ENVD and GDES Faculty Honored by Creative Cognition Conference

Faculty members Kelly Homan, Robert Sproull and David Smith recently won Best Pictorial Submission from the 2023 Creative Cognition Conference. The annual conference, held online this past June, is a week of networking for professionals who work in art and science. This year’s theme was “organic creative spaces,” which focused on how organic architecture uses minimalist forms, materials, spaces and design considerations that blend with natural environments.

Homan, Sproull and Smith submitted a pictorial about their experiences teaching Environmental Design (ENVD) studio in the summer of 2022. Their submission described the unique methodology they used over the five-week course as students explored model-making, slow drawing and digital media through a multifaceted workflow process. The trio’s abstract stated that multiple tools and techniques were investigated at varying scales. “Ideas were conceptualized through prototyping, graphite pattern explorations and computer graphic representations. Artifacts produced revealed unique forms threaded through each medium utilized. Final models, drawings and graphic representations express the concept of abstractions across mediums to generate space and form,” they stated.

Homan and Sproull teach in Auburn’s ENVD program, housed in the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture (APLA) while Smith teaches graphic design in the School of Industrial and Graphic Design (SIGD). ENVD is a multi-disciplinary major that allows students to explore sustainable practices across design fields.