KNOXVILLE — University of Tennessee architecture professor Edgar Stach has been recognized as an outstanding teacher for his Smart Structures project, a collaborative effort between UT and European architecture students to design a usable and movable pavilion for use by all the universities. He received the American Institute of Architects (AIA) 2008 Education Honor Award for excellence in teaching.
Stach will be presented with the award at the AIA National Convention and Design Expo in Boston in May.
The purpose of the Education Honor Award program is to discover and recognize the achievement of individuals who serve the profession as outstanding teachers. The awards honor excellence in architecture education as demonstrated in classroom, studio, and/or community work, or in courses offered in various educational settings.
Stach’s Smart Structures project brought together students from UT’s College of Architecture and Design with students from the University of Delft in the Netherlands and the University of Kassel in Germany. As part of the course, UT architecture students traveled to the Netherlands and Germany in summer 2006 where professors from the three universities taught courses supporting the Smart Structures program. During the fall 2006 semester, the European students traveled to UT and spent two weeks taking courses at the college.
Students from the three universities were charged with designing a structure that can be easily constructed and moved for international travel. The pavilion would have similar functionality to a tent, but would measure more than 1,000 square feet and house exhibitions and computers for use as a university promotional tool.
Stach plans to continue the Smart Structures program next academic year with hopes that construction on the pavilion will begin in the near future.
Stach has taught architecture at UT since 1999. He is a principal in Stach and Klinkhammer architects, an international design firm. For more information, visit http://www.smartstructures.de.
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Contacts:
Edgar Stach, (865) 974-6113, stach@utk.edu
Kristi Hintz, (865) 974-3993, khintz@utk.edu