2025-26 APLA Lecture Series
A dynamic, informative dual poster design system spotlighting historic Auburn architects and highlighting the intimate details of architecture.
Honorable Mention: 2025–26 APLA Lecture Series, Graphis 2027 Poster Awards
Assignment
Auburn University's College of Architecture hosts an annual lecture series where international experts come to speak and engage with students and faculty. For the 2025-26 lecture series, the theme, "From the Inside Out" embraces a holistic approach to design that seamlessly integrates multiple scales, connecting the intimate details of interior spaces with the grand narratives of architecture and landscape design. To promote the series, my objective was to create a cohesive poster set that bridges these ideas while still invoking the Auburn spirit and tradition.
Process
I developed multiple directions for the set and chose a collage approach. I was inspired by the way the cut-up architecture forms could crop, rotate, and be distorted into entirely new images. I chose two iconic Auburn architects, Paul Rudolph and Samuel Mockabee to guide my visual exploration. Auburn architecture students study these architects and often visit their works to further learn about their process. The goal was to associate the teachings of these Auburn architects of the past, their impressive facades and meticulous details, with the future learning opportunities the lecture series provides. The posters document the planning, construction and completion of Rudolph's Tuskegee Chapel and Mockabee's Butterfly House, using blueprints, sketches and archival photos. I initially created the collages physically, then digitally recreated them to explore transparency and digital editing.
Results
The techniques of transparency and collage are used to blend and distort the interior and exterior spaces, creating new focal points and patterns for the viewer to find and create as they view the distorted structures. Auburn University is represented not only through the architects, but color, providing an immediate call back to Auburn's signature brand. The imagery takes you through the inside out of the each architects process, prompting the viewer to follow through the buildings execution and completion and see each structure in an experimental format, sparking new viewpoints and perspectives.