Merit Awards in the AARP/AIAS Aging in Place Kitchen Design Competition were given to Nick Tafel, Edgar Mozo, Joel Pominville, David Herrero for their project “A Kitchen Alive” and to Diana Rosch for her project “Centre.” Both projects were designed under the supervision of studio instructor Senior Lecturer Annemarie Jacques.  

Clemson University, School of Architecture undergraduate and graduate students won many international and national awards in Spring 2012:

Honorable Mention was given to graduate student Jingjie Zhao, with Professor Keith Green PhD as studio instructor, in the 2011 ACSA/AISC Steel Design Competition of a Culinary Arts College. There were 303 entries, and the jurors awarded only seven prizes, a 2 percent acceptance rate.

The Winning Project was awarded to Caitlin Ranson and Dianah Katzenberger (both Clemson M. Arch. ’12 graduates,) with Assistant Professor Ulrike Heine as studio instructor, in the ACSA 2011-2012 International Sustainable Laboratories Student Design Competition. The Jury awarded only two top prizes and three honorable mentions.

The South Region Winning Project was awarded to Nick Barrett and Sam Pruitt, with Assistant Professor Ulrike Heine as studio instructor, in the 2011-2012 The Sustainable Home, A Habitat for Humanity Student Design Competition, which was sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts and Vinyl Institute. There were 100 submissions, from which the jurors chose four regional winners and three other honors, a 5 percent acceptance rate.

Four faculty members have joined Clemson University, School of Architecture as new permanent faculty this academic year.

Akel Ismail Kahera, Ph.D. has joined Clemson University as a tenured professor and as the newly appointed associate dean for research and graduate studies in the College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities. For the past five years, Akel has served as director of the Texas Institute for the Preservation of History and Culture at Prairie View A&M University in Texas. From 2009 to 2011, he served as interim director of at Prairie View’s graduate studies degree program in community development. He also taught at Texas Tech University and the University of Texas at Austin. His areas of specialization include hermeneutics, design, urbanism, community development, non-Western architecture, and architectural history and theory. He is a practicing architect and designer. Akel is the author of more than two dozen scholarly essays, as well as author or co-author of three books: Deconstructing the American Mosque: Space, Gender and Aesthetics, 2002; Design Criteria for Mosques (co-author,) 2009; and Reading the Islamic City, 2011. Akel received a B.Arch. from Pratt Institute, M.Arch from MIT and Ph.D. in Near Eastern Studies from Princeton University. 

Ufuk Ersoy, Ph.D. has Joined Clemson University, School of Architecture as a new tenure-track assistant professor focusing on Western and non-Western history/theory and design. Ufuk is a practicing architect and was an assistant professor of architecture at the Izmir Institute of Technology in Turkey prior to moving to Clemson. He is also a guest lecturer in the Program of Architecture, University of New South Wales. He completed his Ph. D. in Architecture under the supervision of David Leatherbarrow at the University of Pennsylvania where he also received his received M.Arch. and M.S. degrees. His research focuses on the glass cultures of 19th– and 20th-century architectures and the consequences of technological changes on the discipline of architecture. Recently, he guest-edited a special issue of the journal World Architecture on “Architecture in Turkey: A Glocal Production” and published his essay “To See Daydreams: The Glass Utopia of Paul Scheerbart and Bruno Taut” in Imagining and Making the World: Reconsidering Architecture and Utopia.  

Dustin Albright, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, has joined Clemson University, School of Architecture as a new full-time lecturer teaching design studio and structures courses. Dustin has unique dual expertise in architecture and engineering, coupled with critical engagement with public projects. He has a B.S. in physics from Washington and Lee University, M.S. in civil engineering/structures and M.Arch. from Virginia Tech University. Dustin has been practicing with Craig Gaulden Davis in Greenville since 2008. He has been actively engaged with the profession and local communities through his leadership in AIA Greenville’s Architecture Month.

Nicholas Ault who taught part-time for Clemson University, School of Architecture last year, joins this year as a full-time lecturer teaching design studio and digital communications. His strengths include a comprehensive understanding of current digital practices in architectural design and fabrication, as well as a focus on pedagogy within undergraduate foundation design studios. Nick has a B.S. in technology from Bowling Green State University and an M.Arch. from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He practiced in Ohio, held a visiting appointment at UNCC as the director of Digital Fabrications Laboratory and lecturer at the School of Architecture, and taught as an adjunct at Queens University of Charlotte.