Building a living laboratory in the forested heart of Arkansas
An interview with Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design, winners of the 2023 WAF Visualization prize
The team behind the winning project
Lumion was proud to award the 2023 WAF Visualization prize to the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design.Their winning submission consisted of renderings of The Anthony Timberlands Center for Design and Materials Innovation, a Fay Jones School project undertaken in collaboration with Picture Plane, Grafton Architects and Modus Studio. We caught up with Peter B. Mackeith, Dean and Professor of Architecture and Jonathan Boelkins, Teaching Assistant Professor at the Fay Jones School after the WAF event in Singapore, to discuss the winning project. We also learned more about the school itself and how visualization fits into their curriculum. Here’s our conversation.
Congratulations to both of you. We were delighted that you could be with us in person to collect the Visualization award, on behalf of the school, and the wider Anthony Timberlands Center project team. Well done to all of you.
Peter: Thank you, it was a pleasure to attend. We’re very proud of the Anthony Timberlands Center and it’s wonderful to see its design recognized in such a manner.
Could you describe the thoughts and intentions behind the project for us. What were you seeking to accomplish with the design of the Anthony Timberlands Center?
Peter: Certainly, and to do that I think it’s important to understand the location of the center. The Anthony Timberlands Center for Design and Materials Innovation is rooted in the 19 million acres of Arkansas Forest, which covers 57% of the state. The forest is a powerful factor in the state’s economy and overall culture.
As the Fay Jones School in 2023, we asked ourselves, what does it mean to be a public university and a school of architecture and design in a place such as Arkansas? How can a building embody the ambitions of such a state, university, and school? We asked the same question to citizens of our state, and our partners in the project. The project was designed by Grafton Architects of Dublin, Ireland, together with assistance from Modus Studio of Fayetteville, Arkansas, and visualized by Picture Plane of London, England.
Our ambition was for the Anthony Timberlands Center to showcase the forest qualities and wood products of Arkansas. We wanted the center to demonstrate various contemporary and historical means of building from the forest. The presence of wood is an essential part of the story of this building.
Each and every species available in Arkansas's Forest has been examined and positioned to their advantage from the large-scale structure all the way down to specific details and surfaces. The building is an encyclopedia of the forest, a storybook of wood.
To what extent do you believe the project has achieved its ambitions?
Peter: I think the building stands as a reflection of the ambitions of the project overall and ultimately of the story of Arkansas's forests, the story of Arkansas's citizens, and the story of our school and university. In every instance, Grafton has worked with Modus and our entire design and construction team to bring forward a building of not only surpassing elegance, but intense purposefulness.
Peter B. Mackeith
Dean and Professor of Architecture, Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design
The presence of wood is an essential part of the story of this building. The building is an encyclopedia of the forest, a storybook of wood.
How important were the visualizations to the project?
Peter: Fundamental. Having compelling, realistic visualization was a critical part of the project’s realization, both in terms of refining the design but also in generating interest and financial support. The visualizations also aided communication throughout the project since the design process, by and large, had to be conducted remotely. The commission was awarded in February of 2020 and the pandemic hit in March.
Picture Plane worked with Grafton Architects to create the Competition design renders and continued to develop the renders and generate new visualizations through schematic, developed, and construction design. Picture Plane created many working drafts of the visualization at each stage facilitating design team commentary on light, materiality, and spatial relationships. This allowed the Owner and General Contractor to more fully understand the design proposal as it evolved and as it was finalized.
Another effect of the pandemic was a dramatic increase in labor and material costs for construction which increased the overall project cost significantly. The increased budget necessitated a sustained fundraising campaign and compelling images of the design were essential to that process.
It sounds like the visualizations provided a central focal point, not only for discussion and debate on the design, but for actual project guidance and alignment throughout, would you agree?
Peter: Absolutely, the visualizations assisted everyone observing and participating in the project. They helped us all comprehend fully the changes made in the design as the project budget changed, as construction costs were controlled through altering the program, the building volume, the surface area. The constant flow of visualizations throughout this process actually confirmed the strength and consistency of the design’s “DNA,” its essential conceptual character.
Jonathan Boelkins
Teaching Assistant Professor, Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design
Students increasingly use Lumion due to the efficiency of the workflow. Lumion is popular for its ease of use, both in terms of its ability to seamlessly import geometry from typical platforms like Rhino and Revit, and its intuitive user interface.
Do you mirror that support for visualization within the Fay Jones School? Do your students recognize the importance of visualization to their work?
Jonathan: Until recently, the use of digital technologies was delayed until the second year of students’ architectural education, but that has changed rapidly due to the expansion of technology - both software and hardware – they are expected to know and employ in professional practice. Now beginning in the first year, students learn to draft using AutoCAD and Rhino, transitioning into three-dimensional modeling while learning to generate architectural drawings such as plans, sections, and elevations.
With the changes in the rules associated with learning experience towards licensure in the United States, students begin to work in practice earlier than ever. Early exposure to practice has many important effects, but an undeniable impact is the presence of Revit; students know they need to be proficient to be competitive.
Currently, no specific courses are offered on Revit or any other software program, but as students move up in the program, many courses require the creation of drawings and images that suggest the use of certain software. For instance, our capstone architecture studio (Integrated Design Studio) is highly technical in nature and suggests the use of Revit while also requiring compelling visualization. Whether using Rhino or Revit for the design of their buildings, students increasingly use visualization programs such as Lumion, due to the efficiency of the workflow. Some students still do use render engines, exporting their models to 3DS Max and generating their renderings there. The use of cloud-based rendering is also increasingly popular. We are also now integrating environmental performance software into design studio; these too are visualization-centered. Increasingly, the emphasis on data-driven design decisions leads us to ask students to visualize, even spatialize, that data in graphically compelling ways.
That’s exciting to hear. We know that Lumion has a high adoption rate within the school. How have you witnessed the students using it and how are they working with the software?
Jonathan: Lumion is popular for its ease of use, both in terms of its ability to seamlessly import geometry from typical platforms like Rhino and Revit and its intuitive user interface. Since Lumion is used exclusively by the University of Arkansas Community Design Center, an outreach center of the Fay Jones School, many students are exposed to Lumion in design studios there and then bring that knowledge back to their classmates.
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How have you seen the relationship with 3D visualization change over time, and do you think it will remain an integral tool in an architect’s armory?
Jonathan: Absolutely it will. 3D visualization has changed dramatically over the last 20 years and the rate of change is accelerating. Tools that used to be rare and expensive are now ubiquitous and accessible to students. That acceleration and expansion is both good and bad as students have more tools and resources at their disposal than ever before, but they are also expected to learn more than ever before and that can be daunting. Students are pragmatic about this and want to get as much out of their time and effort as possible and this is one reason programs like Lumion are so popular – they not only produce excellent imagery quickly, but they help students explore their own work by letting them use typical video game control commands to walk around and experience their work.
3D visualization will naturally continue to improve in its accuracy and speed, and will likely merge with Artificial Intelligence, allowing users to type commands that change scenes and even the design of the building. Currently, analysis of environmental performance happens discretely from visualization but that will likely change as well. Simulations of the use of buildings by occupants will likely become a part of the design process, replacing the typical process of placing people and vehicles in scenes. Effectively, design, visualization, and analysis will increasingly merge so the impact of design is more immediately understood, both in terms of visual impact and technical performance.
Can you elaborate a little on how the Fay Jones School prepares its students for a career in architecture?
Peter: Today, the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design is the only school in the state of Arkansas that offers professional degree programs in architecture, landscape architecture and interior architecture, within a Research 1 university. The school enjoys a national reputation for producing outstanding designers who are well-prepared for professional practice.
We’ve always had a strong faculty, with an emphasis on professional practice, along with depth in architectural history, materials, methods of fabrication, and technology. Our students graduate with an appreciation for how to build well and an incredible work ethic. We’re the only school of architecture and design which can count two AIA Gold Medalists among its full-time faculty over its history – our namesake Fay Jones and our current colleague, Marlon Blackwell.
Jonathan: We have three main architectural programs at the school. The Department of Architecture, Department of Landscape Architecture and the Department of Interior Architecture and Design. Over 900 students enrolled across the three programs in 2023.
The design-centered education we provide emphasizes both personal creative development and collaborative work with others in interdisciplinary ways,all within a great research university. Our students design furniture, rooms, buildings, gardens, parks, communities, and cities. Across our school, we focus our students' attention on the issues of community with a global awareness. We design for the lives of real people and towards a better environment, through a responsible emphasis on the materiality and experience of design. Through this design-centered emphasis on the real, we prepare our students to work productively across geographies, societies, and cultures.
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Peter: The Fay Jones School is a strong and highly respected research institution. There are three outreach, or research centers within the school: the Community Design Center, the UDBS Arkansas Home Lab, and Garvan Woodland Gardens. The Anthony Timberlands Center for Design and Materials Innovation will be the fourth, once it opens in May, 2025.
The University of Arkansas Community Design Center (UACDC) advances creative development in Arkansas through education, research, and design solutions that enhance the physical environment. The Arkansas Home Lab works with students to explore ways to create affordable housing and Garvan Woodland Gardens is a "living laboratory" where students and faculty have an opportunity to design and work in a 210-acre woodland habitat botanical garden located near Hot Springs National Park, in Hot Springs, Arkansas. It is regularly ranked among the top 10 botanical gardens in the United States.
The school has a strong, demonstrated commitment to design impact across the entire state of Arkansas, working with community design, public space design, housing design, productive landscape design, civic building design, health and wellness design, preservation design, resiliency design. We are a national leader in designing for low-carbon futures, with a particular emphasis on design and construction in wood, engineered timber, and advanced timber fabrication technologies.
Jonathan: More than half of our 1000 students come from across the state of Arkansas. There is also a strong representation of students from Texas, as well as from the adjacent states of Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana. We have international students from 15 different nations. All of them are truly hungry for a superior design education, and sincerely appreciative of the School’s character and qualities.
Peter: The students are very aware of the contemporary conditions of climate change, and the need for environmental responsibility, but they are admirably ambitious to take on leadership roles in design and society. They are by no means naïve in these ambitions – and they certainly hope for productive employment – but they gain a clear sense of what is possible to achieve in design practice through their education with the School.
Jonathan: Our students are motivated by a desire to make a difference through design in the world beyond the University – for their families and communities, for the quality of life in their respective home states, and for the larger impact they can have in the world more generally.
