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.
Most Americans haven’t heard of Kansei design, which studies how emotion drives consumer choices. For example, designers of the Mazda Miata sports car used Kansei engineering in developing the car’s gear shift. Their analysis spurred designers to change the throw between each gear so it’s shorter than most manual transmission shift lengths—leading the driver to feel more “powerful.”
A&AA welcomes these new tenure-track faculty members for the 2016–17 academic year.
Architect magazine named ZGF Architects, founded in Portland, Oregon, the No. 1 design firm nationwide—both overall and in sustainable design. Five of the firm’s current partners are graduates of the UO School of Architecture and Allied Arts and more than 70 A&AA alumni work for ZGF globally.
