Mickey Muennig (1935–2021) was an American architect celebrated for his organic, site-sensitive buildings that have helped define the built character of Big Sur, California. On June 1, 2025, a group representing the University of Oklahoma’s Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture joined designers, builders, photographers, and curators on an in-depth tour of Mickey Muennig’s work in Big Sur.
Dr. Stephanie Z. Pilat will become the next dean of the College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning at the University of Cincinnati (UC) beginning July 1.
This spring, the Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture is proud to present Creating Waves: The Architecture of James H. Fox, an exhibition that brings to light the rich legacy of an architect who believed deeply in the expressive power of structure, place, and personal connection.
The Center for Architecture + Design in San Francisco hosted an opening reception for the “Do Not Try to Remember” exhibition. Organized by the University of Oklahoma Gibbs College of Architecture, the exhibition explores the groundbreaking work of renegade architects who helped shape Bay Area design in the mid-20th century.
In the mid-20th century, a group of renegade architects broke all the rules, shaping a uniquely American vision of design. Now, their work comes to life in Do Not Try to Remember: The American School of Architecture in the Bay Area, an archival exhibition opening February 20, 2025, at San Francisco’s Center for Architecture + Design.
The Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture recently hosted the Outré West: The American School of Architecture from Oklahoma to California exhibition symposium. Held on October 18, 2024, at the Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center, the event drew more than 100 attendees.
Join Gibbs College for the “Outré West Symposium” on October 17 and architectural tours on October 18, 2024. Featuring gallery tours of the Outré West exhibition, presentations on mid-century architecture, a reception and architectural tours, these events offer an opportunity to learn more about the American School of Architecture, which was born in Oklahoma and thrived in California!
The Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture proudly announces the highly successful opening of the Outré West: The American School of Architecture from Oklahoma to California exhibition. Held on August 22, 2024, at the Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center, the event drew hundreds of attendees
American School team members Angela Person and Stephanie Pilat recently had the opportunity to tour Bruce Goff’s Sam and Ruth Van Sickle Ford House in Aurora, Illinois. Completed in 1950, the Ford House is owned by Sidney K. Robinson, who graciously hosted Person and Pilat. It was first introduced to the American public in a 1951 Life magazine article entitled “The Round House,” which included six pages of color photographs.
While first planning upcoming exhibition Outré West: The American School of Architecture from Oklahoma to California, the curators had a bold idea: to recreate at full scale architectural fragments of projects documented in the show. Organized as a studio and independent study course instructed by Ken Marold, students undertook the challenge of drawing, fabricating, and assembling these installations.
The Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture at the University of Oklahoma is pleased to announce the exhibition “Outré West: The American School of Architecture from Oklahoma to California,” meticulously curated by Gibbs faculty members Dr. Angela Person, Dr. Stephanie Pilat, and Marco Piscitelli. The exhibition also features significant contributions from faculty and students across the college and beyond.
Opening Aug. 22, 2024 in Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center’s Eleanor Kirkpatrick Main Gallery, Outré West: The American School of Architecture from Oklahoma to California considers the works of a group of architects who were educated and mentored in Oklahoma in the 1950s and 1960s, and later developed groundbreaking design practices in California.
The Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture at the University of Oklahoma (OU) is pleased to announce the appointment of Daniel Butko, AIA, to a four-year term as Director of the Division of Architecture, effective July 1, 2024.
Stephanie Pilat, professor of Architecture, was recently awarded an OU Arts and Humanities Faculty Fellowship (AHFF). The AHFF provides a semester of support for faculty in the arts, humanities and interpretive social sciences. It is the most competitive and prestigious internal award offered in the arts and humanities at OU.
Professors of Architecture Stephanie Pilat and Angela Person recently presented their research on the American School of Architecture at the book launch for Histories of Architecture Education in the United States. Hosted by Joan Ockman and Fernando Lara at the University of Pennsylvania, a select group of authors featured in this book were invited to share their research.
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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.
Architecture faculty Stephanie Pilat and Angela Person recently published a chapter in the book, Histories of Architecture Education in the United States, edited By Peter L. Laurence (Routledge, 2023). This book is an edited collection that focuses on the professional evolution, experimental and enduring pedagogical approaches and leading institutions of American architecture education.
In collaboration with OU Online, the Division of Architecture is excited to announce a new Sustainable Architecture graduate program. This master’s program is 100% online and consists of 15 courses that can be completed in just 15 months.
A book edited by Stephanie Pilat, an OU Professor of Architecture, and Kay Bea Jones received praise in a recent review for the European Architectural History Network. The book, “Routledge Companion to Italian Fascist Architecture,” considers the reception and legacy of fascist architecture and urbanism in Italy. It investigates how these historic sites have been transformed and what constitutes the meaning of these buildings and cities today.
OU’s Gibbs College of Architecture is pleased to announce that two of our faculty will be offering the inaugural Bob & Sherry Faust Distinguished Lecture at Auburn University on Wednesday, March 22, 2023 at the Gogue Performing Arts Center and streaming on YouTube Live.
Angela Person and Stephanie Pilat, faculty in the OU Division of Architecture, were recently announced as recipients of the 2023 Course Development Prize in Architecture, Climate Change, and Society. The prize is awarded by Columbia University’s Temple Hoyne Buell Center for the Study of American Architecture and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture.
OU Architecture faculty Dr. Stephanie Pilat and Dr. Angela Person, along with Dr. Carmina Sanchez-del-Valle of Hampton University, recently published a special edition of the architectural research journal Enquiry.
The Society of Architectural Historians (SAH) awarded an Honorable Mention for the 2022 SAH Exhibition Catalogue Award to Renegades: Bruce Goff and the American School of Architecture. The Renegades book accompanied the “Renegades” exhibition held at the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art in Spring 2020.
Architecture Graduate Teaching Assistant Donovan Linsey recently received the Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award from the University of Oklahoma Graduate College.
David Boeck, Associate Professor of Architecture, received the University of Oklahoma’s General Education Teaching Award. He was honored at the Faculty Awards Luncheon on April 14th for the award.
Camille Germany, Assistant to the Director of the Division of Architecture, has recently been awarded a University of Oklahoma Staff Senate Outstanding Performance Award as recognition for her outstanding job performance as well as her service and dedication to both Gibbs College and the University of Oklahoma.
Dr. Stephanie Pilat, Director of the Division of Architecture, recently presented a talk at Brown University, titled “The Afterlife of Fascist Architecture and Urbanism.” The talk was sponsored by Brown University’s Department of the History of Art and Architecture.
Telesis, the Gibbs College of Architecture’s student journal, was recently awarded a grant from the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in Fine Art! The Graham Foundation was established in 1956 with the goal of fostering the development and exchange of ideas about architecture and its role in the arts, culture, and society.
Gibbs College faculty members Dr. Stephanie Pilat and Dr. Angela Person were recently awarded the University of Oklahoma Vice President for Research and Partnerships Award for Excellence in Research, Design, and Creative Expression in the Humanities and the Fine Arts for their work leading the American School Project team.
The Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture at the University of Oklahoma (OU) is pleased to announce the launch of “The American School of Architecture: An Interactive Database,” made possible by an ‘Art Works’ grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).
"Renegades: Bruce Goff and the American School of Architecture" won the 2021 Oklahoma Book Award for Design/Illustration and was a finalist for a national art award. The book explores the idea of an “American School” of architecture through essays and rare images highlighting Bruce Goff and his influence, and it was praised for its elegant design.
Architecture Division Director Stephanie Pilat published an article in the Journal of Architectural Education calling for academic ranking systems to recognize the work of architecture faculty. The article highlights how major architecture awards are excluded from national metrics and proposes a path forward.
Graduate students enrolled in ARCH 5543, “Research and Critical Writing,” have collaborated to edit the latest edition of _543: The OU Architectural Theory and Criticism Journal.
Renegades: Bruce Goff and the American School of Architecture (OU Press, 2020) has been named a finalist for the College Art Association’s 2021 Alfred H. Barr Jr. Award honoring the work of smaller museums, libraries, collections and exhibitions. It is also a finalist in the 2021 Oklahoma Book Awards’ Design/Illustration Category.
Associate professor and director of the Division of Architecture Dr. Stephanie Pilat recently published a review of the book The Son of Good Fortune by Lysley Tenorio (Ecco, 2020), in World Literature Today.
The “Renegades: Bruce Goff and the American School of Architecture” exhibition, a collaboration of the Gibbs College of Architecture and Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, recently received a favorable review in the Journal of Architectural Education by architectural historian Dr. Elizabeth Keslacy.
Associate professor of architecture Stephanie Pilat’s co-edited book, The Routledge Companion to Fascist Architecture: Reception and Legacy, was recently reviewed by Daniel Rifkind in Architectural Record.
During the Christopher C. Gibbs 2020 Scholarship Recognition Ceremony, held on Friday, September 25, 2020, more than 140 students from all seven disciplines were honored with $238,000 in scholarships made possible by generous donations from Gibbs College alumni, corporate donors, and others. The 2020 Scholarship Recognition Ceremony saw a record-breaking number of scholarships awarded by Gibbs College.
University of Oklahoma professor Stephanie Pilat co-authored an article with Oklahoma State University professor Paolo Sanza examining fascist-era summer camps in Italy. Published in Childhood in the Past, the study analyzes how architecture shaped rituals of childhood in three colonie during the 1930s.
The American School Project at the University of Oklahoma was recognized during the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain ARCH/TECTURES ARCH/VES conference. The initiative documents OU’s architecture program and is led by Stephanie Pilat and Angela Person in collaboration with University Libraries.
Student, faculty and staff safety has been a hot topic of discussion and is of the utmost importance to the University of Oklahoma and the Gibbs College of Architecture. You can learn more about Gibbs College efforts and share your own feedback here. To help address these concerns, we recently spoke with Gibbs College program directors to find out what adjustments being made to their programs to ensure student, faculty and staff safety, while supporting learning outcomes. Below, Director of Architecture Dr. Stephanie Pilat shares responses to some frequently asked questions.
OU has been working diligently to ensure that returning students, faculty and staff return to a campus that is safer and better prepared to manage the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to increased cleaning schedules, adding new and more robust cleaning agents and disinfectants and updated mask policies, Gibbs College has been working to improve air quality and clean the exchanged air within Gould Hall and make changes to schedules and classes to better accommodate student learning.
The Gibbs College of Architecture hosted a webinar exploring how the arts and humanities can shape public health responses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Panelists discussed how cultural forces influence behavior and how creative fields can translate scientific knowledge into meaningful social change.
The Gibbs College of Architecture at the University of Oklahoma is hosting a webinar series exploring how design education and building practices can adapt to a changing world. The “Safer During COVID-19” panel focuses on improving interior safety through ventilation, technology, and resilient design strategies for both retrofits and new construction.
The Gibbs College of Architecture at the University of Oklahoma hosted a summer webinar series expanding on its “Schools of Thought” conference to examine how design education can respond to protest and pandemic. The June 25, 2020 session, “Public Space in a Time of Protest & Pandemic,” featured practitioners and educators discussing public engagement, sustainable development, and the future of public space.
The Gibbs College of Architecture at the University of Oklahoma hosted a June 18, 2020 webinar on best practices for teaching design studios online as part of its Summer Schools of Thought series. Faculty from several universities discussed community building, assessment, online transitions, and studio structure during the 90-minute session.
The Gibbs College of Architecture at the University of Oklahoma hosted the “Schools of Thought” Summer Webinar Series to explore how design education can adapt during times of change. The series featured discussions on equity, public health, online teaching, and resilient buildings, with recordings and notes available for each session.
