Felipe Flores, a PhD Student in Planning, Design, and Construction under the advisement of Dr. Angela Person, was recently awarded the Architectural Research Centers Consortium’s (ARCC) 2022 King Medal for the University of Oklahoma. The King Medal, named in honor of the late Jonathan King, is awarded to one student per ARCC member institution. Recipients are selected at the discretion of member institutions based on criteria that acknowledges innovation, integrity, and scholarship in architectural and/or environmental design research.
Felipe, an Ecuadorian architect, is currently conducting research involving Indigenous communities in the Amazon. He is particularly interested in exploring how design can alternatively engage with issues related to encroachment on Indigenous territories, resource extraction, and contemporary narratives of what a possible post-development landscape in the Andean Amazon could hopefully look like.
Felipe recently presented a poster with the early stages of his research at 34th Annual National Conference on Race & Ethnicity in American Higher Education (NCORE 2022) held in Portland, Oregon. He used the conference presentation to determine receptiveness of the audience towards the topic and gather important feedback.
Felipe also co-organized the Resilient Futures Symposium and contributed to the Muscogee Futurity exhibition, which both took place in the Spring of 2022. As part of his role as a graduate fellow with the Center for Peace and Development, Felipe co-organized the Youth Perspectives on Climate Change symposium. He also was a student editor for the most recent volume of the student journal Telesis.
The Gibbs Design in Action Awards (GDAA) program, led by Dr. Wanda Liebermann, has announced its 2026–2027 funded student projects. The initiative supports design and research work that addresses social, cultural, and economic issues in the built environment through collaboration with faculty and community partners.
The OU Institute for Quality Communities (IQC) 2024 collaboration with the Historic Threatt Filling Station has been recognized in the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City's newly released Byways Report: The Scenic Route to Rural Prosperity – a story-driven publication exploring how road trip culture and place-based tourism can fuel economic growth in rural communities.
The Gibbs College of Architecture is pleased to announce that Camille Germany, Chief of Staff, has been named the 2026 recipient of the university-wide Jennifer L. Wise Good Stewardship Award.
