Fay Jones School Awards Dean's Grants for Creative Research and Practice to Design Faculty

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"Ville des pollinisateurs," a winning entry to this year's famed Chaumont International Garden Festival in France, was installed in April by a team that included landscape architecture students, from left, Fiorella Sibaja, Ava McMoran, Kara Simmons, Elijah Willis and Oliver Right.

Three faculty members of the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design recently received grants from the school to support their ongoing research. These Dean's Grants for Creative Research and Practice are dedicated to fostering the professional growth of the school's faculty members through research, scholarship and creative endeavors in the design disciplines.

Brian Holland, assistant professor of architecture; Scott Biehle, teaching associate professor of landscape architecture; and Torrey Tracy, assistant professor of interior architecture and design, each were awarded funds for the 2023-24 grants cycle to be used within a period of 18 months.

"We originated these grants as I arrived in 2014," said Dean Peter MacKeith, "with the intention of continuously enriching the Fay Jones School as a community of scholars and practitioners whose work contributes to its national recognition as a leader among publicly funded schools of architecture and design. Congratulations to this year's recipients."

Intended to recognize and bridge the different fields of knowledge represented among the school's faculty members through creative research and practices in the design disciplines, the grants can support a wide range of activities. Multiple grants may be awarded annually.

Faculty members may submit proposals that support the early research and development stages of a project or seek support for expenses that take a project from conceptualization to realization or public presentation. Applicants may request up between $1,000 and $5,000.

"Developing new knowledge in the design disciplines both overarches and embodies traditional methods of inquiry and cutting-edge creative practices," said Associate Dean Ethel Goodstein-Murphree. "These grants not only seek to foster scholarship and innovation that ranges from sustainable practices and materials technologies to environmental justice and the social construction of space but also are conceived to support work that often falls outside the parameters of mainstream external funding. This year, we are pleased to honor projects that genuinely push the boundaries of design thinking."

The following are brief descriptions of the projects for this year's grant recipients.

Scott Biehle — Ville des pollinisateurs

Ville des pollinisateurs, a winning entry to this year's famed Chaumont International Garden Festival, is based on core ecological design principles. The festival is held at the Domain of Chaumont-sur-Loire and runs from April 24 to Nov. 3. Ville des pollinisateurs — city of pollinators — challenges garden visitors to imagine a world in which birds, bees, insects and bats — the world's pollinators — have evolved to become the urbanizers of the world, leaving humanity at the periphery.

The project commenced with the design and fabrication of garden elements within the Fay Jones School. Students conceived of the elements using best practices for fabrication, finishing, delivery and assembly in a foreign country. Installation in France this spring continued students' learning in all phases of project realization, including assembly of garden hardscape, layout and planting. This first avenue is a critical stage in completing the competition entry as well as gauging and assessing landscape architecture students' skills and knowledge acquisition within a design-build framework.

While in France, students engaged in practical garden installation work at the festival, applying contemporary landscape design principles and theories that challenge the garden's viewing public to question their views on the current state of humanity's relationship with the environment. This approach aims to foster a deep understanding of landscape architecture, foster critical and reflective thought, and enhance practical skills within the student. Finally, following the installation, the team will assess visitors' understanding of, reaction to and appreciation of the garden theme. Garden attendees will be encouraged to respond to a short survey, prompted by QR codes located at the garden site.   

Brian Holland — Activist Practices

The book Activist Practices: Exploring the Architect's Role in Social Change, Conversations with Students is a survey of social and environmental justice activism in architecture. Spotlighting contemporary design and research practitioners who are creatively leveraging their expertise for social change, it features interviews with more than a dozen influential design leaders who are at the forefront of the profession's efforts to confront challenges such as housing insecurity, racial and economic inequality, environmental degradation and architectural waste.

Capturing the current moment of soul searching in both the profession and the academy, the project presents frank and insightful conversations about the potentials and limitations of innovative, socially minded design practice today and gathers inspirational stories alongside practical advice for how to navigate a career in architecture while seeking to make a positive impact.

This edited volume joins a small but growing number of surveys that examine the contemporary architect's role in working for social and environmental change. Its collection of interviews is situated within the context of mounting social, political and ecological challenges. The book outlines recent efforts by architects to address longstanding inequities in both the profession and the built environment and efforts to infuse contemporary architectural practice and education with the ethics of community service and a commitment to the public good.

As part of this discussion, the book considers the contemporary economics of the profession in relation to the many barriers to success and juxtaposes these present-day circumstances against notable historical precedents for architectural activism, including the unique state-of-affairs surrounding modernism's alignment with state-sponsored social programs in the mid-20th century.

Torrey Tracy — Interiors of "Interiors"

Interiors of "Interiors" is a series of studies that investigates the inclusivity of interior space through the medium of high-resolution, full-scale photography. Long before the pandemic, there were social barriers between public and private spaces, particularly at the residential scale. The pandemic heightened this divide.

This study aims to soften the stigma of encroaching upon residential space by photographically capturing, in raw and unfiltered states, residential interiors to present in a full-scale, high-resolution printed format. An object featured in each shot will be borrowed and displayed in its exact location for the duration of the exhibition.

Visitors will be conscious of an insightful understanding of the residential conditions of those who instruct and work alongside each other at the Fay Jones School. Being privy to spaces of intrigue and sensitivity at this unique full-scale perspective will undoubtedly foster a robust level of empathy and appreciation for the profound quality of emotive space and place.

The purpose of the study is to reflect on a multitude of residential interiors at full scale and to answer the question, "How can interior design and its impact be available, accessible and achievable to the larger population?" The significance of the research is to acquire a deeper understanding of how designers interpret, empathize and appreciate the value of residential space within various contexts and begin to understand the past by examining existing residential spaces.

Future Grants

All tenured and tenure-track faculty members appointed in the Fay Jones School are eligible to apply for the Dean's Grants for Creative Research and Practice. Teaching faculty appointments and visiting faculty can apply as collaborative partners with tenured and/or tenure-track faculty members.

The review of applications was coordinated by the Fay Jones School's Office of the Deans and was conducted by a panel of scholars with expertise in the design disciplines, including previous recipients of these grants.