Architecture

Book simplifies street redesigns

Four faculty members and students from A&AA have collaborated on a book about transforming streets that were originally designed more to accommodate motor vehicles rather than pedestrians and bicyclists.

Rethinking Streets: An Evidence-Based Guide to 25 Complete Street Transformations, documents twenty-five case studies from around the country that helped facilitate more walking, biking, and transit use while enhancing commercial activity, with minimal to no negative impact on automobile access. The book was released December 2013.

Change, permanence find their place in Japan design competition

For relaxation, Sonia Dhillon Marty looks at architecture books. That’s how she encountered architect Erin Moore, assistant professor in the Department of Architecture at UO, who had a project showcased in a book Dhillon Marty was reading, Tiny Houses. The way the little building fit into its natural surroundings piqued Dhillon Marty’s interest. “So I Googled ‘Erin Moore’ and found her— except she was in Rome” directing the UO summer architecture program.

Two A&AA graduates changing Sacramento restaurant design

When Amy Aswell accepted an invitation to attend a Sacramento meet-and-greet for A&AA alumni in fall 2012, little did she know it would be a life- and career-changing event. As a result of that gathering, within a year Aswell, MIArch ’07, and business partner Kaljit “KJ” Singh, MArch ‘07, had commissions to redesign three upscale restaurants that garnered glowing reviews in the likes of Remodelista.

Track Town Studio combines product design with architecture

The eighty-five flags gracing the ceiling in the “Track Town Studio” this term aren’t mere decoration. They set the tone for the product design and architecture students collaborating beneath the banners, helping them gauge how and where to display 175 flags from participating countries in the 2014 International Association of Athletics Federation’s (IAAF) World Junior Championships.

Movable art installation invites interaction between strangers, companions

Students in Assistant Professor Philip Speranza’s “Place Branding for Public Services” architecture studio have installed “Bridging,” an urban installation fabricated from 4 x 4 boards in the North Park Blocks in Portland between Davis and Everett streets. The boards slide in and out to form places to sit near a companion or places to be next to a stranger. The students intend the structure as an object to inspire “an urban intervention and evoke a conversation of the values of a city….that are based on the very compassion for one’s fellow citizen.”

UO welcomes Xian Dai architects

Professional architects from Xian Dai Architectural Design Group in China are visiting the UO School of Architecture and Allied Arts this fall term for intensive study in sustainable architecture.

This marks the second year during which ten professionals from the Shanghai-based firm have come to UO for continuing education in their profession. Their visit is not only significant for furthering their careers, but the exchange program also bolsters the university’s top-ranked standing in sustainable design education.

Randy Gragg to lead Yeon Center

The University of Oregon has hired Portland writer, editor, and organizer Randy Gragg to lead the John Yeon Center. Gragg is best known as a writer on art, architecture, and urban issues for The Oregonian, from 1989 to 2007, and for his role as editor in chief of Portland Monthly, where he will continue as editor at large. The John Yeon Center is an educational and research program of the UO School of Architecture and Allied Arts.