The OU Eco-Sooners received an award at the final competition of the 2023 Solar Decathlon Design Challenge. The team of Gibbs students won the Best Name of the Year award for their well-selected team name. According to the judges, the name strongly reflected the team’s design ideas and innovative strategies.
The Eco-Sooners' Best Name of the Year award certificate.
As first-time participants, the Eco-Sooners received wonderful feedback on their design. The judges highlighted their excellent integration of net-zero strategies into a preserved building, as well as their water harvest system and resilience ideas in the event of a tornado.
According to Dr. Negar Matin, a professor of Interior Design and faculty leader of the Eco-Sooners, “We moved one step closer to our mission of providing true net-zero affordable housing for Oklahoma City residents. Our journey has just begun.”
Congratulations to the OU Eco-Sooners for winning this well-deserved award!
View the video below to learn more about the Eco-Sooners' design.
The Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture is pleased to announce that Dr. Tamar Zinguer, Associate Professor of Architecture, has been selected to participate in the prestigious 2026 Summer Residency at the National Humanities Center (NHC).
Tanvin Mahtub Fariha, a first-year Master of Landscape Architecture student in the Gibbs College of Architecture and a Graduate Teaching Assistant in the Division of Planning, Landscape Architecture and Design, has earned recognition for her work.
A team of Construction Science and Architecture students from the Gibbs College of Architecture made their mark on the national stage this week, earning third place out of 37 universities competing at the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Student Competition, held during the International Builders' Show in Orlando, February 16-18, 2026.
