Four Decades of Hector LaSala’s Student’s Work Displayed in Dean's Gallery

In celebration of Professor LaSala’s 40 years of teaching, mentorship, research, and service, following his recent retirement this year, the School of Architecture and Design is honored to announce an exhibition of Prof LaSala’s student’s work. The exhibit, titled a structure for play opens March 1, 2021 and run until March 30 in Fletcher Hall’s Dean’s Gallery on the second floor. The exhibit will feature models and drawings from Hector LaSala’s 1st and 3rd year architecture and design students since the early 1980’s. The work exhibits Prof. LaSala’s mantra of rigor and play - A heuristic pedagogy which Hector developed over forty years which encourages play and exploration, with successive iterations leading to a constructable tectonic. The exhibit is sponsored in part by the College of the Arts SPARK fund.

Hector LaSala was born in El Salvador. He received his architecture degree from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in 1973 and conducted his graduate studies at Texas A&M University. Hector taught at UL Lafayetteʼs School of Architecture and Design for over forty years and was a visiting professor at Virginia Tech in 1983. The central motivation of his academic career has been teaching, in particular freshmen. In recognition of his teaching and research, his peers have honored him with two of ULʼs most prestigious accolades: the 2001 Excellence in Teaching Award and the 2008 Distinguished Professor Award. Prof. LaSala has conducted numerous Service-Learning initiatives with over 300 students. In recognition of this effort, he received the 2007 Oliver-Sigur Humanitarian Service Award. Additionally, he has been a member of the Kennedy Centerʼs Partners in Education program since 1995, whose purpose is to integrate the arts throughout the K to 12th grade curriculum. For this endeavor, Hector and his team members were granted the 2004 Governorʼs Arts Award for Outstanding Contribution to Arts Education.

Visitors can see the exhibit during school hours Monday - Thursday 9:00 - 11:00 A.M., 1:00 - 4:00 P.M. and on Friday 9 A.M. - Noon.