Architecture

Employing a unique engineered wood product only recently produced by Oregon mills, a UO student team has won an Honorable Mention in a competition hosted by the American Institute of Architects Northwest and Pacific Region.

The students in Professors Judith Sheine and Mark Donofrio’s spring studio designed a parking structure using Oregon’s newest structural wood product—cross-laminated timber, or CLT—an exceptional accomplishment in architectural education and design practice.

A&AA Interim Dean Brook Muller will lead a weeklong workshop in Cairo focusing on small-scale urban innovation to improve local environments and productivity. Muller is the sole American on the team of professors and practicing architects working as instructors or organizers during the Urban Innovations workshop August 22-29.

Researchers at the University of Oregon and industry partners will use $1 million in funding from the Environmental Protection Agency to study how indoor air quality is affected before and after home weatherization projects and what that means to human health.

Professor Mark Gillem, FAIA, is among 14 University of Oregon faculty members chosen as recipients of the 2015-16 Fund for Faculty Excellence Awards. The awards honor tenured UO faculty at the forefront of research and discovery who have demonstrated academic excellence and world-class teaching.

A&AA is wrapping up its 100th anniversary this month after a full year of events, exhibitions, and celebrations. The school is now embarking on a capital campaign to imagine the future of art and design education and facilities for the next 100 years. In envisioning the school’s future, the A&AA Building Project Work Group in January issued a request for proposals (RFP) from student teams for a competition to design a transformative learning environment for A&AA. In May, the finalists were announced.

Five of the 11 University of Oregon students awarded Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarships to fund their summer 2015 study abroad programs are students in the School of Architecture and Allied Arts.

Gilman Scholars receive up to $5,000 to apply toward study abroad costs. The A&AA students are: 
• Halley Anderson — Japan, architecture
• Josie Christensen — Palau, art and anthropology
• Alfredo Gonzalez-Cruz — Italy, architecture
• Zak Johnson — Japan, landscape architecture
• Amanda Oliver — Palau, digital arts and anthropology

For Olivia Asuncion, who was born with a physical disability and has used a wheelchair since age 13, fire drills were always a source of panic and anxiety.

The Lawrence Medal will be presented to Gail Dubrow at the A&AA commencement ceremony on Monday, June 15, at 6 p.m. on the south lawn of the Knight Library (near the School of Music and Dance). Reservations are not required.

Dubrow, PhD, (BArch ’80, BA ’76, MA ’79) is an accomplished scholar, educator, and social historian of the built environment and cultural landscapes.

In fall 2008, the University of Oregon completed its move into the White Stag Block (WSB), a refurbished facility that merges parts of three historic buildings in downtown Portland. The move culminated efforts—compressed into just two years—to adapt three vacant historic buildings into the interconnected high-tech complex that today comprises the School of Architecture and Allied Arts’ most urban presence. The building project is owned, managed, and leased by Venerable Group, Inc.

Oregon students are nearing completion of the second student-designed and -built house that will be for sale and featured in the 2015 Lane County Tour of Homes.

The students are part of Oregon BILDS, a series of three classes offered each year to students interested in a hands-on residential design-build experience. Nearly 90 UO students in architecture, interior architecture, and landscape architecture, plus a handful of construction technology students from Lane Community College, have participated in the program this year.