Associate professor of Architecture Tamar Zinguer recently contributed to a dynamic, multidisciplinary conversation as part of the University of Oklahoma Arts & Humanities Forum’s 2025–26 theme year, “Dirt.” The event—“What Dirt Is Not: Thinking with Loess, Sand, Shell, and Dust”—brought together scholars from across the OU and beyond to examine how different kinds of earth and sediment shape environments, histories, and cultural narratives.
This program marked the second event in the Forum’s four-part public series. Moderated by Kim Marshall, Director of the Arts & Humanities Forum at OU, the discussion featured perspectives from Geosciences, Anthropology, Architecture, and the Oklahoma Oral History Research Program. Together, the speakers explored how materials such as loess, sand, shell, and dust carry scientific, social, and symbolic meaning—and how they challenge our assumptions about what “dirt” is and is not.
The panel featured presentations by:
Tamar Zinguer's presentation. Photo credit: Donovan Linsey.
Zinguer’s forthcoming book is titled Sandbox: An Architectural History (MIT Press), and her presentation on the panel explored the “imagination that is engendered by sand.”
A full recording of the panelist’s presentations and discussion is available as a podcast episode on OUAH.FM, a collection of podcasts and audio resources created by the Arts & Humanities Forum.
The 2025–26 Forum series will continue throughout the year with additional public talks, community-focused programs, and a faculty fellows initiative that invites deeper reflection on how “dirt”—in all its forms—shapes our landscapes, our stories, and our shared sense of place.
A project designed by Gibbs College of Architecture faculty member Austin Lightle has been selected for BuildFest 2026, a national art and architecture festival held at the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts in New York, on the historic grounds of the 1969 Woodstock Music Festival.
Two Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture alumni are helping shape recommendations that could influence affordable housing design and construction across Oklahoma.
The University of Oklahoma Libraries recently welcomed Carl Siegel as an Architecture Librarian and Archivist and Assistant Professor. In his role, Siegel supports students, faculty and staff across the Gibbs College of Architecture while also serving as archivist for the American School of Architecture Archives.
