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Nominations are due Monday, November 14, to nominate an individual, organization, company, or agency for the 2017 George McMath Historic Preservation Award.

The University of Oregon presents the award annually for exceptional and commendable work in historic preservation, in particular for development of new ideas, approaches, and innovations. The McMath Award is intended to raise public awareness of historic preservation education and promote excellence in preservation practice.

Eden Powell won’t forget seeing “real spaces where people create in the New York art world,” which she experienced last March on a field trip with her “Spring Break in New York” ART 408 class. The visit included a stop at SculptureCenter, which exposed the students to “a really current, cutting edge art scene [in] a multidimensional and dynamic space,” said Powell, an undergraduate art student.

The University of Oregon in Portland’s Randy Gragg is collaborating with Oregon Public Broadcasting’s show ‘State of Wonder’ for a year-long look at Portland architecture. Gragg, the executive director of the John Yeon Center for Architecture and Landscape at the UO, is a former architecture critic at The Oregonian and editor-in-chief of Portland Monthly. “No one is more thoroughly steeped in the design character of Portland,” the State of Wonder website stated.

UO product design students captured the top two spots at QuackCon, the country’s first collegiate sports and technology hackathon competition that synthesized engineering, programming, and athletics to create innovative sports product designs in a 36-hour blitz.

An estimated $5 million real estate pledge from architect Jim Rothwell, BArch ’80, and his wife, Mary, will advance the UO’s School of Architecture and Allied Arts and help grow the school’s endowment. “This was a way to help out in return for what the school gave me,” says Rothwell.

History may be a common link among the 2018 class of UO Historic Preservation Program graduate students, but many also share an interest in public service, global travel, and literally digging into projects. They also share the distinction of being the first cohort of historic preservation students enrolled at the UO in Portland, where the program moved this fall.

Read more about the new preservation students at AroundtheO

A house built by University of Oregon students has won the 2016 Golden Key Award for Most Innovative Homeownership project in the state, an honor presented by the Oregon Opportunity Network.

The house, constructed during a three-term UO architecture class called OregonBILDS, is part of a multi-year effort to build nine houses on Hope Loop in west Eugene using sustainable design and construction methods. This is the third home the students have completed for income-qualified buyers.

A project at Yellowstone National Park designed and managed by A&AA alumni at Hennebery Eddy Architects will expand the park’s green footprint while encouraging kids to explore the outdoors.

The Yellowstone Youth Campus aims to be the first building complex in a national park to achieve Living Building Challenge Certification. Such buildings integrate ecology, heritage, stewardship, sustainability, and leadership across all aspects of design, construction, and operation.

Saint-Gobain, a manufacturer of sustainable building products, is partnering with Associate Professor Ihab Elzeyadi, who directs the UO’s HiPE lab, to assess the impact of building design on occupant experience, measuring factors such as indoor air quality and thermal, acoustical, and visual comfort. The test site is Saint-Gobain’s new headquarters, which was designed to function as a “living laboratory” where the performance of its products can be measured and evaluated on an ongoing basis.

Competing against professional design firms, a UO student team placed second in the international Land Art Generator Initiative (LAGI) competition to design a civic artwork that also generates carbon-free electricity and water.

The award for their project, “Cetacea,” was presented Thursday, October 6, at the Greenbuild conference in Los Angeles, California. Smithsonian.com featured the project Oct. 5.