NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS IN DESIGN Regents Approve ISU College of Design Reorganization Plan
The Iowa State University College of Design will encompass seven departments under a reorganization plan approved by the Board of Regents, State of Iowa, at its meeting April 26 in Cedar Falls. The new structure retains three existing departments—architecture, community and regional planning, and landscape architecture—and creates four new ones— graphic design, industrial design, interior design and integrated studio arts —from programs that were housed in the former Department of Art and Design. [Read more]
Four Design Faculty Earn Promotions
At its April 26 meeting in Cedar Falls, the Board of Regents, State of Iowa, approved promotions for three Iowa State University College of Design faculty members for the 2012-2013 academic year. Those promoted to associate professor with tenure are Emily Godbey, art and design, and Jihyun Song, interior design. Francis Owusu, already a tenured associate professor of community and regional planning, was promoted to full professor. In addition, Steven Herrnstadt, a tenured professor of graphic design, was awarded the title of University Professor by Iowa State. Herrnstadt will be recognized at the university’s annual fall convocation in September. All promotions take effect at the beginning of the fall semester.
Badenhope Selected for ASLA Fellowship
Julia Badenhope, associate professor of landscape architecture, will be invested as a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects Sept. 30 at the organization’s annual meeting in Phoenix. Elevation to the ASLA Council of Fellows is among the highest honors a landscape architect may receive. The Fellow designation is conferred in recognition of exceptional accomplishments over a sustained period of time. Further details will be included in a future edition of Designotes.
Two ISU Student Projects Win National Hospitality Design Awards
Two teams of recent Iowa State University graduates won the top awards in the student project category of the 2012 Hospitality Design Awards (HD Awards) for Creative Achievement sponsored by Hospitality Design magazine. The competition recognizes outstanding design projects in 17 categories that relate to the hospitality industry, including luxury/upscale and mid-range/economy hotels, resorts, night clubs, restaurants and public spaces. The team of Gina Leone (BFA 2011 Interior Design), Dustin Bailey (BFA 2011 Landscape Architecture), Andrea Baker (BArch 2011 Architecture) and Jackson Den Herder (BArch 2011 Architecture) won the student project award for “The Black Sheep,” its design proposal for a luxury resort hotel in South Beach, Miami Beach, Fla. The team of Henry Elgersma (BArch 2012 Architecture), Jongho Kwon (BFA 2011 Interior Design) and M. Ryan Potter (BArch 2012 Architecture) was a finalist (second place) with its “Empyrean” resort proposal, also for South Beach. [Read more]
Two Iowa State Architecture Students Offer Waverly an Outdoor Amphitheater Design
What started out as a favor turned into an award-winning design project and volumes of life experience for two Iowa State University architecture students. Ann Cashman, Waverly, and Darian Lu, Shanghai, graduated May 5 with Bachelor of Architecture degrees. The two volunteered their time to design an outdoor amphitheater for the City of Waverly that even the neighbors like. And, not only did it win second place in a national community design competition, it’s likely to be built. [Read more]
Design Students Create Oversized Toy for Reiman Gardens
Associate Professor of Architecture Mitchell Squire’s (BArch 1994 / MArch 2001 Architecture) innovative teaching and his students’ discoveries will be on view from April 27 through Nov. 16 at Reiman Gardens, in conjunction with the LEGO Nature Connects exhibit. Students in Squire’s TOYS! Studio created a Conservatory building exhibit that embraces basic toy forms like a pinwheel and cannon to create a world of wonder and delight. [Read more]
Design College, Alumni Association Partner with Iowa Prison Industries
Integrated studio arts students in Associate Professor Chris Martin’s (BFA 1990 Art and Design – Craft Design) advanced furniture design studio partnered with the ISU Alumni Association and Iowa Prison Industries this spring to create several alumni keepsakes from salvaged campus wood. Student designs for a picture frame, a child’s rocker, an allpurpose storage box for jewelry or remote controls, and a Shaker-style end table will be produced by IPI and sold by the ISUAA. A portion of the sales proceeds will help support student scholarships. [Read more]
Interior Design Student Team Places Second in International Video Competition
A team of two Iowa State University interior design students took second place out of a field of 30 in the 2011 Interior Design Educators Council (IDEC) Interior Design Education Video Competition. Winners were announced during the IDEC 2012 Annual Conference in Baltimore in March. Seniors Emily Erbes and Anya Robson, both of Ames, were recognized for “Economic Impacts of a Qualified Interior Designer,” a video they created to describe the worldwide economic contributions of interior design and its practitioners. [Read more]
Stanley’s Commissioned Artwork to be Unveiled May 23 at Jester Park
A formed-steel elk sculpture by Michael Stanley (MFA 2008 Integrated Visual Arts), lecturer in integrated studio arts, will be unveiled at the grand opening reception for the Elk and Bison Educational Plaza at 10 a.m. Wednesday, May 23, at Shelter #6 in Polk County’s Jester Park. The sculpture, which is 6’4” tall, 6’ long and 2’6” deep, is an abstract representation of a recumbent elk based on its original lines as well as the lines of the prairie that is the animal’s home, Stanley said. “It is made out of metal to refer to the industrial age that made them leave their natural habitat here in Iowa,” he said.
Lilligren’s Work in Two Summer Invitationals
Work by Ingrid Lilligren, professor and director of integrated studio arts, has been selected for two exhibitions this summer. Lilligren created “Sam’s Rocks” (9” x 15” x 7”, porcelain with crystalline and high-fired glazes), shown at left, in honor of renowned woodworker Sam Maloof for the Sculpture in the Garden invitational exhibition, April 26 through June 21 at the Maloof Discovery Garden in Alta Loma, Calif. Two of her artworks, “Foreign Aid, Part A” (pit-fired stoneware) and “Foreign Aid, Part 4” (wood and salt-fired porcelain), will be on view in the “TOUCH: The World at Your Fingertips” invitational exhibition from July 4 to Oct. 28 at the Claude Verdan Foundation/Museum of the Hand – MUDAC in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Four Student Teams’ Entries Selected for Smithsonian Folklife Festival Exhibit
Four entries in the Smithsonian Folklife Festival Interactive Exhibit Feature Competition have been chosen for inclusion in Iowa State’s exhibit at the 2012 Smithsonian Folklife Festival this summer in Washington, D.C. The winning projects and teams are “Sphere” by Michael Krause, Fountain Hills, Ariz., and Lindsay Morris, Rochester, Minn., fifthyear architecture; “Drawing Machine” by Caleb Spiegel, Moline, Ill., and Eric Neuhaus, Cedar Rapids, second-year architecture; “Disorientation Machine” by Rachel Johnson, Eagan, Minn., third-year architecture, and Stephanie Waples, Middletown, second-year architecture; and “Music Machine” by Michelle Rogge, Ham Lake, Minn., and Yuan Liu, Eugene, Ore., third-year architecture. Twenty total projects by 56 students from 10 majors (advertising, aerospace engineering, architecture, pre-architecture, art and design, design, design open, industrial design, journalism and mass communication, and mechanical engineering) were submitted. The winners were chosen by faculty members on the exhibit design task force, and entries will be fabricated by a team of students supervised by architecture Lecturers Patrick Rhodes and James Spiller.
NOTEWORTHY ALUMS Derek Anderson
Derek Anderson (BFA 1991 Art & Design – Drawing/Painting/Printmaking) recently was honored with two children’s book awards. Hot Rod Hamster won the 2011-2012 South Carolina Picture Book Award, and its sequel, Happy Birthday, Hamster, made Bank Street College’s “Best Books of the Year” list for 2012. Both books were written by Cynthia Lord and illustrated by Anderson. Anderson also recently started A Creative Journal about his work as an author and illustrator of children’s books.
Brad Baer
Brad Baer (BArch 2007 Architecture) recently launched Zokos.com, a site that can help people have better parties (cookouts, tailgates, fundraisers, etc.) more often by crowdfunding events. He co-founded the site while completing his Master of Architecture degree at Yale University in 2011. [Read more]
Rita Gartin
Cherita “Rita” (Carter) Gartin (BFA 2005 Interior Design) and her sister, Kayse Carter (BS 2010 Apparel Merchandising, Design & Production), opened Pure Bridal in Ames in January and hosted a grand opening and ribbon-cutting event in February. They recently added four new bridal consultants, for a total of seven—five of whom are Iowa State alumni or students. [Read more]
Matthew Getch
After six years as the design director with Martha Schwartz Partners, Matthew Getch (BLA 1998 Landscape Architecture) will become the new creative director for the London office of AECOM (formerly EDAW).
Brenda Johnston
Eleven artworks (acrylic, pastel, watercolor) by Brenda Johnston (BA 1986 Art and Design) are on display and for sale in the main hall at Mary Greeley Medical Center in Ames through Thursday, May 24.
Michele Rosenboom
Michele Rosenboom (BFA 2000 Interior Design/ MA 2012 Art & Design – Graphic Design) has made it to round three in the “Repeat” fabric design competition sponsored by The Printed Bolt. Her designs for the third challenge (mapping the geography of your life) are available for review, and you can cast your vote in the Reader’s Choice component of the competition until midnight Sunday, May 13. One designer will be eliminated after this r! ound, and the rest will advance to the fourth challenge.
FACULTY FAREWELLS Looking Forward: Anderson Plans Plentiful Retirement Pursuits
Genealogy. Photography. Music. Children and grandchildren. Any one of these is enough to keep someone busy, full time. But it’s just part of the list that Professor Paul Anderson (BS 1972 / MLA 1974 Landscape Architecture) plans to devote himself to after retirement from the Iowa State University Departments of Landscape Architecture and Agronomy. That’s not to say that Anderson hasn’t kept busy over nearly four decades, enriching the departments with innovative leadership as well as distinguished teaching. It’s just that he’s focused on his next act. [Read more]
Hightshoe Turns Attention from Teaching to Family, Travel and Publishing Projects
Gary Hightshoe (BLA 1969 / MLA 1970 Landscape Architecture) spent a good part of his childhood tromping around the woods: His father, a general contractor and home builder, has a degree in botany and his mother is an artist, so both parents found creative and professional inspiration in the plants, animals, bugs and fungi in Iowa’s woodland areas. Looking back, it’s not surprising that Hightshoe--who was always growing, making, building, collecting, drawing and designing something outdoors as a kid--would find himself attracted to landscape architecture when he entered college. Forty-seven years later, this professor of landscape architecture is retiring from Iowa State University, where he has made his mark with a nationally recognized book and innovative contributions to curriculum development that’s touched the lives of hundreds of students. [Read more]
Coming Full Circle: Mahayni Wraps Up Distinguished Career of Teaching, Professional Service
Thirty-three years ago, Riad G. Mahayni joined the fledgling Department of Community and Regional Planning at Iowa State University. At the time there were six faculty members and “a few handfuls of students.” Though the planning program could trace its roots to courses taught in the early 1920s and had been a department since 1973, it was only with the move to the new College of Design in 1978 and Mahayni’s appointment as chair that CRP really came into its own at Iowa State. Mahayni left for a few years to travel halfway around the globe for a career-defining planning project, but returned to Ames again to continue to make an impact on the university and the city. And now, he’s ready for the next step--retirement. [Read more]
IN MEMORIAM Ann Fleming
Ann “Andy” Fleming (BS 1944 Institution Management), 89, of Carlisle, died April 26. In addition to her bachelor’s degree, Fleming studied landscape architecture at Iowa State and had co-owned Danamere Nursery in Carlisle for many years prior to retirement. She also had been a residential landscape instructor in the adult education department of Carlisle High School. Fleming was an energetic volunteer and leader for an extraordinary number of Iowa charities and educational institutions, and notably, was the first female president of the Pioneer Club of Des Moines. Memorial contributions may be directed to the Wallace Centers of Iowa, the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation, Orchard Place or the Cathedral Church of St. Paul. [Read full obituary]
MAKE NOTE OF UPCOMING EVENTS Alumni Days Open House
For all alumni who attended or graduated from any College of Design program 9:30 - 11:30 a.m. Friday, May 11, in Lyle E. Lightfoot Forum, College of Design [Read more]
AIA National Convention Alumni Reception
6 - 8 p.m. Thursday, May 17, in Rooms 10 and 11, Renaissance Hotel Washington, D.C. Downtown, 999 Ninth St. NW, Washington, D.C. 6:30 p.m. Program with remarks by Dean Luis Rico-Gutierrez Complimentary appetizers; hosted bar
Design Condensed Summer Camp
A one-week residential camp for high school students who will be sophomores, juniors or seniors in fall 2012 July 8-14 at the College of Design More information on this year’s summer camp is coming soon!
ON ANOTHER NOTE Architecture Chair Search to Continue
After careful consideration, including conversations with architecture faculty and members of the Architecture Advisory Council, College of Design Dean Luis Rico-Gutierrez has decided to continue the search for the next chair of the Department of Architecture. While the two finalists recently on campus were both strong candidates, it was not clear that the position was a good fit, either for them or for the department and college. The college will hire a national professional search firm to help the search committee identify a new pool of potential candidates and find the best possible person to lead the department.
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