Architecture School Creates Imprint at University of Arkansas Press

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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – What began as a conversation about specific projects has blossomed into a unique and ambitious, cross-campus collaboration between the University of Arkansas Press and the Fay Jones School of Architecture.

About three years ago, Jeff Shannon, architecture school dean, talked with Larry Malley, director of the press, about getting faculty work published. Specifically he had in mind research Korydon Smith had done regarding the equity of housing for the elderly and the disabled in the South.

The resulting book, Just Below the Line: Disability, Housing, and Equity in the South, is part of a collaboration that will include works that fall into two areas. One category was born from two high-profile architects who lectured at the university: Peter Eisenman and Glenn Murcutt. The focus of this series has to do with “a kind of reading of the current state of affairs in design and perhaps a statement related to the way things might go, should go,” Shannon said. One of these books by leading international figures in design might happen every two or three years.

The other is a broader sort of miscellaneous category that could hold anything the school takes interest in within the environmental design fields. This includes Smith’s book, the DVD documentary Sacred Spaces: The Architecture of Fay Jones, and a forthcoming book of essays about Jones.

All publications released under this imprint will be designated by a special logo, which features Jones’ Thorncrown Chapel.

In 1999, the University of Arkansas Press published Outside the Pale, a general book about Jones’ architectural approach, with photographs of his projects, but the press had done nothing else in the field of architecture since.

This kind of collaborative relationship strongly appealed to Malley and Shannon.

“We decided that maybe there could be a collaboration that would really mean something for the university and the state, where two important, visible departments of the university could bring their separate but relative strengths together, in service of the university, and in our case that means the state as well,” Malley said. It’s something he hopes to repeat with other colleges and schools on campus.

Shannon said the relationship between the architecture school and the press is simple: “We generate the projects, we control the substance — and the university press will produce them.”

When the school has an idea for a book, they’ll work with the press regarding all aspects — including feasibility, design, production schedule, kind of paper and binding format.

Shannon plans to establish an editorial board, whose members can suggest potential authors and publications. In addition to representation from the school, the board will include national figures experienced with publication and the design professions.

Just Below the Line will be the first book to come from this new joint publishing venture. It is scheduled for release in May. Smith, an associate professor of architecture, coauthored the book with Jennifer Webb and Brent T. Williams, associate professors of interior design and rehabilitation, respectively. The first work released under this collaboration was the Fay Jones DVD documentary, created by Larry Foley and Dale Carpenter, both journalism professors at the university. The press distributes the DVD for the school.

Forthcoming books include one by Eisenman, an American architect who established his New York firm in 1980. His book will be based on public lectures he gave here in September 2007. “He came here with the three lectures anticipating that this would become the initial manuscript for the book,” said Shannon, who is awaiting Eisenman’s manuscript.

Another is by Murcutt, an Australian architect who won the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2002. He gave a lecture in April 2009 as part of the school’s renaming celebration; it was his last lecture in North America. David Buege, a University of Arkansas architecture professor, is currently editing the transcript of Murcutt’s lecture.

A collection of essays about Fay Jones and his architecture is also in the works. People who live in Jones-designed homes, including Roy Reed, a former journalist and professor, and Ellen Gilchrist, an author and professor, contributed essays. Buege, Shannon and Marlon Blackwell, a professor and chairman of the school’s architecture department, are working together on another essay.

Shannon pursued this publication venture partly because of his love for books. “Even if I don’t get to read them, I like to have them around me,” said Shannon, whose office counters — sometimes, even areas of the floor — are stacked with books.

This imprint is a way to raise the visibility of the school nationally and internationally, something that should appeal to potential students, alumni and donors alike. Shannon also hopes this opportunity will inspire current faculty and help recruit prospective faculty. Unlike researchers in other fields, such as science, faculty in the design fields of architecture and landscape architecture don’t have very many venues for publishing their research. This arrangement will provide that outlet.

“I think if the design professions are to progress in terms of the credibility they offer the public, there has to be a strengthening of the intellectual component of the profession,” Shannon said.