Skip Navigation

Architecture Student Wins United Nations Competition

A rendering of the winning design by Firas Chamas.

Architecture Student Wins United Nations Competition


Date

January 16, 2018

Tags


Join us in congratulating Firas Chamas, an OU architecture student, for winning a competition held by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Participants were asked to transform an open space in Tyre, Lebanon, into a child-friendly recreational area that would improve the living conditions for refugees of the area.

“I entered the competition because I believe that to help a city evolve, we must give priority to mending the demographical barriers,” said Chamas. ” [My] aim was to resemble the existing conditions of Tyre, where Palestinian and Lebanese people live together in harmony with no visible divisions.”  Chamas’ design has since been implemented by the UNDP!


Recent Gibbs College News

October 27, 2026

Alumni Spotlight Interview, MRCPL: Trey Ingram, AICP

Planning, Landscape Architecture, and Design (PLAD) alumni Trey Ingram, AICP recently spoke with current PLAD student and graduate media assistant Molly Strobel to share his experiences with the Regional and City Planning program and current work with the Toyota Mobility Foundation.


October 26, 2026

Gibbs College Assistant Professor Recognized for Award-Winning Community Center

Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture assistant professor Amy Leveno and Mark Leveno, co-founders of OFFICIAL Design, have received a 2026 AIA Central States Region Design Award for the firm’s Granger Annex Community Center project in Garland, Texas.