The College of Architecture is pleased to announce the Hyde Lecture Series opens another exciting chapter for the design and planning disciplines. The 2018/2019 series, “Enacting Change”, invites speakers to campus who utilize planning and design as tools for building agency in local and international communities.
The college’s Hyde Lecture Series is a long-standing, endowed public program. Each year the college hosts compelling speakers in the fields of architecture, interior design, landscape architecture and planning that enrich the ongoing dialog around agendas which are paramount to the design disciplines and College of Architecture graduates.
The college is also pleased to share this year’s Hyde Lecture Series poster was designed by Atlas Lab Inc.
Fourth year interior design student Maggie McCoy was awarded the 2018 Angelo Donghia Foundation Senior Student Scholarship Award. McCoy is one of only 12 candidates to receive this national prestigious award.
Annually, the Angelo Donghia Foundation invites two students from each interior design program with Council for Interior Design Accreditation (CIDA) to submit scholarship applications. This year, the foundation received 69 student projects for consideration.
In the last 15 years, the College of Architecture’s Interior Design Program has had nine recipients of this highly competitive national award, 10 total. The merit-based scholarship, which has a value of up to $30,000, is determined by a jury comprised of interior design professionals, interior design educators and interior design editors.
“When our students receive the very competitive Donghia Scholarship award, it is a testament to their rigorous pursuit of design excellence in space and place making for people,” said Lindsey Bahe, associate professor and director of the interior design program. “Having students at UNL receive this honor consistently over the last 15 years, serves as an indicator of our program’s successful teaching and learning mission. When our students are selected, they are amongst peers from other nationally recognized programs which adds credence to our belief that we deliver one of the best interior design education experiences in the country.”
“I am extremely grateful, humbled and honored to be one of the 12 recipients receiving the award this year, and am truly blessed that all my hard work is being recognized,” said Maggie McCoy. “This award is a huge stress relief for me. This award will go a long ways towards supporting me financially while studying abroad.”
McCoy’s winning submission was titled “Nebraska Art Therapy Collective” a project from the IDES351 design studio taught by Lecturer Erin Miller and mentored by Bahe.
The project proposes the creation of a built environment designed to retain the creative class in rural American communities by providing a place for healing, learning and self-discovery through expressive arts therapy. The concept aims to not only foster people of the creative class, but also to provide ample job opportunities that are otherwise unavailable in the rural market.
McCoy is from Omaha, Nebraska, and is entering her senior year in the Interior Design Program at UNL’s College of Architecture.
The Angelo Donghia Foundation, created under the will of the Angelo Donghia, is a private, nonprofit organization that supports two distinct fields: The advancement of education in the field of interior design and initiatives researching AIDS.
Since its launch, including the amounts to be distributed to the scholarship winners, the foundation has awarded in excess of $15,000,000 to the above causes.
Glaring sun, hot sizzling summer heat, those conditions just seem to be an inevitable part of attending the Lied Center for Performing Arts’ Jazz in June summer concert series at the University of Nebraska, right? Well maybe not for much longer, looking to the horizon, there might be a silver lining to that scenario for summer 2019 concert goers. This past semester Jazz in June festival organizers, the Lied Center for Performing Arts and UNL architecture students have been working collaboratively on an installation and shade structure for the annual June concert series.
Their idea for the installation? Create a “Kite Cloud” or canopy. Once installed the structure will span 55’ x 25’ with the bottom of the cloud floating about 15’ above the ground providing shade for the stage and the VIP audience area. The structure once assembled will consist of an estimated 2,000 box kites articulated together to form the “cloud” shade cover. The idea for the shade structure has been a longtime coming according to Education and Community Engagement Director for the Lied Center for Performing Arts Erin Poor and Jazz in June Coordinator Spencer Munson. As Poor explains it, this project evolved more out of necessity than anything else.
“After working several Jazz in June events you realize, wow, it’s freakishly hot on Tuesday nights in Nebraska, and we really need to do something for these performers,” said Poor. “Spencer and I had been talking about the concept of a shade structure for some time, and we kept saying ‘wouldn’t it be nice if…’” Well, last year, Terence Blanchard, a renowned jazz magician was scheduled to perform and they knew it was going to be extremely hot, so they rented and put up a bunch of event tents. Functionally it worked but the tents weren’t very festive nor aesthetically pleasing. After that moment Poor said they decided to get serious about the issue and do something.
“It’s not just that the audience and the performers are uncomfortable, there’s more to it than that. If the heat becomes too hot, instruments can become out of tune. Plus, when you have hot, unbearable weather, musicians don’t want to play as long and the crowds don’t feel like sticking around. It affects the overall event experience,” Poor said. “With Spencer elevating the artistry and level of performers who come to the festival, we wanted to bring a new element that would complimented this new style and help the festival grow and develop,” Poor said. “We want an event that not only has innovative music but also innovative art and architecture.”
So Poor contacted Architecture Professor Jeffrey L. Day, who she had worked with before on an exhibit for the Sheldon Art Museum, and approached him about a student design challenge involving a shade structure for Jazz in June 2019. Day thought it would be a great design-build project for his design-research studio, Fabrication And Construction Team (FACT). That following spring semester, Day invited Poor to present her design challenge to the studio the first day of class. She was careful to point out this project needed to be more than just a shade structure. “It needed to compliment the Sheldon Art Museum’s sculpture garden and not be obstructive or out of place but rather an added poetic element.”
The “Kite Cloud” design wasn’t their first concept. The master of architecture students worked on several designs including a collage of triangles before the collaboration decided on the “cloud”. After the “Kite Cloud” concept was chosen, the studio spent the rest of the semester working on schematic designs, drawings, renderings and models. However, the studio didn’t just need the Jazz in June organizers’ blessing, the team would have to go through a litany of approvals before all was said and done.
Day explains, the FACT studio also presented the project to the Sheldon Art Museum and the UNL Aesthetic Review Committee for which they received unanimous approval. Now that they have those approvals out of the way, the team has been working with UNL Facilities on the technical details such as logistics and installation challenges.
Figuring how to secure the suspended “Kite Cloud” above a crowd has its own inherent challenges which the team is working through. To stabilize and support the articulated kite structure, they will be utilizing a system of stainless steel airplane cables, aluminum poles and recessed concrete anchors.
To hoist the structure into place, designers are considering a system of poles and pulleys for ease of installation. The shade structure will be installed and taken down for each concert. However before installation can begin, they will need to develop a large model mock-up and conduct performance testing.
“Once everything is resolved there will be a few days of off-site fabrication, installation of the anchors and poles, and then installation of the actual kites should only take a few hours,” said Day.
In addition to resolution of technical details for the installation, securing funding for the structure is still underway. Anyone interested in donating funds to this project should contact Spencer Munson at spencermunson@gmail.com or by contacting the University of Nebraska Foundation for additional gifts. They will also be collecting donations at each concert at their information table.
The “Kite Cloud” is intended to last for two concert seasons. Eventually, the Jazz in June collaborators would like to see this art/shade installation become a biennial contest open to the public.
This project was one of two design-build projects taken on by the FACT studio this past spring. The other project was a collaboration with the Sandhills Institute that would transform an old, main street grocery store in Rushville, Nebraska, into an art gallery / culture center. Personally, Day prefers to select non-profit, creative partners like the Lied Center for Performing Arts and the Sandhills Institute for design-build projects because as Day puts it “they understand the creative process.”
“I’ve been approached by organizations who just wanted the free labor,” said Day. However, any partner the college selects has to be willing to contribute and be patient. “They need to understand that the creative process and that working with students sometimes takes time, money and mentoring. It’s a big commitment on both sides.”
Day explains a common misconception is that academic design-build is just a service project. “Community service is often just a one-way relationship. The design-build projects I’m involved with are true long-term engagement opportunities that benefit all parties.”
“For my studios, design-build is not about teaching students how to construct everything hands-on, but it’s about teaching them how to have a conversation with contractors, fabricators, or vendors so they can accomplish creative projects, especially when they are working on non-conventional projects or projects that require material use that doesn’t fit standard practice,” said Day.
Students who have taken design-build studios say the experience gives them a more holistic view of the architectural process. “Projects like these allow for a wider breadth of knowledge,” said Diane Nguyen master of architecture student. “The design of the canopy came with many different design problems that I had never really had to face before. From design to assembly, we had to be detailed within our thinking, and I believe that prepares us for our future careers as well.”
Design-build projects also help students expand their design and problem-solving skills farther than the confines of the studio.
“Sometimes, with theoretical projects, things are overlooked and projects in a sense are unrealistic,” said Davielle Phillips master of architecture student. “With design-build, you learn to be practical while pushing the boundary of what is expected. Jeff has definitely pushed us in this regard.”
Day along with Associate Professor Jason Griffiths and Architecture Program administrators are currently working to expand the design-build studio offerings so that they are available for students to take every year.
ARCHITECTURE PROGRAM WORKING TO TRANSFORM GROCERY STORE INTO ART GALLERY/EXHIBITION SPACE
The general stores that dotted the frontier landscapes of the 18th and 19th centuries were known for being community gathering spots; so one might find it rather fitting that an old grocery store in Rushville, Nebraska, will once again become a community hub, not for goods and groceries but arts and culture. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Architecture Program and the Sandhills Institute of Rushville, Nebraska, are working on a collaborative project to transform an old main street grocery store into an art gallery/exhibition space and community culture center.
The art and cultural center was the brainchild of Mel Ziegler, grocery store site owner and founder and executive director of the Sandhills Institute which supports and serves as a catalyst for the creation of civically-engaged, integrated art in and around the agricultural community of Rushville. Ziegler wanted to create a space that would forge strong bonds between the community of local ranchers, farmers and leading artists from around the world for the purpose of developing experimental programs grounded in collaborative research and creative expression. Currently, in the area, there are no art galleries or exhibition spaces where artists can gather, create, exhibit and innovate. The new center will fill that void with a needed cultural hub in the Rushville area for residents to enjoy and hopefully be a unique destination for tourists and artists to visit.
To make Ziegler’s vision a reality, he partnered with Professor Jeffrey L. Day and his design research studio, Fabrication And Construction Team (FACT).
Before the FACT studio started the design process, the students visited Rushville in January for structure documentation, met with Ziegler and area leaders and held an open community forum to discuss the project, gather input and address concerns.
“It was very important to Ziegler that the community felt a part of the process,” said Day. “For a project to succeed long-term, community buy in is vital.”
After collecting site and community data, the Master of Architecture students spent the 2018 spring semester working on the interior space renovation, which the collaboration calls phase one.
“Mel’s goal is to get this place up and running so he can start using it for programming, activities, meetings, exhibitions and special projects. That’s the primary goal, so that’s why we are developing the basic scope in phase one,” said Day.
Once fundraising is complete, the coalition will begin phase two, which includes building a visiting artist residence attached to the art gallery and culture center and the development of a community outdoor space where the grocery store parking lot now stands. The outdoor space segment is being led by landscape architect Kayla Meyer with FACT contributing to its conceptual design.
With long and short term goals for the project set in place, Day and the students created schematic designs for both phases during the semester, giving form to Ziegler’s vision. The design team met numerous times for consultations with Ziegler to develop and hone the general concepts, floor plans, interior renderings and details. By the end of the spring semester, the studio felt confident they could present the Sandhills Institute with the construction documents for phase one which includes the details of the project from interior structures to wall finishes. Once the documents are finished, construction work can begin.
This project is only the start of what Day hopes to be a long-term partnership between the FACT studio and the Sandhills Institute. The collaboration started when Meyer recommended the FACT studio to Ziegler as a possible project resource. When approached with Ziegler’s idea as a studio project, Day was intrigued. Personally, Day prefers to select non-profit, creative partners for design-build projects because as Day puts it “they understand the creative process.”
“I’ve been approached by organizations who just wanted the free labor,” said Day. However, any partner the college selects has to be willing to contribute and be patient. “They need to understand that the creative process and that working with students sometimes takes time, money and mentoring. It’s a big commitment on both sides.”
Day explains a common misconception is that academic design-build is just a service project. “Community service is often just a one-way relationship. The design-build projects I’m involved with are true long-term engagement opportunities that benefit all parties.”
In addition to the benefits of community engagement, architectural pedagogy is largely enhanced with design-build projects. Due to time constraints, students in most architectural studios are not able to explore a project much past the design concept phase. But with a design-build studio project, which usually lasts more than one semester or starts after the concept phase, a student will take a concept and further develop the design by filling in all the details so it’s implementable. Plus, the partners get the attention and benefit of a team of architects.
“For my studios, design-build is not about teaching students how to construct everything hands-on, but it’s about teaching them how to have a conversation with contractors, fabricators, or vendors so they can accomplish creative projects, especially when they are working on non-conventional projects or projects that require material use that doesn’t fit standard practice,” said Day.
Students who have taken design-build studios say the experience gives them a more holistic view of the architectural process.
“I think being involved with the details of a project, broadens our vision as architectural students,” said Hasan Shurrab a student in the Master of Architecture Program. “Also, being aware of the process of the construction and the logistics needed to finish the building is very helpful.”
Plus, helping out and engaging with a community has its own rewards.
“You feel that joy when you are actually out there helping the community,” Shurrab said. “Yeah, that was awesome!”
Day along with Associate Professor Jason Griffiths and Architecture Program administrators are currently working to expand the design-build studio offerings so that they are available for students to take every year.
Sarah Deyong, associate professor at Texas A&M University, has accepted the appointment of Architecture Program director with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s College of Architecture. Deyong will assume her position with the college July 1st.
“This is an exciting time for the Architecture Program and the College of Architecture. I am confident that Sarah will be a tremendous asset to the program with her thoughtful leadership and her extensive undergraduate and graduate teaching experience and demonstrated ability to integrate architectural theory and pedagogy seamlessly with contemporary practice,” commented College of Architecture Dean Katherine Ankerson. “Sarah is an accomplished researcher and has been published widely in the academic world. I have no doubt she will be a pivotal mentor for junior faculty and students alike, providing new, academic publishing connections and an inspiring influence for scholarly and creative pursuits.”
“I am thrilled to join the College of Architecture at UNL. It is an honor and a privilege to serve as the Director of the Architecture Program,” said Deyong. “The program has long been recognized for its strong design ethos, inclusivity and close ties to professional practice. Within the larger university setting of an internationally recognized, research institution, it is poised to becoming a major voice among leading schools of architecture worldwide. Together with fellow faculty, students, staff and alumni, I look forward to building upon the program’s inherent strengths in architectural making and thinking, while advancing the college’s mission: its resilient belief in the transformative power of planning and design, and its commitment to interdisciplinary and community engagement.”
Asassociate professor at Texas A&M University, Deyong taught in the areas of history, theory and criticism (HTC) and design studio.She believes that areas of specialization, such as HTC, must effectively enhance the vital center of the curriculum: studio and integrated design.
“Today, we find ourselves in a dynamic situation, with new technologies and digital tools, for example. The utility of history and theory is that it brings the longer, canonical perspective of how we define ourselves into play. We learn from both failures and successes. Since architecture is inherently collaborative, we best prepare our students for the interdisciplinary nature of contemporary practice when we define ourselves as a discipline with design at its core.”
For Dr. Deyong, the output of a studio may be a proposition for a building, but in academia, it should aspire to be an argument or intellectual provocation. “We are, after all, in the business of teaching students not only the necessary skills and toolsets, but also, how to think critically, communicate ideas and create new knowledge.”
Deyong is known internationally for her research focused on the post-WWII period to the present, underscoring the symbiotic relationship between HTC and design practice. With grants from the Graham Foundation and the Glasscock Center of the Humanities at Texas A&M, she has published her research in leading venues, including the Journal of Architectural Education (JAE), the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians (JSAH), Praxis, the Journal of Visual Culture, and the Journal of Architecture. In 2015, her JAE essay, “Re-Thinking the Legacy of the Sixties: Pliny Fisk’s Political Ecology,” garnered the ACSA/JAE Best Scholarship of Design Award. Additionally, Deyong serves on the editorial boards of two national flagship journals: the JAE and JSAH.
Her work can also be found in numerous book chapters and her co-authored book “The Changing of the Avant-Garde: Visionary Architectural Drawings from the Howard Gilman Collection”.
Deyong received her Ph.D. at Princeton University and her MA and B.Arch at the University of Toronto.
In addition to the Architecture Program, the college is comprised of other design and planning programs including interior design, landscape architecture and community and regional planning with a tradition of excellence in education, research and service to the community. Its fall 2017 enrollment was 521 students.
Architecture Students Designing and Building Innovative Facilities in Nebraska and Beyond
Integrated into the pedagogy of the College of Architecture’s advanced coursework is the opportunity to participate in design-build projects that engage master of architecture students in the entire build process from conception to construction. Assistant Professor of Architecture Jason Griffiths has recently managed and instructed several design-builds including one in Oregon and is currently engaged in the construction of two more design-builds in Nebraska.
The two design-build projects in progress are the South Sioux City, Nebraska, Community Orchard multi-purpose, storage/meeting facility and the Baxa Cabin at the Cedar Point Biological Station near Ogallala, Nebraska. Prior to those projects, architecture students completed an Oregon classroom cabin in 2016.
For design-build projects, typically the instructor collaborates with a non-profit partner to construct a community-based, socially responsible building. The college picks an educational partner who because of their non-profit status is unlikely to afford the expertise of a professional firm but would mutually benefit from engaging in the educational endeavor, as would the local community it serves.
As part of a land-grant university system, service-learning projects are engrained in the college’s culture and are embodied by their mission to provide students with socially significant, publicserviceand communityoutreach learning opportunities.
“It is important we partner with Nebraska organizations so the community sees and benefits from the outcomes. It allows us to play a direct part in the state and in the community we live in,” commented Griffiths. “It’s a mutually beneficial partnership.”
In the end, the design-build nonprofit partners receive a unique, locally-designed project and at the same time, they are investing in tomorrow’s workforce.
“Working with these students is great, seeing them work through all the different concepts and learning how to work together to get the best design is always a great process,” commented Gene Maffit South Sioux City parks director and design-build orchard facility project collaborator. “The city absolutely would do another project with UNL’s architecture program. It was a great experience.”
Another South Sioux City orchard facility project collaborator, Forest Products Program Leader Adam Smith from the Nebraska Forest Service said he was very impressed with the student efforts and the expertise of the faculty. “Working with (faculty members) Jason Griffiths and Jeff Day has been great,” commented Smith. “They are very innovative and engaged with their students and projects. If we had the opportunity to continue efforts with architecture, we would jump at it. In fact Jason and I received a grant to continue CLT work until 2020, so we are already planning future activities, and we hope to keep this partnership strong even after the grant is complete.”
Griffiths explains design-build has a pedagogy of its own and is an invaluable component of the program’s curriculum.
“The beauty of this type of educational endeavor is the students learn by doing,” Griffiths commented. “By designing and building the structures from beginning to end, students learn how windows open and close, how doors slide open or how to support a staircase and so forth,” commented Griffiths.
He adds, another student benefit of design-build projects is a greater understanding of materials used in the building process.
“Does a certain material create a sense of warmth, does its texture add or detract from the design or does the material resonate sound? These are all considerations in the material selection process,” commented Griffiths.
However at the end of the project, the students are not just judged on their ability to produce a piece of architecture but also its aesthetics. The instructors take special care to impress upon students the value and quality of a space, how light passes through the building or how light affects the mood of a space.
“Assignments like these give students more confidence with real-life customers and projects. We have to serve the client and serve the people who will use the building,” Griffiths explains.
Design-builds can have a transformative impact on a student’s education, reinforcing and solidifying the knowledge they learn in the classroom.
“As an architecture student, I have had a lot of experience with creativity, theory and application in the realm of computer modeling and scale models,” commented Aubrey Wassung. “Design-Build with Jason has taken my theoretical designs into a reality where those skills meet real-world applications. As a student working on the South Sioux City orchard facility from start to finish, I have developed skills such as a better understanding of design verses construction; learning hands on techniques of building; and the collaboration process between structural engineering, fabricators, suppliers, client relations, budgeting and even international customs. Design-build has broadened my sense of what it really takes to construct a building and the amount of effort, time and processes involved.”
All three of Griffiths’ design-build projects utilize Cross–Laminated Timber (CLT) a medium he specializes in. The CLT wood is a large-scale, prefabricated, solid engineered wood panel. A CLT panel consists of several layers of kiln-dried lumber boards stacked in alternating directions, bonded with structural adhesives and pressed to form a solid, straight, rectangular panel similar to plywood but larger and can be ordered to builder specifications, so the entire build project can be delivered on site precut and ready to assemble.
Griffiths’ first CLT design-build project with UNL was the “Emerge” cabin in Oregon. The micro dwelling was built in the summer of 2016 by 13 students from his design-build three-week course. Created in partnership with the Bauman Family Tree Farm and general contractor Justin Austen Design, the educational cabin serves as a gathering place for small elementary school tour groups wanting to learn about sustainable forestry. The 80 sq. ft. dwelling has been featured by ArchDaily and has received a regional Woodworks Wood Design Award.
Griffiths’ two in-progress, design-build projects in Nebraska have been intensive collaborative endeavors from the start involving both public and private sector partners.
South Sioux City administrators and Nebraska Forest Service staff first approached Griffiths about a possible student design research project involving a community orchard storage facility in 2016. With the college agreeing to the project, concept designs and partner collaborations started in the fall. Over the course of two semesters, the college and its project partners met numerous times on location and also on campus for client consultations, design concept critiques, budget development and negotiations with contractors and suppliers. They eventually chose Randy Voss Construction as the project general contractor to assist in the construction.
One of the unique project design attributes is its use of ash for the building’s cladding.Emerald ash borer beetles have plagued the city in recent years as they have across the country leaving the city with thousands of dying and dead trees to either recycle or dispose. The city had hoped to recycle the trees that were lost by utilizing the ash timber in the construction process. Surprisingly trees killed by emerald ash borer are still useful because the insect does not damage the interior portion of the wood when it kills the tree. In fact, ash wood has many redeeming qualities and often makes a good oak substitute.
Once complete, the 256 sq. ft. facility with accessible restrooms will serve as meeting space and a tool storage area for the organic community garden/orchard.
The Cedar Point Biological Station cabin originated as a fall 2016 studio research project working with the station’s associate director Jon Garbisch. The Cedar Point Biological Station serves as a field research facility and experiential classroom for Nebraska’s School of Biological Sciences. Since they were in need of another residence cabin for summer students, Garbisch and Griffiths thought this would be an ideal studio design project. After much collaboration and consultation with Garbisch, Griffiths and the design studio students created some design concepts for the residence cabin. However, the project had no real prospects for being built until they found University of Nebraska Medical Center alumnus and donor Dr. Mark Daniel Baxa who agreed to sponsor the build. Shortly thereafter, UNL facilities signed on RBP Construction as the project’s general contractor and the dream of this 420 sq.ft. building quickly took off.
“It was extremely important for the team to have Mark play a part in the site’s planning and design,” explained Griffiths. “We wanted him to see the concepts and part of the construction before he passed on. So the clock was ticking and it gave our project a sense of real urgency. As I understand it, Mark attended the Cedar Point Biological Station and his work there enabled him to get accepted into medical school, and it changed his life. Mark held many fond memories of the Cedar Point Biological Station, and that’s why this donation was so important to him.”
Now the Nebraska design-builds are in their final stages of construction. Griffiths has a team of students enrolled in independent study this semester working on finishing touches such as the windows, stairs, shutters and building exteriors and general preparation for the facility’s grand opening scheduled tentatively for late spring.
The CLT project sponsors included Dr. Mark Daniel Baxa, Bauman Family Tree Farm, D.R. Johnson Wood Innovations, Structurlam, Smartlam, the Edwin Cramer Memorial Fund-University of Nebraska Foundation and the Dana Family Fund- University of Nebraska Foundation.
CLT project collaborators include Nebraska Forest Products Program Leader Adam Smith, Forest Products Marketing Coordinator Heather Nobert, South Sioux City Administrator Lance Hedquist, South Sioux City Parks Director Gene Maffit and Cedar Point Biological Station Associate Director Jon Garbisch.
Students involved in the design-build projects are David Alcala, Alfredo Vera, Virginia Gormley, Ruslan White, Eric Engler, Danielle Durham, Devin McLean, Scott Kenny, Justin DeFields, Darian Scott, Kristen Schulte, Joseph Croghan, Hannah Christy, Kevin Baitey, Sean Coffey, Jacob Doyle, Alexander Eastman, Mackenzie Gibbens, Phung Hong, Allen Phengmarath, Ryan Plager, Rachel Plamann, Salem Topalovic, Evan Wermers, Adrian Silva, Rousol Aribi, Mitchell Znamenacek , Hasan Shurrab, Jose Cano, Jacob Trail, Ezra Young, Abdullah Alghamdi, Dayna Bartels, Andrew Hicks, Mallory Lane, Julio Munoz, Paige Nelsen, Bingcheng Wang and Aubrey Wassung.
Design Futures Council Scholar Designation Awarded to 15 UNL Students
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s College of Architecture is pleased to announce 15 students from the college were named scholars of the highly-competitive 2017/2018 Design Futures Council Graduate Presentation Program. The designation is annually awarded to a limited number of students in architecture, landscape architecture and interior design programs.
The scholars include Jon Magruder, Adam Heier, Adam Wiese, Phung Hong, Mei-Ling Krabbe, Casie Hilyard, Hasan Shurrab, Megan Michalski, Yitao Li, Anne McManis, Julie Reynolds, William Pokojski, Kurt Lawler, Dayna Bartels and Caitlin Senne.
Scholars are selected based on several factors including demonstrated excellence in design showing a mastery of complex projects; talent for collaboration exhibiting a predisposition for working in multidisciplinary teams; ability to influence others demonstrating their ability to unify through the design process; inclusiveness of sustainability by deeply integrating its principles into their work; and a superior ability to integrate technology into design projects.
The purpose of the Graduate Presentation Program is to connect the up and coming talent from participating schools with the hiring managers of the top 300 firms in the design professions. For firms, the Graduate Presentation Program shortens the time and effort required to find the highest quality, emerging talent. For educational institutions, the program not only provides inroads for placement of graduates with high-profile firms, but also provides the opportunity to build enduring relationships with professional practices.
“The excellence and preparation of our students is substantiated by our 95% average employment rate immediately following graduation; the national, regional and state accolades received and now by this exceptional recognition of our students by the prestigious Design Futures Council scholar designation,” commented Dean Katherine Ankerson.
These fifteen College of Architecture students join a prestigious group of scholars from all across the country. Including the UNL scholars, a total of 68 students were selected for inclusion to this elite group.
CIDA Award for Excellence Top Honors to Interior Design Faculty Members
The College of Architecture is pleased to announce two interior design faculty members were among the 2017 Award for Excellence winners presented by the Council for Interior Design Accreditation (CIDA). This award recognizes and celebrates outstanding practices that advance the cause of excellence in interior design education.
The first place winner is Lindsey Bahe, associate professor and director of the Interior Design program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Bahe’s entry “Shifting Studios: From Project Typology Based Problem Solving to Inquiry, Circumstance and Conditions” encompasses applied inquiry and research, critical thinking and the role and impact of design on current social issues.
“The CIDA Board congratulates Professor Bahe for this outstanding example of an inquiry-based studio that gives students the opportunity to research and develop critical thinking skills and an evidence-based approach to their individual design work,” states CIDA Board Chair Collin Burry, FIIDA. Professor Bahe received a $5,000 award in recognition of this honor.
Furthermore, Nathan Bicak, assistant professor in the Interior Design program, received an honorable mention for his submission “Learning Spaces Collaborative Studio”.
“Every day I see the incredible work produced by our faculty, but it is wonderful to see their recognition on such a significant scale,” commented Dean Katherine Ankerson.
Winning entries of the 2017 CIDA Award for Excellence are available for viewing on their website here. The Council for Interior Design Accreditation is an independent, non-profit, accrediting organization responsible for setting standards and evaluating degree-granting interior design programs. There are 190 CIDA-accredited programs in the U.S., Canada, Qatar and the UAE.
Professor Jeffrey L. Day, AIA from the University of Nebraska’s College of Architecture was among the honorees at this year’s AIA Nebraska and AIA Central States Region Design Excellence Awards Celebration held October 5th in Omaha, Nebraska.
Day and the Omaha/ San Francisco based architectural firm Min Day were given several honors at the design gala. The team earned the following prestigious awards:
AIA Nebraska Honor Award in the Unbuilt category for “Better Place Forests”; AIA Nebraska Honor Award in the Detail category for “RebarWall – BLUEBARN Theatre”; AIA Nebraska Merit Award in the Interior Architecture category for “FLOCK”; AIA Nebraska Merit Award in the Detail category for “Cochran Park BenchSign”; AIA Central States Region Honor Award in the Architecture category for “BLUEBARN Theatre & Boxcar 10”; and an AIA Central States Region Merit Award in the Unbuilt category for “Better Place Forests”.
Among Day’s winning submissions, the “BLUEBARN Theatre” project, a new arts hub near downtown Omaha, continues to be a juror favorite. These latest honors add to its growing list of awards including a 2016 American Institute of Architects (AIA) Nebraska Honor Award; a 2016 Merit Award for Architectural Detail from the AIA Central States Region; a 2016 International Illuminance Award, Special Citation for Outdoor Lighting Design, Illuminating Engineering Society; a 2016 AIA San Francisco Special Commendation for Urban Design; and a 2016 Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) Faculty Design Award. The project was also identified by Slate as one the best American buildings of 2016.
“A community asset – this project succeeds on many levels,” was one jury comment regarding the “RebarWall -BLUEBARN Theatre”. “A tour de force of mixed use urbanism that packs the ambition of a masterplan into a half block.”
However Day’s “Better Place Forests” a spreading forest visitor’s center performed equally as well this year and has strong potential for future awards.
“The strategy of framing vistas and origami like folds make for a wonderful sequence of spaces,” comment the jurors regarding the “Better Place Forest” submission. “One could imagine a series of modular places that age gracefully and become one with its context.”
“It is humbling to see our work recognized again and again by other design professionals as award worthy projects and featured by major publications such as Slate, the Architect’s Newspaper and Dezeen,” commented Day.
The AIA Central States Region Design Excellence Awards Celebration is an annual event that recognizes outstanding regional architecture from Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma. The AIA Design Excellence Awards have been developed to encourage and recognize excellence in architecture, to elevate public awareness and to recognize the architects, consultants, contractors and owners whose efforts enhance the built environment.
Entries were judged based on a variety of features, including unique design, originality, extended use attributes, sustainability and use of environmental surroundings.
Assistant Professor Nathan Bicak‘s homeless shelter prototype research was published in the September 2017 issue of Journal of Interior Design [JID]. The article titled, “The Design and Testing of a Student Prototyped Homeless Shelter” was written in collaboration with Dr. Joan Dickinson of Radford University.
The genesis of the research project started as one of Dickinson’s second year interior design studio projects. The student teams were asked to design and prototype portable homeless shelters. Dickinson invited Bicak to assist with the project as a design build adviser and consultant because of his interest in improving the human condition and his experience with project construction and prototype development.
The article presents an exploratory study detailing the students’ experiences and challenges designing, building and testing a portable shelter on a sample of homeless men to address the growing needs of the unsheltered.
Building the prototype wasn’t without hurdles. In order to meet the needs of the shelter dwellers, much consideration was needed for the selection and manipulation of appropriate materials. The design had to be portable, lightweight, low-cost and weatherproof. Several common structural and cladding materials were far too heavy and rigid to be transformed into a collapsible prototype.
In addition to material restrictions, other project outcomes surprised the researchers as well. For example feedback from the homeless participants who tested the shelter, thought that mobility shouldn’t be a key factor in the shelter design; rather, they all agreed that being able to collapse and hide it somewhere was more important. Interviews with the participants suggested that concepts of adaptability, control, privacy, security and dignity were important features to consider. This list of criteria varied somewhat from the students’ original research.
Bicak said research design exercises like this are great learning tools not only for students but for all designers. “Taking a design proposal through the prototype process is a powerful way to make ideas real and test them through actual applications. Plus, the participatory design process, helps students empathize with users who offer unique perspectives and experiences,” commented Bicak.
In the end, Bicak hopes projects like this will empower students and other designers to use the skills and design knowledge they have to respond to social problems and make a positive impact.
The project team consisted of Bicak, Dickinson and a student design team including: Chasity Boyd, Megan Dryer, Krissy Klingenberger and Kelsea Stafford. Learn more about this project in the September 2017 issue of JID.
Already have an account?
I’m new here
Click here to add your own text Click here to add your own text Click here to add your own text Click here to add your own text
We use cookies and other tracking technologies for performance, analytics, marketing, and more customized site experiences. By continuing to browse this site you are agreeing to our terms. Learn more about these in our Privacy Policy. ACSA reserves the right to delete content and suspend user accounts that it determines to be inappropriate.
Study Architecture 
ProPEL 
