Interior Architecture Faculty Reports

Tina Sarawgi received the 2011 Edison Price Fellowship Grant by the Nuckolls Fund for Lighting Education. She has developed e-light, a series of interactive teaching modules that illustrate the use of software programs to conduct lighting design.

Jonathon Anderson was named 2011 editor-in-chief of the IDECexchange: news from the Interior Design Educators Council (IDEC).

Patrick Lucas was named IDEC 2011 archive historian.

Patrick Lucas in 2011 received the prestigious UNC Board of Governors Excellence in Teaching Award for UNCG.

Tina Sarawgi and Tommy Lambeth received the 2011 IDEC Award of Excellence, Best Presentation Award presented in Denver.

Hannah Rose Mendoza and several IARc students traveled to Ghana in January 2011 to start the construction of a school in Kyekyewere.

Jonathon Anderson and Travis Hicks are two new faculty welcomed into IARc in Fall 2010.

Anna Marshall-Baker was recognized by DesignIntelligence as one of the top 25 Most Admired Educators in 2010

Jo Leimenstoll won the 2010 Old North State Ragan non-fiction award for her book, Thomas Day: Master Craftsman and Free Man of Color.

Anna Marshall-Baker and Tommy Lambeth will moderate a roundtable discussion, entitled "Interior Architecture Part 2," at the South Region Interior Design Educators Council conference at Auburn University.

Patrick Lee Lucas received news of his promotion to Associate Professor with tenure effective 1 August 2008. Congratulations all around!

Novem Mason moved out of his office – and that was no small feat! – with several decades of accumulated paperwork, student projects, and books, books, books! Novem graciously donated a career’s worth of books to the IARc library. As for the rest of the material, he made good use of several recycling carts and gave fellow faculty members valuable documents, some of which made us nostalgic for the days of ditto masters. Novem retired in May 2008 from IARC amidst a big student celebration, complete with an autographed drawing bench and delicious cake. Dean Laura Sims recognized Novem with a special award on the occasion of his retirement. A former department chair, Novem has been involved in all aspects of the IARc program and will be greatly missed for his wit and charm, not to mention his skill for making students think on their feet.

Urban studio moves forward with $505,000 in grants for my sisters' house. After an exploration studio (iar 302) in the spring semester 2008, Robert Michel Charest worked with a cadre of students over the summer to formalize drawings and specs. As of this [i]news, permits, licenses and design approvals are underway. As planned, the design-build will take place over the next three semesters in partnership with Guilford Technical Community College and several departments in the UNCG School of Human Environmental Sciences. With the goal of a "double-fast-track" build, part of the construction will take place on site and part in an off-site shop. A ceremonial ground breaking is scheduled for mid-September and my sisters' house should be ready for occupation in late 2009. Watch the [i]news for further developments.

Anna Marshall-Baker (faculty) serves as Coordinator for UNCG’s Center for Sustainability, helping to lead Focus the Nation, an initiative to study the impacts of global warming on the United States.

Interior Architecture Student Reports

Kevin Lahti (BFA 2011)has just returned from his year-long study abroad in Manchester Metropolitan University in the UK for his final year in IARc.

Brittany Devaney writes us from her study abroad in Florence, Italy(2008):
Ciao! So, as you know I'm in Florence and loving it. I arrived two weeks ago and it's all been great so far. I'm so lucky to have this opportunity.

Working around the clock on 24-25 October, the UNCG IIDA Campus Center (our student chapter) organized a collaborative design/service project to further enrich their studies while impacting the local community. IARc students teamed with peers in the
Consumer Apparel and Retail Studies department to "Make a Difference" in Greensboro with a project to redesign the Salvation Army Family Store on Lee Street. With an all night design charrette, IIDA links to a national competition sponsored by the Interior
Design Educator's Council (IDEC) centered on community activism that encourages students to "make a difference" in their community. Concentrating on many aspects of the design, the students’ collective work will have a direct impact on the Lee Street location,
and provide direction for the organization's future facility in Northern Greensboro.

bringing new ideas to community service
IIDA Campus Center (the IIDA student chapter) will team with the Department of Consumer, Apparel, and Retail Studies to redesign the Greensboro Salvation Army store. Students will analyze existing retail and merchandising strategies, space use, store image, users, and safety issues to begin the project. This IIDA-sponsored project will be highlighted by a 12 hour charrette on Friday, October 24, 2008, 7pm - 7am. The Greensboro Salvation Army, led by Major Paul Egan, has partnered with Ivan Cutler, former IARC Advisory Board member and a strategic marketing specialist, to upgrade the existing store and to develop a new boutique type of store for north Greensboro.

Weaving new uses for old mills
Retail Retold students recently began a retail design project located at Revolution Mill in Greensboro. Check out students’ first reactions to the site and observations of the tour of the facility by Lynn Cowan, Christine Chapman (MS 2007) and Catherine Carter (BS 2007) on the class blog: retailretoldstudio.blogspot.com...

...De-Specialized Workspace students explore new ways of "working" by deconstructing the traditional office...the site: Highpoint’s Highland Mill (a 100, 000 sq. ft building now the home of Cisco Brothers Furniture showroom)...
...and in other third and fourth year (vertical) studios...students pursue a variety of projects: lustrous LED lighting design competition, shopping center and retail spaces in Hong Kong, and furniture design and product design.

Not forgetting their roles as conscientious designers, Amanda Wilson (fifth year), Caitlin Cunningham (fifth year), Debbie Nestvogel (fourth year), and Janel Graupensperger (fourth year) took the LEED certification exam this past summer and are now all LEED Accredited Professionals.

Historic preservation masters students celebrated a significant birthday – for the Korner’s Folly privy. Following the smell of piquant barbecue, more than fifty former students and friends to the privy headed to Kernersville for a down-home gathering to honor the efforts of many in stabilizing and re-roofing this important slice of North Carolina history. Jo Ramsay Leimenstoll, leading the revitalization efforts, has placed the privy as a memorable aspect to each summer field school (IAR/HIS555) since 2001.

Allison Conley (third year student), while studying abroad in France in the Spring Semester 2008, received a grant from Middlebury College to investigate sustainability practices in Paris as a point of comparison with those in the United States.

With funding from the Marion Stedman Covington Foundation, IARC joined forces in Spring Semester 2008 with Preservation North Carolina to fashion a series of digital resources on PNC’s website related to preservation issues and opportunities facing North Carolina.  Rachel Miller (MS 2008) served as the first of several graduate assistants in the historic preservation concentration of our graduate program who will assist with this important project.  Kate Zylstra (second year graduate student) continued in the position in summer 2008.

In Spring Semester 2008, seven fourth and fifth year students took to the world of work under the guidance of mentors in various Triad-area businesses and organizations.  We thank these employers for helping students to innovate as they make the transition from IARC to the world of work.
Michelle Bottenus                        Workplace Strategies
Kylene Costa                                One Design Center
McKenzie Gates                        Pixxelweave
Erin Hicks                                    Warren Architecture
Jessica Krasuski                        Habitat for Humanity
Aralynn McVey                        Habitat for Humanity/Americorp
Meaghan Riordan                        Brayton International

Students throughout the program shared their work through blogs in 2008 (an initiative started by Suzanne Buchanan…and a topic on which she and Tommy Lambeth presented at the March 2008 meeting of the National Council on the Beginning Design Student Conference in Atlanta).  The blogs continue a long tradition of utilizing digital media to bring iarc to the world, including our ever-changing web site.  See the addresses on the front page of our site.  

IARC students adopted a stream in Spring Semester 2008 in Peabody Park on UNCG’s campus as a place to demonstrate our commitment to keeping one part of the natural environment clear of debris. 

In the Spring Semester 2008, several studios engaged in hypothetical projects based on real world sites….and in the case of two projects with our partner, the YWCA of Greensboro….”real world” projects to benefit the Triad:  a new facility/community center for the Center for New North Carolinians (Suzanne Buchanan + Tommy Lambeth, faculty); urban studio o2 : my sisters' house, a home for single teenage mothers (Robert Michel Charest + Novem Mason, faculty); renovation of the Benjamin Branch Library (Patrick Lee Lucas, faculty); North Carolina Sustainable Building Design Competition (Robert Michel Charest, faculty); Greensboro Historical Museum Study + Analysis (Jo Ramsay Leimenstoll, faculty) and “Advocacy Through Design,” an eight-week course (Suzanne Buchanan, faculty; assisted by first and second year student volteers) to introduce teenage mothers to principles of drawing and graphic design, opportunities for careers in design, and ways in which they can use their talents to create an advocacy campaign.

Urban studio 01(2008) received the "Most Effective Housing Collaboration" Award for its 909 Dillard Street Project during the Greensboro Housing Coalition's  "Housing Summit", a yearly event, which took place on 17 January. The project will be featured in the upcoming March issue of Dwell magazine.