We would like to extend special thanks to Gibbs College Interior Design alumni, design professionals, student volunteers, and event organizers who participated in IIDA ZeroLandfill Oklahoma City 2022!
The International Interior Design Association (IIDA) Texas-Oklahoma chapter recently hosted their 2022 ZeroLandfill OKC event. For the annual event, the organization partnered with Oklahoma City interior designers and architects, encouraging them to clean out their discontinued or un-used finish materials from their libraries. They then donated these materials that would normally be thrown away to IIDA ZeroLandfill. These materials include carpet tiles, laminate chips, tile samples, wood flooring, fabric swatches, metal chips, wall coverings, etc. During the event, which took place September 30th at Scott Rice in Oklahoma City, teachers, artists, and the general public could come pick up materials to upcycle for their own use.
Since 2014, the IIDA ZeroLandfill OKC project team has partnered with the architectural and interior design community to collect expired or un-used sample material for re-purposing back into the community. IIDA ZeroLandfill OKC is an annual up-cycling program that supports the supply needs of local artists and educators, while reducing pressure on local landfill capacity. Since the program began, it has diverted over 55 tons from local landfills.
This year, a total of 9,000 pounds of materials were diverted from the landfills, out of which 282 pounds were donated by the OU Interior Design Materials Library!
Gibbs College is pleased to present the exhibition Vollendorf in Oklahoma: The Architecture of Dean Bryant Vollendorf during the Spring 2025 semester. It will be on display in Gould Hall, on the OU-Norman Campus, from February 16, 2026 - March 13, 2026.
On November 21, 2025, the Mainsite Contemporary Art gallery was transformed into a showcase of innovation and craftsmanship for the University of Oklahoma’s furniture design build studio exhibition, “Purpose in Form.”
Associate Professors Lee Fithian, Ph.D., and Elizabeth Pober have published a chapter in the recently released New Perspectives in Indoor Air Quality, published by Elsevier. Their contribution, titled “Chapter 16 – Architecture and the Challenges of Indoor Air Quality,” examines the relationship between architecture and indoor air quality.
