SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE RECEIVES $1 MILLION TO TACKLE URBANIZATION CHALLENGES

Prominent Dallas civic leaders Deedie and Rusty Rose have donated $1 million to the School of Architecture at The University of Texas at Austin to fund two endowments in urban planning.

The funds will be used to create an endowed professorship in urban planning and an endowed graduate fellowship in urban planning.

Both endowments will focus on reconnecting the planning profession with the disciplines of architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design. By integrating the strengths of these disciplines, some of the 21st century's greatest planning challenges, including rapid urbanization and population growth, coordination of transportation and land use, and the need to conserve energy and curb the use of greenhouse gases, can be tackled with a holistic approach.

"This wonderful gift will help us to build on one of our biggest strengths here in the School of Architecture," said Dean Fritz Steiner. "No other school in Texas, and very few in the nation, offer the rich mix of disciplines that we do."

"Deedie and Rusty have a long history of community involvement and a tremendous understanding of the issues we face as a society," Steiner said. "The funds will enable us to pursue transformative methods to help change the urban environments in which we live."

Deedie Rose, an alumna of Texas Christian University, is a longtime supporter of the School of Architecture and is a life member of the Architecture Advisory Council. She is honorary co-chair of the school's capital campaign. Her long involvement with the university includes serving as a former board member for the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center and as a founding member of the Fine Arts Council.

Among her many civic contributions in Dallas is her notable leadership with the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts.

Deedie Rose is a principal of two endowments in the School of Architecture, the John William Potter Endowed Fund for the Encouragement of Risk Taking and the Lawrence W. Speck Excellence Fund.

Rusty Rose, a graduate in engineering science at The University of Texas at Austin, is president of Cardinal Investment Company in Dallas. He was also co-owner and co-managing director of the Texas Rangers baseball team from 1989-1998 and is chairman of Drew Industries, Inc.

"It is important to see the beauty in the world around us, while at the same time, realizing that as humans, we are responsible for making the world a beautiful--and healthy--place for generations to come," said Deedie Rose. "To renew our world, we must renew our thinking. I'm confident that with our support and the support of others, institutions like the School of Architecture at UT will help lead the way to a more sustainable, livable future."

UTSOA PROGRAMS RANK HIGH

The annual DesignIntelligence "America's Best Architecture & Design Schools" rankings were released in early December. Our Bachelor of Architecture degree program remained sixth in the nation, while the Master of Architecture program moved up to ninth from tenth. The Bachelor of Science in Interior Design degree program re-entered the rankings at ninth. The Master of Landscape Architecture program was rated eleventh in the nation, an amazing accomplishment for a new program.

In addition, architecture deans identified our Bachelor of Architecture as the second "most admired" program and our Bachelor of Science in Interior Design as the fourth "most admired" program in the nation. DesignIntelligence publisher James Cramer compiled a list of "America's World-Class Schools of Architecture." Our school was listed in the top group "with Highest Distinction" with fourteen others. We had the second highest score in that top group. Our architecture program also was identified as third best for preparing students for skills in sustainable design practices and principles.

Sustainable Cities Doctoral Research Initiative Receives $500,000 Grant

The Center for Sustainable Development (CSD), the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, and the School of Architecture, in partnership with faculty in the LBJ School of Public Affairs and the Cockrell School of Engineering, will launch a new initiative aimed at providing doctoral training and research in sustainable metropolitan development and building design and technology.

The Sustainable Cities Doctoral Research Initiative will focus on the integration of cutting edge research and practice in the fields of urban planning, architecture, environmental and architectural engineering, landscape architecture, urban design, community engagement, and public policy. Current thinking in these fields emphasizes the need for a holistic understanding of the complex relationships between the form, functionality, and governance of human settlements in this period of global change and environmental challenge. Across these fields, scholars are rethinking current practice and working across disciplinary lines to forge new approaches to research, policy, and practice.

A $500,000 grant from the UT System will support doctoral students working in three interdisciplinary teams, each tackling sustainability at a different scale. The grant will also provide teams with seed funding for the development of interdisciplinary research proposals to be submitted to federal funders such as the National Science Foundation.

Graduates of the proposed program will be prepared to teach and conduct research on a set of seminal questions of considerable importance to society:

• What are the fundamental changes that need to be made in how we build, plan, and govern urban regions in order to sustain environmental systems, maintain local economies, preserve local cultural practices, and improve social equity?
• What changes do we need to make in how we conceptualize and organize research on urban problems and formulate solutions?
• How can the various disciplines and professions involved in shaping the built environment work together in new ways to stimulate these changes?

CSD Director Elizabeth Mueller explains, "Participation in active and ongoing cross-disciplinary research teams will provide students the opportunity to analyze problems more holistically and to work alongside faculty mentors from different disciplines. This experience will uniquely prepare them to be leaders in future research on urban sustainability, as disciplinary lines continue to blur and overlap."

SUPPORT UTSOA

LILY RUSH WALKER AND COULTER HOPPESS ENDOWED PRESIDENTIAL SCHOLARSHIP IN ARCHITECTURE

In 1990, Rush Hoppess [B.Arch. '31], established the Lily Rush Walker and Coulter Hoppess Scholarship in Architecture, which has benefited undergraduate students in the School of Architecture for many years. Recently, her children generously donated $24,000 to the school from the Coulter and Lily Rush Hoppess Foundation to further honor their mother's legacy by upgrading her scholarship to the Endowed Presidential Scholarship level. Endowed Presidential Scholarships are among the most prestigious on campus, awarded to the very best students who meet rigorous academic requirements.

We extend our sincere thanks to the foundation and specifically to Rush's eldest child, Nancy Rush Hoppess Forrester, who passed away on January 1, 2009. Nancy was a good friend to the School of Architecture and is survived by her husband, Terry Forrester [B.Arch. '59], whom she met while attending the University of Texas, as well as their three children, seven grandchildren, her brother, her sisters, and many nieces and nephews.

JOY & MORIN SCOTT/SALLY & JOHN BYRAM GRADUATE FELLOWSHIP

We are honored to announce a new endowment, the Joy & Morin Scott/Sally & John Byram Graduate Fellowship, created through a generous and anonymous $200,000 gift to the School of Architecture. Graduate fellowships are among are greatest need at the school, and this new endowment is for the support of graduate students in all of our disciplines. We are very appreciative of this wonderful gift.

FRIENDS OF ARCHITECTURE TOURS SAN ANTONIO!

You are cordially invited to join our next tour, "San Antonio...Old Meets New," on February 21-22, 2009. San Antonio offers a unique combination of old and new in many areas of the city. We will be touring exclusive modern homes, beautifully preserved historic locations, and some of San Antonio's most exciting public spaces.

Professor Kevin Alter will lead Friends of Architecture's "San Antonio...Old Meets New" tour, taking you inside revived old residences alongside newly built homes in some of San Antonio's grand old neighborhoods, such as King William and Alamo Heights. Also included will be a look at public places such as the Pearl Brewery project and the new wing of the McNay Art Museum.

Tours are only open to Friends of Architecture members, so please visit our web site for details on FOA membership and to secure your spot on the tour. Tour cost includes exclusive tours by local architects, museum admission, local charter bus transportation, and meals at some of San Antonio's unique restaurants such as the historic Guenther House and a restaurant on the brewery site that features local/Texas foods.

We're almost sold out, so register today!

For more information or to make a reservation, visit soa.utexas.edu/foa, or contact Barbara Terrell at 512.471.8187 or bdt@mail.utexas.edu.

Friends of Architecture would like to thank our Corporate Silver members and supporters Curtis & Windham Architects and Lucifer Lighting Company.

Events

For the latest updates, check out the online UTSOA Calendar.

SYMPOSIUM

Saturday, February 7
Goldsmith Hall 3.120
9:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

WEATHER PATTERNS:
Climate, Culture, and Place Making

J.D. Connor
"Get Out of My Swamp:
Hollywood and the Limits of Allegory"
Visual & Environmental Studies
Harvard University

Robert L. France
"Henry David Thoreau and Gilbert White:
Rooted in Place in a Shifting Climate"
Independent Scholar
Canada

Werner Krauss
"Locating Climate Change: Ethnographic Field Notes"
Germanic Studies
The University of Texas at Austin

P.H. Liotta
"Black Storms Rising:
Weather Effects and Policy Paralysis"
Pell Center for International Relations & Public Policy
Salve Regina University

Steven A. Moore
"Technology and Place Reconsidered"
Architecture
The University of Texas at Austin

Allan W. Shearer
"Make the Weather"
Harrington Faculty Fellow
The University of Texas at Austin

A symposium sponsored by the University of Texas at Austin Donald D. Harrington Fellows Program in collaboration with the School of Architecture.

CAREER WEEK

February 24-26

The following firms will be offering first-round interviews to UTSOA students and recent graduates.

Alamo Architects Beck
BOKA Powell
Corgan Associates
CTA Architects Engineers
Curtis & Windham Architects
Dewberry
F&S Partners
Fentress Architects
FKP Architects
Ford Powell & Carson
Gensler
Halff Associates
HDR Architecture
HNTB
Humphreys and Partners Architects
Jackson Ryan Architects
Laguarda Low Architects
LPA, Inc.
Marmon Mok
Norman Alston Architects
O'Connell Robertson & Associates
Overland Partners
Parsons Brinkerhoff
PDG Architects
Perkins + Will
Pickard Chilton
Rhotenberry Wellen Architects
SHW Group
Solomon Cordwell Buenz
Steinberg Architects
SWA
WRA Architects

For more information, contact the UTSOA Career Center at 512.471.1333.

EXPLORE UT

Saturday, March 7
11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

EXPLORE UT: The Biggest Open House in Texas

The University of Texas at Austin is hosting its 10th annual Explore UT, a day of events, performances, exhibits, lectures, and hands-on activities for the entire family. We offer you a glimpse into world-class museums, extensive library collections, numerous performance venues, and cultural centers on a historic urban campus.

With nearly 400 events and activities happening across campus, there is something for everyone. Children can test their skills while making liquid nitrogen ice cream, building forts, creating a virtual world avatar, designing miniature solar cars and engaging in dozens of other activities. High schoolers can meet with advisers, faculty, and students to learn about everything from degree plans to financial aid. Parents and teachers can enjoy a variety of cultural events, exhibits, performances, museums, and lectures.

As a public university, The University of Texas at Austin belongs to the people of Texas. As an institution of higher education, the university's mission is to educate young people and to create future leaders for every realm of society.

Come explore our campus. Enjoy a day of fun. Learn something new.

EXHIBIT

January 16-August 14, 2009
Visual Resources Collection
Sutton Hall 3.128 (Monday-Friday, 8-5)

Exhibit Open House:
Thursday, February 5, 3-5 pm.

"Perceiving Space: The Hal Box and Logan Wagner Collection of Mexican Architecture and Urban Design"

Every summer from 1985 to 1996, with the assistance of volunteer teams from Earthwatch, W.L. Moody, Jr. Centennial Professor Emeritus in Architecture and former dean of the School of Architecture Hal Box, FAIA, and Dr. Logan Wagner [M.Arch. '79; Ph.D. in Latin American Studies, with an architectural history concentration, '97] explored, photographed, measured, and made scale drawings of over ninety towns in Mexico. The collection of over 8,000 slides taken during this period was donated to the School of Architecture's Visual Resources Collection (VRC).

The exhibit highlights a selection of images from a collection that documents communal open spaces built in Mexico from 2000 B.C. to the present, concentrating on the 16th and 17th century fusion of Mesoamerican and European architecture and town planning. Contained in the collection are images of sacred open spaces formed by ancient pyramids and the plazas, atrios, cloisters, and towns' central plazas.

In 2006, the VRC and ARTstor, a digital library of nearly one million images, agreed to collaborate on a project to digitize and distribute images from the collection through the ARTstor Digital Library. With generous support from ARTstor, graduate student Kristina Kupferschmid cataloged and selected almost 6,000 images for digitization from January 2007 through September 2008. The Hal Box and Logan Wagner Collection of Mexican Architecture and Urban Design will be available in ARTstor in spring 2009 and as part of the VRC's online Image Collection.

FALL 2008 STUDENT DESIGN EXCELLENCE AWARDS

Each semester, studio instructors are asked to submit one project from each studio she or he teaches in consideration for a UTSOA Student Design Excellence Award. Instructors nominate an individual student or a team of students' work from a specific project or the entire semester.

All nominated projects from the fall were juried on Tuesday, December 16, in the Mebane Gallery. The jury consisted of faculty members Dean Almy, Judith Birdsong, Larry Doll, Russell Krepart, Cal Matthews, Nik Nikolov, and Danilo Udovicki-Selb. Each of the jurors was asked to review every project independently, followed by a discussion of particular projects or general studio level agendas and successes. Jurors whose student work was presented were asked to abstain from comments and voting. After careful deliberations the jury determined the winning projects in each studio level by majority vote.

It is the unanimous opinion of everyone in the jury that the work displayed was of high quality and substance and represents the wide range of disciplinary discourse present at our school. It is our pleasure to announce the nominees and award winners for the fall 2008 School of Architecture Student Design Excellence Awards.

Fall 2008 UTSOA Design Excellence Award winners:

Tyler Larson -- Design I
Melissa Echavarria -- Landscape Architecture I
Hyo Park -- Design V
Lisa Anderson -- Design V - Interior Design
Joseph Boyle -- Vertical Studio
William Huie -- Advanced Design
Allison Hu -- Advanced Design

The above students will be awarded a Design Excellence certificate. Along with the recognized projects from the spring 2009 semester, they will take part in the annual Student Design Excellence Exhibit in the Mebane Gallery (May-August 2009).

Below is a list of all nominated students by studio level and in alphabetical order. On behalf of everyone on the awards committee: Congratulations to all the nominees!

Fall 2008 UTSOA Design Excellence Nominees:

DESIGN I (in alphabetical order)
Kate Adams
Alex Diamond
Jennifer Keto
Tyler (Ty) Larson
Jennifer McGowen

DESIGN III (in alphabetical order)
Nicole Melzer
Daniel Morrison
Sarah Miracle
Miguel Ortiz
Parker Thompson

DESIGN V (in alphabetical order)
Lisa Anderson
Suvarna Gupta
Hyo Park
Team (Alison Ledwith, Ben Howell, Katherine Tucker, Manmeet Saheb, Xin Wang, Caite Coffey)

VERTICAL AND LANDSCAPE (in alphabetical order)
Joseph Boyle
Melissa Echavarria
Jacob Gelfand
Kristina Loomis
Mike Start
Pete Wenger

ADVANCED DESIGN (in alphabetical order)
Dana Blaschko
Chris Minor
Allison Hu
William Huie
Sang Hyuk Shim
Team (Kevin Moore, Erin Bernstein, Colleen Flynn)
Team (Ian Means, Ana Davila, Anne Herndon)
Team (Joel Nolan, John Paul McDavis)
Team (Don Bruce Xu, Margaret Rose Kyle, Sun Goo Bae)

Congratulations to all for a job well done!