麻豆果冻传媒

When 麻豆果冻传媒 graduate and architect AericGunnels started volunteering his time teaching as an adjunct professor to fill in for a retiree, he slowly started to realize how much he enjoyed teaching. 

He fell in love with teaching the night classes in Tech鈥檚 housing and design program.

鈥淥ne day I woke up and said, 鈥榃ell I can be an architect 鈥� I can design buildings 鈥� or I can be a designer of designers,鈥欌�� he said.

Gunnels, now a lecturer in the School of Human Ecology, has been involved at Tech and lived in the surrounding Livingston area for several familial generations. Tech was an obvious choice for him coming out of high school. He earned two bachelor鈥檚 degrees at Tech, one in housing and design and one in environmental and sustainability studies, before going on to earn a master鈥檚 in architecture from Virginia Tech. It was shortly after this that he started teaching night classes in housing and design and realizing he enjoyed it more than his original profession.

鈥淭hat way I can make a much broader and greater impact than just designing buildings,鈥� Gunnels said. 鈥淚 can teach generation after generation of designers how to design a house, how to design a commercial space, how to design an interior, how to design a piece of furniture or a light fixture, etc. and really have a much larger impact on the design of this area.鈥�

Giving credit to his other faculty members, Hannah Uphole and Melinda Anderson, Gunnels looks forward to advancements in the program and new additions. 

鈥淲ith the new degree program, there are some new classes that we鈥檝e put back into the program,鈥� Gunnels said. 鈥淪o, we鈥檙e trying to really restructure the program 鈥� we鈥檙e still keeping all the important parts. I think it鈥檚 important to know that we鈥檙e creating a human-centric design program. Something that鈥檚 very hands-on, very experiential.鈥�

Gunnels describes the department as something that is very different from other programs on campus. There are two new concentrations: fashion merchandising and architecture/interior design. 

Gunnels teaches several courses that cover various skills pertaining to housing and design: aspects of housing and furnishings, architecture graphics and presentation techniques, residential design 1 & 2, commercial design, and computer-aided design. In each of the courses, different concepts are introduced to the students where they can explore their creativity.

鈥淏ecause they are taking their project in the direction that they want to go,鈥� Gunnels said. 鈥淚 will be there to guide them, but I鈥檓 not going to lead them. I鈥檓 not going to direct their project, I'm just going to give them advice, ask questions, and we're going to talk about it and work through it. I really want the students to be able to explore their affinities in design in both what they like to design and who they are as a designer, because they get to know themselves better and will ultimately make their designs better.鈥�        

Two new classes that are being offered in Fall 2022 are portfolio design and design and visual techniques. In the portfolio design class, students will compile their projects that they have worked on throughout their time at Tech and prepare them for graduate schools or future employers. 

The design and visual techniques class is a lower-level course for freshman and sophomores that will be very interactive. In the course students will sketch and work with other media to develop their skills as they approach upper-level design classes. 

鈥淔or any students who are interested in design, if they enjoy being creative, if they like to create, I think this might be a good place for them. We鈥檙e a very experiential program and very hands-on,鈥� Gunnels said. 鈥淚f you鈥檙e interested in architecture, interior design, interior decorating, residential design, contracting, construction, then come talk to me. I think this would be a good program for students interested in those areas.鈥�