OU Urban Design alumni recently teamed up with the Society of Urban Design Students to celebrate International Park(ing) Day. On Sept. 15, they occupied parking spaces in downtown Tulsa to transform on-street parking into urban parklets.
Park(ing) Day is a global participatory project where people across the world temporarily repurpose parking spaces and convert them into public parks and social spaces. The annual event promotes safer, greener and more equitable streets and emphasizes the importance of public spaces in urban environments.
Tulsa Park(ing) Day engaged the local community by inviting visitors to check out each pop-up installation and vote for their favorite activation. The interactive event catalyzed a critical discussion about the creation of public spaces and how the city of Tulsa can improve the quality of downtown streets in the long term.
The event was organized by the Downtown Tulsa Partnership, the City of Tulsa, Tulsa’s Young Professionals and Partner Tulsa. The OU Urban Design activation was sponsored by Coracle Coffee and Scraps Designs.
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.