Long-time faculty member, Bob Faust, and his wife, Sherry, have established the Bob and Sherry Faust Endowed Scholarship for incoming freshmen in the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture. Bob served on the APLA faculty for forty-two years and is credited with developing Auburn’s highly regarded design-build ethos. He and Sherry wanted to do something meaningful for future architecture students and planned for creating this scholarship upon his retirement.

Lectures and presentations by faculty and alumni from the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture are included in the New Regionalism in North America, a book published by the College of Architecture and Interior Design at the University of San Francisco de Quito. The book compiles the proceedings from the Twelfth International Forum of Architecture at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito in Quito, Ecuador in November 2011. The Forum was dedicated to the subject of Regionalism: a recurring theme in the architectural landscape of North America and beyond. The event was coordinated by Karen Rogers, Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and External Affairs in the College of Architecture, Design and Construction, and brought together eight North American architects. David Hinson, Head of the School of Architecture, Planning, and Landscape Architecture, and Auburn alumni Marlon Blackwell and Daniel Wicke were among the participants.

Students from Auburn University’s Masters of Real Estate Development program are working with business owners in the Avondale neighborhood of Birmingham, Alabama to explore development potential. The students are looking at two sites in the neighborhood for possible development and investment, and are tasked with documenting the sites’ existing conditions, the area’s market data and the current financial market along with understanding and capitalizing on the sites’ unique history, culture and development process to propose a potential project. The masters program at Auburn consists of 14 graduate students from across the U.S. in their third semester of the Real Estate Development program. Directing this semester’s work is Ben Farrow with Auburn University Building Science Department and Ben Wieseman with KPS Group in Birmingham, AL.

The third issue of StudioAPLA, the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture’s electronic newsletter, was published last month. The International Issue:  Winter 2013 describes how APLA has provided international learning opportunities for students over 30 years, believing that exposure to new cultures enhances design education and ignites a desire to live and work abroad. The newsletter highlights alumni experiences in other countries and illustrates how APLA is becoming a more connected place as the student and faculty population becomes more diverse in the form of international students and visiting international scholars. To view the newsletter, please visit:  http://studioapla.auburn.edu/

Alabama Innovation Engine, a design-based community and economic development initiative jointly funded by Auburn University’s College of Architecture, Design and Construction, and the University of Alabama, recently received a 2012 Cahaba Vision Award from the Cahaba River Society. Engine, with The Nature Conservancy in Alabama, the Cahaba River Society, and the National Parks Service Recreation, Trails, and Conservation Assistance program, is a member of the Cahaba Blueway Partners. The team was recognized for their work developing the Cahaba Blueway, a project designed to tell the story of Alabama’s Cahaba River while encouraging economic development. Engine is working with the Cahaba River Society and the Nature Conservancy to build community partnerships and to improve access points along the Cahaba to help people discover the river, trails, history and communities of the watershed.

The Rural Studio, an undergraduate program in the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture recently launched a new website. Please visit www.ruralstudio.org to learn more about the program, faculty, students, and projects and to explore participating in the Rural Studio’s Outreach Program.