Interior Design students and faculty were recently invited to tour the newly opened NOUN Hotel in Norman’s historic Campus Corner area. The field trip was a collaboration with the Oklahoma Interior Designers Coalition (OIDC) chapter board, the International Interior Design Association (IIDA) Oklahoma City Chapter board, and GH2, an Oklahoma based architecture and design firm. The OIDC, IIDA, and GH2 hosted the entire Interior Design program, including undergraduate students and faculty.
Interior Design students tour the hotel.
Megan Chinowth and Christina Harris, the lead designers of the NOUN Hotel project, are both alumni of the Gibbs Interior Design program as well as current Interior Design Professional Advisory Board Members. Megan and Christina gave the Interior Design students and faculty tours of the newly opened NOUN Hotel, sharing their experiences working on the project. Students were able to observe and ask questions about the design of the rooms, common areas, bar, and restaurant at the NOUN.
Interior Design students view the hotel bar.
Other local design professionals and OIDC and IIDA board members, including Aaron Pilat with GH2, attended the event allowing students to meet and interact with many interior design professionals.
Interior Design students view the NOUN hotel lobby.
Thank you to Megan Chinowth and Christina Harris for facilitating this tour of the new NOUN hotel for our Interior Design students. Additional thanks to OIDC, OIDC President Sara GReen, OIDC President-Elect Mackenzie Matray, the IIDA TX OK chapter, and IIDA TX OK President-Elect Melissa Park for also hosting this wonderful event.
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.
