Source: Vladimir Krstic, 785-532-1114, krstic@k-state.edu
News release prepared by: Diane Potts, 785-532-1090, potts@k-state.edu
Monday, May 5, 2008
GUEST CRITICS TO LEAD K-STATE ARCHITECTURE FIFTH-YEAR DESIGN STUDIO FORUM
MANHATTAN -- Three distinguished practitioners and academics will lead the first architecture Fifth-Year Design Studio Forum at Kansas State University's College of Architecture, Planning and Design. The guest critics are Robert McCarter, Dwayne Oyler and Karl Puljak.
They will join major studio advisers in reviewing an exemplary group of fifth-year studio projects. The projects will be displayed in Seaton Hall's Chang Gallery, Pierce Commons and Room 104 Thursday, May 8. Project reviews will be Friday, May 9, with an open forum at 4:30 p.m. in Pierce Commons. The guest critics also will determine the recipient of K-State's Heintzelman Prize, given annually to the strongest fifth-year studio project. The winner will be announced at the college's commencement ceremony Saturday, May 17.
The Fifth-Year Design Studio Forum honors and celebrates fifth-year students and serves to culminate the design studio experience at K-State.
"The forum will provide graduating students in the department of architecture with the competitive chance to present and communicate their work in a more prominent setting resonant with the highest standards of the program," said Vladimir Krstic, professor of architecture and fifth-year architecture studio coordinator.
McCarter is a practicing architect, professor of architecture and author. He is the Ruth and Norman Moore Professor of Architecture at the Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis. He also has taught and been an administrator at the University of Florida's School of Architecture and the Graduate School of Architecture at Columbia University. During his 21 years in academia, including 15 years in academic administration, McCarter taught at least one design studio every semester. He has been a licensed architect since 1982. He was president of D-Mc2 Architecture P.A. He has received the Rotch Foundation Traveling Studio Award, a Graham Foundation Grant and a Skidmore, Owings and Merrill Traveling Fellowship.
Oyler received a bachelor of architecture from K-State in 1996 and a master of architecture from Harvard University's Graduate School of Design in 2001. He was awarded the Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill Traveling Fellowship in 1996. Oyler has worked in the office of Toshiko Mori Architect and has collaborated with Lebbeus Woods on numerous projects in the United States and Europe.
Currently the coordinator for the undergraduate thesis design studio at the Southern California Institute of Architecture, Oyler also has taught at Cooper Union in New York City and the Research Institute for Experimental Architecture in Vico Morcote, Switzerland. He is a licensed architect in California. Oyler and Jenny Wu have formed the office of Oyler Wu Collaborative. The firm's projects, mainly in the Los Angeles area and in Taipei, Taiwan, and have been published in Architectural Record, Interior Design, I.D. magazine, L.A. Times Magazine and Surface magazine.
Puljak received his bachelor of architecture, with honors, and certificate in regional and community planning from K-State in 1990. While at K-State, he participated in summer programs at the Boston Architectural Center and in Todi, Italy. He was active in the department of music, served as the co-editor of Oz, the journal of the College of Architecture, Planning and Design, was a member of the Journal Volume 12, was a member of the American Institute of Architecture Students and received the Alpha Rho Chi Medal. Puljak worked in architectural offices in St. Louis and in Vienna, Austria, before returning to graduate school. He earned his master of architecture from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1995. He has been teaching at Louisiana Tech University since 1995, where he currently serves as the director of the School of Architecture. He initiated the fifth-year design-build studio at Louisiana Tech, which has resulted in the design and construction of 15 projects in Lincoln Parish since 2001. Puljak currently serves as president of the American Institute of Architects-Monroe and as member of the board of directors of the American Institute of Architects Louisiana.