UTSOA WINS $260,000 IN AUSTIN ENERGY'S
NATIONAL RESEARCH IDEAS COMPETITION

Last Thursday, November 8, the Austin City Council officially voted on cash prizes to be awarded to the winners of Austin Energy's National Research Ideas Competition. Two teams from the UT School of Architecture received prizes totaling $260,000. The UT teams directed by Professor Steven Moore and Associate Professor Dean Almy won first and third place respectively, winning prizes of $250,000 and $10,000.

The Competition:

In September 2006 Austin Energy (AE) announced it would hold a National Research Competition that would help the utility resolve the apparent conflict between the urban tree canopy and overhead electrical distribution lines. The motivation for the competition came from a severe ice storm the previous winter in which fallen limbs inflicted serious power outages to businesses and homes.

The teams included:

1. Cornell University, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
2. Morgan State University, Institute of Architecture and Planning
3. Texas A&M University, College of Architecture
4. Texas A&M University, Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning
5. University of Michigan, Architecture
6. The University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture (Moore)
7. The University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture (Almy)
8. The University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture (Team C)
9. Western Illinois University, Urban Forestry

First Place Team:

Students in the team directed by Dr. Moore voted to create a permanent endowment to support interdisciplinary graduate student research in sustainable design and development.

Moore's team included students from his graduate seminar, "Topics in Sustainable Development," which is cross-listed in five disciplines: architecture, planning, business, public policy, and law. These students were supported in their research by UT faculty from several disciplines, including: Professor Kent Butler, planning; Professor Michael Garrison, architecture; Professor Mack Grady, electrical engineering; Assistant Professor Hope Hasbrook, landscape architecture; and Lecturer Dason Whitsett, architecture.

Students on the first place team include: Pamela Abee-Taulli, John Coleman, Katherine Alfredo, Mac Carroll, Arturo Francia Arima, Audrey Hare, Christopher Jensen, Francois Levy, Sunshine Mathon, Patrick McNamara, Mary Miner, Rachael Phillips, Julia Raish, William Sarchet, Jeff Smythe, Wilfred Srubar, Kathryn Vanderwater, Elizabeth Walsh, Lydia Zakhari, and Sarah Zollinger.

This distinguished group of faculty and students partnered with the URS Corporation of Austin and Michael Bomba & Associates under the leadership of J.T. Stewart [MSCRP '06] of URS.

The detailed proposal submitted by Dr. Moore's team is based upon three general findings:

1. The apparent conflict between urban utilities and the urban forest is best understood as a conflict between two urban infrastructure systems rather than a conflict between technological and natural systems. Urban trees provide extremely valuable ecological services through biological processes, but they have been placed and/or maintained by human effort. In this light, our goal has been to find symbiotic relationships between two systems of a single urban ecology rather than to favor engineering over environmentalism or vice versa.

2. The problem posed by AE is a socio-technical one. We mean by this term that inventing a new technology, no matter how ingenious, will not solve the problem posed without simultaneously considering the social mechanisms required to implement it. Because the problem is perceived by various stakeholders--city officials, private utilities, industry, environmentalists, citizens, etc.--from their own unique perspectives, the solution must be attractive to conflicting social interests.

3. There is no single technology, or "silver bullet," that will solve the problem posed. The varying geological and cultural conditions found in Austin's diverse institutions and neighborhoods require not a single tool, but a box of them, one of which must be a decision-making tool.

The final report includes a number of technical tools, but most significantly a GIS-based community interface tool that will help AE and individual neighborhoods make technological choices suited to the community.

Third Place Team:

Student team leader Mike Pecen [MLA '07] offers the following report on his team's entry.

Our team, led by UTSOA Associate Professor Dean Almy and Dr. Ross Baldick of the UT Department of Electrical Engineering, proposed a hybrid infrastructure, combining a vaulted underground utility passage with a surface-level sidewalk, to simultaneously improve utility service, urban tree health, and urban livability. We simply applied an existing concept (the multiple-utility trench) to a new form and function (public sidewalks) to create what we call the Multiple Utility Sidewalk Trench, or MUST.

Where underground utilities are not viable, we proposed an overhead cradle system for the cables, which moves power lines from the street side to the street center, farther from the branches of street-side trees. Converting cables to more durable tree wire provides an additional safeguard against service failure.

Team members were all graduate students with expertise in landscape architecture, planning, civil engineering, or electrical engineering. They included Eli Pearson, a dual landscape architecture/planning student; Chris Maxwell-Gaines, a planning student with a degree in civil engineering; and Bin Le and Yohan Sutjandra, both electrical engineering students.

Events

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

OPEN HOUSE: DESIGN>BUILD>TEXAS

Saturday, November 17

The School of Architecture is hosting an open house for DESIGN>BUILD>TEXAS, the award-winning model house designed and built by architecture students and faculty as a hands-on learning experience. This small Hill Country house demonstrates sustainable, affordable design practices. The project has been published in many national and international design publications and won a prestigious Texas Society of Architects honor award in 2006. The house has also been featured on HGTV.

Tours are free, but reservations are required.

Tour 1 9:30 a.m.
Tour 2 11:00 a.m.
Tour 3 1:30 p.m.

For reservations and a map, please contact Judy Parker at jparker@mail.utexas.edu or 512-471-1922.

For more information about the project, see designbuildtexas.

LECTURE

Monday, November 19
Goldsmith Hall 3.120, 5:00 p.m.

Rebecca Aarons-Sydnor
Sustainable Design Consulting, LLC
Richmond, Virginia
Sponsored by the UTSOA Materials Lab and
the Gene Edward Mikeska Endowed Professorship for Interior Design

"Rebuilding a Contemporary Response"

Rebecca Aarons-Sydnor visits UTSOA from Sustainable Design Consulting, LLC, Richmond, Virginia, with nine years previous project management experience and a recently earned Masters of Science in Sustainable Design from Carnegie Mellon University.

She believes that green building is inevitable, and it provides benefits to all today. Her years as an undergraduate at the University of Virginia's School of Architecture impressed upon her Thomas Jefferson's philosophy that no generation should live such that it places future generations in debt. This ideal, plus growing up in a sensitive coastal area, has been the foundation upon which Aarons-Sydnor grounds her work.

During her tenure with a millwork and woodworking company, Aarons-Sydnor came to appreciate the beauty and longevity of natural materials. At Baskervill, an architecture, engineering, and interior design firm in Richmond, she gained technical knowledge through her involvement in a variety of project types, ranging from a 6000-square-foot state park visitor center to a high-tech 42,000-square-foot energy trading floor. In addition, she has worked on a variety of retail, industrial, office, and healthcare projects. Throughout, she enjoyed close collaboration with her teams, which she believes is integral to green building.

"counterMEASURES" EXHIBITION

The "counterMEASURES" exhibition is on view from November 1-30, 2007. Focusing on New Orleans, invited design teams demonstrate "extreme" design strategies for cities, landscapes, and buildings set within dynamic environments.

Special thanks to exhibition underwriter
The Howard E. Rachofsky Foundation

CENTER LUNCH FORUM SERIES

The Center for American Architecture and Design hosts a Friday Lunch Forum Series from 12:00 to 1:30 in the Battle Hall Conference Room (room 101).

The aim of the series is for faculty and students to meet in an informal atmosphere to debate topics and to share ideas about history, practice, theory, and new directions for architecture. Forum topics/titles are confirmed a week prior to each forum date. Visit the Center web site for updates. The remaining fall 2007 schedule includes:

• November 16, Michael Benedikt and Wilfried Wang,
  "Climate Change Will Give Rise to a New Language of Architecture"
• November 30, Simon Atkinson

The Friday Forum is also webcast live (visit the Center's web site), and you are invited to call in live with questions or comments during the discussion at 512.471.9890.

EXHIBIT

September 10, 2007, through January 4, 2008
Visual Resources Collection
Sutton Hall 3.128 (Monday-Friday, 8-5)

"Images of India: Photography by Sarah Hill"

Traveling throughout India for six weeks in summer 2006 with the Advanced Travel India Studio led by Lecturers Pankaj Gupta and Christine Mueller, Sarah Hill was provided with many opportunities to document the visually rich environment. The selection of images in this exhibit represents a small sampling of over 3700 digital images that are now part of the School of Architecture's Visual Resources Image Collection; the images will be available shortly for use by the University community for study, teaching, and research.

Sarah Hill graduated from the School of Architecture in May 2007 with a Master of Architecture degree. This project was supported in great part by a ~FAST Tex Grant from the University's Division of Instructional Innovation and Assessment.

FACULTY SCHOLARSHIP

On Monday, November 4, Professor Steven Moore lectured at the University of Michigan. His lecture, "Transdisciplinary Design: Narrative as a Tool in Sustainable Development," was jointly sponsored by the Taubmann School of Architecture + Urbanism and the ERB Institute for Sustainable Management.

On November 15, Dr. Steven Moore presented a paper, "Civil Regulation: Green Building Codes in North America," at an international conference, "Regulating Design: The Practices of Architecture, Governance, and Control," at King's College, Department of Geography, The University of London.

Professor Sinclair Black, FAIA, spoke to a sold-out crowd of over 900 participants at this year's Williamson County Growth Summit on October 31. Black discussed the basics of New Urbanism and how its guiding principles foster sustainable developments that manage congestion and provide vibrant, pedestrian-friendly areas. The summit drew a number of influential civic leaders and planning and development experts to discuss the challenges and opportunities of the county's explosive population growth and development.

Professor Black was featured in the October 19-25, 2007, edition of the Austin Business Journal. The article referred to Black as "a strong advocate of smart growth and considered by many as a pioneer in downtown mixed-use development." Black was also featured in the October issue of Austin Tribeza. The architect and professor discusses a number of topics, including what first drew him to architecture, his ongoing motivation to create walkable, mixed-use, and sustainable developments, and his fifty-year love affair with the city.

SUSTAINABLE SITES INITIATIVE

The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at The University of Texas at Austin, the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), and the United States Botanic Garden (USBG) released a preliminary report on November 1 recommending guidelines and a rating system for sustainable landscape design.

The preliminary report, available online, features over 200 recommendations for designing and building sustainable landscapes.

The Preliminary Report on Standards and Guidelines represents thousands of hours of work by 32 experts in fields ranging from design and construction to soils, hydrology, and public health. (UTSOA Dean Fritz Steiner worked on these guidelines, as a member of the Sustainable Sites Initiative product development committee, as well as the soils subcommittee.)

"We want to identify the gold standards in sustainable landscape design and marry them to a practical, real-world approach so that designers, planners, builders, and developers can utilize them," said Nancy Somerville, executive vice president and chief executive officer of ASLA. "This report is an important step to bring sustainable landscape practices into widespread use."

The report examines practices that degrade landscapes and should be avoided, as well as techniques for designing landscapes that benefit the environment.

The findings detail the positive environmental impact sustainable landscapes offer, including planting appropriate vegetation to help control erosion, filter out pollutants, provide habitat for wildlife and pollinators, and supply oxygen for the air we breathe.

"The truly exciting thing about sustainable landscapes is that they actually help us confront some of the most serious environmental problems the world is facing now, including climate change," said Susan Rieff, executive director of the Wildflower Center. "Plants absorb carbon dioxide--a greenhouse gas and a major cause of global warming--from the air and soils can capture it and hold it. Native grasses may be even more effective in sequestering carbon than trees. This can help mitigate climate change."

"People want to do the right thing," said Holly Shimizu, executive director of the United States Botanic Garden, "but they need guidelines. The standards developed under Sustainable Sites will integrate landscape into the overall green movement. Without the landscape component, a truly sustainable lifestyle isn't possible."

The preliminary report is the first of three for the Sustainable Sites Initiative, a program designed to develop guidelines and standards for landscape sustainability. A primary purpose of releasing this preliminary work is to solicit feedback, comments, and additional information from professionals and other stakeholders who can contribute to knowledge about ways to achieve sustainable landscapes. Interested persons can join this review process at the Sustainable Sites web site. Comments are due by January 11, 2008.

After feedback is gathered from the review process, a comprehensive report will be published in October 2008 with the release of final Standards and Guidelines for Sustainable Sites planned for May 2009. The Sustainable Sites Initiative plans to produce a rating system by May 2011 and test the guidelines with pilot projects in 2010 and 2011.

Eventually, a rating system will be established that will apply to large and small sites and can be used independently or incorporated into other green rating systems. The U.S. Green Building Council is lending its support to this project and plans to adopt the Sustainable Sites metrics into future versions of LEED(R) (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System.

Additional program partners include the U.S. Green Building Council, the Environmental Protection Agency's GreenScapes Program, the National Recreation and Parks Association, the American Society of Civil Engineers' Environment and Water Resources Institute, the National Association of County and City Health Officials, the Nature Conservancy's Global Invasive Species Initiative, and the Center for Sustainable Development at The University of Texas at Austin.

ALUMNI NEWS

ALUMNI UPDATES

Evan Beattie, AIA, LEED AP [B.Aarch. '04], an associate at GFF Planning, a division of Good Fulton & Farrell, was named as one of DallasCEO's Top 30 under 30 commercial real estate professionals in Dallas. The list appeared in the September issue of DallasCEO, a publication of D Magazine. Presented by DallasCEO magazine and The Real Estate Council (TREC), the award recognizes 30 "young guns" in the commercial real estate industry to watch.

Beattie joined Good Fulton & Farrell as an architect in 2005 and was named an associate in 2007. In the span of two years, he has emerged as an integral part of the firm where his practice focuses on managing complex retail construction projects and planning for large-scale mixed use projects, lifestyle centers, power centers, multi-family residential developments, and office campuses. He has a strong interest in sustainable design practices and smart growth using new urbanist planning principles.

"The Real Estate Council is an outstanding organization," said Larry Good, FAIA [B.Arch. '72], president of Good Fulton & Farrell. "It is an amazing achievement for Evan as the only design professional nominated to list. We are proud of the extraordinary work he has accomplished in the community through his involvement in several industry organizations."

For more information, visit the D Magazine web site.

IN MEMORIAM

Joe Lee Stubblefield, AIA [B.Arch. '68, MSCRP '72], passed away on Wednesday, October 24, after a long struggle with lung cancer. During his 38-year career as an architect, Joe was recognized throughout the state of Texas for his work in restoration, adaptive reuse, planning, and residential design. In 2006, he received the Texas Historical Commission Award for outstanding historic architecture.

Joe was born in Dallas in 1944, one of three sons of Ross and Zella Jo Stubblefield. He graduated from Sunset High School before pursuing his degrees at The University of Texas at Austin. In 1970, he married Marolyn Wittman, whom he met in an art history class at UT Austin.

An intern for O'Neil Ford, Boone Powell [B.Arch. 56], and Chris Carson, Stubblefield worked on such signature projects as Trinity University and the Strand in Galveston. He went out on his own in 1974, and the partners in the firm, recognizing Joe's sunny nature and love of a good joke, sent him off into his own practice by throwing banana cream pies at him--the something sweet that Joe always remembered about his treasured internship. On his own, Joe worked with a number of local partners including Jose Garcia DeLara in the early years. In 1981, he joined with Richard Mogas [B.Arch. 70], a partnership that lasted 10 years. From 1994 to 2006, he partnered with Peter Grojean and Frank Valadez at SA Partnership.

"Joe was an iconic figure in San Antonio and greatly revered by so many in the worlds of architecture and business," said Richard Mogas. "He had a huge command of historical work that imbued his current projects, and he was so informed about proportion and scale that he was a master of that."

Over the years, Joe's work involved a full range of building design types and planning projects in Texas and on the West Coast, including project architect for the McAllister Fine Arts Center renovation, St. Paul Square South Block improvements, the master plan for the Santa Rosa Children's Hospital, and chief restoration architect on the Franklin House in the Monte Vista Historic District. In 1981, Stubblefield and Mogas restored the studio of John Gutzon de la Mothe Borglum, the prolific sculptor made famous by his work on Mount Rushmore, that was located in a former pump house of San Antonio's first waterworks near Brackenridge Park. Stubblefield also worked as project architect for a county jail on Camaron Street that was transformed into a Comfort Inn, and expansion of the Nimitz Museum in Fredericksburg. In addition, Stubblefield designed more than 150 private residences, mostly in San Antonio, and a Stubblefield-designed home was featured in each of the Home Tours sponsored by the San Antonio chapter of AIA for the past 11 years.

Architecture was an expression of Joe's civic responsibility. He served as chairman of the Historic Review Board of the City of San Antonio. In recent years, he served as a team leader for the National AIA Regional/Urban Design Assistance Team program for urban design in Las Cruces, New Mexico, and similar projects in Carlsbad, New Mexico; Caldwell, Idaho; Santa Rosa, California; and most recently Hagerstown, Maryland. In addition, he served as an instructor at San Antonio College and the University of Texas at San Antonio. Recently, some of his iconic sketches of San Antonio including the missions, City Hall, the San Antonio Riverwalk, the Tower of the Americas, and many projects that he worked on including El Mirador restaurant were published as the cover story in Texas Architect. In that story, Joe explained why sketching was an essential part of his creative process. "Sketching is a way of remembering," he said. "Sitting and drawing a place or space gives you a completely different sense of that place--you become part of the space for the time you're there."

In June 1999, Joe married Phyllis Palmer. In addition to Palmer, Joe is survived by his two children, Samuel Culberson Stubblefield of Houston and Katharine Rochelle Stubblefield of St. Charles, Missouri; his mother, Zella Jo Stubblefield of San Antonio; and two brothers, Hal Stubblefield of Kingwood and David Stubblefield of Plano.

A memorial service will be held at 5 p.m. Sunday, November 18, at Parker Chapel at Trinity University, with a reception to follow at University Presbyterian Church. The family asks that memorial contributions be made to the AIA San Antonio Architecture Scholarship Fund for scholarships for architecture students at San Antonio College and the University of Texas at San Antonio.

ALUMNI CONNECTIONS

The School of Architecture is continuing its effort to find (and maintain) the most accurate contact information for all of our alumni. From young alumni receptions to 50-year reunions, and everything in between, we hope you will stay in touch. Would you like to mentor a student? Do you need to hire a fellow Longhorn? Looking for networking or continuing education opportunities? We can help, but we need to know how to reach you!

Alumni may update their records, contact preferences, and search for fellow graduates by logging on to the University's online alumni directory. Or, you may always contact Stephanie Palmer, Alumni Relations Director at stephanie.palmer@mail.utexas.edu or 512-471-0617.

Thanks for helping us improve our relationship with you. We look forward to hearing from you!

SUPPORT UTSOA

The holidays are upon us, and 2008 is quickly approaching. Now is the time to ask yourself, have you made your tax-deductible contributions for 2007? Private support for the School of Architecture is a crucial component of our ability to recruit and retain the highest caliber faculty and students. Putting the School of Architecture on your year-end giving list is a great way to show your support for quality education in architecture, planning, and design.

To find out how you can make a difference, please contact Assistant Dean for Development Julie Hooper at jhooper@austin.utexas.edu or 512.471.6114. To donate today to our annual giving program, Friends of Architecture, and our various other fundraising initiatives, visit our secure online giving page.

FRIENDS OF ARCHITECTURE

On November 2 and 3, Friends of Architecture presented "At Home in Austin," a sold-out tour of some of Austin's most impressive residential designs. Friends of Architecture opened the doors to a variety of stunning homes, including a downtown penthouse condominium renovation, contemporary designs in the hills of west Austin, urban Texas Zen, and even a modern-day dome house.

Along with our guide, Associate Professor Juan Miró, FOA introduced its members to the architects, designers, and builders who are carefully combining Austin's abundant natural beauty with its free-spirited eye for design. We began on Friday evening with a cocktail reception at the Floating Box House by Peter L. Gluck & Partners, Architects, and the diverse collection of architecture continued on Saturday with The Penthouse by Clayton Morgan Design Consultant; the Green Residence by Gluckman Mayner Architects; and Tarrytown House by Webber + Studio. After lunch at Mars Restaurant, designed by Dick Clark Architecture, the group visited Post Oak Retreat by Urban Jobe Architecture, Crowell House by John C. Watson and finally, Stonehedge Residence by Juan Miró's firm, Miro Rivera Architects.

If you missed this exclusive Friends of Architecture tour, we invite you to take an online photo tour. You will also want to mark your calendar to join FOA in Palm Springs, February 9-11, 2008; Seattle, July 2008; and New England, November 2008. To reserve your spot or inquire about membership, visit friendsofarchitecture.org or contact Stephanie Palmer at 512.471.0617 or stephanie.palmer@mail.utexas.edu.