College of Architecture Newletter

Fall 2006 Studios

Studio I, First Year
In Iver Wahl’s Studio I section, students have been working on various projects from week to week.  Their normal schedule is lectures on Monday, followed by an assignment due later that week.  Projects have included “Doomsday Tunnels” (nuclear fallout shelters), bus stops, coffee shops, life guard towers, and most recently, observation decks for the Grand Canyon.  For each project, students are developing their graphical skills through plans, sections, and elevations, as well as their model buildings skills.  They have also been working on one and two-point perspective exercises which are freehand.   
Dramatic improvement can be seen in the work that has been turned in, as the students have had many opportunities to learn the basics of design and graphic presentation of concepts and projects.

 

Studio III, Second Year
One section Studio III is being taught by a new member of the COA faculty, Geoffrey Parker from TAP Architecture in Oklahoma City and James Kudrna.  So far this semester students have worked on three different projects.  The first project was theoretical representation, in which an object or concept was compared to an actual building.  The goal was to understand how and why certain things relate to the architecture around us.  The second project was to create something out of cardboard that could improve each student’s own studio space.  What these objects were was up to the discretion of the students.  The current project is the first actual building assignment.  Each student is to design a residential housing project, but have been assigned a different building type, such as houses, apartments, duplexes, etc.  The focus continues to be on developing skills related to design, hand drawn graphics, and model building.  In addition to these skills, there have been many assignments focusing on further development of sketching skills.
Some students are beginning to venture onto the computer.  They are allowed to use the tools necessary to accomplish their goals, but are still encouraged to do as much by hand as possible.  Most students in Studio III seem to be enjoying their experience so far this semester and are continuing to develop many crucial skills.
Olaf Recktenwald is teaching the other section of Studio III.  Their most recent project was an addition to a modernist house.  Students completed many drawings, boards, and models.  The projects were all recently placed in the south hallway of the third floor for review and presentation to faculty.

 

Studio V, Third Year
In Marjorie Callahan’s third year studio, she has started addressing some of the issues of architecture in a more complete way than most students have experienced up to this point.  Particularly, the process of site analysis has been stressed so that a greater understanding of how a structure relates to its environment (and vice versa) can be developed.  Recently, students submitted competition entries for a youth center in Tulsa.  Several of the entries from the studio won.  The next project allows students to pick a site and defend the reasoning for why their chosen site is the best for a project of their choice.  The three options for the site are the Edmond Farmer’s Market, the Shannon Miller Parkway, and the Lake Arcadia city offices. 
Some students are beginning to delve deeper into the use of computers and have been given a short lecture on AutoCAD.  However, the majority of computer learning is left up to the students.  Those wishing to start internships next summer seem to be very motivated to develop these skills.  In all, Professor Callahan’s students seem to be very motivated by her enthusiastic attitude and approach toward the study of architecture. 

 

Studio VII, Fourth Year
Fourth year studio is being taught by Adam Lanman and Jay Yowell.  The studio has fewer students than usual because some students are currently working internships this semester.  The focus four fourth year is systems integration.  The first project was an analysis of the systems of an existing structure in order to gain a better understanding of how buildings function.
The current assignment is for students to develop and design their own systems, many of which can be seen as installations around Gould Hall.  These systems are to be used on a pavilion project that will wrap up the semester.

 

Studio IX, Fifth Year
Dr. Bozorgi’s fifth year studio is working on an urban project for the city of Kerman in Iran.  The students have worked extensively on research and building an extremely large scale model of the area.  The model can be seen in the fifth year studio, which is located in the basement.  The entire process has been documented at http://kermanstudio.blogspot.com/

 

Graduate Studios:
BSED Studio
The BSED (Environmental Design) studio is overseen by Mack Caldwell and Lee Fithian.  Students in the program have hold a variety of different degrees, including Business Finance, Management Information Systems, and Business Management among others.  This semester, BSED I and BSED III have worked together on a metal in architecture design competition in Chicago.  Four projects were submitted; these included an observation tower, a beach house, an amphitheatre, and a restaurant.  Each student designed two of the structures.  The projects were then combined for the competition, which was submitted the first week of November. 

 

M.Arch Studio
The master’s program is overseen by Dr. Eren Erdener and Mack Caldwell.  The focus of the graduate program is on sustainability in architecture.  First year M.Arch students have been working on  a sustainable house.  The ultimate goal is to create a structure that integrates sustainability in an effective and well-designed way.  The second year students are working on their professional projects, which include a casino and office building among others.