Bowman Forum News
The eighth annual Bowman Design Forum of the College of Architecture, Planning and Design was held on the K-State campus on October 25, 2006. The Forum brings internationally acclaimed architects to campus to discuss third-year work by students in the Department of Architecture.
This year’s invited guests were Anne Fougeron of Fougeron Architecture, San Francisco, and Thomas O. Hacker, Thomas Hacker Architects of Portland, OR. Both jurors also presented guest lectures following the forum.
Other jurors included Lorie Doolittle Bowman and Brent Bowman, principals at Bowman Bowman Novick.
One student from each of four third-year studio sections was selected to present his design for a hypothetical 12,000 square foot winery located beside McDowell Creek Road near the Konza Prairie south of Manhattan. The program called for a tasting and sales room as well as facilities for the production of four types of wine.
After hearing and viewing the student presentations, the visiting critics evaluated the designs and awarded $2,500 in prize money. The jury gave an Honor Award and $1000 to Dan Gensch, Wichita, KS. Merit Awards and $500 each went to Austin Marsh, Lenexa, KS; T. J. Siemons, Creighton, MO; and Adam Wagoner, McPherson, KS.
The guest jurors made some very positive observations about K-State’s architecture program as a result of their visit. Hacker indicated he was very impressed by the passion for design in the program, which he doesn’t find at all schools with comparable reputations. Further, Hacker said, “The passion your students feel was expressed in the concern for the poetry and the realization of materiality of the designs presented at the Forum. The student projects I saw reflected a concern with the human spirit and the physical world of architecture.” Hacker told the assembled students, “You are lucky to be here.”
Fougeron agreed with Hacker’s observations. She also said, “One of the things that made the jurors able to comment on the designs as extensively as they did was that the students provided a lot of information about the real nature of their projects. Each student had prepared a model, drawings and a Powerpoint presentation of their ideas.”
Third-year architecture studio instructors were Jerry Carter and Professors James Jones, Vladimir Krstic and Torgeir Norheim.
Brent Bowman, a 1972 K-State architecture graduate and principal of the Manhattan and Kansas City based architecture firm Bowman Bowman Novick, sponsors the forum. In addition to funding the honoraria and travel expenses of the jurors and providing prize money for the students, Bowman hosts luncheon and dinner gatherings which allow students to interact informally with the jurors.
For more information, contact:
James Jones, 785.532.1111
Diane Potts, 785.532.1090