Edmondsons Announce $10 Million Gift

Don and Ellen Edmondson of Forrest City, Ark. have announced a $10 million planned gift to the School of Architeccture. Photo by Susie Harris.

What's a transformative gift? Imagine how $10 million will shape the School of Architecture in years to come. Thanks to the generosity of long-time school supporters Don and Ellen Edmondson, who recently announced a $10 million planned gift to the School of Architecture, possibilities will become realities for future generations of students and faculty.

"Don and Ellen Edmondson have truly made the gift of a lifetime, one that will allow us to build on our strengths and create new areas of excellence," said Dean Jeff Shannon. "We are deeply grateful to Don and Ellen for this exceptional gift."

A 1958 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.

“I was so struck by his art and architecture – it was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen," Don Edmondson said.  “He inspired me to aspire, to do well in life, to reach those goals that I wanted to reach. And on top of that list was to live in a Fay Jones home."

Fay Jones eventually did design Don and Ellen Edmondson’s Forrest City home, and over time a deep friendship developed between the Edmondsons, Fay Jones and his wife Gus. The gift to the School of Architecture, Edmondson said, is “to honor Fay and Gus and what they have meant in our lives, and hopefully to inspire other people to support the school and its mission. 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 1999 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 endowment also supports the processing of Jones’ papers, which are housed in the University of Arkansas Libraries Special Collections. |

The Edmondsons also have funded an international scholarship to honor architect Maurice Jennings, a 1973 graduate of the School of Architecture who worked with Fay Jones for 25 years and became Jones’ only partner in 1986. Additional gifts by the Edmondsons have supported Garvan Woodland Gardens, the School of Architecture’s botanical garden in Hot Springs, the Razorback band and the University of Arkansas School of Law.

The Edmondsons have generously shared their time and energy as well, opening their home for School of Architecture parties and events. Don Edmondson chaired the school’s Campaign Committee and also served on the University of Arkansas Campaign for the Twenty-First Century Committee. 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.

“It’s been very fulfilling for Ellen and me, in the latter part of our lives, to share our resources," he said. “This gift ensures that everything we’ve worked for will help somebody else." The Edmondsons will also touch lives across the state with planned gifts of $1.5 million each to the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute and the Arkansas Children's Hospital, both of Little Rock.

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Students Remember Students

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:

• The triangular lawn directly northwest of Vol Walker Hall
  
  
• The courtyard of the Fine Arts Center
  
  
• The lawn adjacent to the new Quad dormitories

Each team analyzed the sites, selected and documented one, then developed conceptual models, plans, elevations and more detailed final models.

“Between about 5 p.m. on Monday and 1:30 p.m. Friday, we logged 51 hours," said Sarah Geurtz, a second-year student from Cabot, Ark.

 “The challenge was to come up with a memorial to remember people who died from different eras and from different causes," said Robert Jackson, a third-year student from Starksville, Miss. “We concluded that the memorial needed to be anonymous."

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. In one design, students drew on the golden ratio, an organizing principle in many life forms and works of art, to create a path that spiraled down to a bowl-shaped space for reflection. In another design, a stream meandered through the site but sank into the ground before reaching a pool, symbolizing lives cut short.

Personal loss informed some of the students’ work, including that of Robert Jackson, who mourned the death of a friend in 2007. “I think about how the experience may have been a little easier, if we’d had a memorial space," he said.

“The students had some really strong concepts and worked well together as a team, especially given that it was the beginning of the semester," said alumnus Jay Huneycutt (BLA ’85), director of planning and capital programs for the University of Arkansas Facilities Management division. “It was obvious to the jury that each student played an important role in the development of the project."

A team led by Johnetta Cross Brazzell, vice chancellor for student affairs, will review the students’ designs and may select ideas from one or more projects as inspiration for the Razorback Memorial. “The next step will be for us to determine potential funding sources," said Aisha Kenner, associate dean of students. “There is a lot of interest in this project being built."

Alumni Design Awards: Deadline Soon!

Commons building, Camp Aldersgate, Little Rock, first prize winner of the 2006 Alumni Design Awards. Designed by Wesley Walls of the Wilcox Group with David Perry and Wayne Hardy of Roark, Perkings, Perry, Yelvington Architects.

It's not too late to show us your stuff!

Any graduate of the UA School of Architecture is eligible. Winners will be announced in the 2008 issue of Re:View magazine and on the school’s web site. Submissions must be anonymous!

Submit:

• Description of the work including program issues and design intentions plus project title and location (three pages or less)

• Floor and site plans

• Applicant’s name, address and telephone number, enclosed in a sealed envelope with project title on front

• CD with approximately 12 eview

• A check for $25 made payable to School of Architecture Foundation

Mail to:
Alumni Design Awards
120 Vol Walker Hall
University of Arkansas
Fayetteville, AR  72701

Deadline:
Postmarked no later than February 15, 2008

Questions? Contact Karen Stair
479/575-2702
kstair@uark.edu

Awards Won

The 2007 Metal Architecture Design Awards recognized Hnedak Bobo Group for its innovative use of metal in the design of the Riverwind Casino in Goldsay, Okla. Photo courtesy Hnedak Bobo Group.

Congratulations to alumnus Mark Weaver (B.Arch. '82) principal with Hnedak Bobo Group of Memphis. The firm's Riverwind Casino in Goldsay, Okla. won honors in Decorative and Interiors and Overall Winner categories in the 2007 Metal Architecture Design Awards competition. The firm will donate $2500 in prize money to establish a freshman recruiting scholarship at the School of Architecture.

Hnedak Bobo also has established a new competition-based scholarship at the School – watch for coverage of this and other new scholarships in the April issue of e:View.

"As a graduate of the University of Arkansas School of Architecture, my time at the University gave me the educational foundation for a successful career," said Mark Weaver. "HGB is pleased to support the school's continuing mission to produce open-minded, creative, talented design students with a vast knowledge of architectural history and an enthusiastic appreciation of the field."

"HBG, through Mark’s leadership, has really made a huge impact on our awards to students this year," said Charlotte Taylor, director of development. "They have honored us with this vote of confidence."

In Print

This new guide summarizes the science of illumination in just 137 pages.

Like the proverbial cobbler whose children need new shoes, architecture professor and lighting expert Tahar Messadi has the know-how but lacks the time to take care of business at home - or in his case, the office. Co-author of the new Field Guide to Illumination, which promises to be the go-to reference on lighting for building industry professionals, Messadi deals daily with a textbook example of bad lighting. A large window behind his desk casts him into gloom and floods his computer screen with glare; for a man keenly aware of the optimal ratios between task, ambient and outdoor lighting, you know this set-up has to hurt.

Messadi has delayed office improvements up to now to focus on finishing the Field Guide, which was recently published by the Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers. With co-authors Angelo Arecchi and R. John Koshel, Messadi summarizes the science of illumination in just 137 pages densely packed with diagrams, tables and formulas. The book is primarily intended as a briefcase reference for architects, engineers and scientists who need a concise reference on the fundamentals of light and color in various contexts. Topics range from lighting open plan offices to enhancing small target visibility in roadway lighting.

"It's not just about light in buildings," Messadi said. "The book covers instrumentation, laser lighting, control panels - the broad range of lighting applications."

The Field Guide to Illumination gives detailed coverage to sustainable lighting strategies that save energy. A key principle, Messadi said, is to "use daylight - it's common sense. The sun gives off 10,000 footcandles of light; the fluorescent fixture above my desk, just 50." Read more about sustainable lighting design

Networking: Career Day Coming Up

Want to preview the brightest new design talent in the state? Join more than 35 architecture, landscape architecture, engineering and interior design firms and up to 200 students who will participate in this year's Career Day, scheduled from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 21 in the Arkansas Union Ballroom. The School of Architecture is hosting a Portfolio Preview from 5:30 - 7 p.m. Wed., Feb. 20 in Vol Walker Hall.

"In addition to hiring graduating seniors, firms have a great opportunity to form relationships with students through summer internships," said Tim de Noble, head of the architecture department. "Many of our graduating students have jobs waiting for them in firms where they have worked before."

It's not too late to sign on! Employers may register online.

Don't have time for a trip to Fayetteville? No worries: add your firm to our on-line Firm Directory and post job and internship opportunities to our Jobs page. Thanks for helping us extend our support for students beyond the studio!

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