In Noragachi, Mexico, (top photo) UTSA students install
a hand-made window into an adobe wall and (bottom photo)
a view of the local landscape.

Architecture college hosts 'Land + People + Studio' exhibit

By Tim Brownlee
Assistant Director of Public Affairs

(April 7, 2006)--The UTSA School of Architecture hosts the exhibit, "Land + People + Studio: The Noragachi Experiment" April 7-28 at the Durango Building gallery on the UTSA Downtown Campus. Gallery hours are 9 a.m.-6 p.m., Monday-Friday.

An opening reception is 6-8 p.m., Friday, April 7 in the Durango Building Southwest Room (1.124), which adjoins the gallery. The reception and exhibit are free and open to the public.

The exhibit, curated by Sue Ann Pemberton-Haugh, UTSA professor of architecture, gives an overview through photographs of a College of Architecture project in Noragachi, Mexico.

In its third summer this year, Pemberton coordinates the three-week laboratory project in which UTSA architecture and interior design students design and help construct buildings in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. This year's project will include construction of a boarding school for the Tarahumarans, a group of indigenous people.

"The Noragachi project allows students to put into practice what they have learned about design, passive solar heating, thermal mass, ventilation and building orientation," said Pemberton-Haugh. "The project in the Sierra Mountains of Mexico offers a challenging opportunity to combine three important aspects of a building project -- the orientation of the land, working with local people and construction."

In the Tarahumaran language, Noragachi means "place that twirls." The city is known for its fierce winds.

For more information, contact the UTSA College of Architecture at (210) 458-3010.