arch|one e-newsletter
July 10, 2013
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Student using public design to
rebrand architecture profession

A new porch space where customers of a downtown Bryan bakery can enjoy its goods with a cup of coffee is already attracting customers and increasing the business’ curb appeal despite being several steps from completion. The space was designed as part of a graduate Texas A&M architecture student's quest to make architecture relevant to the middle class and small business owners.

“People don't ‘get’ us,” said 2013 Master of Architecture graduate Jason Minter, about those who think of architecture, if they think of it at all, as something for wealthy clients who want big, expensive buildings.

See story, photos



College of Architecture to honor
six 2013 outstanding alumni

Six former students from Texas A&M’s College of Architecture who have risen to the top of their professional field while making significant public service contributions will be honored this fall as 2013 outstanding alumni.

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Francis Hall campaign:

The auditorium in Francis Hall will be named in honor of Professor Bob Segner.

Auditorium name to honor popular CoSci professor

The signature classroom in Francis Hall, future home of Texas A&M’s Department of Construction Science, will be named after Bob Segner, a professor who has been teaching students, many of whom are now leaders in the building industry, since 1970.

“I can’t think of a better way to honor Bob, who has played such a pivotal role in the education and careers of Aggie construction science students,” said Don Weaver ’76, who donated $250,000 to name the auditorium after Segner.

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Peel honors Hill, college
with gifts totaling $225,000

Recognizing the profound and positive influence longtime architecture professor Rodney Hill had on his life and those of countless other Texas A&M students, Bill Peel ‘74 has contributed $25,000 to the Rodney Hill Professorship in Creativity and Design, and he is challenging Hill's former students to make contributions of their own.

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Also online:

Vaughn Construction contributes
to Francis Hall renovation project


Gift provides audiovisual
classroom for Francis Hall





Research:

CHC's digital models of the Alamo will help track its evolution.

CHC documenting the Alamo's many transformations

Digital models of the Alamo, a shrine in Texas' battle for independence from Mexico, are being created by Bob Warden, director of Texas A&M's Center for Heritage Conservation, and Master of Architecture students at Texas A&M.

Warden and his students are scanning and recording imaging data with sophisticated equipment that yields highly-detailed 2- and 3-D models when it's entered into computer-aided design software.

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Architecture prof leads effort to
design energy-saving software

A building energy "tune-up" procedure developed at Texas A&M University's Energy Systems Laboratory has so far yielded more than $100 million in energy savings from little more than 300 client buildings, said Charles Culp, professor of architecture.

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Ph.D. student works to green
building practices in colonia

After investigating home building practices common in Texas colonias, impoverished areas near the Mexico border, a Texas A&M architecture Ph.D. student is working to share affordable, energy efficient construction techniques and home designs with colonias residents.

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Conventional, energy-efficient
residences compared in study

The difference in energy use between two homes in Qatar, one built to a strict energy efficiency standard, the other built conventionally, is being measured by a team of researchers led by John Bryant, an associate professor of construction science who also serves on the faculty at Texas A&M University at Qatar.

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Also online:

Student proposes assembled
housing as Sandy recovery aid


Study: 100-year flood plain poor
indicator of likely flood damage


Studies show social vulnerability
mapping reduces disaster impacts


Energy lab's recommended code
revisions yield savings for Texas





In the Studio:

Rainwater reclaimation system Students retool water district site for conservation education.

Water district site designs emphasize conservation

In groundwater-dependent Montgomery County, Texas, the agency charged with monitoring and conserving this hidden resource received help last spring from Texas A&M landscape architecture students who provided a master plan for converting the agency's 4.9-acre Conroe headquarters into an educational facility for demonstrating the latest groundwater conservation techniques.

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'Real Projects' initiative leads to
new home in Bryan subdivision

This fall, a Bryan, Texas family will be settling into a new home designed by Texas A&M environmental design student Catherine Florece. The home was designed as part of "Real Projects," a multidisciplinary community outreach initiative benefiting Brazos Valley residents.

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Green roof project brings
earth to sky at Texas A&M

The stark, gray rooftop of the Langford Architecture Building on the campus of Texas A&M University will turn green in the months and years to come as students and professors from three academic disciplines come together to create a “green roof.”

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Architecture dept. celebrates
excellence at 2nd annual event

An afternoon of juried presentations May 9 showcasing the Department of Architecture's best graduate student work from the academic year culminated with the selection of the year’s top project and the presentation of student and faculty awards at the second annual Celebration of Excellence

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Campus installation prompts
students to reflect on life, goals

In her search for meaning after her mother's death, Texas A&M graduate architecture student Nesserine Mansour built a chalkboard on Rudder Plaza, a busy area on the College Station campus, and prompted passersby to complete the phrase “before I die I want to ...“

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Also online:

Students create designs for
children's healthcare facility


Students use recycled materials to
craft installations along walkway


Student art installations adorn
public space in downtown Bryan


Undergrad Viz students' murals
reflect style of Mexican masters





Academics:

Graduate construction management curriculum is updated.

Grad CoSci program keeps pace with building industry

Effective this fall, changes in the building industry are reflected in revised course content and offerings from the Master of Science in Construction Management program at Texas A&M.

“Our graduate program, the first to be accredited by the American Council for Construction Education, keeps moving forward, offering an even better education to our students,” said Joe Horlen, head of the department.

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Students propose energy-saving
plans for mixed-use complex

Measures to reduce energy use in a high-profile Northgate mixed-use residential development were detailed in construction proposals prepared this spring by construction science students at Texas A&M.

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CoSci student teams bring home
awards from Dallas competition

Construction proposals for a Dallas middle school and a water treatment plant created by two teams of construction science seniors at Texas A&M yielded first- and second-place finishes at a February competition hosted by two regional construction organizations.

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Also online:

CoSci students tour multiple sites
around Texas on April 5 field trip





Honors / Accomplishments:

Students' film earns screening at NYC film fest, SIGGRAPH.

Vizzer created film screened in N.Y. film festival

The story of a boy who crashes into reality after a fanciful, albeit harrowing sled ride down a towering mountain, told in an animated short film created by students at Texas A&M’s Department of Visualization, was shown at the June 13-20 New York City International Film Festival 2013 and will be shown in July at SIGGRAPH 2013, a national computer graphics and interactive techniques conference in Anaheim, Calif., where the work has earned the Best Student Project Runners-Up Award.

John Pettingill directed the film, “Sleddin’,” as his final project in the Master of Fine Arts degree program.

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Holliday earns AFS
achievement award

A group of educators including Shelley Holliday, senior lecturer of architecture, were honored for teaching excellence with Distinguished Achievement Awards from The Association of Former Students during an April 29 ceremony at Rudder Theatre.

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CHUD awards 5 Mitchell-Dockery
Prizes for public interest designs

Five student projects selected as outstanding examples of public interest design, which addresses issues that benefit a community, rather than an individual client, were named by a jury in a competition sponsored by Texas A&M’s Center for Housing and Urban Development.

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Also online:

Prof named regional director of
landscape architecture group


CoSci prof accepts editor post at
construction management journal





Events:

SEAD conference Representatives from the National Science Foundation and National Endowment for the Arts worked toward common goals at the May 16 Science, Engineering, Arts and Design conference organized by Visualization Professor Carol LaFayette.

D.C. conference touts integrating art, science learning

Strategies for incorporating art and design in science and technical education and vice versa were discussed at a May 16, 2013 Washington D.C. conference organized by the network for Sciences, Engineering, Arts and Design (SEAD), a National Science Foundation-funded group championing the integration of art and science in the classroom.

"We finished the conference with refreshed enthusiasm and some new connections to pursue," said SEAD's leader, Carol LaFayette, associate professor of visualization at Texas A&M, and director of the College of Architecture's Institute for Creative Innovation.

See story



Prof promoting move of Wright's
Bachman Wilson House to Italy

A New Jersey residence designed by Frank Lloyd Wright could be moved to Italy with help from Paolo Bulletti, adjunct professor of architecture at Texas A&M’s study abroad venue in Italy. The home’s owners don't want the house, designed in 1954, to be damaged by floodwaters from a nearby river.

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Luminaries speak at spring
architecture lecture series

A diverse group of leaders in architectural design and education shared their knowledge and experiences with Texas A&M students as part of the Spring 2013 Department of Architecture Lecture Series.

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Class Acts:

Joshua Coggeshall '91 BED of Shimizu + Coggeshall Architects earned a 2013 AIA Indy Merit Award for the LEED Platinum 25th Street Residence in Santa Monica, Calif. Joshua is also an associate professor of architecture and heads the Master of Architecture Professional Program at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana.

Former students share activities, accomplishments

Former students are invited to submit items for the Class Acts section of the arch|one e-newsletter, which highlights professional achievements, as well as news briefs about marriages, births, retirements and whatever else former students care to share with the college community. News and photos may be e-mailed directly to the editor.

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CoSci grad Thompson '68 earns
Distinguished Alumnus Award

Decades of leadership in the construction industry and support of education at Texas A&M have netted James R. Thompson ’68 the Distinguished Alumnus Award, the highest honor granted by The Association of Former Students.

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Former student is new head of
national construction institute

Improving recognition and acceptance of the American Institute of Constructors' construction certification programs is among the priorities of the organization's new president, David Fleming ’75, a longtime member of its Construction Industry Advisory Council.

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Also online:

Doctoral student's colonia settlers
sketch shown at New York exhibit


Former student, partner creating
marketing videos for design firms


Ph.D. student's new book offers
healing garden design resource





In Memoriam:

A member of the American Institute of Architects College of Fellows, Thomas McKittrick also held the organization's Edward C. Kemper Award.

McKittrick had stellar career as architect, educator

Thomas McKittrick ’91, who became an architecture educator at Texas A&M University in 1990 after a stellar 28-year career as a professional architect, passed away April 23, 2013. He was 79.

A member of the American Institute of Architects’ College of Fellows, McKittrick joined Texas A&M’s Department of Architecture as its first Mid-Career Fellow.

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Noted architect, avid Texas A&M
supporter Preston Geren Jr. dies

A funeral service for Thomas McKittrick ’91, who became an architecture educator at Texas A&M University in 1990 after a stellar 28-year career as a professional architect, took place April 27, 2013 at the Rice Chapel in Rice University’s student center.

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Former head of urban planning
department, Joe McGraw passes

Dr. Joseph J. McGraw, Professor Emeritus of the Texas A&M University College of Architecture and first head of the college's Department of Urban Planning, passed away Monday, June 3, 2013 in College Station. He was 86 years old.

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Former professor, architectural
historian Hamblett dead at 73

Augustus Charles "Gus" Hamblett, who taught architectural history and design at the Texas A&M University College of Architecture for 30 years, died June 15, 2013. He was 73.

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Asterisk*

Asterisk*,” a multimedia exhibit held May 5-18, 2013 in the Texas A&M College of Architecture's Wright Gallery, showcased artistic explorations by students in the Contemporary Art Studio/Seminar, part of the Master of Fine Arts-Visualization program.



College of Architecture | Texas A&M University