arlington. The award honors recipients from Tarrant and Parker counties, from kindergarten to the university level.
Marian Millican is an Associate Professor of Interior Design at UT Arlington and previously served as Director for the School’s Interior Design Program. Prior to her appointment at UT Arlington, Professor Millican worked in the real estate industry and was previously a member of GFW CREW.
Greater Fort Worth CREW is a non-profit organization of commercial real estate professionals affiliated nationally through membership in CREW Network, providing opportunities for networking, education, leadership development and civic/philanthropic involvement. Officially formed in 1985, The Greater Fort Worth CREW association has been dedicated to providing a networking and socializing forum for real estate professional women in the Fort Worth and surrounding areas.
posted: 2007-02-22 14:23:23
Interior Design student named inaugural scholarship winner University of Texas at Arlington student Diana Kang has been named as the inaugural recipient of the Kimball Office Scholarship Fund.
The scholarship is sponsored by the International Interior Design Association (IIDA) Foundation and was made possible with funding from Kimball Office. The Kimball Office Scholarship fund was created to emphasize diversity at the college/university level. The three-year program annually awards $5,000 to a senior year student pursuing a degree in interior design. The winning student, of African, Asian, Latin or Native American heritage, is selected based upon excellence in both academics and promising design talent.
Four schools with esteemed interior design programs were chosen for the final selection process. The review committee reviewed the work of student finalists nominated by the Interior Design Departments at Harrington College of Design, Chicago, Illinois; University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio; Woodbury University, Burbank, California and University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas.
In awarding the scholarship to Diana Kang, the committee stated, “We were thoroughly impressed with Diana’s comprehension, execution and strength in the interior design process. Her skills and her quality are very advanced—she will be a great design professional.”
Diana Kang is a student at UT Arlington’s School of Architecture. A resident of Plano, Texas, she is a senior in the Interior Design program and will graduate in May.
The IIDA Foundation is a not-for-profit, philanthropic organization whose primary mission is to advance interior design through education, research and knowledge to benefit IIDA and the interior design profession. The IIDA works to enhance quality of life through excellence in interior design and to advance interior design through knowledge, value and community.
posted: 2006-12-20 13:45:16
Announcement from the Dean All faculty, staff and students of the School of Architecture
Effectively immediately, Asst. Prof. Rebecca Boles will assume the position as Interim Program Director for Interior Design. Prof. Marian Millican will take a well deserved break from administrative responsibilities to focus on her teaching, and to prepare for the next accreditation visit. Without any doubt, the Interior Design program prospered under Marian’s leadership over the past decade and will continue to do so under Becky’s direction in the future.
posted: 2006-10-09 13:17:00
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE DIRECTOR RECEIVES SECOND INTERNATIONAL AWARD ARCHITECTURE PROFESSOR AWARDED FOR ‘ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY THROUGH COLLABORATION & DESIGN’
ARLINGTON—Pat D. Taylor, director of The University of Texas Arlington’s Program in Landscape Architecture, has been awarded the Merit Award for achieving “remarkable works for CIGR, the International Commission of Agricultural Engineers.” The award was given at the 2006 CIGR World Congress in Bonn, Germany, earlier this month.
According to Professor Dr. H.N. van Lier of the Wageningen Agricultural and Research Institute in the Netherlands, Dr. Taylor received the award because of his “critical renewal and positive contributions to the work of CIGR’s Section on Land, Water and Environment.” Singled out was the work Taylor did in hosting the Section’s 2005 conference on “Environmental quality through collaboration and design” at UT Arlington.
Van Lier’s endorsement noted that the conference brought together technically oriented environmental professionals with design-oriented planners whose combined aim was to improve land and water habitats at the regional scale. Taylor also was elected vice-chair of the Land, Water and Environment Section at the Bonn conference.
Taylor received the Award of Distinction earlier this year from the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA) at its annual meeting in Vancouver, Canada. The CELA award was based on his long standing support for research in landscape architecture.
Taylor has served as director of UT Arlington’s landscape architecture program since 1992. Among his current priorities is advancing the Program and the School of Architecture—in collaboration with Vision North Texas—as a regional design center for Dallas/Ft. Worth, an idea important to the School’s Dean, Don Gatzke.
Gatzke noted, “As we try to get a grip on the development future of North Texas, with the hope of making more ordered, efficient and liveable communities, we are going to look to landscape architecture to provide regional scale solutions for many of the most pressing issues,” said School of Architecture Dean Don Gatzke. “Dr. Taylor’s international experience and his local knowledge fit with where the regional design focus is going.”
posted: 2006-10-04 12:44:24
School of Architecture Involved in New Orleans Recovery Project SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE JOINS CONSORTIUM TO HELP REBUILD NEW ORLEANS
ARLINGTON—The School of Architecture at The University of Texas at Arlington has announced its participation in a collaborative effort with more than a dozen other architectural schools across the nation to help rebuild New Orleans.
The 3-year project, called CITYbuild, is aimed at not only rebuilding the city’s buildings, but also its culture, and includes other universities such as Tulane, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Southern California.
Planning is expected to get underway this fall, with work beginning in 2007.
“The goal of the various participating schools is to create an effective collaboration up to the scale of the needs and tasks to be done,” said Architecture Dean Donald Gatzke, who came to UT Arlington from Tulane. “We want we want to absolutely make sure that what we do is of actual help to the residents of New Orleans, and that we’re not just getting in the way.”
The consortium’s long-range plans do, however, include ongoing outreach efforts to other disaster-ridden areas around the country.
Gatzke added that funding for the project will come from participating universities, which includes part of a $300,000 U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development grant from Tulane, the project’s headquarters.
Each university must make a commitment to the consortium by Sept. 15. Once finalized, the consortium is expected to meet later this month.
For more information, visit www.citybuild.org.
posted: 2006-09-18 13:45:00
Architecture Staffer to be published by St. Martin's Press Publishers Weekly has announced that St. Martin’s Press will publish Schuyler’s Monster, a memoir by Robert Rummel-Hudson detailing his experiences raising a child with Congenital Bilateral Perisylvian Syndrome, a rare neurological disorder that left his daughter unable to speak. St. Martins plans a winter 2008 publication. Robert Rummel-Hudson is a former student at the University of Texas at Arlington and is currently the Coordinator of Communications at UT Arlington’s School of Architecture.
Deals – 9/11/06 – Publishers Weeekly
posted: 2006-09-18 13:09:41
Architecture Dean quoted in Dallas Observer Architecture Dean Donald Gatzke was quoted recently in an August 31, 2006 editorial by Jim Schutze in the Dallas Observer. The story concerned the proposed Trinity River bridge project in development by the City of Dallas.
posted: 2006-09-05 12:12:15
Fourth Largest Architectural/Engineering Firm Headed by UTA Alumnus HKS, Inc. is now ranked as the fourth largest architectural/engineering firm in the United States in regard to annual volume, according to Building Design & Construction magazine’s July 2006 issue. The firm’s ranking jumped from number five in 2005.
The president and CEO of HKS Architects, Inc., H. Ralph Hawkins, FAIA, FACHA, is an alumnus of The University of Texas at Arlington (BS Arch 1973) and serves on the School of Architecture’s Advisory Council. He was named “The Outstanding Design Industry CEO of the Year” 2006 by PSMJ Resources, the leading management consulting firm for the architecture/engineering/construction industries.
posted: 2006-08-30 12:10:00
Award winning student design featured in Italian exhibit STUDENTS’ ARCHITECTURE DESIGN TO BE FEATURED IN VENICE, ITALY ART EXHIBITION.
The model of a winning design entry by two University of Texas at Arlington School of Architecture students will be exhibited next month at the Venice Biennale, a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy.
The winning entry to the New Orleans Prototype Housing competition, “The Porch House,” was submitted by architecture senior Amin Gilani and architecture alumnus Josh Spoerl.
The “Reconstructing the Gulf Coast” design competition—sponsored by Architectural Record magazine and the School of Architecture at Tulane University in New Orleans—sought to generate ideas for the reconstruction of the Gulf Coast. More than 500 architects and students of architecture submitted designs for multi-family projects and single family homes to the Katrina Design Competition.
The students were sponsored by Architecture Professors Bijan Youssefzadeh and Heath MacDonald. The winning design was announced in May. It has previously been exhibited at the Ogden Museum in New Orleans and was featured in the June issue of Architectural Record.
Additional photographs of the winning design may be found at http://www.uta.edu/architecture/nola.
posted: 2006-08-21 12:21:00
UT Arlington professor selected for journal contribution University of Texas at Arlington School of Architecture Professor Tom Rusher is among thirty Principal Investigators selected by Chris Yessios, Founder of Autodessys, Inc., to contribute an article on Digital and Analogue Design Integration for the Form_Z Joint Study Journal. Professor Rusher was chosen from a field which included faculty from a number of esteemed universities. including Columbia, Harvard, Berkeley, the Cooper Union, and a number of international schools.
Autodessys (or auto·des·sys, automated design systems) is a privately held company formed in 1989. It was founded with the aim of creating the tools enabling advanced 3D modeling on personal computers at an affordable price, developing technology that was before only available on large computers and in research laboratories. The company’s flagship modeling software product, Form_Z, was released in 1991.
Professor Rusher’s article, Digital/Analogue Methodologies: Integration and Abstraction, was written as part of the Form_Z Joint Study Program, for which Rusher has served as the Principle Investigator for the past four years. He will also be publishing UT Arlington student works from the Design Communications III class in the 2005-2006 Form_Z Joint Study publication. This will be the fourth year of publishing in this journal.
Tom Rusher attended UT Arlington and Columbia University in New York City. He has been an Adjunct Professor at UT Arlington since 2002.
posted: 2006-08-16 17:34:48
Dallas Houses Featured in Major Spanish Architectural Journal  A series of courtyard houses designed by Dallas architect Edward M. Baum, FAIA, is one of twenty-six projects worldwide included in AV Monograph 116: Formal Housing, the most recent publication of AV Monographs, the issue-oriented publication of the leading Spanish journal Arquitectura Viva. The Dallas houses, completed in late 2003, are one-storey structures of 1600 square feet organized around three small outdoor spaces. Designed as prototypes for infill urban lots, the dwellings are made from materials and equipment available in the building products market from places like Home Depot. Hence the title of the article on them: “Catalogue Courtyard Houses”.
In his introduction to “Formal Housing” Arquitectura Viva editor Luis Fernández-Galiano examines mainly European examples (among them projects by Calatrava, Hadid, Siza, and MVRDV) and concludes with three from Japan and two from the United States. He explains the title thus — ”... the majority of the projects presented in this issue stand out for their geometric rigor, their material sophistication and their compositional elegance.”
Fernández-Galiano, however, goes on to compare the European work with the American and Japanese projects. He notes a certain “fatigue” in European housing design, a disconnect from the dynamics of current urban and social conditions, an almost complete reliance on the visual and constructional qualities in the buildings themselves. He sums up his critique thus:
“Understood in somewhat more generous terms architecture incorporates as much the technological inventiveness and skill in distribution that characterizes the American context as the social choreographies and effectiveness in production that are distinctive features of the Asian model, and both pairs of coordinates converge in the projects that close the issue, where the construction with components is placed at the service of the suburbanization of Texas and California, and where the versatile exactness of the mixed-use programs orchestrates the hyper-urban density of Tokyo: two extreme examples that perhaps contain a useful lesson for this equidistant and exhausted Europe.”
Baum’s Prototype Infill Housing has been published widely in the U.S. and abroad. Besides the current AV Monograph the project is documented in Dwell Magazine, Ottagono, Wood Design Awards 2005, Texas Architect, and in Architectural Record’s Building Types Study (web).
In addition to his design practice in Dallas, Baum is professor of architecture at University of Texas at Arlington, where he served as dean of the School of Architecture from 1987 until 1999.
posted: 2006-08-16 12:36:00
UT Arlington Alum Gets Promotion F&S Partners Incorporated, a Dallas-based architecture, interior design, and planning firm, announced the promotion of J. Kip Jameson, AIA to Associate Principal. A University of Texas at Arlington alumnus and Plano resident, Mr. Jameson has been a project manager with the firm for 13 years. He was acknowledged for his role as a leader, motivator and architect, and for his ability to work with clients, staff and consultants.
posted: 2006-08-15 14:33:25
Fall 2006 - School of Architecture Update Faculty News and Course Offerings:
Professor Chester Duncan, Jr. has retired from the University. He taught structural and engineering courses at UT Arlington since the fall of 1976. His contributions to the School of Architecture and to the campus community will be sorely missed, and we wish him the very best.
Douglas Klahr has been appointed to a continuing tenure track position.
Dr. Tanja Damljanivic from Cornell University will serve as a visiting assistant professor and will teach Arch History 2304 and Modern Architecture of Central Europe.
Clay Odum, a graduate of Columbia University, will teach design and drawing.
——-
New and Updated Course Offerings:
Jose Morales from Seville, Spain and Anton Garcia-Abril from Madrid will split the teaching duties for a graduate design studio, Design 5670. Professor Morales will teach the first half of the semester and Professor Garcia the second.
School of Architecture Dean Donald Gatzke and Fort Worth architect Mark Gunderson will teach the first half of a studio, Design 5670, and Dallas architect Russell Buchanan will take the second half. Dean Gatzke and Mark Gunderson’s project will involve an addition to the Kimbell Museum following the museum’s recently announced intention to expand.
Dallas architect Brent Brown will offer a special seminar course, ARCH 4395/5395, for both undergraduate and graduate students on inclusive design, community engagement and the social responsibilities of the architect.
The graduate design studio, Design for Health Care, first offered last spring, will again be offered. This 3 credit studio meets on Monday evenings 6-9 at the offices of HKS Architects in Dallas and is taught by a stellar team of experts in health care design from HKS, Perkins + Will, RTKL and Page Southerland Page Architects.
——-
Events:
Friday, September 15, 2006
5-7 p.m., Architecture Gallery
The School of Architecture will present a memorial celebration for the late Professor Andrzej Pinno as a remembrance and appreciation of his life, his work and his lasting contributions to the students and community of UT Arlington and the world of architecture at large. Students, Alumni, faculty and staff and friends are all invited.
November 1, 2006
5:30 networking, 6:00 program
UT Arlington campus (location TBD)
Edward Mazria, AIA
presented by the UT Arlington School of Architecture and the North Texas Chapter of the US Green Building Council
Edward Mazria AIA, is a senior principal at Mazria Inc. Odems Dzurec, an architecture and planning firm in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He is author of The Passive Solar Energy Book, senior analyst for the Southwest Climate Council and adjunct professor at the University of New Mexico. He speaks nationally and internationally on the subject of climate change and architecture. He is the Architecture 2030 founder and will be speaking about the 2030 Challenge, which focuses on slowing the growth rate of greenhouse gas emissions and then reversing it over the next ten years.
$20 North Texas USGBC members
$30 All others
$5 Emerging Green Builder members
Free – UTA students, staff and faculty with valid ID
RSVP: Will be required for all attendees, so watch for announcements.
Other lectures to be announced.
posted: 2006-08-14 14:48:00
Architecture Dean elected to statewide board University of Texas at Arlington School of Architecture Dean Donald Gatzke has been elected to serve on the Texas Society of Architects Board in the capacity of Education Member Director. He will serve a two year term beginning in 2007. Dean Gatzke will represent the various schools of architecture in the state of Texas to the TSA.
Founded in 1939, the Texas Society of Architects is a member association representing the members of the American Institute of Architects in the state of Texas. The TSA consists of seventeen regional chapters and is headquartered in Austin.
Donald Gatzke was named Dean of the School of Architecture at UT Arlington in 2004. Before that, he served as Dean of the School of Architecture in Tulane University in New Orleans.
posted: 2006-08-10 11:10:54
Dallas Branches Out Through Tree House Article in the American Society of Landscape Architects publication Landscape Architecture News Digest – LAND Online.
posted: 2006-07-26 11:10:22
Architecture Professor Designs Tree House for Arboretum Exhibit ARCHITECTURE PROFESSOR’S DESIGN FEATURED AT THE DALLAS ARBORETUM
A design by Brad Bell and HNTB Architecture, Inc. is one of thirteen currently being featured in Ultimate Tree Houses, an exhibit at the Dallas Arboretum through the end of the year.
Fifty-five entries were submitted by local architects and narrowed down by a jury. All the winning entries are ADA accessible and are spread out among the Arboretum’s sixty-six acres. They represent a variety of design concepts.
Professor Bell’s design, “Leaves Imagination”, demonstrates the design and architectural possibilities of digital fabrication. Using leaves as the basic form for the design, Bell created a design that is organic in appearance through the use of parametric 3-D modeling software and a plasma cutter to shape the structure’s internal skeleton. Students from the Jurassic Class at Windsong Montessori School contributed to the exhibit by personalizing the house with hanging, hand-decorated “leaves”.
For more information, visit the Dallas Arboretum or call 214.515.6500. The exhibition will be in place until December 31, 2006.
(More images available.)
posted: 2006-07-26 11:07:00
UTA Alumnus and Advisory Council member named CEO of the Year ARCHITECTURE ALUMNUS NAMED OUTSTANDING C.E.O. OF THE YEAR
The president and CEO of HKS Architects, Inc., H. Ralph Hawkins, FAIA, FACHA, has been named “The Outstanding Design Industry CEO of the Year” 2006 by PSMJ Resources, the leading management consulting firm for the architecture/engineering/construction industries.
Ralph Hawkins is an alumnus of the University of Texas at Arlington (BS Arch 1973) and serves on the School of Architecture’s Advisory Council.
Hawkins was recognized by PSMJ for his leadership in expanding HKS, Inc. geographically and into diversified markets as well as developing an open-door style of leadership, mentoring and training for the firm’s staff of over a thousand employees.
“It is an honor and privilege to be recognized as an outstanding CEO especially by such a respected organization as PSMJ,” said Hawkins. “It is easy to be outstanding when you have the great people at HKS to serve.”
HKS, Inc. is a leading architectural design firm ranked among the top-five architectural/ engineering firms, according to Building Design & Construction magazine. Since its founding in 1939, HKS has completed construction projects totaling more than $36 billion in more than 650 cities located in 45 states, the District of Columbia, and 36 foreign countries.
posted: 2006-07-20 11:46:00
UT Arlington concludes successful summer design program Participants from around the metroplex in the University of Texas at Arlington’s inaugural SEED program celebrated the end of the program with faculty and parents on June 30, with a final presentation and public exhibition of their work in the UTA Fine Arts Gallery. School of Architecture Dean Donald Gatzke and Art & Art History Chair Robert Hower officially closed the program with the presentation of certificates to the participants.
Twenty high school students were chosen by the art faculty at their schools to participate in the two-week session, a collaboration between the university’s programs in Art & Art History and Architecture.
The SEED (Strategies, Events, Episodes + Devices) 2006 summer program was the first of its kind at UT Arlington. It was designed to take high school students in the Metroplex region and immerse them in the disciplines of visual arts and design, many of them for the first time. By seeing the professional possibilities and working with noted members of the university faculty, students had the opportunity to examine a possible career path in architecture, art or design.
“Although we spent months planning for SEED 2006, we saw it as an experiment with a number of unknowns,” observed Dean Gatzke. “We clearly learned quite a bit on how to improve it for next year, but I think we were all amazed at how enthusiastic the participants were—both in their actions and in their comments at the end.”
In addition to Dean Gatzke and Professor Hower, SEED 2006 featured the talents of a number of distinguished UT Arlington faculty. From the School of Architecture, participants included Professors Rebecca Boles, George Gintole and Sandra Espinoza from Architecture. The Art & Art History faculty members included Professor Don Beck, Professor David Keens and Professor Kenda North.
“We were very impressed with the way they worked together and the quality of their final work,” said Professor North. “The SEED institute offered the students an opportunity to engage in a creative experience that required them to address new conceptual problems and new approaches to materials. They embraced the challenge. I was very pleased with the opportunity to work with faculty in Architecture on this Institute. The field trips and studio time gave us a chance to share ideas and explore ways to bring new experiences to the students.”
Professor Gintole was impressed by the maturity of the students and their willingness to embrace three dimensional modeling during the second week. Many of the students had experience with painting and art, but were eager to venture out of this comfort zone and explore architectural forms.
Funding for this inaugural program was provided by the university through the Provost’s office, but in future years outside funding will be sought.
posted: 2006-07-17 15:14:45
UT Arlington Designer Featured in Sculpture Exhibit The Belmont Hotel and Decorazon Gallery in Dallas presented Sculpture With A View, featuring sculpture artists Larry Whitely, Eric McGehearty and the University of Texas at Arlington’s Jeff Whatley, at the Belmont from June 7 to July 12, 2006.
Jeff Whatley is currently a professor of furniture design at UT Arlington’s School of Architecture. He is a graduate from the University of Dallas with a B.A. in Art, and received his M.F.A. in Sculpture from the University of Washington in Seattle. Professor Whatley’s awards and exhibitions include commissioned work at the Museum of Modern Art in Fort Worth and a review in The Courier-Journal, Urban Discoveries Show You Can Find Art Everywhere, 2001.
posted: 2006-07-13 11:06:00
UT Arlington Architecture Professor dies Andrzej Pinno, Associate Professor of Architecture at the University of Texas at Arlington, died on Saturday, July 1 after a lengthy illness.
Professor Pinno was educated at the Warsaw Polytechnic Institute (where he periodically returned as a visiting professor from 1993 to 1999), the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts and the Harvard Graduate School of Design. He taught previously at Rensselear Polytechnic Institute, Universite de Montréal, Pennsylvania State University, and Cornell University. Andrzej Pinno joined the UT Arlington faculty in 1976 and was recently honored for thirty years of service to the university.
Professor Pinno was an active contributor to academic conferences in the area of theory. He conducted lectures at the University of Toronto (“Berlin Free University and the Venice Hospital”) in 1974, at the Third International Conference of the Design Method Group (“Beyond Scientific Methods in Architecture”) at Berkeley in 1975, at numerous Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture conferences from 1986 through 1991, and the Walter Wagner Education Forum of the American Institute of Architects in 1989.
His work was featured in a number of exhibitions, including “Housing for Growth and Change” at the Groupe d’Etude d’Architecture Mobile in France in 1963 and 1964, and the Experimental Housing Project at the Yale University Conference on Housing in 1993.
Andrzej Pinno worked with a number of esteemed architects in Poland, including Kazimierz Piechotka, Zygmunt Kleyff, and Bohdan Pniewski. He participated in team projects with Jerzy Soltan and Zbigniew Ihnatowicz at the Experimental Workshops of the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts. He also had professional experience with with Candilis, Josic, Woods in Paris, focusing on experimental and prefabricated housing. Professor Pinno’s numerous design competitions include Vienna South, and the Centre Georges Pompidou, Roosevelt Island Housing Competition and the Hong Kong Peak Competition.
Professor Pinno was published in Architektura (Warsaw), Forum Europeen d’Architecure – Bau-Forum (Luxembourg), World Architecture No. 1 (London), Architectural Design (London), Le Carré Bleu (Paris), ABC (Montreal), DMG-DRS Journal (Berkeley), Project (Warsaw), Conoscersi (Rome), Pokaz (Warsaw) and Reflections (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign).
Memorial services were held at Moore Memorial Chapel in Arlington, Texas.
posted: 2006-07-05 13:46:00
Interior Design students win wallcovering award ARCHITECTURE STUDENTS WIN INTERIOR DESIGN AWARDS
Two students from the University of Texas at Arlington School of Architecture’s Interior Design program have won awards in the Tri-kes Wallcovering Source One Design Competition, sponsored by Interior Design Magazine and the Wallcovering Source distribution alliance, D.L. Couch, Eykon and Tri-Kes.
Jesus Plata and Michael Rene Contreras were awarded Student Merit Awards for the corporate category for their separate designs. The winning entries were selected based on design innovation, aesthetics, originality and sustainability for intended use.
The winners were announced at the NeoCon World’s Trade Fair in Chicago in June. Winning entries can be viewed at Source One.
Plata graduated in the Spring and Contreras will be graduating this semester. Both are students of Professor Elfriede Foster.
posted: 2006-07-05 13:40:00
Burleson, Crowley students learn architecture Article in the Burleson-Crowley Connection, July 3, 2006.
posted: 2006-07-05 10:21:02
Dean serves on AIA-NY Design Awards Jury Architecture Dean Donald Gatzke served as a juror for the 2006 American Institute of Architects New York Chapter’s Design Awards Competition, the winners of which were recognized at a luncheon at 7 World Trade Center on June 28, 2006.
The AIANY Design Awards Program recognizes excellence in architectural design by New York City architects and in New York City projects. The program’s purpose is to increase awareness of outstanding architecture and to honor the architects, clients, and consultants who work together to improve the built environment.
On June 29th an exhibition of all the winning entries will be on view at the AIA New York Chapter’s Center for Architecture through August 26, 2006.
posted: 2006-06-30 17:14:54
High School Students Study Art and Architecture YOUNG ARTISTS BUILD ‘PERSONAL SPACE’
A select group of teenage artists who are studying with University of Texas at Arlington art and art history and architecture faculty this summer will present their projects at a reception from 4 to 6 p.m. Friday, June 30, in the Gallery at UTA in the Fine Arts Building, 700 Greek Row Drive.
Twenty area high schools each chose one student with exceptional potential in visual art and/or design for the innovative new program called SEED: strategies, events, episodes and devices. The students, rising juniors, seniors and one new graduate, are participating in the two-week SEED program at no charge.
“This is definitely not the usual ‘how-to’ workshop,” said Professor of Art and Art History Kenda North, noting that she was extremely impressed with the quality of students participating.
North said the students will be working alongside faculty from the Department of Art & Art History and the School of Architecture to gain an awareness of how professional artists and architects work. The final exhibit won’t be standard student art, either. North said the exhibit will be a non-traditional installation, with each young artist creating a “personal space.”
posted: 2006-06-20 08:00:50
Local Firm Hosts UTA Architecture Night The architectural firm of Sterling Barnett Little, Inc. again generously hosted the UT Arlington School of Architecture for a night of Texas Rangers baseball in their offices at Ameriquest Field in Arlington on June 16, 2006.
SBL recently relocated and renovated their space within the office building that overlooks the outfield of Ameriquest Field. The unique workplace offers a comfortable and interesting location from which to enjoy a major league baseball game.
Sterling Barnett Little, Inc., is an aggressive group of architects and consultants located in Arlington, Texas. Founded by James S. Little, Jr., AIA and Michael K. Barnett, AIA, who have been involved in the practice of architecture and the design of a variety of facilities for over twenty years, the firm is committed to providing the highest quality client-focused service possible.
posted: 2006-06-19 16:23:30
School of Architecture Hosts Award Winning Film and Director The University of Texas at Arlington’s School of Architecture hosted a special showing and discussion of the Academy Award-nominated film My Architect on June 16, 2006.
The film is a documentary on the noted American architect Louis Kahn. At his death in 1974, Kahn left behind a body of work that included the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth and the National Assembly Building in Dhaka, Bangladesh. He also left behind a very complicated and fractured family. His obituary listed his survivors as a wife and child, but he had secretly fathered a son (eleven years old at the time of Kahn’s death) and another daughter by two women to whom he was not married.
My Architect follows his now-grown son, the film’s director Nathaniel Kahn, as he explores his famous father’s life and career. It is an emotional and complex story of a son whose very existence was publicly denied, and his attempt to discover the soul of his father through the people who knew him and the architectural works he conceived.
The presentation of My Architect was followed by an informal discussion with Nathaniel Kahn and the film’s producer Susan Behr. The film and discussion with Kahn And Behr was repeated the following afternoon at the Nasher Sculpture Center as part of the Dallas: Architecturally Speaking Lecture Series, with support from the UT Arlington School of Architecture, among others.
My Architect was nominated for an Academy Award for “Best Documentary, Features” in 2004. It won Audience Choice Awards from the Chicago International Film Festival, the Hamptons International Film Festival and the High Falls Film Festival, as well as the DGA Award from the Director’s Guild of America.
posted: 2006-06-19 16:23:00
Dean's Advisory Council Member Recognized Washington, D.C. – The American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) has inducted Karen S. Walz, FAICP, of Dallas, Texas, into the elite membership of AICP’s College of Fellows. Walz, who was selected as a Fellow of AICP for individual achievement in the planning profession, was recognized at an April 22 ceremony in San Antonio, Texas, held in conjunction with the American Planning Association’s (APA) National Planning Conference.
Walz is a member of the Dean’s Advisory Council for the UT Arlington School of Architecture.
“The AICP College of Fellows recognizes individuals who’ve made exceptional contributions to the planning profession,” said AICP President Sue Schwartz, FAICP. “The Fellows have devoted their careers to excellence in planning and they set the highest standards for professional planners today,” she added.
Election to the Fellowship may be granted to planners who have been longtime members of AICP and have demonstrated excellence in professional practice, teaching and mentoring, research, community service, leadership, and communication. Altogether, 45 planners from 22 states were inducted into the AICP College of Fellows last month.
All planners who have been certified by AICP use the letters “AICP” after their name. Fellows, however, are designated with the letters “FAICP.” Currently, more than 15,000 practicing urban and rural planners in North America and elsewhere have AICP certification. Of those, less than 350 have attained the status of Fellow.
Walz has been successful in changing communities by changing planning. She has used her urban planning expertise and consensus-building abilities to bring together diverse stakeholders, embrace a broad range of issues and perspectives, and result in innovative solutions for successful and sustainable communities at both the local and regional levels. Examples of these efforts include her work as executive director of the privately-funded Dallas Plan; and several ground-breaking regional plans including Vision North Texas, Truckee Meadows (Nevada), and Kansas City (Missouri and Kansas).
Currently Walz is Principal with Strategic Community Solutions located in Dallas.
AICP is the professional institute of the American Planning Association (APA). For more than 80 years, AICP has promoted professional excellence in the field of planning by setting high standards for competence, education, experience and ethical conduct, and by articulating the future of the planning profession.
posted: 2006-06-13 12:47:22
F&S Partners Hires UT Arlington Grad F&S Partners Incorporated, which offers architecture, interior design, and planning services, recently hired Dan Henke, AIA, as a project manager after nine years as an architect/associate with Freese & Nichols and two years with Interplan Southwest. He brings more than 20 years experience in telecommunications, municipal, retail, religious and restaurant design to the firm. He is a graduate of the University of Texas at Arlington.
For further information please contact:
Cynthia Brown, F&S Partners
Tel: (214) 559-4851×5518
posted: 2006-06-13 12:41:42
June 16-23, 2006 - Next Generation Design Institute “This is your opportunity to imagine greater possibilities, create real-world solutions and inspire the world around you. This is your opportunity to find your passion. This is your opportunity to let your light shine and be powerful beyond measure.”
Several years ago, Huckabee developed a unique educational partnership called Huckabee University that allows students in area school districts to work in our office for one week to learn more about the architecture, engineering and construction professions.
In 2006, Huckabee University became part of a new program called the Next Generation Design Institute. Through NGDI, there is not only a summer program offered to local high school students, but also a collegiate internship program for graduate students in the University of Texas at Arlington School of Architecture.
The project, “Nomadic, Adaptive, Learning, Environment” (N.A.L.E.), is focused on bringing learning environments into communities that are stricken by devastation, poverty, isolation, or catastrophic events. The capability for children to continue learning, keeping a sense of identity, and to maintaining a feeling of “normalcy” while the communities rebuilds is essential. Empowering the next generation of leaders is the only way we as professionals, educators, parents, and as humans can insure a secure future for generations to follow.
The program ran June 16-23, and the final presentation took place on June 24 at UT Arlington’s School of Architecture. For more information, visit www.nextgenerationdesigninstitute.org.
posted: 2006-06-13 11:44:00
Students' designs chosen in GreenStop competition ARCHITECTURE STUDENTS’ DESIGNS TO BE CONSIDERED FOR HIGHWAY REST STOP
ARLINGTON—University of Texas at Arlington School of Architecture students Nao Ito and Randy Peck submitted separate designs that have both been selected as a finalist for the Greenstop Design Competition to design a highway rest stop on Route 99 in Tulare County, San Joaquin Valley, Ca.
Their designs were chosen from among 140 entries in the competition, which is sponsored by the California Department of Transportation and The Great Valley Center, with the support of the American Institute of Architects, California Council, as well as private organizations.
The goal is to select a design and a team to create a self-sustainable green roadside area, what the sponsors call a “GreenStop,” that can serve as a model for current and future rest stops within the state system. The site of the Route 99 GreenStop currently accommodates nearly three million travelers a year.
Sponsoring Ito and Peck is Architecture Professor Todd Hamilton.
The final round in the competition jury will be held later in May.
posted: 2006-05-11 16:52:00
Jane Ahrens chosen for Green Advantage program Architecture Professor Jane Ahrens was recently one of ten participants chosen from among 70 architects in an international pool of recognized leaders in sustainable building and education to launch the pilot program of Green Advantage, a voluntary Environmental Certification program that educates job site supervisory personnel about green building techniques and approaches. As a Green Advantage Certified Professional, Ahrens will be part of the training team launching the program throughout the United States and Canada.
Professor Ahrens also leads The University of Texas at Arlington’s chapter of Emerging Green Builders, a student version of the North Texas United States Green Building Council. She is an advocate for environment-friendly and resource-efficient architecture.
The Green Advantage, Inc. (formerly known as EcoVillage Institute, Inc.) was selected by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency through a competitive grant process to develop and deliver a training and certification program for building-related professionals. More information on Green Gdvantage may be found at www.greenadvantage.org.
posted: 2006-05-11 16:52:00
Students win New Orleans design competition ARCHITECTURE STUDENTS WIN GULF COAST DESIGN COMPETITION
ARLINGTON—Two students at The University of Texas at Arlington’s School of Architecture submitted winning design entries to the New Orleans Prototype Housing competition, sponsored by Architectural Record Magazine and the School of Architecture at Tulane University in New Orleans. The winning entry by seniors Amin Gilani and Josh Spoerl will be featured in the June issue of Architectural Record.
“Reconstructing the Gulf Coast,” a design competition organized by McGraw-Hill Construction and Tulane, seeks to generate ideas for the reconstruction of the Gulf Coast. More than 500 architects and students of architecture submitted designs for multi-family projects and single family homes to the Katrina Design Competition. Winners of the competition will be invited to the American Institute of Architects conference in Los Angeles in June.
The winners will be formally announced and honored Thursday, May 18, at the Ogden Museum in New Orleans. The museum is currently exhibiting the winning designs and selected finalists through May 19.
The students were sponsored by Architecture Professors Bijan Youssefzadeh and Heath Macdonald.
(More images available.)
posted: 2006-05-11 16:52:00
Pat Taylor Recognized by CELA ARCHITECTURE PROGRAM DIRECTOR RECEIVES INTERNATIONAL AWARD
ARLINGTON—Pat D. Taylor, director of the Program in Landscape Architecture at The University of Texas at Arlington, has been honored with the Award of Distinction by the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA). The award recognizes Dr. Taylor’s support for research and knowledge generation in landscape architecture.
“Few, if any landscape architectural educators have ever taught research methods in a landscape architectural curriculum as effective and efficiently as Dr. Taylor,” states the letter nominating Dr. Taylor for the award. “He teaches students with no background and little understanding of the profession of landscape architecture and molds many of them into perceptive and talented researchers who win awards when competing with other graduate students from more prestigious, older and better recognized graduate landscape architecture programs.”
Dr. Taylor is a past president of CELA and currently serves as treasurer of the organization. He has served as program director at UT Arlington since 1992. He also serves on the University’s Organized Research Committee and has contributed to a new research collaborative between UT Arlington, UT Dallas and Texas A&M-Dallas.
The CELA nomination notes the number of award winning individual research recipients which UT Arlington has produced. Dr. Taylor will receive the award at CELA’s 2006 annual conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, in June.
posted: 2006-05-11 16:52:00
Architecture students honored during Academic Excellence Week Several students from The University of Texas at Arlington’s School of Architecture have been recognized during Academic Excellence Week 2006, running from April 7-14. Academic Excellence Week was created during UT Arlington’s Centennial Observance to recognize students and faculty who exemplify exceptional academic achievement.
ACES (Annual Celebration of Excellence by Students) in Graduate Research and Creative Activity recognizes the research and creative achievements of the University’s students both on campus and to the surrounding community. Architecture graduate student Priti Ramanujam received the Dean of Architecture Oral Presentation Award as well as First Place in the Graduate Research Poster Competition. Undergraduate student Ogheneruno Okiomah won the Undergraduate Research Poster Competition Dean of Architecture Award.
Architecture students Joshua Sawyer and Margaret Wright were named to the 2005-2006 Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges. For thirty-nine years, UT Arlington has participated in this program, in which over 2300 institutions of higher learning recognize students who are scholastic achievers and leaders on campus and in their communities. This year’s student recipients were honored at a luncheon on April 12 at the University’s Bluebonnet Ballroom.
Architecture students Kenta Aoki, Paul Baca, Kevin Hulsey, Ross McCaskill, John Michl, Victor Ramirez, Ron Reeves, Eric Romeo, and Joshua Sawyer were recognized as University Scholars at the President’s Convocation for Academic Excellence on April 13, 2006 at the University’s Texas Hall. UT Arlington President James D. Spaniolo presented the awards and introduced the guest speaker, Harvard economist and UT Arlington Alumnus Dr. Roland Fryer, Jr.
posted: 2006-05-11 16:51:07
Landscape Archiecture Re-accredited LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE PROGRAM RECEIVES ACCREDITATION FOR ANOTHER SIX YEARS
ARLINGTON—The Landscape Architecture Accreditation Board has announced the Landscape Architecture Program at The University of Texas at Arlington has been re-accredited for a full six years. The next accreditation visit will be in 2011.
“The visiting team was extremely impressed with the maturity and talent of the program’s students, and the dedication, accomplishments and strength of the faculty,” said Pat D. Taylor, program director.
In particular, members of the team were highly impressed with the emphasis on design process exhibited in the array of student work.
“They also noted the high regard for the program held by the University’s administration, especially that of Dean Don Gatzke and Provost Dana Dunn,” said Taylor.
The team noted three areas on which the program should focus over the next six years, including increasing the diversity of faculty, strengthening structural autonomy, and the merging of strategic planning efforts with those of the school and University, all of which are underway.
The team also identified useful suggestions that the program can use to guide its activities during the next accreditation period, including increasing external funding and research and expanding its outreach to the larger community.
For more information, contact the School of Architecture at (817) 272-2801.
posted: 2006-05-11 15:25:57
Gary Robinette named CELA Fellow ARCHITECTURE PROFESSOR SELECTED FOR ACADEMY OF FELLOWS
ARLINGTON—University of Texas at Arlington Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture Gary O. Robinette has been elected by the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA) to the inaugural class of the CELA Academy of Fellows.
The CELA Executive Board selected Robinette to honor his lifetime accomplishments in teaching, scholarship/creative activity and service over an extended period of time.
Robinette is a registered landscape architect, a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) and has served as executive director of the ASLA Foundation and the Center for Landscape Architectural Education and Research. He has been a member of the UT Arlington faculty since 1988 and was program director from 1988 to 1991. He previously taught at the University of Wisconsin and earned his Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture and Master of Landscape Architecture at Michigan State University. His funded research includes grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, National Park Service and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Robinette has authored 19 books and numerous professional publications on landscape architecture. Among them are several “classics” used in landscape architecture classrooms throughout the nation.
CELA is the premier international organization for academics in landscape architecture, drawing members from the United States, Canada and throughout the world.
The award will be announced at the annual CELA Conference in Vancouver, British Columbia in June.
posted: 2006-05-11 15:24:29
Ed Baum featured in publications ARCHITECTURE PROFESSOR FEATURED IN INTERNATIONAL PERIODICAL
ARLINGTON—University of Texas at Arlington Architecture Professor Edward Baum was recently featured in the March 2006 issue of Ottagono, an Italian architectural periodical. The article by Mattia Martini, “The Courtyard is Back,” features a number of houses in Dallas designed by Baum that utilize interior courtyards. His work has also been recently featured in Dwell Magazine.
Ottagono was founded in 1966 and features viewpoints on new architectural and design trends. It is available in sixty-five countries, published in Italian and English. Dwell Magazine focuses on modern design and clean-line architecture that emphasizes realistic living areas rather than stylized concepts.
Baum is a registered architect and Fellow of the American Institute of Architects. He received his undergraduate and graduate degrees from Harvard University, where he also taught as well as at Washington University in St. Louis before joining the UT Arlington faculty as dean in 1988. His work has won a number of awards, including a Progressive Architecture Design Award and American Institute of Architecture awards for the Dallas Police Memorial and for prototype housing for Dallas. Baum is also a founder of the Dallas Architecture Forum.
posted: 2006-05-11 15:22:58
Jerry Kunkel named ASCE Fellow ARCHITECTURE LECTURER RECEIVES ‘FELLOW’ STATUS
ARLINGTON—University of Texas at Arlington Architecture Lecturer Jerry Kunkel has been advanced to the grade of Fellow by the American Society of Civil Engineers, following a vote by the organization’s Membership Applications Review Committee in January.
The ASCE defines a Fellow as “a person who shall have demonstrated a broad responsibility for engineering work of major importance.” Fellows have attained leadership roles within the fields of civil engineering practice, research or academia. It is an honor that less that six percent of the Society’s members have attained.
Kunkel received his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and his master’s degree in structural engineering from UT Arlington and is a registered professional engineer in thirty-seven states. He has been a senior lecturer at UT Arlington since 2003, teaching senior- and graduate-level structure courses in both the School of Architecture and the College of Engineering.
posted: 2006-05-11 14:47:00
Book of student essays now available Roger Connah’s collection of student essays has been published by Zetaville 257 Press. I am Architecture: The Education of an Architect features “narrratives and confessions” by The University of Texas at Arlington School of Architecture students.
For more information, including how to purchase the book, contact Roger Connah at connah@uta.edu.
posted: 2006-05-11 12:59:00
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