HAAARCH showcase celebrates student architecture models, independent projects

As a student with interests in political science, art history and museum studies, Peyton Statella wrote her senior honors thesis, “Fashion, Gender Roles, and Political Critique: The New Woman and the Dismantling of Gender,” to explore gendered artwork produced within early 20th century Weimar Germany during the rise of Nazism. 

Statella, a senior majoring in history of art and architecture and political science, presented her honors thesis with a slide presentation at the history of art and architecture department’s annual undergraduate showcase, called HAAARCH.

The history of art and architecture department held its 11th annual undergraduate showcase in the cloister and second floor of the Frick Fine Arts Building on Friday afternoon. The showcase featured the accomplishments of about 40 undergraduate students in the history of art and architecture, architectural studies and museum studies majors, featuring a variety of basswood models surrounding the open garden in the cloister of Frick. Architectural studies students presented their studio work with scale models and drawings of their buildings. 

Statella said she intended to capture the role of media in political events with her thesis paper.

“My intentions were to expose how prevalent [the media is] and how the media and illustrated press are used as propaganda. Though not overtly, but by displaying images of women, the role [media] plays and how strongly it can pervade culture.”

Statella said a class she took last semester, called “Art of Weimar Germany,” inspired her thesis when it exposed her to analyzing illustrated press during the mid-1920s and 1930s and its role in propaganda. She said she was proud of narrowing her topic down from its starting point to produce her final piece.

“I’m proud of the amount of research I’ve done and the culmination of the works I’ve selected. It was very difficult to narrow it down, so I think just getting it to a point where I could identify three common threads and analyze them was really good,” Statella said.

Gretchen Bender, assistant chair of the department and originator of the event, said the idea for a showcase came from her desire to recognize undergraduate students’ research and creative work, rather than the department’s professors simply assigning their students a project that only they would see.

“I was frustrated that this wonderful research, this creativity, was just sort of turned in for an assignment, and nobody actually got to see the incredible expanse and diversity of work our students are doing. [HAAARCH] is a celebration for our students, in getting the recognition they deserve,” Bender said. 

Andrea Mora, a sophomore architecture major, presented her basswood model of a public and private pavilion for a site in Ohiopyle, Pennsylvania, a model she created during her Foundations class last semester. She said her model took about 120 hours to complete. 

Mora said she was proud that she translated her vision into a tangible model.

“I love how I was able to take my idea and bring it to life with the trees and the bushes,” Mora said. “I just think [my model] shows my idea really well.” 

Mora said the showcase helped her generate ideas for future projects.

“It gives you an idea of what to expect because looking at the other studios that are after mine, I’m kind of getting an idea of what the next projects are going to be,” Mora said. “They make me more interested in doing them, which also inspires me with new ideas.”

Kate Litak, a senior studio arts and architecture major, presented her model of a designated Pitt architecture building.

She said her intention behind creating the model was to tinker with architectural systems and construct a building for the architecture program.

“This model is based on systems and deconstructing those systems. There are a lot of repeating elements and seeing how [these fit] together to create a cohesive architectural language,” Litak said. “This building would be an architecture building because the architecture program currently does not have a dedicated building. There are gallery spaces, classrooms, presentation areas and a small museum area.” 

Litak said the showcase gave prospective architecture students a chance to gain a first-hand perspective of what the process of creating architectural models looks like.

“I would say that the most important thing about having a showcase like this is really getting to see what the actual work looks like and then being able to talk with people to see how much time really goes into it and what the process is,” Litak said. “I think that’s one of those things that is harder to look up online and know what to expect.”