Telesis, the Gibbs College of Architecture’s award-winning student journal, is releasing its fourth edition in Fall 2022. This edition, “Habitation,” questions how we may ensure all things, living and non-living, may continue to inhabit our planet. “Habitation” continues the overarching theme explored in “Isolation”: “How can design aid people’s sense of belonging?”
The contents of “Habitation” involve developing new strategies for housing, food systems, education, consumerism, and more. Topics such as urbanism, migration, and border spaces are explored by a variety of authors in “Habitation.”
A spread from Telesis "Habitation."
According to the publication, “One’s sense of belonging is akin to perceiving one’s habitat. By understanding the general area that contains all the resources a given species needs to survive, species will stay put to leverage prospects and refuge. This relationship can become so solidified, a species may thrive in its habitat to the point of directly altering its surroundings. This process involves not only identifying, or perceiving, that habitat, but also strengthening a bond with it: carving and shaping it to intensify the species’ state of refuge. When does this alteration go too far? When does altering the landscape to increase one’s sense of belonging become so immense, that the act folds back on itself, yielding nothing but destruction and isolation?”
A spread from Telesis "Habitation."
This issue was coordinated by Ben DeCuyper (Adjunct at OU Gibbs College of Architecture), Angela Person, Ph.D. (Director of Research Initiatives and Strategic Planning + Assistant Professor at OU Gibbs College of Architecture), and Luis Felipe Flores Garzon (PhD Student at OU Gibbs College of Architecture).
Produced by students, Telesis has been recognized by national awards and grants for its exceptional quality. During its first year, the journal was awarded the Douglas Haskell Award for Student Journals. Telesis was also awarded a grant from the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in Fine Art which assisted with the publication “Habitation” and will assist with “Adaptive Practice,” a future issue. Telesis’s most recent issue “Isolation” was awarded the 2022 Douglas Haskell Award for Student Journals.
Contributing Authors in Telesis “Habitation”:
View the PDF of Habitation below, or visit the Telesis page to view additional issues.
Associate Professors Lee Fithian, Ph.D., and Elizabeth Pober have published a chapter in the recently released New Perspectives in Indoor Air Quality, published by Elsevier. Their contribution, titled “Chapter 16 – Architecture and the Challenges of Indoor Air Quality,” examines the relationship between architecture and indoor air quality.
Dr. Ladan Mozaffarian, Assistant Professor of Regional and City Planning, has been selected to serve as Co-Chair of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP) Planners of Color Interest Group (POCIG) for the 2025–2027 term.
The Gibbs College of Architecture is proud to recognize Tahsin Tabassum, a recent graduate of the college’s Master of Regional and City Planning program and current doctoral student at the University of California, Irvine, for receiving the prestigious 2024–2025 American Planning Association (APA) Outstanding Student Award.
