NEWSLETTER - November 7, 2025

New Hires & Faculty Appointments

Dr. Nicole Porter Appointed Associate Dean for Research and Innovation

Dr. Nicole Porter has been appointed the new Associate Dean for Research and Innovation for the Huckabee College of Architecture at Texas Tech University.

Prior to joining the Red Raider family, she served as Chair of Multidisciplinary Design (MDD) at the University of Utah, an innovative program bridging physical and digital design platforms. She has also held faculty positions at the University of Nottingham, UK, and in Australia at the University of Melbourne and University of Canberra.

Dr. Porter's multi-disciplinary research and practice focus on mindfulness-based approaches to design and well-being. Her work in wellbeing and architecture has been supported by the Royal Institute of British Architecture (RIBA).

Learn more about Dr. Porter's academic and professional background here.

Studio Site Visits

Design III - Shaping Space Studio Tours CASP Campus and 5&J Gallery

Students from Architectural Design III - Shaping Space joined Instructor Chad Plunket, director of Charles Adams Studio Project (CASP) in Lubbock's Arts District, for a tour of the CASP campus and facilities, including the 5&J Gallery and the live/work artists' studios designed by Dean Upe Flueckiger.

The eight sections of the second-year design studio use Lubbock's First Friday Art Trail and the Arts District as a framework for design exercises and proposals that consider the idea of the civic, the definition and sequence of outdoor community spaces, and the relationship of architecture to the arts. The studio's final project imagines an extracurricular visual arts academy for area high school students that integrates fully with the vibrant culture and institutions of the surrounding neighborhood.

Previous Events

HCOA Holds "A Day in the Life" Event for Friends and Family Day

The Huckabee College of Architecture (HCOA) welcomed more than 100 guests for its Family Day Weekend event, "A Day in the Life," on October 24^th.

The day offered families an engaging and interactive look at student life. Attendees heard from Architecture Librarian Hillary Veeder about the resources available in the Library and experienced the design critique process through a hands-on “Build A Tower” activity.

Thank you to all who attended and participated in this opportunity to learn more about the HCOA learning environment.

Exhibitions & Publications

Dr. Asma Mehan Showcases Recent Publications at Smart City Expo Miami 2025

Assistant Professor Dr. Asma Mehan exhibited her three recent books at Smart City Expo Miami 2025, held October 6–8 at Miami Dade College’s Wolfson Campus. The featured works included Tehran: From Sacred to Radical (Routledge, 2022), The Affective Agency of Public Space: Social Inclusion and Community Cohesion (De Gruyter Brill, 2024), and After Oil: A Comparative Analysis of Oil Heritage, Urban Transformations, and Resilience Paradigms (Springer, 2025).

The expo gathered participants from various global cities in Asia, Europe, Canada, South America and North America, bringing together architects, planners, technologists, government leaders, scholars, and startups to exchange ideas on building sustainable and equitable cities.

At the event’s bookstore, Dr. Mehan shared printed copies and digital access links while engaging attendees in conversations around the research and themes explored in her books.

Conferences & Presentations

Dr. Asma Mehan Presents Research and Represents PlaNext at ACSP 2025

Assistant Professor Dr. Asma Mehan, Director of the Architectural Humanities and Urbanism Lab (AHU_Lab), presented her research titled “Legacies of Zoning in Lubbock” at the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP) 2025 Annual Conference, held in Minneapolis, Minnesota, from October 24–26.

As part of Session 6.30, “Housing Production in Environmental Contexts,” Dr. Mehan examined zoning histories in West Texas and their implications for equitable housing and environmental resilience.

As the editor-in-chief, she also represented PlaNext Journal – The Next Generation Planning Journal of AESOP (Association of European Schools of Planning) in the ACSP–AESOP Joint Session, encouraging international scholarly exchange between planning networks across Europe and North America.

Exhibitions & Publications

Dr. Sina Mostafavi with Hi-DARS Lab Collaborate on Robotic Light Painting Project Exhibited at MoAL

Art vs Code (Ambidextrous Robotic Light Painting) is a collaborative project by multidisciplinary artist Parin Heidari and the Hi-DARS Lab (Hybrid Intelligence Design and Architectural Robotic Systems Lab) led by Associate Professor Dr. Sina Mostafavi, with contributors Mark Segovia, Jin Lee, Bahar Bagheri, Edgar Montejano Hernandez, and Jose Gutierrez. The work explores the intersection of analog gesture, robotic precision, and computational design, reimagining the act of drawing as spatial performance, and is currently exhibited in the permanent collection at the Museum of Art + Light (MoAL) in Manhattan, Kansas until February 15, 2026.

Rooted in Heidari’s ability to draw with both hands simultaneously, the project began with 12 original portraits composed of continuous dual-handed lines on canvas. These hand-drawn works served as both artistic expressions and technical frameworks, later translated into robotic motion through simulation and programming.

Using two large industrial robotic arms equipped with custom light-emitting end-effectors, the Hi-DARS team developed a dual-arm system capable of executing synchronized gestures derived from Heidari’s original drawings. Through long-exposure photography and video, these motions become three-dimensional traces of performance, capturing the ephemeral interplay between movement, light, and temporality.

The captured video documentation of the project is also featured in Neo-Techne: Art in the Age of the Machine, organized by the MoAL in partnership with Iconic Moments and curated by Jori Louise Cheville, Director of Curatorial Affairs.

Alongside the video installation, 29 unique frames captured from the robotic light have been released as fine-art prints and NFTs.

Learn more about the project and access the NFTs on the Hi-DARS website or through the MoAL feature on the Permanent Collection Series.

Previous Events

HCOA and DLA Host 2025 TxA Alumni Reception in Dallas

The HCOA and the Design Leadership Alliance (DLA) hosted the annual TxA Alumni Reception in conjunction with the Texas Society of Architects Convention and Design Expo in Dallas, Texas, on October 30, 2025.

The evening brought together alumni, faculty and friends of the college to reconnect and celebrate the accomplishments of the HCOA community. The event also recognized this year’s DLA Award recipients, honoring outstanding achievements in the field of architecture and continued support of the college.

Congratulations to each award winner, and thank you to all who traveled to attend or contributed to making this event possible.

To learn more about this year's award winners, click here.

Publications

Share your Stories: 100 Years of Architecture at Texas Tech

CALLING ALL STUDENTS, ALUMNI, FACULTY, FORMER DEANS, AND STAFF: As we look forward to celebrating the 100^th anniversary of Texas Tech’s architecture program in 2027, we’re calling aon the HCOA community to share their memories and experiences with the program.

YOUR STORIES are a vital part of the shared history of our College. Our upcoming book, Limitless Horizons: The First 100 Years of Texas Tech’s Architecture Program, will highlight this rich legacy.

We invite YOU to help us fully capture the impact and influence of Texas Tech’s architecture program with stories that reflect the experiences we all remember, share, and celebrate!

All contributors will be recognized in the book.

To share your stories or make a contribution to the publication, please reach out to Noel Barrick and Gary Lindsey at architecture.limitlesshorizons@ttu.edu.

Donations are critical to the advancement of our program. With your contributions, we can fund our merit-based scholarships, recruit extraordinary faculty, fund research endeavors and improve our facilities. No gift is too small to make an impact on our students, faculty, and staff. If you're interested in giving, the Texas Tech University Office of Institutional Advancement has a convenient web portal for making secure, online donations to one of the established Huckabee College of Architecture funds. Click here to donate.

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