Professors of Architecture Tamar Zinguer and Tiziana Proietti were recently awarded with the 2023 Gibbs Research Fellowship. This fellowship provides three years of support for research and creative activity in Architecture. Applications are reviewed and ranked by three external peer reviews based on the candidate’s track record and the promise of their 5-year research plan.
Zinguer’s research centers on design pedagogy through history. She is currently completing a book manuscript on the role of the sandbox in design, education and culture, which is under contract with the MIT Press. The book, “Sandbox: An Architectural History,” follows the ubiquitous space of the sandbox from its pedagogical beginnings in 19th Century Berlin to its ultimate rebirth as a significant trope in land art.
Proietti’s research bridges the fields of Architecture and Neuroscience. At Sense|Base, an interdisciplinary laboratory directed by Proietti, she is developing a program to test long-standing hypotheses about the human response to architectural proportion. In partnership with neuroscientist Sergei Gepshtein from the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, she assesses human reactions to specific features of the built environment.
Congratulations to Zinguer and Proietti!
The University of Oklahoma College of Architecture is proud to announce that Model Schools in the Model City, authored by Director of the Institute for Quality Communities, Amber N. Wiley, Ph.D., has been named one of ten finalists for the 2026 ASALH Book Prize for Best New Book in African American History and Culture.
This semester, students in the LA 5535 Studio: Ecological Planning and Design, led by Prof. Afsana Sharmin, took on an ambitious hypothetical project to redesign key parts of the OU campus. Their mission: to tackle the critical real-world challenge of stormwater management through innovative green design.
Petya Stefanoff, Chair of the Educational Committee with the American Planning Association, Oklahoma Chapter (APA-OK) and Gibbs College PhD candidate, has developed a new training program for local government officials. The program, focused on land use, zoning principles, and land development, recently certified its first graduates with Certified Citizen Planner status.
