Sarah Gamble is a registered architect and educator with a passion for the public realm and community projects. An assistant professor in the University of Florida School of Architecture, Gamble will discuss how architects are engaging the climate crisis through their work and present a call to action for her profession and the broader public. Environmental education will be a focus, including the opportunities it creates for architects and the public to engage with each other and the environmental challenges present in their communities. A series of architectural projects along the Texas Gulf Coast designed and built by University of Texas at Austin students will provide tangible examples of activism at work. Her talk is titled “Environmental Activism: Opportunities for Architects and the Public to Engage in the Climate Crisis.”

Gamble teaches architectural design for graduate and undergraduate students at the UF School of Architecture, following teaching at the University of Texas at Austin from 2011 to 2018. Gamble’s academic research focuses on context and how design is catalyzed by the surrounding environment and our understanding of it, including physical, cultural, social, and ephemeral facets. This focus feeds her architectural practice, residing in public interest design, a field incorporating elements of urban planning, architectural design, the arts, social work, community engagement, and education.

In 2018, Gamble served as the State Architect for the Texas Historical Commission’s Main Street Program. From 2011 to 2017, Gamble co-founded and co-led GO collaborative (Gamble Osgood Collaborative), a design and planning firm connecting people with place with clients and grantors including the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), City of Calgary, and ArtPlace America. From 2009 – 2011, Gamble served as architect of the Austin Community Design and Development Center, a nonprofit community design center focused on affordable housing. From 2007 – 2009, Gamble was a designer at Specht Architects (formerly Specht Harpman Architects) in Austin working on projects at St. Edward’s University. There, her focus was the award-winning Doyle Hall, a renovation and addition to a 1950’s mid-century dormitory to the home of the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences. The project received a AIA Austin Design Award and was featured in Metropolis and Architect magazines. From 2006 – 2007, Gamble co-founded and served as coordinator of the CITYbuild Consortium of Schools, based at the Tulane University School of Architecture. The organization served more than 17 national universities to assist in New Orleans’ rebuilding following Hurricane Katrina. In 2008, Gamble received a ACSA Collaborative Practice award for this work.

The recipient of a Young Alumni Award from the University of Florida School of Architecture, Gamble was featured by Austin(its) Magazine as one of 21 Austinites making a difference. In 2013, she was featured in Texas Architect magazine as one of “4 Under 40” architects and named one of Austin’s “10 to Watch” in 2011 by Tribeza Magazine for her positive impact on the city.

The Contemporary Issues Forum is programmed by the Chautauqua Women’s Club.