Senior Interior Design student, Jada Higgins, has achieved a remarkable milestone by winning the IIDA Excellence Award at the Texas-Oklahoma Chapter’s annual awards ceremony held on Friday, November 7th in Austin, Texas.
20 students in the Gibbs College of Architecture’s American School Design+Build (ASDB) program, including 13 architecture students, 6 construction science students and 1 environmental design student, are partnering this semester with WildCare Oklahoma, and together they have been named one of five North American finalists for the Land Rover Defender Service Awards. The honor carries the opportunity for a $30,000 grant, with funding supported by Chase and other high-profile sponsors, including Disney. Public voting is now open through October 19, 2025, to determine the winner of the Animal, Wildlife & Marine Welfare Award.
OU Construction Science students from the Haskell & Irene Lemon Division Construction Science have a long tradition of excelling in regional, national, and international competitions. From design-build to commercial and heavy civil projects, they have consistently earned top honors while gaining hands-on experience that mirrors the pace and teamwork of the construction industry.
Ali Ames, an alumna of the University of Oklahoma’s Architecture program, recently had a project featured in House Beautiful, including on the magazine’s cover. The project is a breathtaking residence in Westlake, Texas. Ames, class of 2012, designed the exterior of the 17,200-square-foot home and collaborated on the interiors with designer Janelle Patton.
Thirteen graduate students in the Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture at the University of Oklahoma are helping bring nature-focused design to the Child Study Center at the University of Central Oklahoma. The project, part of the Nature Explore program, integrates native plants and natural materials to create immersive outdoor play spaces that foster children’s learning and connection with nature.
Davis Furniture proudly announces its recent sponsorship of the Furniture Design-Build Studio at the University of Oklahoma, a hands-on course inspiring the next generation of designers through experimental learning. Held during the Fall 2024 semester at the University’s Gibbs College of Architecture, the studio brought together 17 senior Interior Design students who designed, constructed, and showcased original furniture pieces.
On Aug. 28, students from the University of Oklahoma Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture joined school and community leaders to celebrate the opening of an educational greenhouse and outdoor garden space they designed and built for the John Rex Charter School in Oklahoma City. Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt joined in the ribbon-cutting celebration.
An interdisciplinary team of Gibbs graduate students recently competed in the TEXO Foundation Region 5 Student Competition in Hurst, Texas. The team of six competed in the Design-Build division in the Graduate category and won second place with their design proposal.
An interdisciplinary team of OU students from the Gibbs College of Architecture, Gallogly College of Engineering and Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication was recently selected as a finalist for the 2024 Solar Decathlon Competition. The team is competing in this year’s Design Challenge in the Single-Family Housing Category.
OFFICIAL, the Architecture firm founded by assistant professor of Architecture Amy Leveno and adjunct faculty Mark Leveno, was named to the 2023 D Home “Best Architects in Dallas” list. Each Year, D Home recognizes the top architects in the Dallas area to highlight their incredible work in the industry.
In November, the Yukon City Council approved an agreement with the IQC to develop a tree canopy plan for Garth Brooks Boulevard. Yukon planning staff will work closely with a group of OU Environmental Design students, led by Professor Sarah Little, to create unique design concepts for this corridor.
During the fall 2023 semester, senior Interior Design students designed and constructed furniture pieces as a part of Gibbs College’s furniture design studio. For the second year in a row, the course was sponsored by local furniture and design studio Henry Home Interiors. Their sponsorship helped cover the cost of materials, scholarships and resources for the end-of-semester furniture design exhibition.
The community of Westville, Oklahoma was recently awarded a Built Environment Grant from the Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust to continue implementing a plan developed by OU’s Institute for Quality Communities. With the designs provided by the OU team, Westville city officials hope to enhance the town’s streetscapes and improve overall community connectivity.
OU Architecture alumni Khoi Nguyen and Julie Tran were recently awarded the Young Architects award and two Best of Design Awards from The Architect’s Newspaper. Their New York City-based design firm, Future Projects, received recognition for the projects Another Seedbed and Studio Loutsis.
Christopher Loofs and Jordan Loofs, faculty in the divisions of Architecture and Interior Design, were recently selected as winners of Warming Huts v.2024: An Arts + Architecture Competition on Ice, hosted by The Forks. Supported by the Manitoba Association of Architects, this annual competition combines world-class design and art with the famous winters of Winnipeg, Manitoba.
In October, a group of Architecture students represented OU at the 2023 National Organization of Minority Architects Conference in Portland, Oregon. The annual NOMA conference brings together NOMA members, allies and students to engage in thought-provoking seminar sessions, connect with industry experts and celebrate member achievements.
Cory Henry, affiliate faculty member in the Division of Architecture and principal of Atelier Cory Henry in Los Angeles, was recently featured in Architect Magazine. The magazine’s October issue, “Architectures of Joy, Abundance, and Collectivity,” was designed and coedited by Dark Matter U, a democratic collective that advocates for anti-racist design education and practice.
Several students from OU’s Master of Landscape Architecture and Regional + City Planning programs recently received awards at the annual meeting of the Oklahoma Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects. Each year, the OKASLA hosts an annual conference to recognize exceptional ASLA members and their achievements and discuss relevant topics within the discipline.
OFFICIAL, an Architecture, interiors and furniture design studio founded by Architecture Assistant Professor Amy Leveno and Adjunct Faculty Mark Leveno, was recently recognized at the 2023 AIA Honor Awards Celebration. The AIA Oklahoma Honor Awards Program recognizes exceptional members for their distinguished leadership and commitment to the quality of life in Oklahoma.
Butzer Architects and Urbanism, an award-winning firm led by Hans E. Butzer, dean of Gibbs College, and his partner Torrey Butzer, was recently recognized at the 2023 AIA Honor Awards Celebration. The AIA Oklahoma Honor Awards Program recognizes exceptional members for their distinguished leadership and commitment to the quality of life in Oklahoma.
In their first ten days of school, first-year Architecture students collaborated on designing, making and flying air vessels, or kites. The students were led by Architecture faculty Tamar Zinguer, Shooka Motamedi, Dayton Clark, Jordan Loofs, Hunter Read, Ted Reeds and Chris Morrey.
Recent alumni of OU’s Master of Urban Design program are seeing their visions for Collinsville, Oklahoma, come to life. On Aug. 21, 2023, local officials announced a $4.4 million project in partnership with LandPlan to revitalize Collinsville’s historic downtown area.
Gibbs College alumna Breah Page graduated from OU in 2010 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in architecture. She now is senior project architect at LBBA in Chicago and was recently awarded the Dubin Family Young Architect Award from the American Institute of Architects. We sat down with her to learn more about her experience at Gibbs College and in the professional architecture industry.
Butzer Architects and Urbanism, a firm led by Hans E. Butzer, professor of architecture and dean of Gibbs College, and his partner Torrey Butzer, has been selected for the shortlist of prominent designers to be considered for the Global War on Terrorism Memorial in Washington, D.C.
This semester a group of construction science students enrolled in this spring’s Design+Build course has been constructing a greenhouse and outdoor learning space for Crutcho Public Schools in Oklahoma City. Each spring semester, the Design+Build course gives construction science students the opportunity to build a real-world, full-scale project for an underrepresented or under-resourced community.
Last fall, Dr. Khosrow Bozorgi taught the Architecture studio ARCH 4956, which focused on exploration, analysis and experimentation in the development of schematic proposals. In this studio, students designed cultural centers for the Ganjali Khan Baazar Complex in Kerman, a remote city in Iran. They were challenged with introducing a new design concept that could be easily integrated into the rich architectural traditions of the city.
The OU Eco-Sooners received an award at the final competition of the 2023 Solar Decathlon Design Challenge. The team of Gibbs students won the Best Name of the Year award for their well-selected team name. According to the judges, the name strongly reflected the team’s design ideas and innovative strategies.
Freshman Interior Design students recently visited Rivermont Independent Living in Norman, OK as a part of their studio course. 36 students attended the trip, joined by Professors of Interior Design Dr. Suchismita Bhattacharjee and Dr. Yeji Yi and graduate teaching assistant Naila Hasan.
OU Construction Science Professor Bryan Bloom received the Provost’s Award for Outstanding Engaged Teaching. This award recognizes faculty that utilize innovative teaching techniques that promote community collaboration and high-quality, engaged learning.
OU Interior Design student Riham Hamed was recently selected for the 2023 Metropolis Future100 program. Created by Metropolis Magazine, this program recognizes the top 100 architecture and interior design students in the United States and connects them with leading design firms.
Dr. Lee Fithian, an Associate Professor of Architecture, was recently issued a patent for her building façade system that she has spent years developing. The double skin façade system evacuates polluted air from the streetscape, providing better air quality for people in urban environments and improving human health. The system can be included in new buildings but can also be retrofitted to existing ones.
A team of Gibbs students was recently selected as a finalist for the 2023 Solar Decathlon Design Challenge. The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon is a collegiate competition that has inspired thousands of students worldwide to enter the clean energy workforce since its inception in 2002. This competition challenges student teams to create innovative building designs that address real-world issues, including climate change, environmental justice, and affordability.
The Fall 2022 OU Architecture Design Awards were recently announced, with seven students receiving recognition for their outstanding work. There are two categories of awards: the Fall 2022 Design V GH2 Design Studio Prize, and the Fall 2022 Design VII Award.
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. The first phase of the project was installed last summer and was recently highlighted in the winter 2023 edition of Sooner Magazine.
An integrated Design-Build team of OU students from Construction Science, Architecture, and Interior Design won 1st place at the TEXO Foundation | Associated Schools of Construction (ASC) Region 5 student competition.
Deborah Richards and Angela Person, assistant professors of Architecture, were recently announced as recipients of the 2023 Journal of Architectural Education (JAE) Award for Design. The JAE Award was instituted in 1985 and is now given annually for outstanding peer-reviewed articles published in the Essay, Design, Narrative, and Image categories during the preceding academic year.
Associate Professor of Architecture Daniel Butko’s acoustic consulting work on the CO-OP Ramen House project in Bentonville, Arkansas, was recently recognized by the American Institute of Architects (AIA). Professor Butko worked alongside professionals from the award-winning firm Maron Blackwell Architects to complete the project.
A team of Gibbs students recently traveled to Czech Technical University in Prague, Czech Republic, for the 2022 Associated Schools of Construction (ASC) Region-8 Student Competition. The group was paired with three other students from Birmingham City University in the United Kingdom for the international event.
This semester’s Interior Design Furniture Design Studio course will be hosting an exhibition of their completed furniture pieces on Thursday, December 1st at 7:00pm at MAINSITE Contemporary Art Gallery in Norman. The exhibition is made possible by the generous sponsorship of Henry Home Interiors of Norman.
Interior Design Senior, Ava Moore, and Interior Design 2022 Graduate, Olivia Aasheim, recently received awards from the Oklahoma Interior Design Coalition’s (OIDC).
Recently, a group of Gibbs College students from OU’s chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA) attended the 2022 NOMA Conference in Nashville, Tennessee. The group was led by Felipe Flores, a Gibbs College PhD student and supervisor of OU’s NOMA chapter.
Chris Morrey, a lecturer in the Division of Architecture, recently installed a sculpture suite in the Columbia Regional Airport. The sculptures, two large scale rings titled “Returning,” were inspired by the “the cyclical nature of days, seasons and years, and resonates with concepts of leaving, returning and repetition.”
Architect Tiziana Proietti and her research partner Sergei Gepshtein joined as faculty members for the 2022 Academy of Neuroscience For Architecture (ANFA) Bootcamp. Proietti is an assistant professor at the Gibbs College of Architecture and director of the Sense|Base Laboratory at OU. Sergei Gepshtein is a scientist and affiliate of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and director of the Center for Spatial Perception & Concrete Experience at the University of Southern California.
Aaron Jones, an affiliate faculty member of the Gibbs College of Architecture, recently received funding for the collaborative architecture project “Deep Space Maine.” They were awarded the SPACE: American Rescue Plan – Maine Project Grant.
Last spring, Construction Science students enrolled in Professor Bryan Bloom’s Design+Build course constructed a greenhouse for local nonprofit Engage Learning’s Makerspace in Oklahoma City. The Design+Build course, offered every spring, gives construction science students the opportunity to build a real-world project to serve a community partner.
Architecture students Hiroki Mishima and Quentin Puiseux recently produced a project, “Ranger Cabins” that designed modular housing for park rangers in national parks around the world. Their project was shortlisted in the 2nd Annual International Architecture Competition for Modular Homes. The competition, hosted by Buildner Architecture Competitions, asked participants to submit innovative design proposals for a modular home that can be constructed in any form in any location.
The Gibbs College of Architecture is hosting a t-shirt design competition for students! Any student in the College of Architecture can create and submit a design for a college-wide t-shirt. Students from all divisions are encouraged to participate.
Amy Leveno, Assistant Professor of Architecture, and Mark Leveno, Adjunct Faculty Member, were recently awarded an AIA Dallas Unbuilt Design Award for their firm OFFICIAL’s Granger Annex Adaptive Reuse Project. The AIA Dallas Unbuilt Design Awards are organized by the American Institute of Architects Dallas Design Awards Committee, whose purpose is to recognize outstanding work by local architects and honor the collaborative efforts of architects, clients, and consultants who achieve design excellence. The Unbuilt Design Awards showcase progressive ideas and dynamic design solutions.
The Design-Build Institute of America’s Southwest Region (DBIA-SW) recently awarded support to Ethan Watson, a Construction Science student, and Dr. Tamera McCuen, Professor of Construction Science. These awards were the first of their kind to be awarded by the DBIA-SW.
