Professional architects critique students’ work in Super Review

Written by Shambhu Sharan, The Shorthorn staff   

Thursday, 06 May 2010 08:43 PM

Professional architects and educators nationwide critiqued architecture students’ portfolios and gave expert advice for improvement on Thursday.

The School of Architecture held its Super Review on Thursday in the Architecture Building. It will continue on Friday at 9 a.m. and will end at 6 p.m. with a reception in the Architecture courtyard where students, faculty and staff will gather to eat.

Architecture Dean Donald Gatzke said Super Reviews are important in a number of ways. It’s a way of marking the end of the academic year and celebrating all the work of the students and design studio faculty, he said.

“It’s also a way of evaluating how we’re doing as far as the goals of the curriculum,” he said. “And it’s a way to show off the work to the visiting critics who we hope go back home and tell others how good the work is here.”

Gatzke said the school brings in outside professionals and academics to broaden the commentary and bring in fresh influences. 

“For the faculty, it’s a way to talk about architecture and design with professionals,” Gatzke said. “It’s a terrific way to end a year of very hard, intense work.”

Architecture program director Bijan Youssefzadeh said the reviewers bring a wealth of knowledge to the studios by giving their professional inputs.
 
“Students get reviewed by nationally exceptional architects and educators during the Super Reviews,” Youssefzadeh said. “They see wonderful projects done by students.”

Chad Little, architecture graduate student, said he designed a video art gallery in Los Angeles, Calif., for his final class project for the Super Review.

“It was informative,” he said. “They had good insight for us.”

He said it was a learning process where reviewers gave them feedback to improve his project.

“The project was a daily struggle, but at the end it was extremely rewarding,” he said.

Architecture graduate students Brandon Smith, Kim Tran and Ramon Cavazos designed an elementary school for the reviews. The students worked most of the semester to complete the project.

“I had a lot of good feedback,” Tran said. “Now, I have more experience about presenting my project.”

Architecture graduate student Phillip Colwell said he designed a teahouse with other classmates. Youssefzadeh’s students designed housing projects, proscenium walls and cubes.

Douglas Oliver, Rice University architecture professor, reviewed the architecture students’ projects. Compared to Rice, UTA has a more in-depth program, he said.

“There is consistency in quality and thoroughness in students’ work,” Oliver said. “It has very dedicated faculty, which is reason of very good consistent work. The work was very good and unique.”