April 8–June 11, 2021
Rice Design Alliance announces its spring 2021 programming with a selection of lectures, civic panels, and virtual architecture tours.
On April 8, OMA New York Partner, Jason Long, will present OMA’s first project in Houston, the POST Houston building, currently under construction, and will discuss its rebirth from its former life as the historic downtown Post Office.
On April 14, Emanuel Admassu and Jen Wood, Founding Principals at AD–WO, will deliver the Spotlight Award Lecture as the 2021 recipients of RDA’s longstanding award for emerging architecture practices.
Responding to the catastrophic effects of last February’s Winter Storm Uri that left millions in Texas without power, heat, food, and water, RDA’s Civic Forum 2021, “POWER! Who Decides Houston’s Resiliency?,” considers the role of architecture in the resiliency of our infrastructure and energy systems and the devastating consequences that deregulated practices can have in the built environment.
Closing the spring, RDA’s annual architecture tour goes online for the first time under the theme of “UPWARDS” delving into the notion of density in Houston’s housing stock and exploring the history of the city’s gradual transition towards urban densification. In the face of population growth and increasing climate challenges, the showcased residences will pose some possible living scenarios—from past and present—that move away from single family suburban housing and show the power of collective living.
All lectures are free and open to the public. Please be sure to register online for each lecture to receive the link to join. For more information on all lectures, to register to attend, and to purchase tickets to the architecture tour “UPWARDS” visit www.ricedesignalliance.org, or click on the links below.
RDA Presents
Jason Long: “Sharing is Daring—POST Houston, Post Civic”
Partner, OMA New York
Thursday, April 8, 6pm, register here
Spotlight Award + Lecture
Emanuel Admassu and Jen Wood: “Immeasurability”
Founding Principals, AD–WO, Rhode Island, Melbourne, and Addis Ababa
Wednesday, April 14, 12pm, register here
Civic Forum 2021
“POWER! Who Decides Houston’s Resiliency?”
Wednesday, April 21, 6pm, register here
Virtual Architecture Tour
“UPWARDS”
Online tours launching Saturday, June 5
Zoom conversation with architects, residents, and owners, Friday, June 11, 6pm
RDA’s Spotlight Award + Lecture is made possible through the generous support of Rice University’s Humanities Research Center, with additional support from the Texas Commission on the Arts. Funding also is provided by RDA Underwriters: MAREK, W.S. Bellows Construction Corp., Harvey | Harvey-Cleary, Tellepsen, Hines, HKS, Inc., IBEW, MLN Company, m Strategic Partners, TDIndustries, TRIO Electric, and Walker Engineering, Inc.
All spring 2021 lectures are eligible for one AIA/CES Learning Unit. Rice Design Alliance is an AIA/CES Registered Provider of quality educational programs.
About RDA
Rice Design Alliance is the public programs and outreach arm of Rice Architecture. We curate public programs, architecture tours, design competitions and publications that communicate the importance of design in our everyday lives and its ability to make our lives better. We are based at and work from the Rice Architecture school as an advocacy group that believes that multidisciplinary and research-based design can improve our cities and the way we live in them.
RDA was established within Rice Architecture in 1972 by the school’s first dean, David Crane, together with alumni and other civic-minded community members who believed that quality design thinking should be available to all in our community and that Houston’s citizens—experts and non-experts alike—should feel empowered to act and transform our city through design.
