Member Profile
Texas A & M University
ARCC Member Unit:
College of Architecture
Walter V. Wendler, Dean
College of Architecture
Texas A & M University
College Station, TX 77840
Phone: 409-845-1221
Fax: 409-845-4491
e-mail: n/a
http://archone.tamu.edu/
ARCC Representative:
Robert E. Johnson, Director
CRS Center for Leadership and Management in the Design and
Construction Industry
College of Architecture
Texas A & M University
College Station, TX 77843-3137
Phone: 409-847-9357
Fax: 409-862-2235
e-mail: rjohnson@archone.tamu.edu
http://archone.tamu.edu/~rjohnson
Research Center/Laboratory Profiles:
Center
for Health Systems and Design
Director: Roger Ulrich, Ph.D. and
Mardelle Shepley, D. Arch., AIA
College of Architecture
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX 77843-3137
Phone: 409-845-1221 (Ulrich) or 409-845-7877 (Shepley)
Fax: 409-862-1671
e-mail: ulrich@archone.tamu.edu
or mardelle@archone.tamu.edu
http://archone.tamu.edu/centers/health.html
The Center for Health Systems and Design was created by the Colleges of Architecture and Medicine to promote research, innovation and communication in an interdisciplinary program that focuses on health facility planning and design. Research interests of faculty associates range from the effects of health care environments on patients' health and well-being, to the design of healing environments for neonatal patients, children, the elderly and AIDS patients.
The primary activities of the center include: professional associates program, curriculum development, health lecture series and support of health-related research and design projects.
Center
for Housing and Urban Development
Director: Kermit Black
College of Architecture
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX 77843-3137
Phone: 409-862-2374
Fax: 409-862-2375
e-mail: kermit@archone.tamu.edu
http://acs.tamu.edu/~cxcarbo/cfhud.html
The core project of the Center for Housing and Urban Development is the Colonias Program. The Colonias Program has been funded by the Texas State Legislature to reduce the isolation of impoverished families along the Texas/Mexico border. The Center achieves this goal by building community resource centers in the heavily populated border communities and establishes networks of community service providers to be housed in these centers. In addition, the Center has begun an effort to facilitate sustainable economic development in the Colonia region.
A $580,000 Community Outreach Partnership grant, awarded by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development in September 1994, has allowed the Colonias Program, Texas Engineering Extension Service, Texas Agricultural Extension Service and Texas Transportation Institute to work together in ten Colonias along SH 359 east of Laredo, Texas. The target area of this project includes 934 homes and 3,493 residents in the ten Colonias.
A third major program of the Center is the Texas Target Cities Program. This program is a joint project of the Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning and the Center for Housing and Urban Development. It permits students and faculty to assist municipalities in the preparation of land-use and comprehensive plans, neighborhood and housing studies, environmental analyses and Urban/Rural Revitalization.
Research and evaluation of several colonia related issues are continuously undertaken by Center for Housing and Urban Development to guide its outreach efforts.
Total Research Funding (approximate):
CRS
Center for Leadership and Management in the Design and
Construction Industry
Director: Robert E. Johnson, D.Arch., AIA
CRS Center
College of Architecture
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX 77843-3137
Phone: 409-847-9357
Fax: 409-862-2235
e-mail: crscenter@archone.tamu.edu
http://archone.tamu.edu/~crscenter
The mission of the CRS Center, which was founded in 1991, is to advance the study of leadership and management in the design and construction industry. The center contains the business archives, oral history, and architectural and publications libraries of CRS, Architects, Engineers and Planners. CRS (originally Caudill Rowlett Scott) was established in College Station, Texas, shortly after World War II by William Caudill and John Rowlett, professors of architecture at Texas A&M, and Wallie Scott, Jr., a graduate student. By the 1970's it had grown into the largest architectural/engineering/construction firm in the country. The firm was known for its emphasis on "design by team" and the "squatters" method of working with clients during the planning, programming and design phases of its projects. The Center also organizes the College's Rowlett Lecture Series, publishes occasional papers, and contains a small archive in publications from the Educational Facilities Laboratory of the Ford Foundation.
Total Research Funding (approximate):
Current Research Projects (1995-1996):
A number of research projects and other activities are currently under development, including a project to improve the cost of educational facilities; a project to the study the changing nature of project delivery for K-12 educational facilities; the development of a case related to the organizational culture of professional design firms; and a workshop on issues associated with the impact of information technology on the management of design firms. In addition, the third in a series of roundtable discussions is in the early planning stages. Previous roundtables have focused on Leadership and Innovation and Architectural Education and the Profession and have been published as occasional papers by the Center.
Daylighting
Laboratory
Director: Lester L. Boyer, Ph.D.
College of Architecture
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX 77843-3137
Phone: 409-845-7009
Fax: 409-862-1571
e-mail: llboyer@archone.tamu.edu
The relationship between energy efficiency and daylighting in buildings has been a point of focus since the oil embargo of 1973. Even in the best daylighted large buildings today, more than half of the thermal and electrical loads are due to artificial lighting. Furthermore, in attempts to reduce electric lighting the quality of the lighted spaces is often markedly reduced, and even more so with inappropriate daylighting designs. In 1984 a response to this challenge was organized in the form of a program proposal detailing directions, qualifications, and resources present in the College of Architecture at Texas A&M University.
With the available facilities, faculty, and educational interests of students and the building design professions, a program was initiated to focus on development and evaluation of design strategies for maximizing efficiency and quality of natural lighting in buildings. In particular, the large sky simulation facility with associated instrumentation and equipment allowed for scale model daylighting studies under overcast and clear diffuse sky conditions, as well as sun machine investigations to study sunlight patterns, shadows, window shading, solar access, and passive solar heating concepts. The focus of external funded work in subsequent years search for a more fundamental understanding of lightshelf systems, lightcourts and large atrium designs, and impacts of minimum aperture buildings.
Over the years funding sources have included the National Science Foundation, Solar Energy Research Institute (now National Renewable Energy Laboratory), U.S. Department of Energy through Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Council for International Exchange of Scholars, CRS Sirrine, Inc., Center for Energy and Mineral Resources, and Institute for Pacific Asia on the TAMU Campus. Most of these funds were in support of Ph.D. students pursuing daylighting research; nominally two students annually over the 12-year period and four extended out-of-state programs (two overseas) by the director.
Current Research Projects (1995-1996):
Environmental
Psychophysiological Laboratory
Director: Louis G. Tassinary, Ph.D.
College of Architecture
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX 77843-3137
Phone: 409-847-9351
Fax: 409-845-4491
e-mail: lou@archone.tamu.edu
Measuring human physiological responses to computer-simulated visual stimuli, researchers in the Environmental Psychophysiology Laboratory are studying the effects of the natural and built environments on perception, cognition, emotion and behavior, seeking a probable linkage to health and well-being.
Total Research Funding (approximate):
Sponsors and Clients:
Current Research Projects (1995-1996):
Hazard
Reduction and Recovery Center
Director: Dennis E. Wenger
College of Architecture
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX 77843-3137
Phone: 409-845-7813
Fax: 409-845-5121
e-mail: hrrc@archone.tamu.edu
The Hazard Reduction and Recovery Center was established in 1988 and is one of the largest multidisciplinary research centers in the world to study the effects of natural and technological hazards. Comprising an exceptional group of resident and associate faculty, the HRRC provides information that enables communities to better prepare for, respond to and recover from disasters. Areas of research include emergency planning and response strategies, crowd behavior, dispute resolution, sheltering systems, and search and rescue procedures. The HRRC serves as one of two United Nations (UNDRO) centers worldwide, receiving external funding from such entities as the National Science Foundation, the Environmental Protection Agency, the United Nations and the Texas Division of Emergency Management.
Total Research Funding (approximate):
Current Research Projects (1995-1996):
Historic
Resources Imaging Laboratory
Director: David G. Woodcock
College of Architecture
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX 77843-3137
Phone: 409-845-7850
Fax: 409-862-1571
e-mail: woodcock@archone.tamu.edu
The laboratory was established in September 1991 to train students, professionals and others in the use and application of imaging processes relative to historic and cultural resources, develop new techniques for documentation, analysis, visualization, and interpretation, and to apply imaging techniques to the study of historic resources. The associated interdisciplinary graduate program is available to all graduate programs of the college, is recognized by a Certificate in Historic Preservation.
Total Research Funding (approximate):
The Laboratory receives annual operating support from the college in the amount of $7-10,000, and since 1993 has had a 50% staff support position, and partial support for the Director. External funding has been received from the National Park Service for work in New Mexico; the National Forest Service; Gunnison and Park Counties, Colorado; the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department; and from several county historical commissions, and preservation groups, plus in-kind support for field operations.
Current Research Projects (1995-1996):
Current funding $32,500, with a $39,000 grant application pending.
Visualization
Laboratory
Director: Ward V. Wells
College of Architecture
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX 77843-3137
Phone: 409-845-3465
Fax: 409-845-4491
e-mail: info@viz.tamu.edu
http://www-viz.tamu.edu
The Visualization Laboratory enables the researcher, the designer and the planner to better test and communicat ideas through computer animation and simulation technologies and equipment. The laboratory houses numerous UNIX based SGI and Sun Microsystems workstations for graphic animations, color imaging, digital video production and software development.
Total Research Funding (approximate):
The Visualization Laboratory conducts research and development projects under the sponsorship of a variety of public and private organizations. Work has been conducted for Federal sponsors such as the National Endowment for the Arts, the U.S. Forest Service and the Federal Highway Administration. Historic imaging has been explored with the Institute of Nautical Archeology, the Washington-on-the-Brazos State park Association, the Texas A&M University Archeology Department and the Historic Resource Imaging Laboratory. Advanced visualization techniques have been explored for private sector A/E sponsors. Also, technology transfer has been a source of funds from private sector clients. Software development work has been undertaken with the support of industry leaders such as Rhythm & Hues, Engineering Animation, Inc., Alias/Wavefront, Pixar and Softimage.
Current Research Projects (1995-1996):
Software development, visualization production, interactive techniques
Associated Unit:
College of Architecture
Walter V. Wendler, Dean
College of Architecture
Texas A & M University
College Station, TX 77840
Phone: 409-845-1221
Fax: 409-845-4491
http://www.archone.tamu.edu/
The College of Architecture with approximately 1,500 students, is one of the largest of its kind in the United States, offering a complete spectrum of programs in the design, planning, construction and development professions. The college offers an interdisciplinary curriculum with one overriding commonality: the transformation of the human environment. Into that transformation, students are challenged to weave aesthetics, safety, function, financial feasibility, and rgard for human behavior and the environment.
University:
Texas A&M University, the oldest public institution of higher learning in the state, opened its doors in 1876 as a small rural college with a student enrollment of six. Today, Texas A&M University houses more than 43,031 students-the third largest enrollment in the nation-including 7,427 graduate and professional students, and 2,500 faculty. Every state and more than 115 foreign countries are represented in the coeducational student body.
Texas A&M University is one of a select few universities in the nation to hold land grant, sea grant and space grant designations. A world leader in teaching and research, Texas A&M University is ranked fourth in the total number of National Merit Scholars who attend here. Texas A&M's national and international stature was also highlighted by its recent selection as the site for the George Bush Presidential Library, housing the Center for Presidential Studies as an integral part of the planned complex.
Texas A&M holds an endowment of nearly $1.5 billion, reflecting its commitment to world class faculty and facilities. In March, 1992, the university launched a five-year, $500 million capital campaign, the most ambitious ever undertaken by a public university.
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This page was last updated on 1 July 1997.
