Associate professor of Architecture Tamar Zinguer recently contributed to a dynamic, multidisciplinary conversation as part of the University of Oklahoma Arts & Humanities Forum’s 2025–26 theme year, “Dirt.” The event—“What Dirt Is Not: Thinking with Loess, Sand, Shell, and Dust”—brought together scholars from across the OU and beyond to examine how different kinds of earth and sediment shape environments, histories, and cultural narratives.
This program marked the second event in the Forum’s four-part public series. Moderated by Kim Marshall, Director of the Arts & Humanities Forum at OU, the discussion featured perspectives from Geosciences, Anthropology, Architecture, and the Oklahoma Oral History Research Program. Together, the speakers explored how materials such as loess, sand, shell, and dust carry scientific, social, and symbolic meaning—and how they challenge our assumptions about what “dirt” is and is not.
The panel featured presentations by:
Tamar Zinguer's presentation. Photo credit: Donovan Linsey.
Zinguer’s forthcoming book is titled Sandbox: An Architectural History (MIT Press), and her presentation on the panel explored the “imagination that is engendered by sand.”
A full recording of the panelist’s presentations and discussion is available as a podcast episode on OUAH.FM, a collection of podcasts and audio resources created by the Arts & Humanities Forum.
The 2025–26 Forum series will continue throughout the year with additional public talks, community-focused programs, and a faculty fellows initiative that invites deeper reflection on how “dirt”—in all its forms—shapes our landscapes, our stories, and our shared sense of place.
Telesis, a journal produced by students in the University of Oklahoma Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture, has earned first place in the 2026 Douglas Haskell Award for Student Journals for its seventh volume, “Unfold.” This marks the fourth time the publication has earned recognition for excellence in student architectural journalism. It shares the honor with student journals from Columbia University, University of Michigan, and Cal Poly.
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.
