building a better texas

Ranked as one of the fastest growing counties in the U.S., groundwater-dependent Montgomery County, Texas is confronted with a looming water crisis threatening future growth, according to a study by urban planners at Texas A&M University.

The construction industry must develop a culture of sustainability to meet a moral imperative to preserve the Earth, wrote Texas A&M construction science student Rebecca Curry in an essay earning honorable mention in the University Writing Center's 10th Anniversary Writing Contest.

Last July, the Master of Science in Construction Management program at Texas A&M University became one of the world's first graduate programs to earn accreditation from the American Council for Construction Education.

For centuries, a symbiotic relationship between planning and transportation has existed. “For most of the 20th century, engineers decided what needed to go where. In the 21st century, that’s changing a bit,” said Forster Ndubisi, head of Texas A&M’s Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning.

A new research institute dedicated to a better understanding of establishing sustainable and resilient coastal communities, places and landscapes will combine resources of Texas A&M’s College of Architecture and Texas A&M University at Galveston.

Students from all disciplines at Texas A&M’s College of Architecture will design and build a single-family residence during the 2012-13 academic year in a subdivision near downtown Bryan as part of the new collegewide Real Projects initiative.

Former students are paying homage to the John A. Harris '54, a legendary Houston constructor, by leading a fund-raising effort to name the entry way to Francis Hall, the future campus home of the Department of Construction Science, in his honor.

Shireen Kanakri, a Ph.D. architecture student at Texas A&M, will represent her native country, Jordan, as member of the International Union of Architects’ Public Health Group, an organization that promotes building design that contributes to patient healing.

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.

Ehsan Barekati, a Ph.D. architecture student interning at HKS, Inc. has developed software that makes the architecture firm’s program documents compatible with all building information modeling programs.

Researchers at Texas A&M's Hazard Reduction and Recovery Center are investigating why the proliferation of hazard mitigation planning by local governmental agencies in disaster prone regions along the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf coasts has not significantly reduced their vulnerability.

The impact of acoustics on autistic students’ learning is being studied by Shireen Kanakri, a Ph.D. architecture student at Texas A&M. Planning and designing a classroom to address the auditory sensitivity of autistic students is critical, she said, but there has been little architectural research in this area.

Pioneering designers, an entrepreneur, educator, an advocate for the landscape architecture profession and a leader in the animation industry were named 2012 outstanding alumni by Texas A&M’s College of Architecture.

Three Texas A&M researchers have joined an elite group of 10 research teams in an effort aiming to make the concept of landscape performance and its contribution to sustainability as well known as building performance is today.

Chris Duerksen, a nationally known proponent of adopting community development codes that directly address sustainability issues, headlined “Imagining New Futures,” an annual urban planning workshop, Nov. 15 – 17 at Texas A&M.