College of Design

When Jason Stenson drove up to a barn in Damascus, Oregon, four years ago, he knew what he hoped to find inside, but he never imagined it would become known as The Pickle Box.

A&AA Dean Frances Bronet will host a conversation with Susan S. Szenasy, longtime editor in chief and new publisher of Metropolis magazine, in Portland on May 22 as part of a series of national conversations exploring issues of design advocacy and ethics. The gathering will also celebrate the publication of Szenasy, Design Advocate, a new title by Metropolis Books. It will live tweeted at @johnhenrytweets.

Szenasy is publisher and editor in chief of Metropolis, the award-winning New York City-based magazine of architecture, design, and culture.

For only three hours in May, two floors of a UO campus building will showcase creative explorations by dozens of emerging artists working in media ranging from ceramics to digital arts and more. The event is a rare peek inside what students in their senior year have accomplished, and it provides an opportunity for the public to interact with the artists—and in some cases, with the art itself. 

The six-foot model of Medford with moveable wood blocks depicting buildings might evoke memories of kindergarten. But Gerardo Sandoval and James Rojas use the model as a tool for conducting public outreach because it allows residents to interact with their city in a personal way, which helps planners gain insight to changes people want in their neighborhoods.

LiveMove, the University of Oregon transportation and livability student group composed of many Planning, Public Policy, and Management students, will receive a statewide award for “Student Achievement in Planning” from the Oregon Chapter of the American Planning Association for its proposed redevelopment of 13th Avenue in Eugene.

The National Science Foundation’s Macrosystems Biology Program has awarded $3.8 million to a five-year project including research by Associate Professor Bart Johnson of the Department of Landscape Architecture.

Historic Preservation Program students at UO have produced a handbook on conserving historic masonry. The students of Adjunct Professor Lauren Allsopp spent twelve weeks analyzing masonry structures of all kinds in Cottage Grove, Oregon, whose Main Street is a classic example of a late Victorian town. The handbook, which offers recommendations for building owners, is available for free online.

Two very different research projects driven by A&AA faculty members have been awarded grants from the UO Idea awards program. While one project delves into the relationship between barnacle growth and ceramics, the other seeks to answer the microbial problem of poor indoor air quality.

Both the “Barnacle Project” and “Office Oasis” received $5,000 through the UO Idea grant program. The Product Design Program matched the funds.

The National Art Education Association has awarded Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs Doug Blandy the 2014 Beverly Levett Gerber Special Needs Lifetime Achievement Award. Blandy also serves as a professor and adviser in the Arts and Administration Program.

The award, determined through a peer review of nominations, recognizes an NAEA member whose exemplary lifetime career has made a unique and lasting impact on art education’s important role in the lives of people with special needs.