In Spring 2022, Landscape Architecture students from Gibbs College collaborated with OU Rainbolt College of Education students on the design of an outdoor play and learning environment at the new Institute of Child Development (ICD). The first phase of the project was installed last summer and was recently highlighted in the winter 2023 edition of Sooner Magazine.
The ICD is a nonprofit preschool located on OU’s campus that provides a quality early childhood education experience for children ages 2-5 through self-selected center learning experiences. The school also functions as a laboratory for undergraduate students, a practicum site for graduate students, and provides research opportunities for OU faculty.
A hill slide at the ICD playground. Photo by Travis Caperton.
The students worked together to create a low-cost, eco-friendly, and sustainable outdoor play area, and were directed by Sarah Little, a professor of Landscape Architecture, Becca Waggoner, the Director of ICD, and Kyong-Ah Kwon, the Drusa B. Cable Endowed Chair. The final design features a drive-through tricycle storage shed, “mud kitchens” for play using dirt and sand, gardening beds, and a child-sized bridge.
Read the full article in Sooner Magazine.
The University of Oklahoma College of Architecture is proud to announce that Model Schools in the Model City, authored by Director of the Institute for Quality Communities, Amber N. Wiley, Ph.D., has been named one of ten finalists for the 2026 ASALH Book Prize for Best New Book in African American History and Culture.
This semester, students in the LA 5535 Studio: Ecological Planning and Design, led by Prof. Afsana Sharmin, took on an ambitious hypothetical project to redesign key parts of the OU campus. Their mission: to tackle the critical real-world challenge of stormwater management through innovative green design.
Petya Stefanoff, Chair of the Educational Committee with the American Planning Association, Oklahoma Chapter (APA-OK) and Gibbs College PhD candidate, has developed a new training program for local government officials. The program, focused on land use, zoning principles, and land development, recently certified its first graduates with Certified Citizen Planner status.
