applied creativity

A diverse group of leading architecture practitioners and academics will share their knowledge during the Fall 2012 Architecture Lecture Series at Texas A&M. The lectures, open to the public, begin at 5:30 p.m. in the Preston Geren Auditorium, located in building B of the Langford Architecture Center.

This fall marks a milestone for Texas A&M University with the first cadre of Master of Fine Arts in Visualization students beginning their studies. The university's first MFA degree program is designed to prepare artists for art-oriented vocations.

Artists and scientists looking to bridge the gap between their disciplines in a NSF-funded effort headed by visualization professor Carol LaFayette, touted the benefits of interdisciplinary collaboration in position paper.

Students learned the basics of computer animation at two summer camps held at the College of Architecture. The college offered a visualization track for older students in its Camp Arch program and the visualization department's Viz Kids Camp introduced computer graphics to a younger group.

An energy-saving thermostat and high-tech clothing tags that take the guesswork out of washer and dryer settings were among the award-winning ideas hatched by College of Architecture students in a contest sponsored by the Mays Business School’s Center for New Ventures and Entrepreneurship.

A class popular with honors students at Texas A&M developed by Rodney Hill, professor of architecture, helped him net the 2012 Betty M. Unterberger Award for Outstanding Service to Honors Education.

Art and animations created by undergraduate visualization students will be showcased May 2 in a semester-culminating exhibition at the Langford Architecture Center.

Visualization and landscape architecture students will be working with counterparts from numerous other disciplines working on groundbreaking projects made possible by a new interdisciplinary initiative at Texas A&M.

Working under the tutelage of an algorithmic design expert and an aerospace engineer, students in an experimental design studio at Texas A&M recently created prototypes for two unconventional home exteriors fabricated from innovative composite building materials.

Roland Snooks, founding partner of Kokkugia, a progressive architecture and urban design practice, presented “Volatile Formation,” the final lecture in the Department of Architecture’s Spring 2012 Lecture Series, April 23 at Preston Geren Auitorium.

A solar-powered beach umbrella capable of powering portable electronic devices, built by a team of Texas A&M Design Process students, earned third place in the nationwide Innovative Design Competition sponsored by Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc.

Graduate architecture student Luis Martinez shares sketches, photos and his journal chronicling the adventures of students in January at Texas A&M's Soltis Center, located deep in the Costa Rican rainforest.

Rodney Hill, a professor of architecture who has emphasized the importance of creativity, exploration and self discovery to his students since joining Texas A&M’s faculty 43 years ago, has been elevated to the American Institute of Architects’ College of Fellows, one of the highest honors the AIA bestows on its members.

A student’s design for a stationary exercise wheel that fits underneath office desks, turned in as extra credit in the fall 2011 Design Process class at Texas A&M’s College of Architecture, was a winning entry in a national invention competition.

The Bryan-College Station Eagle spotlighted "The Design Process," one of the most popular classes taught at the college, in its Dec. 25, 2011 issue. Led by Jorge Vanegas, dean of the college and Rodney Hill, professor of architecture, the class, wrote the Eagle’s Caroline Ward, is the essence of unorthodox.