Assistant Professor Erin Moore has been elected to the board of the Architectural Research Centers Consortium (ARCC).

Associate Professor Brook Muller’s book Ecology and the Architectural Imagination was released this February (Routledge). He presented his paper “The Captured Gesture: Studio Performance at the Intersection of Thinking and Drawing,” coauthored with Leonard Yui, at the European Association for Architectural Education/Architectural Research Centers Consortium International Research Conference “Beyond Architecture: Making New Connections and Intersections” held at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. His paper “Adaptive Architectures and Dynamic Urban Ecologies,” coauthored with Josh Cerra, will be presented at The Environmental Design Research Association “EDRA 45 Building With Change” conference in New Orleans in May.

Associate Professor Nico Larco is continuing to work with colleges and universities interested in developing broad based, university wide programs that engage with cities.  These programs are modeled on the Sustainable City Year Program pioneered at the University of Oregon.  In January and February he held daylong workshops at the University of Tennessee and for multiple colleges and universities in Maine.  

‘Site Design for Multifamily Housing: Creating Livable, Connected Neighborhoods’ by Associate Professor Nico Larco, Kristin Kelsey, and Amanda West will be published by Island Press and will be available in mid-March.  Aimed at architects, planners, and developers, the book provides design and code guidance for walkability and connectivity in multifamily site design. 

Professor Alison Kwok presented “Zero net energy education: mind the gap,” at the ARCC/EAAE 2014 International Conference on Architectural Research; she also received ASHRAE grant funding for “Campus Un-plugged” that looks at energy audits of campus buildings.
The first two buildings of the Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU)’s new Stryiskiyi  Park campus recently opened near  the historic center of Lviv in western Ukraine.  Professor Gerald Gast and graduate students from the Urban Projects Workshop of the University of Oregon Portland Program developed the first master plan and have worked with the University on the campus development since 2008.  
UCU is the first Catholic university on the territory of the former Soviet Union and a model of independent education in Ukraine.  Founded in 1928, the University was closed by the Soviets in 1945 and reopened in 2002 following Ukraine’s independence.  Architects for the first two buildings, an academic center and student housing, were designed by KMW Architecture of Boston.  Two additional buildings are in design.  Professor Gast and University of Oregon graduate students developed  the master plan and continue work on its development, advising the University on architect selection, programming and building design. 


Assistant Professor Kyuho Ahn will deliver two papers at the 2014 IDEC International Conference.
 
A paper, “Empirical Approach in Designing a Store: Comfort, Arousal, and Motivation” co-authored with King Tang, former graduate student, will be presented. Ahn developed  an interdisciplinary theoretical model, A2S model, that conceptualizes relationship between store-environment and consumer behaviors. This paper provides empirical evidences to support the theory. This experimental study suggests that ‘comfort’ and ‘intermediate arousal condition’ moderate positive shopping responses in a store environment that is manipulated by lighting and sound.
 
Another paper “Utilitarian Aesthetics: An Interdisciplinary Inclusive Design Graduate Seminar” co-authored with Molly Rogers, adjunct instructor of product design program, disseminates pedagogic aspects of an interior architecture graduate seminar that engaged architecture/interior design students and community members with disabilities in exploration of inclusive design issues.
 
Also, a former student research paper, “Designing for All: Better Spaces for the Vision Impaired” by Qing Ju (M.I.Arch ’13) and McCall Wood (M.Arch ’13) will be delivered at the conference. This paper disseminates research findings on inclusive design issues for people with vision impaired.