February 9, 2016
Architecture students attend national conference
Five Master of Architecture students from the College of Architecture, Planning & Design attended the 2015 American Institute of Architecture Students FORUM conference in San Francisco, California, Dec. 29, 2015, to Jan. 1, 2016. The students are active members of the K-State chapter of the American Institute of Architecture Students and included Alexander Booth, Manhattan; Kathryn Zieno, Bellevue, Nebraska; Morgan Denton, Leawood; Scott Pfeifer, Ellis; and Taylor Hiltgen, Topeka.
The institute is an independent, nonprofit, student-run organization dedicated to providing unmatched programs and information, as resources on issues critical to architectural education with almost 6,000 student members from across the globe. The FORUM conference is the largest annual gathering of architecture students in the world.
The keynote lectures at the conference were comprised of Rosa Sheng, Bohlin Cysinski Jackson in San Francisco, California; Carey Smith, CEO of Big Ass Fan Solutions; Robert Ivy, EVP/chief executive officer of the American Institute of Architects; Gervais Thompkin, Gensler, in San Francisco, California; Evelyn Lee, MKThink; Hector M. Perez, Woodbury University's School of Architecture; Irving Gonzales, president of the American Institute of Architects, San Francisco, California; and John Cary; strategic advisor of the TED Prize.
"Our experience was truly one of a kind. The conference was full of good advice and knowledge regarding architecture in all depths," Pheifer said.
The students participated in a "firm crawl," visiting four local architecture firms including Heller Manus, Gensler, HOK and Herman Coliver Locus, and they spent their leisure time touring the city.