building a better texas

If you’re planning on installing an arbor or deck in your backyard, pressure treated southern yellow pine is a great choice, said Ben Bigelow, Texas A&M visiting assistant professor of construction science, during a guest appearance on “Your Livable Garden,” a landscape architecture radio show.

When construction science students begin taking classes in the renovated Francis Hall in spring 2015 they’ll be able to see exposed mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems at work in a $100,000 specialty lab funded by Dynamic Systems, Inc.

The Texas A&M College of Architecture’s 15th annual faculty research symposium, “Natural, Built, Virtual,” took place Oct. 21 in the Langford Architecture Center.

A remarkably diverse coalition including national science, arts and education groups assembled by Carol LaFayette, associate professor of visualization at Texas A&M, is advocating for the inclusion of the arts in science and technical education, an idea gaining traction among educators across the United States.

The Fall 2013 Architecture-for-Health Lecture Series featured 13 presentations by luminaries from the design and construction industries focused on integrated project delivery — a collaborative design and construction process.

Two Texas A&M College of Architecture professors who are researching how urban design can encourage, rather than impede, physical activity and help combat sedentary lifestyles.

In partnership with Texas A&M’s AgriLife Extension Service, the Texas A&M College of Architecture is expanding its 25-year-old Texas Target Cities program that helps communities lacking resources and expertise resolve issues critical to their future.

Though natural and man-made disasters are inevitable, scientists at the Texas A&M College of Architecture are working on ways to minimize their impact, hasten recovery and gain valuable insight from the process.

When Texas A&M construction science students move into their new Francis Hall headquarters next year, they're lessons will be enhanced by a new state-of-the-art audiovisual classroom made possible by a $150,000 combined gift from Balfour Beatty Construction and Robert Van Cleave ‘81, the company’s chairman and CEO.

Competition teams and students tackling group projects in the Department of Construction Science at Texas A&M will soon be collaborating in a state-of-the-art workspace made possible by a $150,000 gift from Vaughn Construction to the department's Francis Hall building campaign.

Five projects selected as outstanding examples of public interest design, which addresses social, economic and environmental issues for a community, rather than an individual client, were named by a jury of designers and social justice advocates as winners of the Mitchell-Dockery Prize in Public Interest Design.

A new porch space, where customers of a downtown Bryan bakery can enjoy its fare with a cup of coffee, is already attracting customers. The space was designed as part of a student's quest to make architecture relevant to the middle class and small business owners.

By the time the weather turns cool this fall, a Bryan, Texas family will be settling into a new home designed by Texas A&M environmental design student Catherine Florece as part of the College of Architecture's 'Real Projects' interdisciplinary community outreach initiative.

Measures to reduce energy use in a high-profile Northgate mixed-use residential development were detailed in construction proposals prepared this spring by construction science students at Texas A&M.

After investigating home building practices common in Texas colonias, impoverished areas near the Mexico border, a Texas A&M architecture Ph.D. student is working to share affordable, energy efficient construction techniques and home designs with colonias residents.