First-year students in Architecture Design I studio were recently hosted by Factory Obscura, an “Oklahoma City-based art collective creating immersive experiences that awaken wonder, build community, and make the world better.”
Students in Factory Obscura.
On Oct. 25, the students were met by Factory Obscura founders Kelsey Karper, Tammy Greenman, Hugh Meade, and Laurent Massenat, who discussed their creative processes, collaborative experiences, and how Factory Obscura came to be.
The students then entered the immersive space, the door of which is a giant ear, and moved through and sat in the rooms. They spent a lot of time sketching the different spaces and practicing their observational drawing skills.
Students explore one of the spaces in Factory Obscura.
“Factory Obscura is a 6,000 square foot immersive and collaborative art experience that uses color, textures, shape, and space to evoke the various emotions felt when listening to a mixtape,” said Haley Prestifilippo, one of the course instructors.
“They were asked to really think about the relationship between the design processes in each room and their own designs. The students had a fabulous time and learned a lot!”
Students sketching a space in Factory Obscura.
“Similarly, in Design I studio, students have been creating a few different series of box models exploring ways color, texture, shape, and space can evoke and intensify a specific emotion.” Prestifilippo continues, "it was an important and amazing opportunity for our students to experience this same idea on a human scale – the immersive spaces at Factory Obscura allowed our students to actually walk through the emotions they had been working with throughout the past few weeks."
Photos provided by Haley Prestifilippo.
Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture assistant professor Amy Leveno and Mark Leveno, co-founders of OFFICIAL Design, have received a 2026 AIA Central States Region Design Award for the firm’s Granger Annex Community Center project in Garland, Texas.
Construction Industry Speaker Series welcomed Stephen Evans from the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum to give a lecture on better conversations and relationship building.
The University of Oklahoma Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture Hall of Fame recognizes a select number of high-character individuals who have made a significant and lasting positive impact on Gibbs College, its students, staff, faculty, alumni and/or to communities across the globe. The impact may have been, or continues to be, in the form of service and mentorship, sustained professional excellence, and/or advancement and financial support. Joseph Edgar Smay is part of the 2025 Hall of Fame class.
