Architecture Professor Emily Baker Receives American Institute of Steel Construction Award

Courtesy of Emily Baker

These steel Spin-Valence space frame prototypes by professor Emily Baker show the potential of an integrated facade enclosure.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The American Institute of Steel Construction has recognized a University of Arkansas architecture professor for her work in structural steel research and teaching.

Emily Baker, an assistant professor of architecture in the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design, is one of 13 leaders across the structural steel design, construction and academic communities to be honored in this year's awards program. The awards were set to be presented during 2020 NASCC: The Steel Conference, planned for April 22-24 in Atlanta, but the conference was canceled due to concerns over COVID-19.

Baker was selected to receive the Early Career Faculty Award, which recognizes faculty who demonstrate promise in the areas of structural steel research, teaching and other contributions to the structural steel industry. She is the first architecture professor to be recognized with this award.

"It's wonderful to be recognized for work that is an offshoot of my own fascination," Baker said.

Baker, a Fay Jones School alumna, Bodenhamer Fellow and Arkansas native, was first introduced to steel fabrication when she took a welding class at Batesville High School. She used those skills again during design-build projects as an undergraduate in the architecture program at the U of A.

Baker first started exploring the digital side of steel fabrication when she attended Cranbrook Academy of Art for graduate school, as the school had a CNC (computer numerically controlled) plasma cutter. Visiting construction sites got her thinking about the process of constructing a building.

"I was imagining new ways that the same act could happen in the face of emerging technologies," she said. "That really set me on the path that I'm on."

While in grad school, Baker also developed Spin-Valence, which is a flat pack space frame system. She said she starts with a sheet of material, often steel, then cuts a pattern into it and then folds it into a structural system. She's used the Spin-Valence system in a variety of projects, including a permanent installation at Wilson Springs Preserve in Fayetteville.

In addition to experimental projects, Baker said she also likes projects that are "a little more grounded, where we can take a slightly different approach but also do something that's immediately usable."

Baker recently completed a steel stair with a folded structure for a residence designed by Bradley Edwards Architect. She is working on a sculpture for the Honors College along with Edmund Harriss, a U of A math professor in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences that was a product of a class taught by Harriss and Carl Smith, U of A landscape architecture professor in the Fay Jones School.

Many times, Baker's design process starts with just a piece of paper. With her emphasis on folding steel, it helps to start with something physical.

"Paper serves as a good simulation of folding at a larger scale," she said.

Baker said her process of starting with making physical objects helps her work stand out. She said that digital tools today are so powerful that many researchers who engage in digital fabrication start with an idea on the computer.

"I decided to come from the physical and then translate what I found into something that's computational," she said. "You end up with a different result when you start digitally than when you start with something physical."

For Baker, one of the most valuable parts of the design-build experience is learning how materials work together. She said that engaging with design in this way grabs people's focus and attention in a different way than just reading, writing or drawing.

"We have built-in intelligence in our sense of touch," she explained.

Baker said she tries to use the act of making in her teaching as much as possible. In spring 2019, Baker led a studio focused on designing play structures in collaboration with the Scott Family Amazeum. 

"It was a fun way to get students involved in that kind of thinking, while allowing them to experiment and design with emerging technologies, particularly in steel, but all kinds of materials as well."

The other valuable lesson students learn when experimenting with materials is how to use failure as an asset. She said students can learn more from a failure than they can when something works out the first time.

"I think it's a really good thing for your imagination to get thwarted," Baker said. "One of the things I like to talk to students about is to fail early and often. Failure is useful."

Baker said the Fay Jones School has been supportive of her work with steel fabrication. She leads the digital steel lab in the Government Avenue Build Lab, which provides space and equipment where she can manipulate steel both digitally and physically.

"It's wonderful to have that dedicated space where I can do my own work that can support teaching, too," she said.