UB's Garofalo Receives Award from American Collegiate Schools of Architecture

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Laura Garofalo, assistant professor in the School of Architecture and Planning at the University at Buffalo, has received a 2008-09 Architectural Education Award from the American Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA).

The award, which honors excellence and distinguished achievement in architectural education, went to Garofalo and David Hill of North Carolina State University for their project "Threading Water."

The award will be presented March 26 at a ceremony and reception during the ACSA annual meeting in Portland, Oregon.

According to ACSA representative Eric Ellis, the specific education award received by Garofalo and Hill is the ACSA Faculty Design Award, which, he says, "recognizes exemplary built and unbuilt work reflecting upon practice and research, and for theoretical investigations that advance the general understanding of the discipline of architecture."

Ellis says, "These award-winning professors inspire and challenge students, contribute to the profession's knowledge base, and extend their work beyond the borders of academia into practice and the public sector."

"Threading Water" was one of 10 projects (out of 117 proposals from 52 countries) that won a 2008 open international competition "Death by Water" sponsored by the New York City Office of Emergency Management with support from the Rockefeller Foundation and Architecture for Humanity New York, in which designers were asked to develop a response to housing disaster that could be provoked by a Category 3 hurricane hitting New York City.

In 1995, in collaboration with UB's Omar Khan, she established Liminal Projects, a practice that has developed performance spaces for video artists, dancers and musicians, gallery installations, domestic interiors and award-winning competitions.

Their work has been exhibited at The Kitchen, the Whitney Annex, The Urban Center and the Storefront for Art and Architecture, all in New York City, and the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., among others. They were winners in the Architectural League of New York's Young Architects Forum 1999.

In 2006 Garofalo received the Honor Award in an open one-stage international competition sponsored by Great Valley Center and the California Department of Transportation, with the support of the American Institute of Architects, California Council, for "Fog Harvester," her design for a "green" highway rest area, a "GreenStop" that could serve as a model for current and future rest stops within the state highway system. Garofalo presented a plan that used fog to construct an evolving and self-sustaining landscape.

The University at Buffalo is a premier research-intensive public university, a flagship institution in the State University of New York system and its largest and most comprehensive campus. UB's more than 28,000 students pursue their academic interests through more than 300 undergraduate, graduate and professional degree programs. Founded in 1846, the University at Buffalo is a member of the Association of American Universities.