Fay Jones School Faculty, Students, Alumni and Friends Recognized by AIA Arkansas

Photo by Timothy Hursley

The Mood Ring House, a live-work space in Fayetteville designed by SILO AR+D, won a 2015 Merit Award from the Arkansas Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Faculty, students, alumni and friends of the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design at the University of Arkansas were recognized with awards recently handed out by the Arkansas Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

Design awards and other awards were given during the annual AIA Arkansas State Convention banquet, held Oct. 16 in Hot Springs. Projects by Fay Jones School faculty, students and alumni won all four design awards given in the Design Awards Program — three merit awards and one citation award. This year, 32 design entries were submitted by member firms, and the jury selected the winners from eight finalists.

The Merit Awards went to the Mood Ring House, Srygley Pool House and the University Housing building.

The Mood Ring House, a live-work space in Fayetteville designed by SILO AR+D, consolidates work functions on the ground level, with a majority of living spaces above. The small base aids in reducing the footprint, preserving existing trees and reducing foundation costs, while the cantilevered upper level provides the living spaces with views while creating a private enclave amidst the tree canopy.

The project team included Marc Manack, assistant professor of architecture in the Fay Jones School and principal of SILO AR+D, along with Joseph Weishaar and Esteban Ayala, both alumni, and Thomas Geeslin and Ethan Werkmeister, both fifth-year architecture students.

The Srygley Pool House in Springdale, designed by Marlon Blackwell Architects, is wrapped in subdued cedar siding, allowing the seemingly foreign form to coexist with the surrounding brick and cedar residences. The lower level opens up onto the pool terrace, establishing a transparent base that allows visitors to flow freely from outside to inside.

The project team included Marlon Blackwell, founder and principal of Marlon Blackwell Architects, a Fellow of the AIA, Distinguished Professor and E. Fay Jones Chair of Architecture in the Fay Jones School, along with Meryati Johari Blackwell and William Burks, an alumnus.

The University Housing building on the Fayetteville campus, designed by Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects, provided the University of Arkansas with a facility dedicated to housing administration that was much needed due to rapid student enrollment growth. The 20,000-square-foot building contains office space and meeting rooms and also serves as a welcome center for students and families visiting the campus.

The project team included alumni Wesley Walls, Craig Curzon, Jack Reilly, Sam Annable, Laura Lyon and Kim Prescott.

The citation award went to All Saints' Episcopal Church in Bentonville, designed by Marlon Blackwell Architects. Significant constraints and steep topography resulted in a small triangular footprint that informs and influences the form of the church. The scale was adjusted to provide an iconic figure toward the busy highway to the north and a pedestrian scale facing the residential neighborhood to the south.

The project team included Marlon Blackwell, Meryati Johari Blackwell, Kertis Weatherby, Justin Hershberger, Bradford Payne and David Jaehning, along with alumni Cydney Jaggers, William Burks, Stephen Reyenga and Jonathan Boelkins.

The People's Choice Award went to the Mid-America Science Museum at the Donald W. Reynolds Center in Hot Springs, designed by Wittenberg Delony & Davidson Inc. The challenge for this project was to create a unique visitor experience that utilized the museum's natural wooded context and existing facility, originally built in 1979, while reinforcing science education through hands-on learning and adventure play. In addition to interior renovations and improvements, a science skywalk was created 32 feet above a wooded creek, with a series of bridges and ramps that change levels and provide unique tree-top observation platforms along the walkway.

The project team included Jay Clark and Chad Young, an alumnus.

Josh Siebert, lead designer and co-founder of Modus Studio in Fayetteville, was named the 2015 Emerging Professional. He is a 2002 graduate of the University of Arkansas with a Bachelor of Architecture and a minor in art. He spent more than three years working for HOK Sport Venue Event, where he designed projects such as the Sabina Park Cricket Club, New York Yankees Stadium and the Washington Nationals Baseball Park. After a couple of years with Tucker Sadler Architects, he joined Chris Baribeau, a fellow Fay Jones School alumnus, to co-found Modus Studio in 2008.

As the firm has focused on improving Arkansas' rural and institutional education facilities in recent years, Siebert has led the design of multiple prominent University of Arkansas facilities, the Green Forest Middle School and Athletic Complex, and elementary schools in both Flippin and Melbourne, which are under construction.

The Award of Merit goes to Timothy Hursley, a Detroit native who apprenticed in architectural photography with Hungarian photographer Balthazar Korab. Hursley moved to Little Rock in 1980, where he started his own architectural photography studio, The Arkansas Office.

Hursley has worked closely with architects including Gunnar Birkerts, Fay Jones, Antoine Predock, Moshe Safdie, I.M. Pei and Mack Scogin. He also photographed Andy Warhol's last Factory in New York City. In 1990, he received an Honor Award for his architectural photography from the American Institute of Architects.

For 20 years, he has documented the work of architect Samuel Mockbee's Rural Studio, resulting in two books: Rural Studio: Samuel Mockbee and an Architecture of Decency and Proceed and Be Bold. He is currently working on a third volume.