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Jeffrey Mansfield, principal at the Model of Architecture Serving Society (MASS) Design Group and director of MASS’s Deaf Space and Disability Justice Design Lab (DSDJ), assisted OU Architecture faculty in leading a five-day design charrette. Mansfield joined the D6 and D10 studios and the M6 class led by Wanda Liebermann, Amber Sarmiento, Marco Piscitelli, Amy Leveno and Francesco Cianfarani to explore DeafSpace design principles in their projects.
MASS is an architecture firm based in Boston, Massachusetts that provides innovative design solutions to communities around the world. The DSDJ strives to empower Deaf and Disabled communities and reclaim their typical spatial narratives.
The DeafSpace Guidelines, developed at Gallaudet University, emerged from a study of the visual and other sensorial experiences of Deaf and hard of hearing communities. These guidelines shift the focus to designing for light, movement, reverberation, materiality, and sensory reach. The pin-up on Wednesday, February 22 featured a lively discussion of students’ innovative interpretations.
The University of Oklahoma College of Architecture is proud to announce that Model Schools in the Model City, authored by Director of the Institute for Quality Communities, Amber N. Wiley, Ph.D., has been named one of ten finalists for the 2026 ASALH Book Prize for Best New Book in African American History and Culture.
This semester, students in the LA 5535 Studio: Ecological Planning and Design, led by Prof. Afsana Sharmin, took on an ambitious hypothetical project to redesign key parts of the OU campus. Their mission: to tackle the critical real-world challenge of stormwater management through innovative green design.
Petya Stefanoff, Chair of the Educational Committee with the American Planning Association, Oklahoma Chapter (APA-OK) and Gibbs College PhD candidate, has developed a new training program for local government officials. The program, focused on land use, zoning principles, and land development, recently certified its first graduates with Certified Citizen Planner status.
