The University of Oklahoma
Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture

Oct. 1 - 5, 2018

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Oculus  is an e-newsletter that is distributed by the OU Gibbs College of Architecture at the beginning of each week during the fall and spring semesters. It features news about student, faculty, staff and alumni accomplishments, as well as events that may be of interest to our community. Please share your news and events by noon each Friday to be considered for the following week's issue of Oculus .
Featured News
W Design's design for the Petroleum Equipment Institute in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Image: wdesignsite.com
Urban Design Studio Alumnus Named Tulsa Small Business Person of the Year

Weldon  Bowman, founder and principal of  W Design and an OU M.Arch alumnus of the Tulsa Urban Design Studio, has been named the Tulsa Regional Chamber's Small-Business Person of the Year. "Small businesses make a tremendous impact on our region," said Kathy Duck, executive director of the Tulsa Small Business Connection. "A strong small business community is a reflection of a strong regional economy, and this event is an opportunity to highlight the incredible work of our entrepreneurs and business owners."

Read more about Bowman's honor here.
Events + Opportunities
TODAY: Neuroscience, Beauty and Design Symposium

When: 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m., Mon., October 1st
Where: Gould Hall Buskuhl Gallery

Join us for a symposium exploring Neuroscience, Beauty and Design from the perspectives of Don Ruggles, Lydia Soo and Tiziana Proietti.

Don Ruggles
Ruggles, AIA, is president of  Ruggles Mabe Studio, a boutique residential architecture and interior design firm based in Colorado. Founded in 1970, the firm is dedicated to the idea that beauty can improve the lives of its clients. Their award winning projects have been featured in publications world-wide. He is author of  Beauty, Neuroscience and Architecture: Timeless Patterns and Their Impact on Our Well-Being (2018).

Lydia Soo
Soo (associate professor emerita, University of Michigan) is an Early Modern architectural historian. In addition to a book on Christopher Wren's theoretical writings, she has written on specific problems of 17th century culture, buildings, and cities, including pre-orientalist knowledge of neareastern architecture and mathematics in Italian Baroque design. The title of her talk is, "Constructive Geometry and the Changing Concept of Beauty in Early Modern Architecture."

Tiziana Proietti
Proietti is is an architect and researcher with a PhD in Architectural Design. She is author of several books, including Dom Hans van der Laan e l'espressività dello spazio architettonico [Dom Hans van der Laan and the expressiveness of architectural space, trans.] (Quodlibet, 2015). She is currently researching the cognitive value of proportion by connecting neuroscience and architecture.

To request more information or accommodations, contact Angela Person ([email protected]).

Interior Design Student Association Holds OU Bean Bag Raffle

Purchase $5 raffle tickets for your chance to win a OU logo Fat Boy Bean Bag Chair. The raffle benefits IDSA students traveling to the International Interior Design Association Student Conference in Dallas, TX, in January 2019.

When: 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm, Tuesday, Oct. 2
Where: Gould Hall Breezeway

For more information, contact Emma Smith.
LECTURE SERIES: 
Architecture for Non-Majors
Dr. Khosrow Bozorgi invites you to attend the "Architecture for Non-Majors" lecture series, featuring faculty presentations on diverse topics such as main street design, historic preservation, acoustics and digital design. For the full lecture schedule and details about the location and time, please click here .

For more information or to request accommodations, contact Dr. Bozorgi ([email protected]).
Noted Architect and Engineer Richard Farley to Give Public Lecture

When: 1:30 p.m., Weds., October 10
Where: Gould Hall Buskuhl Gallery

The Center for Middle Eastern Architecture + Culture welcomes Richard Farley, FAIA, PE, for a public lecture. As an architect, engineer and educator, his experience includes developing complex master plans and mixed-use high-rise structures. Farley's work includes well-known buildings, such as the award-winning Bell Atlantic Tower in Philadelphia.

To request more information or accommodations, contact Khosrow Bozorgi ([email protected]).
Gibbs College of Architecture
Faculty Program for Research Enhancement
2018-2019 Call for Proposals

To view the PRE proposal guidelines and to submit a proposal, click  here.

FALL 2018
Proposals Due: Monday, Oct. 8, 2018 (noon)
Award Notifications: Monday, Nov. 12, 2018

SPRING 2019
Proposals Due: Monday, Feb. 11, 2019 (noon)
Award Notifications: Monday, Mar. 18, 2018

For more information, contact Prof. Tom Woodfin, Chair of Committee A, at  [email protected] .
Apply Now for Scholarships!

Undergraduate and graduate students are invited to apply now via OU's Centralized Academic Scholarship Hub (CASH). The deadline is February 1, 2019. 

To access CASH, visit ou.edu/scholarships.
Gould Hall's Charles W. Graham Cafe Announces Fall 2018 Hours

The Charles W. Graham Cafe is now open from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. It is located in the northwest corner of the Gould Hall basement, near the computer lab.

For more information about the cafe, please contact cafe manager Chris Kaeser ([email protected]).
In Memoriam
Remembering Robert Lawton "Bob" Jones, Founding Director of the Tulsa Urban Design Studio

Robert Lawton Jones, architect, planner and educator died in Santa Fe, New Mexico on September 14, 2018. He was 93.

After growing up in McAlester, Oklahoma, Bob Jones served in the U.S. Navy in the Pacific during World War II. He received a Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of Notre Dame. A year later he met and married Ethlyn (Lynn) Scott in Chicago, Illinois. Professional licensing and a Master's degree from the Illinois Institute of Technology followed. In 1953-54, he was a Fulbright Scholar at the Technical University of Karlsruhe, Germany. After 35 years of private practice with Murray Jones Murray in Tulsa, Bob was appointed Professor of Architecture and Director of the Graduate Program in Urban Design at the University of Oklahoma, a position he held for 11 years. He then served as Campus Planner for the University of Tulsa until his retirement at the age of 72.

Bob was admitted to the College of Fellows, American Institute of Architects in 1970 and later served as chairman of its selection jury. He was also a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners. The Jones residence in Tulsa (1959) has been included by the U.S. Department of the Interior on the National Registry for Historic Places.

As director of design and planning with Murray Jones Murray, he sought an architecture which would meaningfully respond to the imperatives of nature, humanity and technology. His commitment was to quality and the development of professional teams at a time of great social and economic change. Former associates describe him as "scholarly, witty and driven." An early mentor was Mies Van der Rohe, arguably one of the world's top four architects of the Modern Movement in the Twentieth Century. Murray Jones Murray work was published, exhibited or honored on 120 occasions.

His 1963 presentation "Nature and the Built Environment" was the direct stimulus for the American Institute of Architects nation-wide program "The War on Ugliness," one of the first professional efforts to address pollution in this country.

For over half a century, Bob and Lynn were engaged in social justice and peace movements, efforts that have been recognized by the National Conference for Community and Justice, Tulsa Metropolitan Ministry and many others.

He is survived by his wife, Lynn, of the home; daughter, Jayme Gergely of Santa Fe; son, Mark Jones (Lynn) of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; son, Paul Jones (Laurie) of Madison, Wisconsin; son, Greg Jones of Tulsa; daughter, Laure Moon (James) of San Francisco, California; daughter, Christi Hield (Steve) of Santa Fe; son, Matt Jones (Lucinda) of Saint Louis, Missouri; nine grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents, Lawton H. and Josephine Troy Jones of McAlester; son-in-law, Robert Gergely of Grand Junction, Colorado and step-grandson, Trey Jones of Oklahoma City.
Share your news and events with us!
Whether you are an OU Gibbs College of Architecture alumnus, student, faculty or staff member, we want to know about your news and events!

To share your news for the next issue of  Oculus, the OU Gibbs College of Architecture newsletter, or to request publicity support for an upcoming event, please complete the form found  here.
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