Flash Ideogram published

The School of Architecture and Design has compiled a new book of student work, showcasing the creative talents, hard work, and dedication of the faculty and students.

The book, titled the Flash Ideogram, is a series of vignettes that presents an insight into the School’s traditions, emerging initiatives and new faces. Flash reveals the School’s pedagogical position regarding teaching and its influence on student-centered learning.

The School’s belief systems are woven throughout the vignettes thus revealing how design can impact the environment and community; the faculty is committed to engaging students in a rigorous study of how the design disciplines affect everyday lives and how collaboration and fostering networks need to exist among peers and colleagues.

The School’s foundation studios provide students with an introduction to the design professions by teaching critical thinking skills and building skills sets. The end result is students instilled with the much needed confidence to continue their design education. The annual design student Fashion Show, considered more Lowes than fabric shop, continues to gain popularity with the public. Second year projects explore fundamentals of architecture through a kit of parts, landscape, and space.

Third and fourth architecture studios are the professional studies, integrating urban design and the complexities of making architecture in the city. These professional studies studios, anchored by the comprehensive design, continue to be the basis for the School’s NAAB accreditation visit and professional development.

The architecture graduate school is comprised of three Institutes of study and concentrates on a varying range of issues including urban design, design build and coastal restoration. These Institutes include the Community Design Workshop which has been in operation for almost 20 years, the Building Institute which has completed six houses in Lafayette, and the Coastal Community Resilience Studio that focuses on critical issues of restoration for the Louisiana Gulf coastline. The culmination of the architecture graduate student’s education is with the thesis project which allows students to research and explore a wide range of contemporary issues confronting the built environment.

The CIDA and NASAD-accredited Interior Design program continues to thrive evidenced by student projects winning two national awards at the spring 2014 IDEC conference.

Second year studio introduces the students to interior design as it is influenced by the larger world context. Third year students continue to grow their professional skills incorporating textures, materials, and space layouts on a larger commercial scale. The fourth year senior work culminates with a final project that allows each student to showcase the professionalism, research and design skills required to produce a self-selected comprehensive design project.

The NASAD-accredited Industrial Design program incorporates second year project that emphasize the use of craft through the toy and tong projects. Third year product designs build on the skill sets required for research and three-dimensional design. Fourth year thesis projects allow the students to design a range of projects including automobiles, tents, and boats.

The Industrial Design program graduates are being placed in companies that have included NASA, Boeing, and Bell just to name a few. The transportation studio continues to work on campus issues including biking as an alternative form of transportation and light-weight public transit systems.

A major change to the School of Architecture and Design is the 20,000 square foot renovation to Fletcher Hall. This addition will provide valuable studio, classroom, office, and gallery space, which will help the School continue to expand its programs. The first phase of the project is scheduled to be completed in early spring 2015 to be followed by additional renovation phases.

The graduate architecture studios in the SoAD are the cornerstone of the Master of Architecture program and provide our students with hands-on experience helping cities, small towns, and neighborhoods visualize their potential as communities; design and build sustainably-designed, market-rate homes; and work in the Louisiana coastal territory to reduce environmental vulnerability, enhance ecosystem resilience, and promote cultural sustainability. The graduate architecture program offers a broad range of design research through our community-outreach topic-based Institutes.

If you are interested in purchasing the book, contact the School of Architecture and Design at arch@louisiana.edu.