Whoever said that the “most exciting two minutes in sports” was the Kentucky Derby has not been to Anything That Floats! This year will be derby-themed, so if you’re coming to watch wear your best derby gear. As a team member, you may also participate this year in a jockey costume contest for extra points!

Anything That Floats challenges participants to build a device to float a short distance along Buffalo Bayou with discarded building materials provided the day-of by RDA. The competition is open to all! You don’t have to be a designer.

Mark your calendars for Saturday, June 22, 2013 at 8a.

What: Anything That Floats hosted by rdAGENTS

When: Saturday, June 22, 2013

7:30-8:00: Teams arrive and unload materials along Preston St. between Smith St. and the bayou.
8:00-11:00: Build
11:30-1:30: Float, followed by Judging and Awards

Please click here for rules and items allowed.

Team sizes are limited to 5 people per team.

Breakfast and lunch will be provided by RDA.

Where: Sesquicentennial Park along Buffalo Bayou

RDA Member Ticket Prices:$25

Non-RDA Member Prices: $35

To register, please fill out and fax or email this application to mbwoiccak@rice.edu.

Teams will be allowed to unload materials at Sesquicentennial Park along Preston Street between 7:30 and 8:00am in between Smith St. and the bayou. Vehicles will be allowed back after 1:00 p.m. to pick up materials.

Parking can be found underground in front of the Wortham Theatre.

Click on the image to watch a video about the making of Cite 91.

Check out this online video showing how the new issue of Cite was printed. The video is about 7 minutes in length and takes you through the offset process for the interior pages, the letterpress work on the cover, and the pad binding that brought it all together. You can get a sense of the extraordinary amount of labor and skill that goes into the fabrication of each issue. Be sure to pick up a copy at Brazos, Contemporary Museum of Art, DOMY, The Menil Collection, the MFAH, or Issues. Or subscribe online.

Monday May 13, 2013
3-5 pm
H-GAC Conference Room A
3555 Timmons
Houston, TX 77027

Hosted by Houston-Galveston Area Council

Co-Sponsored by:
Houston Endowment, Texas Organizing Progrect, AIA Houston, Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs Department of Urban Planning and Environmental Policy, Gulf Coast Interfaith, LISC Greater Houston, Center for Sustainable Development UT School of Architecture, ACDDC, Enterprise, and Texas Grow Home Project.

Horses gallop through Montana-sized utility corridors that crisscross Houston.

RDA is pleased to announce the winner of the fourteenth annual “Initiatives for Houston” grant program, which funds research, study, and problem-solving around Houston’s built environment. Gordon Wittenberg, Professor of Architecture at Rice University, won the grant prize this year in the amount of $4,200 with his proposal entitled “Linear Parks for Houston.”

This year’s jury members included Jereck Boss, Principal, The Office of James Burnett; Jay Crossley, Program Development and Research, Houston Tomorrow; and Lonnie Hoogeboom, Director of Planning & Design, Houston Management District and President of the Rice Design Alliance. The jury, who assessed proposals based on how they might contribute to the continued improvement of the Houston area, were very impressed with submitted projects.

Wittenberg’s proposal stood out to the jury. “Linear Parks” harkens such developments as New York City’s “Highline” and The Reading Viaduct in Philadelphia, by considering a practical and economical way for cities to acquire new parkland for an expanding urban population. Wittenberg claims that Houston has the highest number of utility, pipeline, and railroad easements—or right of ways— of any large urban area in the U.S. with 30% of this infrastructure being abandoned or underutilized. The project will identify and map the right of ways using a Geographical Information System and document the current use and ownership of the areas. Upon completion, the project will be presented to the Houston Parks Board for planning purposes and potential future use.

Initiatives for Houston has funded unique and Houston-centric projects for fourteen years now, including 2012 winning projects as University of Houston Professor Donna Kacmar’s directory of Houston-based fabricators, and Rice Wortham Fellow Bryony Roberts’ exhibition, “Lobby Urbanism” taking place now until

The Brown Auditorium of the MFA,H was packed for the 2013 Sally Walsh lecture by Jeanne Gang. In collaboration with the Rice School of Architecture, the AIA Houston Chapter, and the Architecture Center Houston Foundation, Rice Design Alliance welcomed her on Tuesday, March 26. The event was followed by a private reception at the home of Karen Lantz and Andy Farkas.

This annual lecture is dedicated to the memory of distinguished Houston interior designer Sally Walsh, who is widely credited with bringing modern design to Houston. The lecture honors Walsh’s groundbreaking foray into modern design by bringing cutting edge designers to Houston. Jeanne Gang’s talk was entitled “Moving House” and covered the wide range of her firm’s design work.

Jeanne Gang at the Brown Auditorium.

Mary Beth Woiccak and Lonnie Hoogeboom.

A 2011 MacArthur Fellow, Gang is the founder and principal of Studio Gang architects, a Chicago-based firm made up of architects and designers who tackle pressing contemporary issues. Examples of the studio’s work include the construction of the Aqua Tower, an 82-story mixed-use high rise named the 2009 Emporis Skyscraper of the Year and SOS Children’s Villages Lavezzorio Community Center, a 16,800 square-foot foster care community on Chicago’s historically disenfranchised South Side.

Jeanne Gang and Sarah Whiting.

Raymond Brochstein and Jeanne Gang.

Donna Kacmar and Nonya Grenader.

Jeanne Gang, Stephen Fox, and Karen Lantz.

Troy Schaum.

Tina Waldon, Linda Sylvan, and Charles Browne.

Monday, April 15, 2013 FILM: DESERT UTOPIA: MIDCENTURY ARCHITECTURE IN PALM SPRINGS
Followed by a talk with author, architect, historian, Alan Hess
River Oaks Theater, 2009 West Gray, Houston, cocktails and Alan Hess book signing at 6pm (cash bar)
($20, Limited seating, please purchase tickets in advance to assure availability,
tickets at the door if available, all proceeds benefit Houston MOD and Design Onscreen) Sponsored by Lewis & Maese Auctioneers and Appraisers

Tuesday, April 16, 2013
4pm-6pm A talk and book signing with author, architect, historian Alan Hess
River Oaks Bookstore, 3270 Westheimer Rd Houston, TX 77098

7pm FILM: JOURNEYMAN ARCHITECT: THE LIFE AND WORK OF DONALD WEXLER
Followed by a talk with author, architect, historian, Alan Hess
River Oaks Theater, 2009 West Gray, cocktails and Alan Hess book signing at 6pm (cash bar)
($20, Limited seating, please purchase tickets in advance to assure availability,
tickets at the door if available, all proceeds benefit Houston MOD and Design Onscreen) Sponsored by Lewis & Maese Auctioneers and Appraisers

Wednesday April 17, 2013
7pm An evening with Stephen Fox
“Border Modern: Modern Architecture of the Texas-Mexican Border” (Free, no ticket required)
-Lecture by author, Stephen Fox, AIA Arch Center Houston, 315 Capitol Street #120, Houston 77002

Thursday April 18, 2013
7pm FILM: WILLIAM KRISEL, ARCHITECT
Followed by a talk with author, architect, historian, Alan Hess
AIA ArCH Center, 315 Capitol Street #120, Houston 77002
($20, Limited seating, please purchase tickets in advance to assure availability,
tickets at the door if available, all proceeds benefit Houston MOD and Design Onscreen) Sponsored by Lewis & Maese Auctioneers and Appraisers

Friday April 19, 2013
6pm-10pm Houston Modern Market Preview Party, ($50 three day market pass) Winter Street Studios, 2101 Winter Street, Houston TX 77007
Put on your best mod chic and enjoy libations, lite bites, live entertainment, socializing, and first chance at shopping the modern treasures before the market opens.

6pm-10pm Mod Design Lounge with American Society of Interior Designers Texas Gulf Coast Bring your design dilemmas for creative solution
(free with preview party market pass, no appointment required)

7:30pm Fashion Show

9pm Silent Auction Ends
Lots of great goodies. Be sure to get your bids in! Winter Street Studios
All sales benefit Houston Mod

SATURDAY, APRIL 20

10am-6pm Houston Modern Market ($10, two day market pass)
Shop til you drop Mod booths and artist studios.
Winter Street Studios 2101 Winter St Houston TX 77007

10am-10:45am Houston Modern Market Design Tour (free with two day market admission but reservation required by obtaining a free ticket from the ticket sales page)
An American Society of Interior Designers Texas Gulf Coast Designer takes you on a tour of special design objects throughout the market and talks about applications for use in your home or design project.

10am-6pm Mod Design Lounge
with American Society of Interior Designers Texas Gulf Coast
Bring your design dilemmas for creative solution
(free with market pass, no appointment required)

10am-2pm Vintage Car Show (Free, no ticket required) Winter Street Studios

11am-3pm MOD Picnic- Food Trucks & Astroturf benefitting Houston MOD
Sponsored by Waste Connections, Inc

11am LECTURE- Designing Domesticity: Industrial Design for Modern Living, 1935 – 1965, Don Emmite, Author and Lecturer (free with market admission)
Sponsored by Russell Tether Fine Art

12noon Modern Architecture Tour, Tour A
-a guided driving tour by Architectural Historian/Enthusiast Jason Smith ($35 Ticket)
Tours will depart from Winter Street Studios, 2101 Winter St, Houston

1pm LECTURE- The Silver Gringo, William Spratling and the Revival of Mexican Silver, Christine Gervais, Associate Curator of Decorative Arts, Museum of Fine Arts and Rienzi (free with market admission)

3pm Modern Architecture Tour, Tour B
-a guided driving tour by Architectural Historian/Enthusiast Jason Smith ($35 Ticket)
Tours will depart from Winter Street Studios, 2101 Winter St, Houston

4pm LECTURE- The Emergence of the Houston Art Scene at Mid-Century,
David Brauer, senior lecturer, Glassell School of Art, MFAH

6:30pm-8pm Houston Founders Party, a Celebration Honoring Houston’s Pioneering Mid-Century Modern Artists
with lite bites and libations at William Reaves Fine Art
2313 Brun St, Houston TX 77019
($20 suggested donation at the door, all proceeds benefit Houston Mod)

8pm-10pm Charity Auction Party
A fun charity auction, in a party like atmosphere, with lite bites, libations, and fun, benefitting Houston Mod.
Lewis and Maese Auction House, 1505 Sawyer St, Suite C, Houston TX 77007
(free, no ticket required)

SUNDAY, APRIL 21

10am-5pm Houston Modern Market ($10, two day market pass)
Shop til you drop Mod booths and artist studios.
Winter Street Studios, 2101 Winter Street, Houston TX 77007

10am-10:45am Houston Modern Market Design Tour (free with market admission but reservation required by obtaining a free ticket from the ticket sales page)
An American Society of Interior Designers Texas Gulf Coast Designer takes you on a tour of special design objects throughout the market and talks about applications for use in your home or design project.

10am-4pm Mod Design Lounge
with American Society of Interior Designers Texas Gulf Coast
Bring your design dilemmas for creative solution
(free with market pass, no appointment required)

11am-3pm MOD Picnic- Food Trucks & Astroturf Benefitting Houston MOD
Sponsored by Waste Connections, Inc

11am LECTURE- Interactive Design Workshop “Less is More” Concept of Design, Ariana Smetana, Design Principal/Founder, artVIA | lifestyle design crossroads (free with market admission)

12noon Modern Architecture Tour, Tour A
-a guided driving tour by Architectural Historian/Enthusiast Jason Smith ($35 Ticket)
Tours will depart from Winter Street Studios, 2101 Winter St, Houston

1pm FILM: COAST MODERN: Inspired living by the pioneers of West Coast Modernist Architecture, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Brown Auditorium
1001 Bissonnet St, Houston TX 77005
(tickets available or at the door)

2:45pm Presntation of Art Raffle Winners
Lots of great goodies, be sure to get your bids in! Winter Street Studios
All sales benefit Houston Mod

3pm LECTURE- A look at Houston’s Modern Architecture through the Houston Architectural Guide, third edition (free with market admission)
by author Stephen Fox, book signing to follow

5pm Houston Modern Market Doors Close
MONDAY, APRIL 22

7pm Lewis & Maese Auctions Houston Modern Market Week Film Festival
FILM: VISUAL ACOUSTICS: THE MODERNISM OF JULIUS SHULMAN
Followed by a talk with the Director of the film Eric Bricker
River Oaks Theater, 2009 West Gray, Houston, cocktails at 6pm (cash bar)
($20, Limited seating, please purchase tickets in advance to assure availability, tickets at the door if available, all proceeds benefit Houston MOD and Design Onscreen)

Opening reception: April 24th, 5-8pm

For this architectural analysis of downtown Houston, Rice University architecture professor Bryony Roberts examines the tower lobbies as interiorized public spaces. Connecting surface streets, underground tunnels, and interior zones, the lobbies are complex spatial forms that shape social activity downtown. Identifying the different types of lobbies, Bryony hones in on four specific case studies that have the potential to activate both interior and exterior public space. The project proposes design modifications to these four case studies to catalyze better street-level public spaces. These evolutions to the lobby type aim to be deployed across multiple sites to improve the future development of downtown. The exhibit will feature architectural drawings and models of the overall network of tunnels and lobbies, as well as drawings of proposed design interventions.

The project emerges from Bryony Roberts’ ongoing research and design work on shaping public space, and on fostering exchange between architecture and urbanism. This Initiatives for Houston project is made possible by the Rice Design Alliance, and produced with assistance from Maia Simon and Sophie Jonson.

Where: Brazos Bookstore, 2421 Bissonnet St., Houston, Texas 77005

When: 7:00 p.m.

A question and answer period will follow the reading, and audience members will be able to purchase books to be signed by the author.

The reading is organized by Cite: The Architecture + Design Review of Houston and cosponsored by Voices Breaking Boundaries.

This event is supported by Poets & Writers Inc.

Meet at the Miro sculpture inside the MFAH Sculpture Garden, 5101 Montrose Blvd, 77006.
Street and lot parking available.