GGP Seminar: Traci Sooter - "Building Community Through Design"

Traci Sooter, FAIA, is the director of the Design-Build Program and professor at the Hammons School of Architecture at Drury University. Professor Sooter specializes in design-build projects with her students for charities and communities in need. Her passion is in the discovery of how good design can build community, uplifting those in need by feeling seen and cared for by being provided dignified architectural solutions.

This presentation will feature her journey with Drury University students and faculty from diverse majors and disciplines who developed into a whole-school approach to hands-on, real-world experiences that serve our southwest Missouri community. She will talk about her ongoing work with the Gathering Tree, operators of Eden Villages, and the REVIVE 66 campground for the unsheltered. 

She has completed 19 built projects to date including the first-ever LEED Platinum home for Habitat for Humanity International. Also, four projects for the television show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. She led a Drury University/Crowder College team to the competition in the U.S. Department of Energy's Solar Decathlon and was awarded Best of Design, by Architects Newspaper for "A Home for MU," a tiny house for Eden Village in Springfield, MO.

Sooter's work with her students for our sw Missouri community has been recognized with the Drury University Award for Excellence in Leadership, Faculty Of the Year Award, Faculty Award of Distinguished Appreciation, The Sigma Kappa Sorority Colby Award, the Habitat for Humanity Golden Hammer Award and their Building Lives Award. In 2018, she was elevated to the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects, an honor only 3% of architects achieve.

Professor Sooter holds a Master of Architecture and a Master of Construction Management from Washington University, St. Louis. She is an MSU alumna, Bachelor of Science - Marketing. At that time, she filled the paws of our Boomer Bear, another great design; ask her about it. Thanks, Traci and welcome back to campus.

Free