As part of the School of Architecture’s continued interest in Latin America, an agreement with the University of São Paulo was signed by UTSOA’s Dean Fritz Steiner and FAU-USP’s Dean Carlos Alberto Ferreira Martins on June 3, 2013. The agreement will create joint programs in architectural history and theory at both universities and will be coordinated by Associate Professor Fernando Lara at UT Austin and Professor Renato Anelli at USP. The agreement is expected to facilitate the exchange of faculty and graduate students between both programs, as well as open other funding opportunities.

In 2013–2014, the University of Texas at Austin, School of Architecture is pleased to welcome Assistant Professors Gabriel Díaz Montemayor, Benjamin Ibarra-Sevilla, and Sarah Lopez to the faculty. 

O’Neil Ford Duograph 5: Paraguay, edited by Barbara Hoidn, was published this summer by the O’Neil Ford Centennial Chair and the Center for American Architecture and Design.

Assistant Professor Matt Fajkus has been honored with a 2013 University of Texas System Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award, its highest teaching honor.

Wilfried Wang, O’Neil Ford Centennial Professor in Architecture, co-curated the exhibition “Culture:City” with Matthias Sauerbruch, of Sauerbruch Hutton, Berlin, which showed at the Akademie der Künste, Berlin, from 14 March to 26 May 2013. The exhibition continues at the Kunsthaus Graz from 28 June to 13 October 2103. 

Professor Wang served as a member of the jury for the XII Bienal Española de Arquitectura y Urbanismo in Madrid, Spain and as a reviewer for the IX Congreso Internacional Historia de la Arquitectura Moderna Española at the Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona.

Associate Professor Fernando Lara, has authored “Urbanidades.” Those who read Portuguese can follow his writings at: revistaforum.com.br/urbanidades/.

Associate Professor Ming Zhang has co-authored an article, “Predicting Transportation Outcomes for LEED Projects,” in the Journal of Planning Education and Research.

At the request of the Italian Ministry of Culture, Associate Professor Danilo Udovi_ki-Selb has completed a review of fourteen scholarly papers, essays, and articles. The newly established Italian government agency invited internationally selected scholars to evaluate through a peer reviewing process the level and quality of scholarly production in Italy. The field of architectural history and theory was directed by Professor Carlo Olmo from the Politécnico di Milano. The Ministry of Culture announced the work completed on July 19, and the results of the 20-month work were published at ANVUR.org.

Natalie de Blois, pioneering architect at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) and former UTSOA faculty member, died in Chicago, on Monday, July 22, at the age of 92. 

Assistant Professor Petra Liedl is leading the Energy (Ex) Change Conference, being host by the School of Architecture at the University of Texas at Austin.

The conference will investigate By what processes have Munich and Austin come to be recognized as regional centers of energy innovation? What is each doing to enhance energy performance in the built environment, and what could be improved? Most importantly, how can this knowledge be optimized and translated to other regions? The conference is planned for October 1st and 2nd and more information may be found at http://energy-ex-change.com/