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Architecture and design

Video: Build a Bouquet of Local Flowers

Diane Szukovathy from Jello Mold Farm in Washington state’s Skagit Valley puts together a bouquet of locally-grown flowers and offers tips to gardeners on building their own bouquet of blooms. Diane and her husband Dennis Westphall grow cut flowers. They have teamed up with Washington State University researchers Bev Gerdeman and Lynell Tanigoshi to build a community of local, seasonal flower growers in the Pacific Northwest. The growers sell at markets, directly to farmers, florists, grocery stores, and local businesses. Read more in “Business is Blooming.”

Summer 2011

After a fashion

Fall fashion week in Pullman featured a stovepipe silhouette and shorter hemline. Black and rhinestones were in, as were gold shoes and feathered cloches.

These weren’t new designs. They were elegant Jazz Age outfits hand-picked by students in a “Costume and Museum Management” class and on display last November in the Terrell Library atrium.

Sophomore Amanda Harris is one of five students who culled through the University’s historic costume collection to decide on a theme and create the 20s in Vogue display. She is one of dozens each year who have the opportunity to dig through an extensive collection of clothing and accessories housed … » More …

Winter 2010

Video: WSU arboretum and wildlife conservation center groundbreaking ceremony

“It is impossible to imagine a world-class university without an arboretum. It reconnects you to the earth and is an important place for a university community to find peace and balance in a high-stress environment. Im particularly proud that this arboretum will be part of the legacy that my administration will leave for Washington State University, its faculty, students, alumni, and friends, and all those who value the joys of nature.”

—WSU President Elson S. Floyd

 

Phase 1 of the Washington State University Arboretum and Wildlife Conservation Center project celebrates the first peoples of the region and the striking Palouse prairie landscape … » More …

Winter 2010

An arboretum for WSU

Over the coming years, 170 acres east of Airport Road in Pullman will be transformed into an arboretum, which will include a new bear center, a biodiversity center, a gathering circle, and a series of walking trails and gardens.

The land fits neatly amidst the WSU Organic Farm, USDA research plots, and College of Veterinary Medicine facilities. While the project is still in its infancy, many pieces are falling into place to make it happen.

By mid-July, the first trails were visible, tiny paths of hot pink flags climbing up and around the hills. A grand opening is loosely planned for fall 2011, but … » More …

Fall 2010

A measure of time and history

Matthew Cohen started wondering if what he knew of Renaissance architecture was true when he stepped into the San Lorenzo Basilica in Florence with a measuring tape.

The Italian city, known as the birthplace of the Renaissance, is home to many of the great works of Filippo Brunelleschi, perhaps the foremost engineer and architect of the period. And San Lorenzo has been studied by generations of architects and historians as one of the earliest examples of Renaissance perfection.

“It is one of the most famous buildings in the world,” says Cohen, an architecture instructor at WSU Spokane. He first encountered the church when he … » More …

Winter 2009

Design presentations from the “Powering the Palouse” symposium

Bob Scarfo, an associate professor with Washington State University’s Interdisciplinary Design Institute, and his landscape architecture students explore the benefits of re-introducing passenger rail between Spokane and the Pullman/Moscow area in response to shifting global trends, particularly associated with energy, water and climate change.

Presentations shown during the poster session of the symposium are accessed through links on the map below. (Click on a station to reveal a document [PDF].)

 

Additional presentations: Spokane Multimodal, RR crossings (PDFs)

 

Read … » More …

Winter 2009

Track to the future

It was only a few decades ago that Northern Pacific Railroad ran daily trains from Spokane through Pullman and down to Lewiston. And train cars loaded with students and steamer trunks came over the Cascades delivering their lively loads to packed stations filled with eager classmates awaiting their friends.

Bob Scarfo, an associate professor with Washington State University’s Interdisciplinary Design Institute, and his landscape architecture students have evoked some of that romance with a project urging the reintroduction of passenger trains to the Palouse. Only now, along with the romance of the rail, they’re citing contemporary reasons like oil scarcity, climate change, an aging population, … » More …

Winter 2009

Opening new doors to green

The soaring ceiling, room-length fireplace, and glass doors that open to the outdoors give the lobby the flavor of a ski lodge crossed with an open-air café. However, the ambience of Olympia Avenue—Washington State University’s new residence hall—masks its eco-friendly bones: the exposed wood comes from old buildings, a retractable screen shades the lobby when it’s too sunny, and the floors are polished decorative concrete.

“I love the space. It’s just so exciting to live in a brand-new hall,” says sophomore Hannah Donaldson, one of about 230 residents of the new building. Donaldson, an animal sciences major from Sultan, points out that information throughout the … » More …