Life at the Sam Fox School

What’s it really like to be a Sam Fox School student? Scroll down to get a glimpse of studio life, meet our students, and see what’s happening right now on our side of campus.

Recent Happenings

Commencement 2024

The Sam Fox School Recognition Ceremony took place on May 12 in the Varsity Gym. WashU’s Commencement took place the following morning on Francis Olympic Field. Congratulations to all our 2024 grads!

Recent Happenings

2024 Senior BA and Second Majors in Studio Art and Communication Design Exhibition

Senior BA students and Second Majors exhibited art and design work at The Chapel on Alexander, opening on April 27.

Recent Happenings

BFA in Communication Design Capstone Exhibition

The 2024 BFA in Communication Design Capstone Exhibition opened in Steinberg Gallery on April 25, displaying books, posters, animatics, and websites by seniors. View all the projects on their website.

Recent Happenings

2024 MFA-IVC Thesis Show

Graduating MFA-IVC students exhibited their thesis work at the High Low Gallery. The show is open from April 19–May 7.

Recent Happenings

Awards for Distinction

The school presented awards to seven alumni from art and architecture on April 18, 2024. Get to know each of our recipients from their interviews.

Recent Happenings

The Black Experience in Design UnConference

This UnConference, “The Stories We Carry: Stewarding Identity Through Process,” fostered collaboration on design approaches that integrate personal narratives.

Recent Happenings

2024 BFA Juniors Capstone Exhibition at the Des Lee

BFA Juniors in the studio art program exhibited work at their year-end show, “Ouch” at the Des Lee Gallery March 28–April 6, 2024.

Recent Happenings

AI + Design Symposium: Learning from AI

On March 29, the Sam Fox School hosted its second annual AI + Design symposium, featuring panels on the creative design process and machine-augmented vision.

Recent Happenings

Community Design Sprints at Sumner StudioLab

Students presented their work with 4theVille on the organization’s ongoing cultural boulevard plan to community guests and critics at Sumner High School.

Recent Happenings

The Unruly City

Sr. lecturer Michael Allen’s course delves into the history of American urban planning. Students presented their work at midterm reviews through staged debates, mini performances, and games.

Recent Happenings

River City Redevelopment in Alton, Ill.

Sr. lecturer Ian Trivers and MUD students visited Alton, Ill., the site of a proposed flood wall development project. Students met community members and investigated alternate ecological solutions.

Recent Happenings

MLA soil core workshop

MLA students pulled soil core samples from a site in south St. Louis and ran analysis on them under the guidance of asst. prof. Seth Denizen and researcher Dr. Christina Siebe.

Recent Happenings

Laskey Charrette 2024

39 Sam Fox School undergrad architecture students took part in the annual Laskey Charrette design competition in February. Teams fabricated a photo of a room into a diorama.

Recent Happenings

Arch / Land / Urb Career Fair

The Sam Fox School’s career office hosted an architecture / landscape architecture / urban design career fair where students had the opportunity to mingle with top architecture firms.

Recent Happenings

Parabola 2024

2024-02-09–The annual cross-disciplinary art show “Parabola” opened at the Des Lee Gallery on Feb. 9. The show features a juried selection of work from artists across all graduate programs at WasU.

Recent Happenings

Bill Kartalopoulos

Comics critic, educator, curator, and editor Bill Kartalopoulos met MFA-IVC students and delivered a public lecture on the history and cultural relevance of comics to kick off the spring semester.

Recent Happenings

Architecture Final Reviews - Fall 2023

Fall final reviews are in the books! It was a joy to see and share all of the work our graduate architecture students have done this semester. Congratulations!

Recent Happenings

419 Housing Studio

Graduate architecture students in the fall 2023 419 Housing Studio worked on housing projects in New Orleans, Halifax, San Juan, and Barcelona.

Recent Happenings

Artist in the Archives

Freund Fellow Crystal Z Campbell’s class took a private tour of the Urban Archaeology: Lost Buildings of St. Louis exhibition at the Pulitzer Arts Foundation with exhibition curator Michael Allen.

Recent Happenings

Make Art/Work: Staff Exhibition

“Make Art/Work” opened at the Des Lee Gallery on November 10. The exhibition highlights the diverse creative practices that our staff explore outside of work at the Sam Fox School.

Recent Happenings

Hendrix receives Distinguished Faculty Award

The Distinguished Faculty Award recognizes outstanding commitment to the intellectual and personal development of students. Watch his video profile.

Recent Happenings

Blind Spots: 13th Annual Illustration Research Symposium

Charles Johnson—award-winning writer, philosopher, educator, and cartoonist—gave the conference’s keynote address on damaging racial stereotypes in comics and historical Black cartoonists.

Recent Happenings

Informal Cities 2024

Master of Urban Design students worked with guests James Rojas (Place It!) and John Kamp (Prairieform) at the annual Informal Cities workshop, opening with a walking tour of STL’s Cherokee St.

Recent Happenings

Island Press: Printing Black America

Artist William Villalongo and data scientist Shraddha Ramani visited Island Press to conduct local research and work with students on a portfolio of new prints for their ongoing project.

Recent Happenings

Design Justice Workshop with Ezra Kong

Ezra Kong, BS ’16, is a community-based facilitator and practitioner, and head of the Design Futures Forum. They led a discussion and workshop on design and social justice for students on Oct. 20.

Recent Happenings

Sam Kalda in MFA-IVC

Illustrator Sam Kalda visited campus and conducted one-on-one reviews with MFA-IVC students during midterms.

Recent Happenings

Arch 111 Field Trip to MoBot

First-year architecture students took a guided trip to the Missouri Botanical Garden to study how architecture intersects with environment at the St. Louis institution.

Recent Happenings

David Samuel Stern with MFA-VA

David Samuel Stern, MFA ‘06, conducted studio reviews with MFA-VA students during his trip to campus to mark the unveiling of his Weil Project Wall piece, Unknown (American), 2023.

Recent Happenings

Marie Lorenz

Artist Marie Lorenz—whose work is rooted in the exploration of narrative of New York City’s waterfronts—visited campus to deliver a lecture and conduct studio visits with MFA-VA students.

Recent Happenings

The Long Goodbye: MFA in Visual Art 2nd Year Summer Project Exhibition

2023-09-14 – MFA-VA 2nd year students exhibited summer project work at the Des Lee Gallery, September 14–October 13, 2023.

Recent Happenings

ASLA's Park(ing) Day 2023

Graduate landscape architecture students transformed a parking space on Delmar Blvd into a pop-up pollinator garden as part of ASLA’s national Park(ing) Day event.

Recent Happenings

Foxapalooza

Students and faculty gathered outdoors on Jordan Plaza to celebrate the start of another academic year with yard games, t-shirts, and ice cream sandwiches.

Group of WashU grads in green robes stands and applauds.

People look at sculptures on plinths in a converted chapel.

People read copies of illustrated books off a table in a small gallery space displaying posters on the walls above each stack of books.

Two gallery attendees peer into a glass vitrine to view a small cartoon bear figurine.

Group of people pose with special black and red glass bowls.

Three panelists seated in Kuehner Court speaking to an audience.

Two students gesture with open palms and comically distinguished expressions at a brightly colored painting in a gallery.

Speaker addresses a crowd in Weil Hall's Kuehner Court.

Lecturer Matthew Bernstine presents to a classroom of students and community partners.

Group of students and faculty walking down the street in Alton, Ill., past a mural of a steamboat.

Students gather around a narrow green trough on a tabletop holding soil core samples while an instructor demonstrates the analysis.

Three students work on a white foamcore shadowbox in an architecture studio.

Students meet and share portfolios with two architects at a career fair table.

Performance piece with one student on keyboard while another hands out strips of fabric with poetry imprinted on them to gallery attendees at a show.

Bill Kartalopoulos points to a screen displaying a Medieval scroll with sequential artwork.

Wide shot of a gallery space set up with architecture student work. A student presents to a room full of faculty, critics, and classmates.

Group of students gathers around a tabletop model of a city.

Students stand in a gallery of architectural objects at the Pulitzer as a curator talks.

Three people smile and chat in the Des Lee Gallery.

Chancellor Martin and John Hendrix shake hands on stage.

John Kamp and James Rojas stand in front of a construction fence at Love Bank Park and speak to a group of students.

Artist holds up a print of a colorful data visualization print to show helpers.

Kong stands at the head of a table of students in Kuehner Court.

Sam Kalda and student sit casually and chat.

Group of students sit on a stone bridge in a shade garden and sketch.

Stern and student in a studio space. Stern gestures to two abstract pattern-based paintings displayed on the wall while student takes notes.

Two artists crouch to look at in-progress work on the floor of a studio.

Two students chat with Dean Colangelo in a gallery space. Behind them is a freestanding sculpture with three brightly colored flags hanging from bent poles.

Four students chat underneath an umbrella set up in a street parking spot turned into a parklet.

Senior BA students and Second Majors exhibited art and design work at The Chapel on Alexander, opening on April 27.

Graduating MFA-IVC students exhibited their thesis work at the High Low Gallery. The show is open from April 19–May 7.

The school presented awards to seven alumni from art and architecture on April 18, 2024. Get to know each of our recipients from their interviews.

This UnConference, “The Stories We Carry: Stewarding Identity Through Process,” fostered collaboration on design approaches that integrate personal narratives.

BFA Juniors in the studio art program exhibited work at their year-end show, “Ouch” at the Des Lee Gallery March 28–April 6, 2024.

On March 29, the Sam Fox School hosted its second annual AI + Design symposium, featuring panels on the creative design process and machine-augmented vision.

Students presented their work with 4theVille on the organization’s ongoing cultural boulevard plan to community guests and critics at Sumner High School.

Sr. lecturer Michael Allen’s course delves into the history of American urban planning. Students presented their work at midterm reviews through staged debates, mini performances, and games.

Sr. lecturer Ian Trivers and MUD students visited Alton, Ill., the site of a proposed flood wall development project. Students met community members and investigated alternate ecological solutions.

MLA students pulled soil core samples from a site in south St. Louis and ran analysis on them under the guidance of asst. prof. Seth Denizen and researcher Dr. Christina Siebe.

39 Sam Fox School undergrad architecture students took part in the annual Laskey Charrette design competition in February. Teams fabricated a photo of a room into a diorama.

The Sam Fox School’s career office hosted an architecture / landscape architecture / urban design career fair where students had the opportunity to mingle with top architecture firms.

Comics critic, educator, curator, and editor Bill Kartalopoulos met MFA-IVC students and delivered a public lecture on the history and cultural relevance of comics to kick off the spring semester.

Fall final reviews are in the books! It was a joy to see and share all of the work our graduate architecture students have done this semester. Congratulations!

Graduate architecture students in the fall 2023 419 Housing Studio worked on housing projects in New Orleans, Halifax, San Juan, and Barcelona.

Freund Fellow Crystal Z Campbell’s class took a private tour of the Urban Archaeology: Lost Buildings of St. Louis exhibition at the Pulitzer Arts Foundation with exhibition curator Michael Allen.

“Make Art/Work” opened at the Des Lee Gallery on November 10. The exhibition highlights the diverse creative practices that our staff explore outside of work at the Sam Fox School.

The Distinguished Faculty Award recognizes outstanding commitment to the intellectual and personal development of students. Watch his video profile.

Charles Johnson—award-winning writer, philosopher, educator, and cartoonist—gave the conference’s keynote address on damaging racial stereotypes in comics and historical Black cartoonists.

Master of Urban Design students worked with guests James Rojas (Place It!) and John Kamp (Prairieform) at the annual Informal Cities workshop, opening with a walking tour of STL’s Cherokee St.

Artist William Villalongo and data scientist Shraddha Ramani visited Island Press to conduct local research and work with students on a portfolio of new prints for their ongoing project.

Ezra Kong, BS ’16, is a community-based facilitator and practitioner, and head of the Design Futures Forum. They led a discussion and workshop on design and social justice for students on Oct. 20.

Illustrator Sam Kalda visited campus and conducted one-on-one reviews with MFA-IVC students during midterms.

First-year architecture students took a guided trip to the Missouri Botanical Garden to study how architecture intersects with environment at the St. Louis institution.

David Samuel Stern, MFA ‘06, conducted studio reviews with MFA-VA students during his trip to campus to mark the unveiling of his Weil Project Wall piece, Unknown (American), 2023.

Artist Marie Lorenz—whose work is rooted in the exploration of narrative of New York City’s waterfronts—visited campus to deliver a lecture and conduct studio visits with MFA-VA students.

2023-09-14 – MFA-VA 2nd year students exhibited summer project work at the Des Lee Gallery, September 14–October 13, 2023.

Graduate landscape architecture students transformed a parking space on Delmar Blvd into a pop-up pollinator garden as part of ASLA’s national Park(ing) Day event.

Students and faculty gathered outdoors on Jordan Plaza to celebrate the start of another academic year with yard games, t-shirts, and ice cream sandwiches.

Visit Us

Follow @washusamfoxschool on Instagram

Tour our campus

We’re located in an ideal spot on the East End of the Danforth Campus, right across from beautiful Forest Park.

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See why we love St. Louis

St. Louis is a vibrant, exciting place to practice architecture, art, and design.

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Sam Fox School...abroad!

In our study abroad programs, our students take their practice across the globe.

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Get to Know Our Students

Student spotlight

Q&A with Czesława Wojtkowski

Student spotlight

Q & A with Danielle Ridolfi

Danielle Ridolfi reflected on the scope of her practice, time at WashU, and thesis project leading up to the MFA in Visual Art thesis exhibition.

Student spotlight

Nayoung Shin, MUD ’25

Student spotlight

Q&A with Tahia Farhin Haque

Student spotlight

Q&A with Addyson Hoey

Student spotlight

Rebecca Spratt, MArch ’25

Student spotlight

Emma Woolcott, MArch/MUD ’25

Student spotlight

Q&A with Catie Cook

Student spotlight

Q&A with Sam Berger

Student spotlight

Q&A with Roy Uptain

artist Tahia Farhin Haque writing with chalk on a wall in an installation piece

Danielle Ridolfi reflected on the scope of her practice, time at WashU, and thesis project leading up to the MFA in Visual Art thesis exhibition.

Large group of about 17 happy students seated/standing for a portrait outside.

Join a Student Group

Students have numerous opportunities to make their mark on campus—including through student groups and student chapters of professional organizations based out of the Sam Fox School.

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