Photo by William E. Photo by Susie Harris. What's a transformative gift? A graduate from the University of Arkansas College of Business, Don Edmondson credits a freshman arts appreciation course for sparking his interest in architecture. Fay Jones, the late prize-winning architect and professor of architecture, lectured on Louis Sullivan, Frank Lloyd Wright and his own work, giving Edmondson his first taste of modern design. And on top of that list was to live in a Fay Jones home. I hope that the gift will inspire people to give not just money, but their time and talents as well.
Don and Ellen Edmondson have long been friends and benefactors to the School of Architecture. In they endowed the Fay Jones Chair in Architecture, which brings nationally respected architects and teachers to the School of Architecture to work with students and faculty. The Edmondsons have generously shared their time and energy as well, opening their home for School of Architecture parties and events.
He currently serves on the University of Arkansas Board of Advisors and has pledged to help the School of Architecture raise funds for a possible addition to Vol Walker Hall. Each team included first-, second-, third-, and fourth-year students, giving all of them valuable experience in group work on a project.
Photo courtesy Fran Beatty. Landscape architecture students and faculty started the new year with a week-long charrette centered on a space for meditation and remembrance of lives cut short. Charged with developing a campus memorial for students who have died while enrolled at the University of Arkansas, six teams of students focused on three possible campus sites:. Each team analyzed the sites, selected and documented one, then developed conceptual models, plans, elevations and more detailed final models.
Friday, we logged 51 hours," said Sarah Geurtz, a second-year student from Cabot, Ark. The winding path in this project was meant to embody the "twists and turns of life. Anonymous, yes: there were no somber rolls of names here. But each of the student schemes was suffused with universal symbols for life, loss and healing. Paths were a recurrent theme.
