KU School of Architecture & Design (ArcD)

Just over a year ago, the KU School of Architecture & Design began working with BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group @big_builds to explore ways to create more space for our growing school and enhance connections between our facilities, programs, and students. And now, the future is coming into view. BIG, in collaboration with @bnimarchitects , @structurecraft_ , and the School of Architecture & Design, has unveiled an inspiring new light-filled studio building optimized for KU's hands-on professional design education. With plans to begin construction in the Summer of 2026, we are excited to share the vision for our remade home in the heart of campus. 🔻 🔗 See project info in bio and watch for more updates soon. - - - - - - - - - - - #masstimber #exploreku #rockchalk #design #architecture #sustainablearchitecture #kansas #kansascity #woodarchitecture #designschool #architectureschool #sustainabledesign #interiorarchitecture #healthcaredesign #sustainability #interiordesign

🏡 Tour Studio 804’s latest project with the KU architecture students who gave new life to a former brownfield site by designing and building a home that embodies the power of community collaboration, practical innovation, and optimistic creativity. 📍 1144 E. 12th St., Lawrence, KS 📅 Saturday, May 16 ⏰ 9 a.m.–3 p.m. 🚗 Please park courteously; additional parking at Brook Creek Park The home features a ventilated zinc rainscreen, polished concrete floors, and glue-laminated timber portal frames, along with the adaptive reuse of salvaged structural wood from a mid-century building. ♻️ ☀️ Designed to meet LEED Platinum certification, the house incorporates advanced energy strategies, including 16 solar panels, high-efficiency appliances and a triple-glazed curtain wall system that improves energy performance while enhancing daylight. A detached accessory dwelling unit allows the home to adapt to changing space needs. See 🔗 link in bio for more about this sustainable home designed and built entirely by KU students. 📷 Matthew Garrett/ @Studio804_inc @universityofkansas @aauniversities @usgbc #RockChalk #KUgrads #KUarchitecture #sustainabledesign #LawrenceKS #modernhome

Congratulations to the Class of 2026! 🎉 ✨ 🎓 KU Graduation weekend kicks off on Friday, May 15th, with the School of Architecture & Design hosting three events to recognize our 2026 graduates. ✳️ THIS FRIDAY ↘ Academic Achievement Awards 🕐 1:00pm | John C. Gaunt Forum ‼️ NOTE: Due to space limits, only students receiving academic achievement awards and their guests should attend. The event will be livestreamed on the ArcD graduation website [🔗 in bio]. ArcD Graduates Open House Reception 🕑 2:00-4:00pm | Chalmers Café 🎉 Stop by to see a display of ArcD student work, enjoy some cake and snap some photos with family & friends to celebrate the class of 2026! ArcD Recognition Ceremony 🕕 6:00 - 7:30 pm | The Lied Center 🎓 The ArcD graduation recognition ceremony is a formal event that honors graduating undergraduates, masters, and doctoral students who have or will finish their degree completion requirements in the Fall 2025, Spring 2026, and Summer 2026 terms. KU’s university-wide Commencement ceremony on the Hill will begin at 10:30am on Sunday, May 17th. 👀 Link in Bio for full graduation event details - @UniversityofKansas #kugrads #KUArcD

Yesterday I visited @dirtworksstudioku latest project, the Kaw House located at 613 N. 3rd. There will be a ribbon cutting Friday May 15th at 10am and an open house until 2pm. In what seems like a blink of an eye a not so tiny 530 sq. ft. home was designed and built. Dirt Works, an award-winning third-year design/build studio is led by KU Professor Chad Kraus / @ckraus22 12 of the 18 students were at the house when I dropped by. One of the students, @timcfarland gave me a tour. The home has two sections with a hall in between. A modern version of a shotgun house. The design is concise and visually striking, there’s a tension or shifting between the two sections of the home, one side contains the living room & patio. The other side, a kitchen, bath/utility room and a bedroom. The wood siding is gorgeous; it’s Thermally Modified Pine or “thermopine.” Kraus describes it as wood that goes through a heat and steam process making it very durable and resistant to termites. The metal wrapping around the exterior serves as siding and roofing. It’s standing seam metal siding. Be sure to ask the students how this was installed! The interior and ceiling in the living room are stunning, especially the cross-section view. This material is Mass Plywood Panel. It’s comprised of sheets of plywood pressed together as a compositional element. It super strong and creates a clean, cozy modern vibe. The tapered steel fabricated exterior window on the south side is my favorite design element. McFarland states it took much deliberation and effort to fit this into a tight design/build schedule. The property site will eventually have 7 other small homes on it. Peaslee Tech will build a home north of their site. This home is under the auspices of Tenants to Homeowners / @tth_ks and will serve as short term transitional housing. Bravo to all the Dirt Work students and the leadership of Professor Kraus. Lawrence is SO fortunate to have award winning design / build classes led by Dan Rockhill, Chad Kraus and Keith Van de Riet. @arcd_ku

Happy Stop Day, Jayhawks 🛑 One week of final reviews down... one more to go! Students, you've got this! 🙌 📧 📬 Be sure to check this Sunday's issue of The Week Ahead to see the KU final exam schedule and ArcD graduation event details.

💡 Now on view through May 13th at Museo in Kansas City: The KU Industrial Design program presents an exhibition of projects by students in May Tveit's Lighting Design studio. This hands-on, maker-based studio is a laboratory where students explore lighting design by combining traditional and digital processes to create functional investigations of material, form, and light. 🛋️ 🌟 ☁️ See the projects installed among classic modern furniture in Museo’s showroom, located near the Union Hill streetcar stop at 31st & Main. - 🔖 PAPER PLUS / MINUS: a handcrafted & machine-guided lighting design collection 🗓️ Through May 13 🕘 9am – 5pm, Monday - Friday 📍 Museo, 3021 Main Street, KCMO - @museousa @universityofkansas @maytveit @idsa.ku

This Thursday in Kansas City... join us in celebrating the KU Design class of 2026! 🎉 🎓 @kuseniorshow_2026 features graduating students in Illustration & Animation, Industrial Design, Interaction Design, Photography, and Visual Communication Design. ↘ ↘ ↘ 🗓️ Thursday, May 7th 🕟 4:30-8:30 PM 📍 The Guild, 1621 Locust St, KCMO 👀 the 🔗 in bio to see the KU Design class of 2026 Senior Show website, which features the graduates and their selected work! 👏 🎊 🙌 - @UnversityofKansas

KU design students brought home the Best School title at the 2026 National Student Show in recognition of the overall strength of accepted projects. Multiple students also won individual awards and swept the portfolio categories. 🌟 🏆 Congrats everyone & Rock Chalk, Jayhawk! 🖼️ ↘ Wes Kemnitzer — Best of Senior Portfolios Adrian Buckner — Best of Senior Portfolios, Judge’s Choice Reese Cowden — Best Junior Portfolio Meg Werner — Best Sophomore Portfolio Danny Duong — Biggest Risk Taker Award Bella LeJuerrne — Best of Motion Design Olivia Krueger — Judge’s Choice @NationalStudentShow @UniversityofKansas 🔗 in bio: Read the @print_mag recap - #KuDesign #KUArcD #NationalStudentShow #Connections26 #Dallas #Design #GraphicDesign #rockchalk #designschool #animation #illustration #Creative #designer #riso

This year, third‑year architecture students continued the KU Designbuild program’s ongoing work with KU Libraries to reimagine Watson Library study spaces. 📚 💡 From concept to construction, students designed and built new study carrels to bring warmth and new functionality to student-centered spaces in the stacks of KU’s oldest and largest library. By working closely with campus partners, at full scale, these students bridged design and construction while making a lasting improvement to an iconic building on Jayhawk Boulevard. 🛠️ Through collaboration with real clients, hands-on construction experience, and projects with real‑world impact, KU prepares architects who understand architecture well beyond drawings, models, and academic concepts. 🔻 In Bio 🔗 Learn about KU Designbuild’s 30+ year legacy of rewriting what is possible for architectural education. @universityofkansas @kulibraries @beajayhawk

👨‍💻🔠 The Visual Communication Design program at KU prepares graphic designers, UX/UI developers, marketing creatives, and many other multidisciplinary communicators to create effective visual solutions that educate, entertain, and inspire. 🔖 KU Visual Communication Design graduates work in branding, fashion, advertising, mobile and web UX/UI design, publishing, packaging design, corporate marketing, exhibition and environmental design, motion graphics, and more. Learn more about Viscom at KU 🔗 in bio

Stop by the gallery in Chalmers Hall through Thursday for two photography exhibitions: 🔳 One Last Time – 2026 BFA in Photography exhibition 🔲 Tumbledown – group exhibition And this Thursday evening, join us in the gallery to celebrate our Class of 2026 @kansas_photo graduates and Tumbledown exhibition artists. 📷 Exhibitions on view through Thursday, April 30. 🗓️ Closing Reception Thursday, April 30, 5-7pm 📍 Edgar Heap of Birds Family Gallery, Chalmers Hall, level 3, @universityofkansas

#OneDayOneKU starts Tuesday at noon! 🕛 For 24 hours, gifts large and small add up to help create more resources and opportunities for all KU architecture and design students. Your support during One Day. One KU. funds study abroad scholarships, student organizations, emergency grants for unexpected financial challenges, and free Adobe Creative Suite subscriptions and printing for all students. 🔻 [🔗 in Bio] Learn more and join Jayhawks from around the world this Tuesday and Wednesday, April 28-29, noon to noon, for One Day. One KU.