Recently in Architectural engineering Category

Using Google mapping tools and their exceptional modeling skills, seven Missouri S&T students put the campus on the map -- on Google Maps, specifically. And in the process, their creation was one of nine winners in Google's 2008 International Model Your Campus Competition.

As our official news release explains:

Each team used Google SketchUp modeling software to create models of campus buildings, then referenced them in Google Earth – a utility that uses satellite imagery and allows web users to “fly” in to anywhere on the planet. The teams then uploaded their creations to the Google 3D Warehouse. The winners were selected by a panel of industry experts.

For their efforts, they each will receive some pretty cool swag: an Apple iPod Touch, a Nintendo Wii Console, and a Google T-shirt and hat.

The judges praised each winning team for the way they "captured the right level of detail to efficiently reflect the character and complexity of the campuses they represented," "used good judgment about what to detail so that interesting aspects of the buildings were captured," and for their "overall consistency to all the models on each campus." The judges also noted: "The photo-texturing was exceptional – people, cars and vegetation were removed so that the building textures were plainly visible."

Great work, team! You really know how to put Missouri S&T on the map.

There's a list out of America's Top 150 architectural structures. The Empire State Building is No. 1. The Gateway Arch is No. 14. Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwaters is No. 29. The list is top heavy with popular buildings for tourists to look at (the White House is in the Top 10) and doesn't necessarily include the most aesthetically beautiful or striking structures in America. How could they possibly leave off the Campus Support Facility at UMR?

By the way, UMR's relatively new architectural engineering program is the only program of its kind in Missouri. And the UMR Solar House Team is getting ready to build yet another house to show off on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

Anyway, what's your favorite building on campus? Norwood Hall? The Rolla Building? Or, if you live elsewhere, what's your favorite building -- architecturally speaking -- in your home town or city, and why? (I favor stadiums: the old Ahearn Field House in Manhattan, Kan.; the still-modern Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Mo.; Civic Stadium (now PGE Park) in Portland, Ore; even the new Hammons Field in Springfield, Mo.) Leave your architectural opinions in the comments section.