The Summer 2019 travel study experience of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West, led by Interior Design faculty Mia Kile and Natalie Ellis, was recently featured on the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation website in an article entitled “University of Oklahoma Students Explore Rich History of Design at Taliesin West.”
The article provides an overview of the experience, as well as photographs and interviews of the faculty and Gibbs College architecture student Casey Meyer. Read on for an excerpt or access the full article.
“This course really broadened my horizon in many ways,” Casey Meyer, University of Oklahoma architecture student said. “My outlook on how architecture and interior design should be approached has changed for the better. Understanding, or experiencing the time, effort and thought that was put into each foot of each building really left me astonished. That is the type of thoughtful design I want to pursue. Not cutting corners and using the land to your advantage. Overall, this course was truly inspiring and such unique experience.”
The students also lived like apprentices not only by living in the student shelters, but also by experiencing School of Architecture at Taliesin traditions like preparing meals for one another and cleaning up after the meals. While they were in Scottsdale the students also visited several other sites of architectural significance including the David and Gladys Wright House, the David Dodge estate, and Arcosanti.
Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture congratulates Thinh "Henry" Duong, a master's student in the Division of Interior Design, for earning first place in the 2026 Robert Bruce Thompson Annual Student Light Fixture Design Competition.
Gibbs College of Architecture Institute for Quality Communities (IQC) Director and Division of Planning, Landscape Architecture, and Design (PLAD) faculty member Amber N. Wiley, Ph.D., recently published a new book, Collective Yearning: Black Women Artists from the Zimmerli Art Museum.
In May, students from the Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture's Architecture, Environmental Design, and Interior Design programs participated in an intensive five-day Studio in Residence at Taliesin West, the iconic winter home and desert laboratory of Frank Lloyd Wright.
