MSU graduate’s stadium design selected for prestigious international architecture showcase

Black-and-white photo of Duncan Thomas smiling while standing in front of a wall. — Duncan Thomas (Photo submitted)

STARKVILLE, Miss.—51�Թ�� State spring semester graduate and architecture major Duncan E. Thomas is being honored by the international Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture as one of only 10 with work in this year’s ACSA Study Architecture Showcase.

The Hattiesburg native’s ACSA-featured design, a proposal for a professional-sized stadium in the capital city of Jackson, is viewable online at .

Also his senior thesis project, the creation features a suspended steel roof structure merging two of his childhood interests—stadiums and bridges.

ACSA is a worldwide organization of architecture schools, including all accredited professional degree programs in the U.S. and Canada, international schools and two- and four-year programs. More than 40,000 architecture students are represented.

“To be selected for this showcase is an amazing honor—for Duncan, his professors and the school,” said School of Architecture Director and F.L. Crane Professor Karen C. Spence. “As one of only 10 projects included, Duncan’s achievement demonstrates the caliber of work produced by the School of Architecture at 51�Թ�� State. I am thrilled for Duncan and his professors.”

MSU architecture alumnus Duncan Thomas’s computer rendering of the exterior of his proposed professional-sized stadium in Jackson. He said the stadium’s site blends the Midway of the Fairgrounds with the higher elevation of downtown Jackson, and the pedestrian bridge and ramp create an apex point where the main arches of the roof structure touch down outside of the stadium.

Thomas said, “My main focuses in architecture school—parametric forms and structural design—became more harmonious in my projects as I got into later studios. This final thesis project combines my lifelong passions and is a culmination of how these passions developed into architecture through my years in school.”

MSU School of Architecture Professor and Associate Director Jassen Callender, who also serves as director of the school’s fifth-year program in Jackson, nominated Thomas for the showcase. Thomas currently is employed with Kimberly Brown Architecture in New York City and working toward licensure.

Thomas credits his design successes to the School of Architecture’s rigorous curriculum.

A computer rendering shows Duncan Thomas’s proposed promenade of a professional-sized stadium in Jackson. — A computer rendering shows Duncan Thomas’s proposed promenade of a professional-sized stadium in Jackson, featuring suspension bridge-inspired details to connect the steel roof structure to the concrete seating bowl structure.

“MSU requires students to know more about construction details and building assemblages than most schools of architecture do. This requires that students who want to push the boundary on the design aspect can’t just create conceptual ideas that won’t translate practically,” he said. “For this reason, I was pushed by many of my professors to be more critical of the organic geometries and forms that I was interested in designing. This led me to incorporate elements of structural engineering into my designs and really helped to progress my skill as a designer.”

While at MSU, Thomas was a member of the National Organization of Minority Architecture Students and served as treasurer of Tau Sigma Delta, an honor society for architecture and the allied arts. He was one of two recipients of MSU’s Fifth-Year Jurists’ Award, conferred for his personal growth as a designer and contribution to the overall success of the fifth-year design studio.

MSU’s School of Architecture offers the state’s only professional architecture degree accredited by the National Architectural Accrediting Board. Learn more at .

MSU is 51�Թ��’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu .

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