University of South Florida

School of Architecture & Community Design

USF College of Design, Art & Performance

Points of Pride

Our students and alumni at work:

  • Rachael Dippel (M. Arch. 2018) accepted an offer to work in the offices of Morphosis Architecture in Los Angeles. Led by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Thom Mayne, Morphosis is the design architect (working with Tampa architect Fleischman Garcia) on the new Honors College building on the USF Tampa campus. Rachel was also the recipient of the prestigious Garcia Award, received the Advanced Portfolio prize and the Graduate Assistant Award, and was a Thesis Prize recipient.
  • Maria Gomez (M. Arch. 2018) was awarded the prestigious King Medal for her thesis project entitled, "Vessels and Veils, a Contemporary Narrative on the Ethos of Migration." Maria accepted an internship with New York office of Tod Williams and Billie Tsien Architects. The firm is currently designing the Barack Obama Presidential Library in Chicago.
  • Morphosis Architecture of Los Angeles and New York was recently selected to design the new Honors College building on the University of South Florida's Tampa campus. On behalf of USF President Judy Genshaft, an extensive study for the $40 million project was undertaken by USF SACD Professor, Dr. Levent Kara and a team of graduate students in the summer of 2016. USF Facilities forwarded the study to interested architects as an aspirational document. Finalists for the project were Morphosis Architects, Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects (Atlanta), Sasaki Architects (Boston), Studio Libeskind (New York) and Beck Architects (Tampa). SACD graduate Marcel Maslowski, AIA, M. Arch 2013, is the lead architect for the local architect team of Fleischman Garcia Architects.

 

Learning from visionaries:

  • Architect Daniel Libeskind, FAIA, visited the USF School of Architecture & Community Design and lectured at the USF College of Design, Art & Performance in the spring of 2017. He was subsequently awarded an honorary Doctorate Degree in Architecture during the spring 2018 graduation ceremony.

 

Research opportunities:

The Florida Center for Community Design and Research (FCCDR), the research, grant and contract arm of the School of Architecture & Community Design, continues to receive numerous important grants:

  • AIA Adds USF SACD / FCCDR and the School of Public Health to Design and Health Research Consortium. Researchers at the Florida Center for Community Design & Research and USF College of Public Health will focus on the Tampa Bay region's urban resiliency opportunities. Research will leverage transportation, infrastructure, smart growth principals and institutional logics to evaluate opportunities for bolstering population health factors through improved built environment design initiatives.
  • Brian Cook joined the FCCDR in spring 2018 as a Visiting Assistant Research Professor. A registered landscape architect with 14 years of experience as a consultant and educator, his work and research is focused on the site-specific nature of landscape, as well as issues of gentrification and displacement.

 

Awards and recognition:

  • Associate Professor Steve Cooke was honored with the prestigious 2024 AIA Tampa Bay President’s Award. This award recognizes his 37 years of dedicated service to architectural education, research, mentorship, and contributions to design and community advocacy.  The President’s Award is bestowed at the discretion of the current sitting Board President to honor individuals or groups for their significant contributions to the architectural profession and community. The award is reserved for those whose work embodies the mission and values of AIA Tampa Bay, with only one recipient selected each year to uphold its integrity.
  • Associate Professor Stanley Russell received the 2019 AIA H. Dean Rowe, FAIA Award For Design Excellence: ­­One Corner Architects, Classic Car Showroom. This award of honor recognizes built projects by licensed individuals or firms that may include architectural projects of any type from any category. It has been established in honor of the late H. Dean Rowe, FAIA, and recognizes work by AIA members that represents the highest level of design excellence awarded by AIA Tampa Bay. Only one project is awarded the H. Dean Rowe, FAIA Award for Design Excellence.
  • Associate Professor Michael Halflants received the 2018 AIA Florida/Caribbean Medal of Honor for Design. This award recognizes an individual architect in Florida who distinguished themselves by the high quality and originality of their work, advancing the value and public awareness of good architecture, demonstrating leadership, and providing an inspiration to colleagues and others. This is the highest award for design that AIA Florida can bestow on one of its members.
     

 

The USF School of Architecture & Community Design (SACD) was also represented in several design categories in the 2018 Florida/Caribbean Design Awards:

  • Honor Award of Excellence for New Work
    Guberman Kennedy Residence | Halflants + Pichette Studio for Modern Architecture (Michael Halflants, Associate Professor, SACD)
  • Honor Award of Excellence for Interiors
    Donnelly Renovation | Halflants + Pichette Studio for Modern Architecture (Michael Halflants, Associate Professor, SACD)
  • Honor Award for Theoretical / Research Design
    A Debt to Havana's Rooftops | Manuel Alvarino (USF SACD M. Arch.)
    Restoring Light Memorial | Daniella Covate (USF SACD M. Arch.), Vanessa Marin (USF SACD M. Arch.), Matheus Da Silveira, Nathan Wallace, and Claudia Cintas, HKS
  • Merit Award for Theoretical / Research Design
    Revitalizing Oldsmar | Taryn Sabia, Assoc. AIA, Director of the Florida Center for Community Design and Research at the University of South Florida (The Oldsmar Studio was an advanced Graduate Studio in Urban Design sponsored by the City of Oldsmar, Florida)