Fay Jones School Hosts 'New Languages of Wood' Symposium, Launching 70th Anniversary Year

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design will host the "New Languages of Wood" symposium Aug. 26 and 27 on the University of Arkansas campus, as part of the kickoff celebration of the school's 70th anniversary.

Peter MacKeith, dean and professor in the Fay Jones School, and Marlon Blackwell, E. Fay Jones Chair in Architecture, are symposium chairs.

Demand is expected to increase substantially for timber and wood as sustainable raw materials and for associated creative and technical expertise in the design and innovation of timber, wood and wood products in architecture and engineering. Although Arkansas is a significant source of forest products as raw materials, the majority of the skilled processes that add value and transform wood products into finish materials happen in other states.

The potential for further development has been overlooked, even though Arkansas' central location, superb natural resources and legacy of excellent vernacular and modern architectural precedents provide outstanding opportunities for education, professional advancement and market development. Given Arkansas' prominence in timber production, the research excellence of its state university system, and the national reputation of the Fay Jones School for design and design research, the school is uniquely positioned to respond to both global trends and state and regional needs with an educational, design and research focus, especially because no such program exists within Arkansas or any neighboring state.

The symposium intends to demonstrate to the audience the vitality of this agenda, by presentations of design, education and research in contemporary wood architecture occurring across the nation.

Events will include three speakers from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 26, followed by a reception, in the Faulkner Performing Arts Center:

• Billie Faircloth, an architect with KieranTimberlake in Philadelphia — "The Beauty and Mystery of the 2 X 4"
• Andrea Leers, FAIA, an architect with Leers Weinzapfel Associates in Boston, Massachusetts — "Case Study: Design Building, University of Massachusetts-Amherst School of Architecture"
• Robert McCarter, the Moore Professor of Architecture at Washington University in St. Louis — "Frank Lloyd Wright: An Architecture of Wood"

Saturday, Aug. 27, brings a day of discussions and presentations in Ken and Linda Sue Shollmier Hall in Vol Walker Hall. The slate of panelists and projects is as follows:

9-9:45 a.m. – Amir Shahrokhi, project architect, SHoP Architects, New York / Case Study: 475 West 18th Street, New York

9:45-10:30 a.m. – Jesus Vassallo, architect and assistant professor, Rice University, Houston /Case Study: Detroit's Corktown Project

10:30-10:45 a.m. – Break

10:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. – Panel on Research (concurrent panel 1)

• Alan Organschi, Gray Organschi Architects, New Haven, Connecticut / Faculty, Yale University / "Timber City"
• Joseph Mayo, Mahlum Architects, Seattle / Author of "Solid Wood"
• Benton Johnson, PE, SOM Tall Timber Research Group, Chicago / "The Tall Timber Building"
• Ulrich Dangel, associate professor, University of Texas at Austin / "Turning Point in Timber Construction"

10:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. – Panel on Education (concurrent panel 2)

• Pekka Heikkinen, professor of wood design and construction, Aalto University, Helsinki, Finland / The Wood Program
• Kate Schwennsen, director and professor, Clemson University School of Architecture /Wood Utilization and Design (WUD)
• Nancy Cheng, associate professor, University of Oregon / Mass Timber in the Curriculum
• Zac Mollica, architect and tutor, Architectural Association, London and Hooke Park / Design & Make Program

12:20-1 p.m. – Thomas Robinson, AIA, LEVER Architecture, Portland, Oregon / Case Study: The Framework Building, Portland

At 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Paul Haas, music director, and members of the Symphony of Northwest Arkansas (SoNA) will present the public performance of "In saecula saeculorum" ("For Ever and Ever" or "In Eternity"). This site-specific piece was composed by Haas, for 11 instruments and electronics, for performance in Vol Walker Hall, to commemorate the school's anniversary. More information on the performance program is available on the school's website.

The symposium is sponsored by Deltic Timber.

Registration to the "New Languages of Wood" symposium is free. Please register online.

For more information, contact the Fay Jones School at 479-575-4945.