NEWSLETTER - September 26, 2025

Programs & Study Abroad

Students Participate in Design Program in Siena, Italy

Huckabee College of Architecture (HCOA) students Taylor Cooley and Jose Gutierrez participated in the Texas8 International Collaborative Charrette program held in Siena, Italy during the summer of 2025. Hosted by the San Antonio School of Architecture and Planning, the two-week design charrette invited eight students across Texas to collaborate on a design project located in Siena's iconic Piazza del Campo. Students were chosen for this program based on their "exceptional promise as future designers" and had the opportunity to tour historic sites in Rome, Siena, and Florence before presenting their proposals to the local board of architects.

Taylor Cooley is originally from St. Louis, Missouri, and relocated to Dallas to attend Texas Tech. She's currently a second-year graduate student and plans to pursue her PhD with a focus on computational design software and other digital tools to maximize building efficiency and energy conservation.

Jose Gutierrez is a second-year graduate student who has served as a course assistant and as president of American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS) at the HCOA. He is currently exploring innovative fabrication techniques and their architectural application.

To learn more about the program, click here.

Taylor Cooley

Jose Gutierrez

Awards & Recognitions

Vondee Langehennig Honored for Exceptional Service

Senior Academic Advisor Vondee Langehennig has been awarded the Service Excellence Leave Award in recognition of her contributions to Texas Tech University’s Summer 2025 Red Raider Orientation (RRO) and her ongoing support of both current and incoming students.

Throughout the summer, Vondee played a vital role in welcoming new students and their families, ensuring RRO operations ran smoothly. Her effective coordination, responsiveness, and collaboration with departments across campus helped create a collaborative environment that enhanced the orientation experience and advanced student engagement initiatives.

The Service Excellence Leave Award is a special recognition granted to benefits-eligible staff who demonstrate exceptional job performance. It awards recipients additional paid time off to honor their meaningful contributions and serves to highlight Texas Tech’s ongoing commitment to recognizing staff excellence.

Conferences & Presentations

Dr. Mehan Presents on Feminist Art at 4S 2025

Assistant Professor Dr. Asma Mehan participated in the "Society for Social Studies of Science (4S) 2025 Annual Meeting – Reverberations in Seattle," held September 3-6, 2025. She moderated the session “(Re)Imagining Reproductive Justice 2” and delivered her paper “Art as Care: Feminist Movements in Iran.” The panel brought together scholars from Fordham University, the University of Washington, and Texas Tech University.

Essays & Publications

Dr. Mehan Co-Authors Essay on Planning Scholarship Evolution

Assistant Professor Dr. Asma Mehan has co-authored an essay published in plaNext – Next Generation Planning, titled "Bridging Generations: A Decade of Open Peer Review and Collective Knowledge-Building in Planning Scholarship through plaNext."

The work reflects on plaNext’s evolution from its origins as an experimental, mentor-led open peer-review journal to a Scopus-indexed, international publication. The essay explores the journal's core mission of transparency and collaboration while adapting to pressures of visibility, institutional expectations, and sustainable operations. Originating in the AESOP Young Academics Network, plaNext references the Association of European Schools of Planning (AESOP), a network of over 150 European planning schools dedicated to improving planning education and research across Europe through collaboration and shared standards.

Co-authors of the essay include Sıla Ceren Varış Husar from Slovak University of Technology, Simone Tulumello from the University of Lisbon, Nadia Caruso from Polytechnic University of Turin, Ender Peker from Middle East Technical University, Esra Kut Görgün from the İzmir Planning Agency, and Francesca Dal Cin from Prince Mohammad bin Fahd University and the Universidade de Lisboa.

To access the article, click here.

Essays & Publications

AWW Earns Spotlight in AZURE Magazine’s 'Common Ground' Roundtable

Architecture Writing Workshop (AWW), co-founded by Assistant Professor Lauren Phillips, was recently featured in AZURE magazine's 'Common Ground,' a roundtable with Felipe Correa, Uros Novakovic, and Peter Sealy. Phillips, along with Pouya Khadem, Sebastián López Cárdozo, and Mai Okimoto, is a co-founder and co-editor of AWW, a digital platform where writers, practitioners, and academics explore issues shaping the discipline through the written word. Click here to read the feature in Azure magazine. 

Organized around editorial themes, AWW publishes essays, observations, and conversations that examine the social, environmental, and political dimensions of architecture. Past issues have explored themes such as "Who Gets to Write?," "A Look at the Classroom," "What’s the Matter with Canon?," and "A Concrete Event," an essay Phillips contributed that reflects on sidewalks as an ethical and civic framework.

Now in its fourth year, AWW has published six issues with contributions from global architects, scholars, and critics, while also expanding its mission into the classroom through workshops at the Bergen School of Architecture and Texas Tech University. Phillips notes, “With AWW’s work being republished by Azure magazine as well as other publications like The Architect’s Newspaper, the digital platform is now recognized beyond academia, fostering critical engagement and expanding access to architectural discourse.”

To learn more about AWW, visit their website here.

Admiralbrücke (Admiral Bridge) in Berlin, Germany. Photo by Jonathan Janssens / plattenbaustudio, June 2016.

Photo Credit: Architecture Writing Workshop

Projects & Initiatives

Student Housing Project by Parallel Expanding into Lubbock

David Pierce, Principal at Parallel and HCOA alumnus, recently led a groundbreaking ceremony on September 17, 2025, for a new 671-bed student housing development near Texas Tech University.

The site is set to open ahead of the Fall 2027 semester and was designed in collaboration with BOKA Powell Architects and other partners. The development will feature a range of units, collaborative spaces, and amenities aimed at enhancing both academic success and community life. The groundbreaking also marks Parallel’s expansion into Lubbock, with the opening of a new office in the Hub City.

To learn more about the project, click here.

October 11^th, 2025

Raider Alley

Engineering Key - Texas Tech Campus

If you're interested in reserving a hotel under one of the HCOA's room blocks,

click the button below:

For additional assistance related to this event, please contact Sr. Event Coordinator Rachel Roe at rachel.roe@ttu.edu for more information.

Join the Huckabee College of Architecture for an Alumni Reception in conjunction with the Texas Society of Architects Annual Conference in Dallas, Texas!

CONNECT WITH FELLOW ALUMNI, SUPPORT THE COLLEGE, AND JOIN US IN CELEBRATING THE DLA AWARD WINNERS FOR 2025!

THURSDAY | OCTOBER 30, 2025 | 6:30 – 8:00 PM CT

HILTON ANATOLE DALLAS | CARPENTER ROOM

2201 N STEMMONS FWY, DALLAS, TEXAS

Please be sure to bring your business card for door prizes!

CALLING ALL STUDENTS, ALUMNI, FACULTY, AND FORMER DEANS:
As we look forward to celebrating the 100th anniversary of Texas Tech’s architecture program in 2027, we’re calling on 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—stories that reflect the experiences we all remember, share, and celebrate!

All contributors will be recognized in the book.

To share your story, please reach out to 1972 alumni, Noel Barrick at nbarrick@hksinc.com, Gary Lindsey at gary.lindsey@lcu.edu, or email 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.

If you're not already, follow us on Instagram, X, and Facebook for the latest updates from the HCOA and be sure to like and share our content within your own networks! Do you have news or updates to share? Email architecture.communications@ttu.edu for a possible feature in the next newsletter!