Two collaborative projects by Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design students, faculty and staff have been recognized in the 2024 AIA Arkansas Design Awards program. Both projects were done through the school's Urban Design Build Studio (UDBS), led by John Folan AIA, LEED AP, professor and head of the Department of Architecture.

Sensing the Forest received an Honor Award, while Negotiation Room received a Merit Award. These two projects were among a total of 11 projects to be honored in the annual awards program. All other projects were accomplished by professional design firms. These are the first AIA Arkansas awards won by the Fay Jones School's design build program since Courtyard House, located in downtown Little Rock, received a Merit Award in 2014.

"It is a great privilege to witness students and faculty recognized for their achievement in the realization of these two projects," Folan said. "The realization of any project involves a vast network of people possessing complementary skill, talent and expertise. Students and faculty involved with these projects benefitted from that expanded network of partners. More importantly, the teams benefitted from strong institutional support and the vision of clients/benefactors necessary in the production of meaningful work. Industry partnerships cultivated through broader initiatives at the university and school were invaluable in honoring the opportunities provided to students and faculty."

"Congratulations to the UDBS students, professor Folan, the many staff members and the extended communities around each of these award-winning projects," said Peter MacKeith, dean of the school. "Beyond recognition of the evident and constructed architectural quality of the projects, what is most rewarding is the recognition of the public relevance and value the projects possess in their locales and for their audiences. This directed effort towards public service in architecture reflects the school's commitment to the university's land-grant mission and to the greater good. Well done, UDBS!"

Sensing the Forest

Sensing the Forest is a pilot project employing mass timber and structural strategies that will be incorporated into the Ross and Mary Whipple Family Forest Education Center. The installation is constructed from a series of nail-laminated timber columns, beams and baffles.

Elements on the exterior are protected with a mirror finish stainless steel rain screen, reflecting its surroundings to dematerialize the formal qualities of the installation. Interior elements are finished with regionally sourced cypress, which has been treated using the traditional Japanese method of shou sugi ban (yakisugi), a natural process that protects the material from insects, rot and elements.

The charred space created inside Sensing the Forest provides a focused experience for visitors in contrast to the exterior that is similar to that of occupying a hollowed-out tree. The duality of material juxtapositions between interior to exterior is inspired by Lewis Carroll's fictional character Alice Pleasance Liddell from Alice in Wonderland, peering into and making her way "through the looking-glass."

The awards jury members were Andrew Thompson, AIA, NOMAC, LEED AP BD+C; Deborah Verne, AIA, LEED BD+C; Fahir Burak Unel, RA, AIA, NCARB; and Carisima Koenig, AIA.

"When you look at projects and they kind of talk about what their connection with nature is, I think this project really went above and beyond to kind of prove that fact first," Thompson said, "with just looking at elements of trees in the forest and also looking back upon the trees with the mirror, and also taking another nod treating the mirror effect so that birds in the forest wouldn't be affected by the mirrored object and the tower that's in the project."

Members of the Sensing the Forest project team included architecture students Thomas Rohrbach and Ethan Thomas (spring 2024, fall 2023 and summer 2023 UDBS internships); Gavin Clark, Jake Cocke, Max Holt and Nathaniel Izard (fall 2023 and summer 2023 UDBS internships); and John Castro, Vincent Gemmiti and Sarah Myane (fall 2023).

Other team members included Fay Jones School UDBS alumni and fabrication staff Austin Phillips and Sally Senn; Mary Beth Barr-Mashburn (alumna and UDBS Fellow); David Kennedy, assistant professor of architecture; John Folan, UDBS director and project lead; Angie Carpenter, alumna and Fabrication Lab manager; Corey Booth, UDBS alumnus and design fabrication lab assistant; Justin Tucker, alumnus and Fay Jones School wood fabrication lab manager; Rebecca Turner Ohman, alumna, Garvan Woodland Gardens director and Design Review Committee (DRC) member; Peter MacKeith, Fay Jones School Dean and DRC member; and Josh Siebert, alumnus and DRC member.

Other contributors to the project included Tatum-Smith-Welcher Engineers, structural; Nabholz Construction; Boyd Metals; and the U of A's Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies (CAST).

Negotiation Room

Negotiation Room received a Merit Award in the 2024 AIA Arkansas Design Awards program.

The Negotiation Room project was initially installed at the European Cultural Centre's biennial architecture exhibition, "Time Space Existence," which was concurrent with Biennale Architettura 2023 in Venice. It was then deconstructed and moved to Einaudi High School in Rome, Italy, for permanent installation in their community garden. 

The Negotiation Room provides a space for two individuals to take a risk and begin a dialogue. It is a space of optimism that finds its form by positioning people in close proximity. The mass timber structure demonstrably points to a sustainable future while shaping space for discourse of mutual benefit — socially, environmentally and personally.

"I think part of the thing we all loved about it together was this idea that you have individuals coming together to kind of let down their mask, let down their guard, come in and have a conversation in a world where we're constantly dealing with conflict," said Carisima Koenig, a jury member. "I think we also really enjoyed the life cycle... and the diagramming and the consideration that went into that. So, from an architectural moment of making space, this was one of our favorites."

The Negotiation Room project team members included the summer 2023 student cohort: Alan Betancort, Landon Butler, John Castro, Zackary Kress and Austin Phillips; the fall 2023 student cohort: Ella Cook, Nicholas De Luca, Matthew Findlay, David Hoff, Nicholas Hurley, Anthony Mancia, Jennifer Morehart, Quincy Munsell, Enrique Perez, Kaitlyn Rhinehart, Maddox Townsend and Molly Wagner; Dean Peter MacKeith, liaison to the European Cultural Center; Maria Azzolini, project engineer with Rubner Timber Engineering; Simone Rossi, director of technical operations at Rubner Timber Engineering; Mary Beth Barr-Mashburn, UDBS Fellow and project manager; Francesco Bedeschi, director and faculty of architecture, U of A Rome Center; Vanessa Mingozzi, faculty of architecture, U of A Rome Center; David Kennedy, assistant professor of architecture, Fay Jones School; and John Folan, Department of Architecture head, UDBS director and project and design lead.

Supporting project partners were Rubner Timber Engineering, Linea Light, the American Hardwood Export Council, the European Cultural Center and I.I.S. Luigi Einaudi School in Rome, Italy.