Arn Henderson, FAIA, Professor Emeritus of Architecture at the University of Oklahoma, will receive OHC’s highest honor, the Oklahoma Humanities Award, for his dedication to the humanities through his study of architecture as it relates to Oklahoma’s past, present, and future. Mr. Henderson is the author and co-author of numerous works including Architecture in Oklahoma: Landmark and Vernacular (1978), The Physical Legacy: Buildings of Oklahoma County 1889-1931 (1980) and currently at press, Bruce Goff: Architecture of Discipline in Freedom (2012).

Dr. Charles Warnken, Associate Professor of Regional and City Planning and previously Interim Division Director, has been promoted to Associate Dean for the College of Architecture.  Dr. Dawn Jourdan has assumed the responsibility as Director of the Division.

Hans Butzer, the Mabrey Presidential Professor of Architecture and Urban Design and the Director of Butzer Gardner Architects has recently been appointed Director of the Division of Architecture at the College of Architecture.

A Summer Academy Grant of $59,000 to be allocated over three years has been awarded to Elizabeth Pober, Assistant Professor of Interior Design at the University of Oklahoma, along with her collaborators, Thomas Cline (Assistant Professor of Architecture) and Holly Mills. The new program will provide thirty 9th and 10th grade students a one week opportunity to study our built environment disciplines at the college each summer for the next three years. 

Associate Professor of Construction Science Tamera McCuen and Associate Professor of Architecture Lee Fithian were awarded a $20,000 Provost Grant to lead a Dream Course entitled “Building Community and Enhancing Connectivity – BIMStorm™ OKC” during the Fall 2012 semester at the University of Oklahoma. The course raised OU’s image as a leader in interdisciplinary collaboration enabled by innovative technology. This Dream Course provided a unique opportunity for students to work with design and construction professionals on virtual teams. By working with the City of Oklahoma City and industry partners throughout BIMStorm™ OKC, students furthered their discipline knowledge and collaborative skills in a project-based learning environment that represented leading-edge technology and innovative project delivery methods for the 21st-century architect, planner and construction manager.

During the course, students learned virtual design and preconstruction analysis, which is the future of the built environment. Students participated on interdisciplinary teams and used building information modeling (BIM) as a tool for working together. Virtual teams are now a reality in the 21st century construction industry and provide alternatives to traditional methods of teaming that expand the possibility of interfacing teams with a large pool of professionals and consultants. The ability to bring together virtual teams enhances solutions for design and construction of capital projects. The BIMStorm™ OKC project sites were located in the River District area of the Oklahoma City Core to Shore Plan which is the land area between the relocated I-40 and the Oklahoma River. The interdisciplinary student teams worked in a joint partnership with the City of Oklahoma City Planning Department and industry participants for the virtual BIM event held on November 7, 2012. Students developed design alternatives that could be tested and analyzed in BIM to verify feasibility and constructability. The industry partners provided valuable insight to students about real world solutions. The dynamics of students, city officials, and industry partners all working toward one goal had implications for each group with information sharing, problem solving, and solution testing. The virtual team context offered OU students a differentiator and experience uncommon to the majority of students of the built environment.

  

(BIMStorm poster, left; and students in lab, right)

Professor Khosrow Bozorgi is organizing a “Symposium for Middle Eastern Architecture and Culture” that will take place at the University of Oklahoma College of Architecture March 7-8, 2013. Please visit the college web site for further details about speakers and topics.