Just over a year ago, KU architecture and design students, faculty, staff, and alumni advisory board members began working with BIG - Bjarke Ingels Group to explore new ways to enhance connections between facilities, programs, and students. 

And now, the future of architecture and design education at KU is coming into view. BIG, in collaboration with BNIM, StructureCraft, and the KU School of Architecture & Design, has unveiled a new light-filled studio building optimized for the hands-on, world-engaged educational experience that brings aspiring designers, architects, and problem-solvers to the University of Kansas. 

See the project 

We are excited to welcome BIG - Bjarke Ingels Group partner Kai-Uwe Bergmann to introduce the project at our June 6th alumni event in Washington D.C. Also in attendance will be Lucas Epp, Vice President and Head of Engineering at StructureCraft, who led the development of the building’s mass timber structure. 

See full event details

Amos Rapoport’s 1969 book “House Form and Culture" proved groundbreaking in understanding the important influence of cultural factors in shaping the built environments in communities around the world. 

Shelters and boats made of reeds on Lake Titicaca, Peru. Photograph by Amos Rapoport, 2010.   

Architecture professors Nisha Fernando and Kapila Silva's new book, Theorizing Built Form and Culture: The Legacy of Amos Rapoport (Routledge Books), examines and celebrates the impact of his work on design, architecture, and beyond. 
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Linda Samson Talleur’s limited-edition artist’s book titled, The Phoenix, was acquired by the Maier Museum of Art at Randolph College for inclusion in its permanent collection. The book was featured at the Maier Museum’s 112th Annual Exhibition of Contemporary Art, Back to Front: Artists’ Books by Women, October 22, 2023 — April 11, 2024. Talleur also had an engraving chosen for the Wood Engravers’ Network 5th Triennial traveling exhibition, touring from June 2024 to December 2026. 

Dean Mahbub Rashid’s Built Environment and Population Health in Small-Town America: Learning from Small Cities of Kansas – published earlier this year by Johns Hopkins University Press – is the first book to examine how spatial qualities impact health issues in areas that are not strictly rural or metropolitan.  

🎧 Listen  

The School of Architecture & Design’s Master of Arts in Design concentration in Interaction and User Experience Design lands on Tech Guide’s Top Ten UX Design Master’s Degree Programs. 

See the rankings 

Three of the eleven KU students honored with KU Tradition of Excellence Awards were Department of Architecture students: master’s student Adam Cory, St. Louis; junior Leslie Koffi, Denver; and senior Emmelea Schatz, Libertyville, Illinois. 

The annual awards recognize students who have significantly enhanced the KU community through endeavors such as serving as teaching assistants, leading student organizations, or volunteering in the Lawrence community. 

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Since 2021, alumni architects, faculty, and final-year students have donated time to help 3rd-and-4th-year M.Arch students develop presentation skills and refine their portfolios through this review process. 

See the 2024 awardees 

Photography students Izze Vanlandingham and Grace Worden won 2024 Undergraduate Research Symposium Outstanding Presentation Awards. Organized by KU's Center for Undergraduate Research, the Undergraduate Research Symposium is held each spring to provide a venue for students to share the results of their research and creative projects with the campus community. 

View the presentations: Izze Vanlandingham; Grace Worden 

Photograph by Isabel Vanlandingham

Photograph by Grace Worden

Sasha Sandoval-Williams has received a Fall 2024 Undergraduate Research Award (UGRA) to develop a documentary research project exploring skateboarding, race, and community in the Kansas City metro. The UGRA comes with a $1,000 scholarship. 

Professor and director of the Illustration program, Barry Fitzgerald, was awarded the 2024 Ted Johnson Interrelations of the Humanities and the Arts Award by the KU Department of Art History. The award includes funding to support travel to review, research, and document the archives and permanent collection of the Society of Illustrators in New York. 

KU International Affairs has awarded an international travel grant to Kapila Silva, professor of architecture, to support research and collaboration abroad. Silva will travel to Indonesia to research vernacular architecture in Bali and to develop a partnership with the Department of Architecture at Udayana University. 

After eight years dedicated to partnering with clients to realize their visions, Odimo is excited to announce a new brand as SLATTERY Design + Architecture. Founded in 2015 by Professional Advisory Board Member and 2001 KU Architecture graduate, Amy Slattery, Odimo has become an established contributor to design culture in the Kansas City community as architects who partner, lead, and inspire. Last year, Slattery’s spouse and 1998 KU Architecture graduate, Sean Slattery, joined the firm. SLATTERY is committed to partnerships with clients, collaborators, and the communities they serve. To see the result of their collaborations, to work with us to help realize your vision, or to inquire about career opportunities, visit their new website slatterydesign.com. 

2023 Alumni Awards nominations will open in early June. View submission guidelines and past winners.

Kurt Hong’s third-year design-build studio used parametric design to create seating for the KU School of Music’s Murphy Hall courtyard. 

Combining complicated computer modeling and digital fabrication with hands-on construction, the students transformed off-the-shelf dimensional lumber into intricately sculptural and functional expressions of form, pattern, and rhythm. 

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