In Spring 2022, Landscape Architecture students from Gibbs College collaborated with OU Rainbolt College of Education students on the design of an outdoor play and learning environment at the new Institute of Child Development (ICD). The first phase of the project was installed last summer and was recently highlighted in the winter 2023 edition of Sooner Magazine.
The ICD is a nonprofit preschool located on OU’s campus that provides a quality early childhood education experience for children ages 2-5 through self-selected center learning experiences. The school also functions as a laboratory for undergraduate students, a practicum site for graduate students, and provides research opportunities for OU faculty.
A hill slide at the ICD playground. Photo by Travis Caperton.
The students worked together to create a low-cost, eco-friendly, and sustainable outdoor play area, and were directed by Sarah Little, a professor of Landscape Architecture, Becca Waggoner, the Director of ICD, and Kyong-Ah Kwon, the Drusa B. Cable Endowed Chair. The final design features a drive-through tricycle storage shed, “mud kitchens” for play using dirt and sand, gardening beds, and a child-sized bridge.
Read the full article in Sooner Magazine.
A project designed by Gibbs College of Architecture faculty member Austin Lightle has been selected for BuildFest 2026, a national art and architecture festival held at the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts in New York, on the historic grounds of the 1969 Woodstock Music Festival.
Two Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture alumni are helping shape recommendations that could influence affordable housing design and construction across Oklahoma.
The University of Oklahoma Libraries recently welcomed Carl Siegel as an Architecture Librarian and Archivist and Assistant Professor. In his role, Siegel supports students, faculty and staff across the Gibbs College of Architecture while also serving as archivist for the American School of Architecture Archives.
