Building Identities

Rice Architecture presents the spring edition of its annual lecture series, Building Identities, as a series of collective reflections and conversations that approach construction of physical structures as inseparable from the construction of human identities. Through a combination of talks, panel discussions, and student-led events, our spring programs aim to broaden our understanding of building construction and identity formation as two interrelated processes, seeking to close the gap between the social and the formal in the field of architecture and our world more broadly. Reflecting the pluralism of Houston as the most diverse city in the United States, Building Identities advances the agency of architecture in a new multicultural world. We believe this is an urgent theme for our school, our community, and our field at large.

Ann Lui
Future Firm/University of Michigan/Rice Architecture
“Future/Practice”
Wednesday, February 2, 12pm

Yen Ha
Front Studio/Rice Architecture
“For the Many”
Wednesday, February 16, 12pm

PlanetNow! Panel: Rafael Beneytez-Durán, University of Houston; Salmaan Craig, McGill University; and Heather Davis, The New School. Moderators: Joseph Campana, Rice School of Humanities, and Liz Gálvez, Rice Architecture
“Prepared Air”
Monday, February 21, 6pm (virtual event)
Co-organized through the Rice Center for Environmental Studies, a joint venture of Rice Architecture and Rice School of Humanities

Nguyen Hai Long and Tran Thi Ngu Ngon
Tropical Space, Vietnam
Wednesday, February 23, 5:30pm
Rice Design Alliance Spotlight Award Lecture, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

Michael Maltzan
Michael Maltzan Architecture
Friday, February 25, 5:30pm
Co-organized with Rice University’s Moody Center for the Arts, where the event will be held

Anti-Racism Collective Panel: Rekha Auguste-Nelson, riffstudio; Nathan Friedman, Departamento del Distrito/Rice Architecture; and Ghazal Jafari, OPEN SYSTEMS/University of Virginia
“Identity, Space, and Power”
Friday, March 4, 12pm (virtual event)
Panel organized by Anti-Racism Collective (ARC), a student organization of Rice Architecture

Tania Leonor Gutiérrez Monroy
University of Houston
“Landscapes of Resistance: Architectural Practices of Indigenous Communities in Mexico”
Monday, March 7, 12pm
Workshop organized by Society, a student organization of Rice Architecture

Yolande Daniels
studioSUMO/Massachusetts Institute of Technology
“Architectural Identifications: Building | Unbuilding”
Wednesday, March 9, 12pm
Llewelyn-Davies Sahni Innovative Practice Lecture

Donald Hickman
buildingcommunityWORKSHOP
“Design for All”
Friday, March 25, 12pm
National Organization of Minority Architecture Students (NOMAS) Rice Lecture

Adib Cúre and Carie Penabad
CÚRE & PENABAD Architecture and Urban Design
“More with Less”
Wednesday, March 30, 12pm

Fuensanta Nieto
Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos/Universidad Europea de Madrid
“Variations on the Museum Idea” 
Tuesday, April 5, 5:30pm

Civic Forum: Food Equity 
Wednesday, May 18, 5:30pm
Rice Design Alliance

All lectures are free and open to the public. Except for virtual events, all lectures will be held in Farish Gallery, MD Anderson Hall, Rice Architecture, unless otherwise noted, with a livestream available. For more information and to access the livestream links and virtual events registration page, visit arch.rice.edu/latest/events. Each lecture is available for one AIA/CES Learning Unit. 

This lecture series is made possible through the generous support of the Llewelyn-Davies Sahni Fund for the Rice School of Architecture, the Betty R. and the George F. Pierce Jr., FAIA, Fund, the William B. Coleman Jr. Colloquium Fund for Architecture, the Wm. W. Caudill Lecture Series Fund, and Rice Design Alliance (RDA), the public programs and outreach arm of Rice Architecture. RDA’s programs are made possible through the generous support of RDA members and Underwriters: Harvey | Harvey-Cleary, Agile Interiors, Tellepsen Family, ABB/Wholesale Electric Supply Co. of Houston, Big State Electric, Brochsteins, CED Houston, HKS, Inc., KenMor Engineering, Marek, Turner Construction, and Walter P Moore. Additional programming support is provided by a grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts.