UA Architecture to Highlight Sustainable Research, Practice

Go Green will feature an exhibit, lectures and a fundraising gala to celebrate ecologically sound building in the region.

Sustainability is the focus for a series of events being held by the College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at The University of Arizona including a gala event, a lecture series and an exhibit of new practices and materials for local construction.

The events, which run through March, feature college faculty, local architects and builders.

The first event, happening Sunday, is the college's “Shades of Green Gala,” from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the Sundt Design Gallery, located in the UA Fine Arts Complex, on the southeast corner of Speedway and the Olive Road underpass. The $100-per-person event features music, hors d’oeuvres, a wine bar and a silent auction.

The exhibit is being offered in partnership with the Arizona Opera League’s 34th annual Home Tours. “Go Green! Creating Sustainable Design in the Desert Southwest” is March 8 at the Sundt Design Gallery and is part of that day’s tour of homes. Presentations at the exhibit will include information about building, landscaping, decorating and government programs using sustainable materials. The exhibit also will include tours of the college's new facilities.

Admission to the exhibit is $10, or free with a ticket to the Arizona Opera League’s home tour that day. (The Arizona Opera League also will have a tour of a completely different set of residential projects on March 15 and does not include the CALA exhibit.)

The college will feature its current research in designing for sustainability, including projects by the Drachman Institute for Land and Regional Development Studies and the college’s Solar Decathlon project, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The Solar Decathlon is a multidisciplinary project between the Emerging Material Technologies Research Group from the UA School of Architecture and the College of Engineering.

Go Green! also includes three lectures.

• R. Brooks Jeffery, the associate dean and coordinator of preservation studies at the college, will lecture on the vernacular buildings of the Southwest and their traditional role in sustainable building in the region. Jeffery’s lecture is Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Arizona Historical Society, 949 E. Second Street in Tucson. Cost of the lecture is $8 general admission, $6 for AHS members and $5 for students.
• Richard J. Michal, an adjunct lecturer in CALA and a local engineer with extensive green building experience, will discuss the fundamentals and terminology of sustainable design and green building. The lecture is March 6, at 5:30 p.m. in the CALA Auditorium and is free.
• On March 7, architects Jack DeBartolo Jr., Jack DeBartolo III and Will Bruder will lecture on desert architecture at 4:30 p.m. in the AME Auditorium, located on the northeast corner of Speedway and Mountain Avenue. the lecture is free.