Students and alumni from the University of Oregon came out on top in two American Institute of Architects’ Committee on the Environment (AIA-COTE) Top Ten Awards for sustainable design excellence. These awards reinforce the School of Architecture & Environment’s continued commitment to civic responsibility, environmental sustainability, and innovative education.
Top Students
The student team from Professor Brook Muller’s Winter 2017 “Hydro-Logical Architecture for the Urban Watershed” intermediate level studio earned a 2018 AIA COTE Top 10 for Students: INNOVATION 2030 Competition honor. More than 1,000 students from 57 universities competed.
To arrive at their winning project, “Fabricating Wellness,” architecture graduate students Joel Bohlmeyer, Amy Santimauro, and Katelynn Smith rose to Muller’s challenge to front load water-related concerns in the design of a mixed-used project in Portland’s inner eastside. Among the jurors’ feedback was this comment: “The students’ emphasis on renewable energy sources, natural ventilation, and sustainable materials is a clever process and program.”
The students, said Muller, “fully immersed themselves (pun intended) in a highly complex set of issues related to our most precious resource, worked tenaciously, and arrived at a scheme that is both elegant and sophisticated for the way it establishes synergies between design elements. It was a delight to work with such a creative and fully engaged team.”
The project team will receive a $500 travel stipend to attend the 2018 AIA National Convention in New York City in June. Additionally, each winning team will receive $2,000. The student winners will also be offered the opportunity of paid summer internships at leading architecture design firms.
Outstanding Alumni
Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects, headed by University of Oregon alumni and 2017 Lawrence Medal winners Marsha Maytum (BArch ‘77), FAIA, and Bill Leddy (BArch ‘75), FAIA, received two of the national AIA COTE Top Ten Design awards, the industry’s best-known award program. The winning projects are Family House, which offers free temporary housing to families of seriously ill children receiving treatment at a nearby hospital, and the San Francisco Art Institute at Fort Mason, a new hub for arts education and community engagement. When they were the UO Pietro Belluschi Visiting Professors, Leddy and Maytum instructed a 2016 COTE Top Ten for Students winning team. Their firm has now received a total of 10 COTE Top Ten Awards.
Architecture Department head Nancy Cheng exclaimed, “Marsha and Bill make it look easy to create delightful spaces that are resilient and responsive to changing natural conditions. Their buildings have a sensitivity to human values and enrich people’s lives in many ways. They have shown how a design practice can be enriched by serving populations with special needs, while holding the highest standards for ecological harmony and aesthetic composition.”
Prestigious Fellows
The AIA’s most prestigious honor is the designation of a member as a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (FAIA). The fellow designation is awarded to those who have made contributions of national significance to the profession.
Two University of Oregon architecture graduates Sharon Refvem (BArch ‘81) and Robert Thompson (BArch ‘77) were elevated to the College of Fellows in the AIA. Refvem is senior associate and director for the Sustainability Resource Group, at Hawley Peterson & Snyder Architects in Sunnyvale, California, and Thompson is a principal at TVA Architects in Portland, Oregon.
In previous years, several UO faculty members have received the FAIA designation, including former department heads and deans, Bill Gilland and Jerry Finrow. Additionally, G.Z. Charlie Brown, Michael Fifield, Mark Gillem, Val Glitsch, Otto Poticha, and John Reynolds hold the honor.
For more information about the awards, visit these AIA websites:
For more on the School of Architecture & Environment’s programs, visit these sites: