About the Event
Rice Architecture kicks off the spring edition of its annual lecture series, Building Identities, on Wednesday, February 2, with a lecture by Ann Lui, principal, Future Firm; assistant professor of practice, Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Michigan; and Cullinan Visiting Professor, Rice Architecture. Lui will present her in-person lecture at 12:00 p.m. in Farish Gallery, MD Anderson Hall. To livestream the event, please visit our YouTube page on the day and time of the lecture. For more information on the event, click here.
In her lecture, “Future/Practice,” Lui will address important disciplinary questions of our time, reflecting on the possibility of the practice of architecture itself to be re-designed. Configurations of professional practice that we take for granted—namely, the governing yet problematic model of the genius, self-interested competitor—were recently constructed and should be historically understood rather than written in stone. This talk proposes that we consider the tools, processes, and frameworks of professional practice themselves to be a design project of urgent concern. Lui will present design research projects on the intersection of building code and equity, particularly issues of authorship, enforcement, and accountability. She will also present recent design work from Future Firm, including architecture and installations, both built and in progress, in the context of these broader questions.
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.
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.
