Utah Valley University (UVU) architecture students continue to demonstrate the importance of design as a mode of applied research and knowledge production. On Friday, February 25, 2022 exemplary student scholarship, research, and creative works from across the state of Utah were presented at the 16^th annual Utah Conference on Undergraduate Research (UCUR) at Dixie State University (https://academics.dixie.edu/ucur2022/).

Among those selected to present their creative work at this year’s UCUR conference were several UVU upper division undergraduate architecture students. The fifteen student projects that were presented at the conference highlight the unique approach of UVU’s architecture program.  

Student design projects demonstrated the importance of honoring and preserving the unique spirit of a place, its culture, traditions, memory, and history. The projects ranged from design proposals for a new visitor center for the Beit Lehi archaeology site in Israel to a boutique hotel situated on the Grand Canal in Venice. In each instance, the systematic and iterative process of design was accompanied by the careful evaluation and study of precedents, climate, and context.

Other student projects focused on learning time tested design principles, patterns, proportions, and geometries through embodied acts of measuring, drawing, and analyzing existing structures. The artifacts from these research activities included the production of measured drawings and analytical renderings of historic buildings in Utah, such as the Romanesque revival Peteetneet School in Payson and the neo-classical Utah County Courthouse in Provo.

All of the UVU architecture student projects presented at the 2022 UCUR were undertaken under the mentorship of Assistant Professor Brandon Ro in both his architectural design studio III (ARC 3110) and his graphic communications course in architecture (ARC 3120).

For more information about each individual UVU architecture student research project, visit the links below:

• Elsa M. Arias, “Cut The Kite String And Let It Fly: The Preservation of Our Architectural Heritage” https://virtual.oxfordabstracts.com/#/event/2477/submission/447
• Keegan M. Borman, “South Worth Hall Analytique” https://virtual.oxfordabstracts.com/#/event/2477/submission/149
• Keegan M. Borman, “Beit Lehi Visitor's Center Design Project” https://virtual.oxfordabstracts.com/#/event/2477/submission/151
• Taylor M. Cherrington, “Provo Historical Court House Measured Drawing” https://virtual.oxfordabstracts.com/#/event/2477/submission/396
• Taylor M. Cherrington, “Beit Lehi Visitor Center Proposal” https://virtual.oxfordabstracts.com/#/event/2477/submission/449
• Blake O. Gneiting, “The Architectural Success of Payson’s Historic Peteetneet School” https://virtual.oxfordabstracts.com/#/event/2477/submission/153
• Blake O. Gneiting, “Proposed Beit Lehi Visitor Center” https://virtual.oxfordabstracts.com/#/event/2477/submission/161
• Blake O. Gneiting, “A Parallel of the Five Classical Orders” https://virtual.oxfordabstracts.com/#/event/2477/submission/162
• Taylar A. Jensen, “Beit Lehi Analytique” https://virtual.oxfordabstracts.com/#/event/2477/submission/200
• Taylar A. Jensen, “Provo Historic Courthouse Measured Drawing” https://virtual.oxfordabstracts.com/#/event/2477/submission/205
• Jayne A. Lee, “Proposed Beit Lehi Visitor Center Analytique” https://virtual.oxfordabstracts.com/#/event/2477/submission/96
• Jayne A. Lee, “Learning from the Past: Thomas S. Monson Building Analytique” https://virtual.oxfordabstracts.com/#/event/2477/submission/217
• Jordan P. Meyer, "Design Proposal for a Visitor Center at the Beit Lehi Site"
  https://virtual.oxfordabstracts.com/#/event/2477/submission/78
• Jordan P. Meyer, “Learning Through Measuring History: An Analytique Rendering” https://virtual.oxfordabstracts.com/#/event/2477/submission/81
• Benjamin D. Varnell & Madison Rosser, “Designing architecture through the eyes of Vincenzo Scamozzi” https://virtual.oxfordabstracts.com/#/event/2477/submission/141