Speakers include Mimi Hoang, Toni L. Griffin and Josephine Halvorson
Architect Mimi Hoang, urban planner Toni L. Griffin and artist Josephine Halvorson are among the internationally renowned creatives who will discuss their work at the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis this fall.
Uniting WashU’s academic units in art, architecture and design with its acclaimed Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, the Sam Fox School brings an interdisciplinary approach to contemporary issues and challenges, from sustainable design and new digital tools to the importance of strengthening local communities.
The fall public lecture series will highlight themes related to housing, perception, and social justice.
Events begin September 9 with Hoang, co-founder of Brooklyn, NY-based nARCHITECTS. Winners of the 2023 National Design Award in Architecture, the firm emphasizes the dynamic, ever-changing relationships between people, buildings and public space. Major projects include the NYS Equal Rights Heritage Center (2018), the Jones Beach Energy & Nature Center (2020) and the 36-acre Made in New York Campus in Brooklyn (2018–24).
On September 13, the Kemper Art Museum will host a conversation between Eric P. Mumford, the school’s Rebecca and John Voyles Professor of Architecture, and alumnus Michael E. Willis (AB ’73 / M.Arch and MSW ’76), founder of MWA Architects. The pair are co-curators of Design Agendas: Modern Architecture in St. Louis, 1930s–1970s, which will open with a reception immediately following the talk.
Jose Ahedo, founder and principal of Studio Ahedo, will discuss his practice September 16. Winner of Harvard’s 2014 Wheelwright Prize, Ahedo also will teach a graduate studio, “unCozy Islands: Mixed-use Experiments in Food-Productive Landscapes,” at WashU this fall.
Visiting artist Stacy Lynn Waddell, known for her use of precious materials such as gold and silver leaf, will speak September 24. She also will spend a week working with students while in residence with the Sam Fox School’s Island Press. Rafi Segal, associate professor of architecture and urbanism at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who examines the impact of architecture and urbanism on social, political and environmental issues, will discuss his work September 30.
Elisa Silva, founder of Enlace Arquitectura in Caracas, Venezuela, will kick-off the Informal Cities Workshop October 18. Crystal Z Campell, the 2023-24 Freund Teaching Fellow, will discuss their work at the Saint Louis Art Museum October 25.
Also on October 25, Griffin, a professor in practice of urban planning at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, will present the “Design Agendas” symposium keynote address. The symposium, which continues the following day, will bring together WashU faculty, St. Louis community members, and civic leaders to explore city planning, civic architecture and the role of culture, identity and memory in preservation.
Artist Josh Azzarella, who explores the power of authorship and collective memory through altered video and photography, will speak October 28. Artist Josephine Halvorson will discuss her paintings November 7. Typically painted from life, her acutely detailed work foregrounds faithful observation while also capturing the character and emotion of a particular time and place.
Concluding the series, on November 18, will be Anda French, AIA, and Jenny French, co-founders of French 2D, a Boston-based studio that combines familiar ideas of home with more radical organizations and typologies.
All events are free and begin at 5:30pm CT unless otherwise noted.
Selected Fall Lectures
For the complete list, visit samfoxschool.washu.edu.
Mimi Hoang
Harris Armstrong Fund Lecture
September 9
Q&A with Eric P. Mumford and Michael E. Willis
“Design Agendas: Modern Architecture in St. Louis, 1930s-1970s”
September 13
Jose Ahedo
Ruth & Norman Moore Visiting Professor of Architecture Lecture
September 16
Rafi Segal
Abend Family Visiting Critic Endowed Lecture
September 30
Elisa Silva
Informal Cities Workshop
October 18
Toni L. Griffin
“Design Agendas” Symposium keynote address
October 25
Anda French, AIA, and Jenny French
Eugene J. Mackey Jr. Lecture
November 18
