On September 11, urban design studio students attended Harrah Days in the city of Harrah, Oklahoma. Harrah Days is an annual celebration of Harrah, Oklahoma, hosted by the Harrah Chamber of Commerce, held in Heritage Park. It includes a parade, food vendors, live music, and more.
The Urban Design team, led by Shawn Schaefer, along with Architecture faculty Dave Boeck and graduate assistant Mas Monjezi, is working with the City of Harrah, the Association of Central Oklahoma Governments, and the Institute for Quality Communities on a plan for Downtown Harrah, including an urban design vision for a walkable district, “Sweeney Switch.” Read more about the project.
The Urban Design Studio students attended Harrah Days in order to introduce themselves to the community as well as make the community aware of their project. To do this, students handed out fliers along the parade route that directed community members to their project website. The students also invited people to the booth they hosted. There, students collected data from residents to learn what they were proud of in Harrah and what they believed needed improvement. They also asked what community members wanted to see in the downtown development project. Students recorded this information on the display boards pictured above.
Featured Image: Urban Design Studio students (Left to Right) Roshita Taylor, Jeremy Banes, and Courtney Graham staff their booth at the 2021 Harrah Days celebration.
Telesis, a journal produced by students in the University of Oklahoma Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture, has earned first place in the 2026 Douglas Haskell Award for Student Journals for its seventh volume, “Unfold.” This marks the fourth time the publication has earned recognition for excellence in student architectural journalism. It shares the honor with student journals from Columbia University, University of Michigan, and Cal Poly.
Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture congratulates Thinh "Henry" Duong, a master's student in the Division of Interior Design, for earning first place in the 2026 Robert Bruce Thompson Annual Student Light Fixture Design Competition.
Gibbs College of Architecture Institute for Quality Communities (IQC) Director and Division of Planning, Landscape Architecture, and Design (PLAD) faculty member Amber N. Wiley, Ph.D., recently published a new book, Collective Yearning: Black Women Artists from the Zimmerli Art Museum.
