E-news letter for Archtecture

DECEMBER 2017

Chillennium participants prep for a 48-hour game jam.

Student-led Chillennium '17 breaks game jam Guinness World Record

Reeling from too much Red Bull and bleary-eyed from sleep deprivation, a diminishing horde of student game designers, arms laden with computer equipment and unraveled sleeping bags, lumbered out of the Memorial Student Center at Texas A&M University, bringing a quiet end to the spectacle that was Chillennium 2017, a world record-setting, student-led game design competition hosted Oct. 13–15 by the Department of Visualization.

Oscar-winning CG artist joins Viz in 2018 as Hagler Fellow

Jerry Tessendorf, an Academy Award-winning professor from Clemson University who revolutionized the use of fluid simulations in computer graphics, is joining the visualization faculty in 2018 as a Hagler Institute for Advanced Study Faculty Fellow.

New book details creation of historic Texas A&M buildings

David Woodcock, professor emeritus of architecture, and Nancy McCoy, an outstanding alumna, teamed to pen a new book detailing the creation of 10 Texas A&M University Depression-era buildings that are perhaps the campus' finest.

LEAD BY EXAMPLE

A new faculty chair has been created to honor longtime architecture professor George J. Mann and support the Texas A&M Center for Health Systems & Design.

Chair endowment honors Mann, studio leader for more than 50 years

Two prominent former architecture students have created a faculty chair to support the Texas A&M Center for Health Systems & Design and to honor their former professor, George J. Mann, who has been leading healthcare design studios at Texas A&M since 1966.

Outstanding alumni Trubey masters sports arena design

Bryan Trubey — an innovator in the field of sports architecture, having designed the Dallas Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium among many other major arenas around the world—was apparently born with an innate sense of

his destiny.

College suggests year-end giving opportunities

As many plan their year-end charitable giving, the college is focused on completing projects launched by former students in honor of faculty members who played a very special role in their Texas A&M education and in their personal and professional lives after leaving College Station.

RESEARCH

Hazard plans that focus on a single threat led to more policy changes than broader-based plans, found a team of researchers that includes Phil Berke, a professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning.

Study shows focused disaster plans enhance community resilience

Municipalities are more responsive to natural disaster plans that focus on a single threat, such as flooding, than they are to comprehensive resiliency strategies like those outlined in a master plan, according to a hazard research team study evaluating how U.S. cities are adapting to the impacts of human-caused climate change.

Planning prof eyes factors influencing senior walking

People older than 60 are more likely to meet federal walking recommendations if they have younger neighbors, or a human or animal companion to walk with, according to a study by a research team that included Chanam Lee, professor of urban planning.

Viz prof uses motion tracking to enhance kids' writing skills

Using motion-tracking technology, visualization researchers are developing and testing an enhanced play system aimed at boosting children’s imaginations and enriching their story-telling and writing skills.

Berke shares Hazard Center research with Congress, national organizations

In the nation’s capital last November, congressional staff and members of the American Meteorological Society heard Phil Berke, professor of urban planning, present strategies aimed at heightening communities’ ability to withstand natural disasters.

Oct. 23 symposium spotlights college, faculty research

The 19th annual College of Architecture Research Symposium, “Natural, Built, Virtual,” showcased research and creative work by college faculty and doctoral students in a daylong series of five minute sessions in the Langford Architecture Center’s Preston Geren Auditorium.

Vizzer's color harmonizing app featured in research journal

Inspired by her passions for art theory and computer science, Sarah Brown, a senior Texas A&M visualization student from Ft. Worth, created a computer program for building new, exciting color palettes with harmonious hues.

OUTREACH

South Knoll Elementary students work in Jeremiah Forest.

LAND student spearheads massive outdoor classroom project

South Knoll Elementary School students in College Station can enjoy learning in Jeremiah Forest, an outdoor classroom, as a result of a two-year Texas A&M student outreach project led by Alex Santos, an undergraduate landscape architecture major.

Texas senators hear
post-Harvey housing woes

Texas lawmakers heard Shannon Van Zandt, professor of urban planning, describe the significant housing difficulties low-and moderate-income people face as they recover from devastation caused by August 2017’s Hurricane Harvey.

Hack-a-thon to seek space, place, diversity solutions

At Hack-a-thon ’18, a 24-hour anything goes creative problem-solving marathon set for Feb. 2–3 at the Langford Architecture Center, registered teams will vie for $5,000 in prize money while tackling issues of place, space and diversity.

IN THE STUDIO

Nathan Lindig plays a virtual reality game using HTC Vive.

ILMxLAB pros help Vizzers create immersive virtual reality games

Diving headfirst into the fledgling, fast-developing realm of virtual reality, which immerses headset-clad viewers in imaginary, interactive worlds, 16 Texas A&M graduate visualization students spent the summer creating four virtual reality games from scratch with guidance from industry experts at Lucasfilm’s ILMxLAB, an industry leader in immersive entertainment.

Architecture students craft 3-D sculptures with Harvey data

Art is imitating life in professor of architecture Mark Clayton’s sophomore architectural design studio where students created 3-dimensional wall sculptures that reflect levels of rainfall experienced by residents of more than a dozen South Texas communities during Hurricane Harvey.

Design studio tackles indoor architectural lighting challenge

First-year environmental design students vaulted into the vast world of architecture this semester, tackling a studio project that challenged them to cast natural light around a corner and deep into the darkest recesses of structure.

Arch students craft rule-free virtual reality worlds

An exercise designed to expand the imaginations of environmental design majors yielded stunning, 360-degree virtual reality spaces that dazzled headset-clad viewers at a late-October pop-up exhibit staged in the Langford Architecture Building.

Students’ virtual structures viewable on phones, tablets

Virtual high-rise buildings, visible only on tablets and phone screens, towered over a physical model of East Downtown Houston in an exhibit staged recently at the Langford Architecture Center by students in a third-year environmental design studio.

Students design interactive installations to unite college

Using magnets, yarn and striking graphic design, three Texas A&M visualization seniors created an interactive exhibit, “We are One,” on the Langford Architecture Center bridge to demonstrate the connectivity of the College of Architecture family.

HONORS

A Liberty County economic growth map.

Planning students’ projects garner top honors from Texas APA

A comprehensive planning document already shaping growth in Liberty County, Texas earned its graduate urban planning student authors top honors from the American Planning Association Texas Chapter in a category ordinarily reserved for professionals.

LAND prof’s call for green roof research standards lauded

To facilitate the proliferation of green roofs and walls throughout North America, Texas A&M researchers have called for the development of standards and guidelines to improve research, policy development and management within the industry.

Lavy, collaborators stress tech reliance by facility managers

Facility managers should rely on data-driven decision making, resolved a team led by Sarel Lavy, associate professor of construction science, after an extensive review of technology’s relationship to facility management.

Viz students take top prizes in Bullet Train film competition

Using motion graphics, kinetic type and their own design prowess, two Texas A&M visualization student teams won first place honors in a statewide short film competition to create standout promotional videos for the proposed Texas Bullet Train.

ART

An acrylic painting by Ruth Buentello that will show at the upcoming Wright Gallery exhibit.

Latinx artists recall childhood homes in Wright Gallery exhibit

Five contemporary Latinx artists share their culture through intimate personal memories in “Aún Recordamos Aquel Hogar,” or “We Remember Home,” an exhibit set for Jan. 24 – Feb. 28, 2018 at the Texas A&M College of Architecture’s Wright Gallery.

TAMU academy funds
visual, performing arts

To promote the arts at Texas A&M and beyond, the university’s Academy for the Visual & Performing Arts awarded more than $23,000 to university faculty for five art initiatives supporting exhibits, new classes and a book, announced AVPA director Weiling He.

Art demonstration, discussion launched women’s art show

Art by Felice House, assistant professor of visualization, was part of this fall's "Women Painting Women: In Earnest" exhibit at the J. Wayne Stark Galleries that explored the complexity of modern womanhood. The event included a live painting demonstration.

CLASS ACTS

A facade of the historic Texas A&M Williams Administration Building, whose recent renovation headed by Nancy McCoy, '81, was one of several projects to earn Brazos AIA awards.

Brazos County AIA 2017 design awards honors alumni's work

Former Texas A&M architecture students swept the Brazos chapter of the American Institute of Architects 2017 awards with their renovations of the Williams Administration Building and other historic structures in the region.

Class Acts: Former students share news with classmates

The College of Architecture encourages former students to submit news for its Class Acts reports featuring professional achievements, marriages, retirements, bucket list accomplishments or whatever else they care to share. See what others have been up to and share your own news.

Nominations for outstanding college alumni due March 1

Nominations for the 2018 College of Architecture Outstanding Alumni Awards are due by March 1, 2018. The award recognizes the exemplary leadership, relentless pursuit of excellence, and exceptional talents of former students.

Viz grad helps create award-winning 'Zootopia' cityscape

In “Zootopia,” the Oscar-winning animated film where thousands of anthropomorphic animals coexist, Disney artist Brandon Jarratt, a former Texas A&M visualization student, used geographic information system software to craft the movie paradise.

Two former students design edible garden, event space

Dallas’ new civic jewel, A Tasteful Place, a verdant, 3.5-acre edible garden and a sparkling, 3,700-foot glass-walled building housing a teaching kitchen and event space, was designed by two former students from the Texas A&M College of Architecture.

CoSci alum leading Puerto Rico electric grid restoration

Texas A&M construction management graduate, James DeLapp ‘03, a colonel in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, is leading efforts to restore electricity to critical facilities in Puerto Rico after the island’s electrical grid was destroyed by Hurricane Maria’s 150-mph winds.

High flying alum breaks skydiving speed record

Reaching new heights, and velocities, College of Architecture graduate and U.S. Marine Kyle Lobpries ‘06 recently broke the North American record for speed skydiving, an extreme sport in which people free fall headfirst toward the earth as fast as possible.

A stroll through time

From left, undergraduate visualization students Wendi Locklar, Marissa Morris and Taylor Smith enjoy a walk through the walled medieval city of Castiglion Fiorentino, Italy during their fall 2017 study abroad semester. College of Architecture students also learn in semester-long, study abroad venues in Spain, Germany, the United Kingdom, and in shorter programs in China, Japan and Costa Rica.