New faculty

The Rice University School of Architecture is honored to welcome six new faculty members to its academic community. Together, their innovative work displays a breadth and depth of approaches that combine close readings of buildings with varied global perspectives.

“With their elegant building designs and exhibition installations—as well as technological and environmental experiments—our newest cohort of colleagues approach contemporary architecture from many angles, geographies, and backgrounds,” said Igor Marjanović, the William Ward Watkin Dean of Rice Architecture. “We are invigorated by the richness and range of their voices, and we welcome them wholeheartedly to the collective conversation of our faculty.”

Assistant Professors: Georgina Baronian and Jung Min Han
Georgina Baronian’s work explores the interrelation of climate and aesthetics and how assumed notions of thermal comfort can be reconsidered through spatial, experiential, and aesthetic lenses. Prior to establishing an independent practice as principal of clovisbaronian, an architectural practice based in California and Texas, she worked in Tokyo for the offices of Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa / SANAA and Junya Ishigami + Associates. Baronian was trained as an architect at the University of Melbourne and Princeton University.

Jung Min Han, who will join Rice Architecture in the fall of 2024, is currently an instructor at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design and a fellow at the Harvard Center for Green Buildings and Cities. A LEED-accredited professional studying energy flows, building performance, and artificial intelligence (AI), Han has also developed Building Performance Simulation (BPS) software that informs sustainable design processes across multiple scales—from buildings to urban environments. Among her AI models are programs for estimating indoor airflow, localized weather, and energy loads. She holds degrees from Korea National University of Arts, Carnegie Mellon University, and Harvard Graduate School of Design.

Professors in the Practice: Nathan Friedman and Nicola Springer
Nathan Friedman joined Rice Architecture as a 2021–23 Wortham Fellow. He is the principal of the Mexico City–based design practice Departamento del Distrito and has also worked for Eisenman Architects, SMAQ Berlin, and the Office for Metropolitan Architecture in Rotterdam, where he collaborated on numerous projects, including the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in Moscow. He contributed to the 2021 Chicago Architecture Biennial and received the 2022 Architectural League Prize. His research focuses on the intersection of politics, identity, and the built environment. He holds architectural degrees from MIT and Cornell University.

Nicola Springer, AIA, LEED AP, is an executive vice president and director at Kirksey Architecture. A recognized design leader in the Houston community, she is also an expert in the design of award-winning learning environments based on play theory—a process that engages stakeholders in a fun, collaborative way to gather quantitative and qualitative information during the design process. Springer received a B.A. in architecture from Princeton University and an M.Arch. from Rice Architecture.

2023–2025 Wortham Fellows: Tania Tovar Torres and Zhicheng Xu
Tania Tovar Torres is an architect, writer, and curator whose practice uses documentary and archival research to explore new possibilities for architectural exhibitions. Cofounder and director of Proyector, a curatorial platform in Mexico City that promotes emerging voices in architectural research, Tovar Torres was awarded the 2022 Young Creators Fellowship of the National Fund for Culture and the Arts in Mexico. She studied architecture at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design, and Columbia University.

Zhicheng Xu is an educator and founder of Hyperlocal, a practice engaged in architecture, urban design, public art, and landscape design. Exploring the role of art and architecture in the greater ecological and cultural fabric, as well as the interaction between nonhuman species and the built environment, Xu’s work has been exhibited at the Venice Architecture Biennale, Lisbon Architecture Triennale, RMIT Design Hub, Latrobe Regional Gallery, and the Center for Architecture in New York. He has received awards from the Urban Land Institute, the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), the Landscape Architecture Foundation, ASLA-Indiana Chapter, and the Boston Society of Landscape Architects. He studied architecture and landscape architecture at MIT and Purdue University.

To read more about the work of all Rice Architecture faculty members, please visit here.