EDRA49 Oklahoma City: June 6-9, 2018

EDRA49 Mobile Sessions EDRA49 Oklahoma City

EDRA49 will feature four mobile sessions, where attendees can explore the conference theme through real spaces in Oklahoma City. These tours will be held on Saturday, June 9.

Walking Tour of Automobile Alley and the OKC Memorial
Ron Frantz Catherine Montgomery

Ron Frantz and Catherine Montgomery, two of Oklahoma’s best known and most experienced historic preservation architects, will lead a tour of the historic Automobile Alley and the Oklahoma City Memorial. Automobile Alley was the original car dealership district at the intersection of Route 66 and Highway 77 during the days when they were the main transportation routes through Oklahoma.

Automobile Alley
Now it is a lively business and restaurant district bustling with activity and new jobs have been created around all-day activities and tourism. Many design firms have located in this district, and it ties Midtown to the University of Oklahoma Health Science Center. It is also a connecting point to downtown OKC and the Deep Duce historic neighborhood.

Oklahoma City Memorial
The Oklahoma City Memorial and Museum is a well-known destination designed by Butzer Design Partnership to honor those who lost their lives in the Oklahoma City Bombing that occurred on April 19, 1995. This design came out of an international design competition, which was won by an international team including the current dean of the College of Architecture at the University of Oklahoma, his wife (also an architect) and a partner from Germany. The memorial and redevelopment of the area has been credited with a renaissance in the revitalization efforts in historical areas throughout the community.

Social Equity and Housing in OKC Housing Mobile Session
This mobile session will include visits to several housing redevelopment neighborhoods around OKC. These neighborhoods include Page Woodson, Classen 10 Penn, Positively Paseo, North Classen Highlands and Classen Culbertson Highlands. This session will be led by Georgie Rasco with the Neighborhood Alliance and Oklahoma City, Shannon Entz, Senior Planner with City of OKC Planning Department and Gina Sofola with Page Woodson and Gina Sofola and Associates. Attendees will get to visit the neighorhoods, hear the stories of their transitions, and meet people that have been part of making those tranisitions successful.

Bruce Goff and the American School
Bruce Goff projects from left to right, the Ledbetter House, the Magyness House, and Prairie Chicken

This session will take participants to a number of Bruce Goff designed homes in Central Oklahoma. Goff was the Dean of the College of Architecture at OU from 1948-1956. His organic approach to architecture flew in the face of traditional schools, most notably the Beaux-Arts School of the 19th Century in France and Europe. It was a neoclassical approach to design popular throughout Western Europe and the US at that time, including in American Universities like Harvard. It differed from the modern school which focused on mechanical and industrial design seeing architecture as machine—often stark and cold. Goff’s architecture and the architecture he taught at OU connected to Frank Lloyd Wright’s idea of organic form using natural and locally found materials. We will visit homes in Oklahoma City and Norman.

Native America and Oklahoma
Native America in OKC from left to right: Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark; the Red Earth Festival, 2018; the dome of the Oklahoma State Capitol; and the Native American Cultural Center in OKC

The Chickasaw Nation is one of the many tribes forcibly moved to Oklahoma in the Trail of Tears March started in 1836. This march included many eastern tribes who were moved to Oklahoma to make access of their lands to white settlers in the east. The Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Seminole and Chickasaw Nations were known as the Five Civilized Tribes. These tribes have made Oklahoma the unique state it is, and this tour will connect participants to the many investments Oklahoma tribes are making to diversify and create social equity in their tribes as well as promote their cultures and educate their communities.