SARAH RA FACULTY FOCUS:

Assistant Professor Sarah Ra teaches beginning design studios and enjoys introducing students to the world of design. The incredible evolution that happens in architecture school is rewarding as an educator, and her favorite aspect is seeing what specific interests students develop during their upper years as a result of all that they have learned. Sarah also teaches history and theory of the architecture of Asia and is currently co-leading a study abroad trip to Asia this summer, taking 22 students to Japan and Korea with Professor Seung Ra.

Many of her teaching and research endeavors this year have centered around the Washington School here in Stillwater. Efforts are underway to save the historic black school, and in tandem, students across the university have participated in various projects with the Washington School at the center of the attention. In the fall, Sarah coled with Dr. Khaled Mansy our first cross-disciplinary US Department of Energy Solar Decathlon entry. Their proposal centered on adaptively reusing the Washington School - five architecture students participated, as well as students from Mechanical Engineering, History, and Construction Management. The team was invited to compete at the finals event in Golden, Colorado, and was awarded the Director’s Award as a project that caught the jurors’ attention. Sarah also lectured on the Washington School’s history as part of the introduction for a third-year level project for our students, again focused on the adaptive reuse of the school. Top projects in the third year studio for this work were awarded the Glenn Prize for excellence in educational facility design. Her overall hope in all of this work is that our students will gain experience with community-based design, and understand the importance of serving the community, while simultaneously preserving important history. Her upcoming research presentations include a paper on integrating reuse principles into beginning design education, which will be presented at the National Conference on the Beginning Design Student in Fargo. She will also virtually present a paper on contemporary Korean architecture at the Architecture, Media, Politics, and Society conference in Prague this summer. Rounding out a busy academic year, Professor Ra will complete her Knight Fellowship travel to Asia, following the study abroad trip. She will be documenting Buddhist temples in Korea. It is a scholarly investigative trip that has been on hold since 2020.