Should builders view net zero energy as a standard instead of an aspiration? As populations age, will future homeowners rely more on voice-controlled devices to manage systems like heating, cooling, and lighting? Can modular, flexible design and construction provide answers to suburban neighborhoods that are facing growing densities? Will precast concrete emerge as the building material of choice for housing construction in a world increasingly threatened by the ravages of climate change?

Last year, UNLV's Jazz Studies program won bragging rights for life when its Jazz Ensemble 1 big band tied for first place in the highly regarded Monterey Next Generation Jazz Festival.

Even if you don’t follow art, you probably know the work of Tim Bavington. “Pipe Dream,” his colorful tube sculpture outside the Smith Center, has become a Downtown icon since it made its debut in 2012—not to mention the background of countless selfies.

Beyond the tourist corridor’s fl ash, Las Vegas’ art community has been making, collecting and showing great art for years. From established organizations to those in the making, from the Downtown gallery scene to blue-chip public art all over the city, art in Las Vegas is fascinating, varied and defi nitely on the rise. Of course, the excitement is fueled by people, and here we profi le the local art world’s most pivotal players, from its public faces to those moving the needle behind the scenes.

New research on how occupants inhabit energy-efficient buildings reveals behaviors designers don’t anticipate—and a slew of bloopers.

When Vikki Baltimore-Dale moved from Los Angeles to Las Vegas in the early 1980s, the black dance scene was much different.

Nancy Uscher believes “life is an adventure.” Make that adventures. Her UNLV office — the one she occupies as dean of the College of Fine Arts — reflects that belief, with keepsakes of her adventures as musician and educator.

Heavy themes with a light touch. It’s a challenge, but one that helps make “Disgraced” such a taut — and topical — theatrical experience.

Master magician Lance Burton, who retired after 30 years of wowing audiences with his incredible wizardry, will be honored Tuesday evening at the 14th Annual College of Fine Arts Hall of Fame celebration at UNLV.

University of Nevada Las Vegas students from the colleges of engineering, architecture, hotel management, health sciences, fine arts and construction management will be competing in Solar Decathlon 2017 at Denver this fall to showcase their skills in designing an energy-efficient, solar-powered home that can actively support aging residents.

UNLV’s Barrick Museum of Art turns 50 this year with a new name and new leadership. Dean Nancy Uscher of the university’s College of Fine Arts has been on the job less than a year and says her fresh eyes see value waiting to be unlocked in the museum.

I was in no rush to see Oil, the exhibit of large-format photographs by Canadian artist Edward Burtynsky, which opened back in September at UNLV’s Barrick Museum. For one thing, it’s up until January 14 — still a lotta time on the clock. But for another, knowing Burtynsky’s subject (the life cycle of oil, from drilling to disposal) I had a pretty good idea of what I’d see. Petroleum gothic: vistas of industrial grime and the desolate machinery of extraction; bafflingly dense pipescapes only a cyborg could love, each limned in harsh chemical lights; highways choked with cars whose drivers remain oblivious to the massively destructive process that makes it all go. Blights on the land. Oodles of black goop. All presented with a documentary matter-of-factness that not so subtly implicates the viewer: Do you understand what we’re doing here?