The Rice Design Alliance is a non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of architecture, urban design, and the built environment in the Houston region.
Join us for the latest in the Rice School of Architecture’s Insider Trading lecture series:
“Fluidity” with Nana Last, Associate Professor in Practice, Rice School of Architecture
Date: March 10
Time: 12:00 pm
Location: Farish Gallery, Anderson Hall, Rice University
Admission: Free
RDA, in collaboration with the Rice School of Architecture, the AIA Houston Chapter, and the Architecture Center Houston Foundation, welcome Luis Mansilla and Emilio Tuñón to present the annual Sally Walsh lecture on April 7, 2010, titled Making MUSAC.
Sally Walsh Lecture: Making MUSAC
Wednesday, 7 April 2010
7:00-8:00 p.m.
Brown Auditorium, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston 1001 Bissonnet.
The 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 the freshest new design minds to Houston. This year’s lecturers are the namesakes of Spanish architecture firm Mansilla and Tuñón.
Mansilla and Tuñón may be best known in architectural circles for the MUSAC, the Contemporary Art Museum of Castilla and León (above), which was the recipient of the 2007 European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture. MUSAC has become a landmark for the city of León, and an emblem of the new 21st century Spanish architecture. The firm also won the public competitions to build the C.I.C.C.M. New Convention Palace in Madrid, as well as the Museo de las Colecciones Reales (Spanish Royal Collections Museum), also in Madrid.
Emilio Tuñón and Luis Mansilla are professors in the architectural design department of the Architecture School of Madrid, and have been visiting professors at several prestigious universities. Their long list of accolades includes the AD Architectural Digest Award, FAD award, Saloni Award, VIA award, Spanish Architecture Award, and the COACV Award. The pair recently completed a stint as curators for the X Spanish Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism, and caught the attention of the Wall Street Journal in this feature article.
“Luis and Emilio’s Sally Walsh lecture provides the ideal intersection between the RDA and the RSA (Rice School of Architecture). It ties into the RSA’s spring lecture series, entitled “What’s the Matter with Architecture,” for they are absolutely committed to putting architecture front and center as a way of engaging contemporary cultural issues. Seamlessly joining theory and practice, academia and the profession, their office produces some of the most engaging and exciting projects being built today,” said Sarah Whiting, dean of the Rice University School of Architecture.
This event is free and open to the public. Seating is limited and on a first-come, first-served basis starting at 6 pm the evening of the lecture. Attendees are encouraged to arrive early.
Additional parking is available until 7 pm for $3 in the museum garage located at the corner of Binz and Fannin Streets.
RDA will gladly make special accommodations for anyone needing assistance to attend the lecture. Please contact RDA directly. A minimum of two week’s notice is appreciated. Call RDA at 713-348-4876.
This lecture is supported by an endowed fund of the Houston Architecture Foundation and coordinated by the Rice Design Alliance.
The Rice Design Alliance is an AIA/CES Registered Provider of quality educational programs. For each lecture, attendees will earn one Learning Unit, which will be reported to CES Records on the member’s behalf. Registration at the lecture is required. Non-AIA members may request a Certificate of Completion to fulfill state MCE requirements.
On Saturday and Sunday, March 20-21, from 1:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m., RDA members and their guests will have the opportunity to visit eight houses in Houston’s Southgate neighborhood on RDA’s 34th annual architecture tour, Southgate: An Urban Oasis.
Southgate is located inside Loop 610 and is bounded by University Boulevard to the north, Travis to the east, W. Holcombe to the south, and Greenbriar to the west. The neighborhood is adjacent to Rice University and the Texas Medical Center, two Houston institutions that are expanding substantially. Southgate is undergoing considerable change, yet it has retained its close-knit community feeling. Architects and designers working in the neighborhood have been successful integrating their designs into the older fabric and staying within the neighborhood’s strict deed restrictions. The community is thriving, leveraging the same attributes the subdivision had when first developed: location close to big employment centers, excellent schools, transportation via bus and now light rail, and nearby shopping.
Houses on the self-guided tour include (*tickets can be purchased at Houses #1, 4, and 8):
*1. 2239 University Boulevard (Strasser/Ragni Architects with Emily Sing, 2008) TICKETS SOLD HERE!
2. 2045 University Boulevard (Collaborative Design Works, preliminary design with Openshop Studio, 2005)
3. 2056 Dryden Road (M. R. Van Valkenbergh, designer, 1942; rehabilitation, 1998)
*4. 2102 Addison Road (Dixon & Ellis, 1938; rehabilitation: Rogers LaBarthe Architects, 2009) TICKETS SOLD HERE!
5. 1925 Addison Road (1938; rehabilitation: Z-K Building Design, 2006)
6. 2145 Southgate Boulevard (Charles B. Thomsen, Architect, 1965; rehabilitation: Kelie Mayfield, 2008)
7. 2201 Southgate Boulevard (Dillon Kyle Architecture, 2006)
*8. 2206 Sheridan (Brave/Architecture, 2004) TICKETS SOLD HERE!
* Tickets will be available at ONLY these 3 locations on the tour! Please plan your tour accordingly.
The tour is open only to RDA members and their guests. RDA memberships can be purchased in advance at the RDA office, or on the tour and include one complimentary tour ticket at the Student ($15) or Individual level ($45) or two complimentary tickets at the Household level ($75) and above. Click here to see our membership benefits.
Tickets may be purchased online by clicking here or at the designated three tour locations or in advance by mailing a check made payable to the Rice Design Alliance and a self-addressed, stamped envelope to:
Rice University
Rice Design Alliance – MS 51
P.O. Box 1892
Houston, Texas 77251-1892
For further information, please call 713-348-4876.
The Rice Design Alliance is an AIA/CES Registered Provider of educational programs. For this tour, attendees will earn two Learning Units. Learning Units will be reported to CES Records on the member’s behalf. Registration at one house on the tour is required. Non-AIA members may pick up a Certificate of Completion to fulfill state MCE requirements.
This tour is made possible by support from A & E – The Graphics Complex; Barton Construction; W. S. Bellows Construction Corporation; Berger Iron Works, Inc.; CenterPoint Energy, Inc.; JE Dunn Construction; FKP Architects; Fisk Electric Company; Fretz Construction Company; D. E. Harvey Builders; Haynes Whaley Associates, Inc.; Linbeck Group; McCoy Workplace Solutions; The OFIS; PSTC, Inc.; Satterfield & Pontikes Construction, Inc.; Smith Seckman Reid, Inc.; SpawMaxwell Company; TDIndustries, Inc.; Tellepsen; Mr. and Mrs. Robert B. Tudor; the Corporate Members of the Rice Design Alliance; the City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance; the National Endowment for the Arts; and the Texas Commission on the Arts.
Frederick Kiesler — From New Harmony to Houston
Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture, University of Houston
Tuesday Jan 26, 2010, 5pm
What started as a studio project to rethink Frederick Kiesler’s unbuilt Grotto for Meditation has turned into an opportunity for scholarship and design. The unveiling of the digitally fabricated New Harmony Grotto is the first installation of a two tier project that will culminate in the publication of a forthcoming book. Please join us in celebrating the accomplishments of faculty and students.
Evening Schedule
Part 1: Lecture, 5 pm, College of Arichtecture Auditorium
Patricia Oliver Dean, UHCoA
Michelangelo Sabatino, UHCoA
Beatriz Colomina, Princeton University
Part 2: Presentation 6 pm
Joe Mashburn, UHCoA
Ben Nicolson, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Conversation with Mrs Jane Blaffer Owen
Unveiling of Grotto: 6:30 (Keeland Design Exploration Center)
President Renu Khator and Provost John Antel
Joe Meppelink and Andrew Vrana
Exhibition of Kiesler Studio in Archives and Reception
RDA is pleased to announce its eleventh annual grants program for students and faculty of the Rice School of Architecture, the University of Houston Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture, the College of Architecture at Prairie View A&M University, and the Department of Urban Planning and Environmental Policy at Texas Southern University. RDA will make separate awards of up to $5,000 each to a student winner(s) and a faculty winner(s).
The Initiatives for Houston grants program focuses on Houston’s built environment, its history, present condition, and future development. A variety of regional projects will be considered, including historic research, speculative studies and projects, problem solving and planning projects, and studies that document the conditions of the city and its architecture. Proposals will be evaluated in terms of their potential for making a significant contribution to our understanding of the city and/or the region.
Projects must describe a dissemination component, which may be in the form of a paper or manuscript, exhibit, or a video or other presentation. In addition, the results of the project may be presented by the grantees in a public lecture or published in the Rice Design Alliance journal, Cite. Awards of up to $5,000 are available for projects to be completed in one year. More than one proposal in each category, student or faculty, may be funded. Past award-winning proposals are available for review in the architecture libraries of the participating schools. An exhibition of 19 winning entires will be on view at the Architecture Center Houston, 315 Capitol, through February 26, 2010. Included in the exhibition is a binder with all the original winning proposals.
The total application must include:
• A completed application
• A written proposal for the project (one to three pages), describing goals, expected outcomes, work plan, and schedule for the project, and a discussion of its significance. Applicants also should describe past work in the area of the proposed research.
• Resume for each participant
• Students will need a faculty advisor and a letter of support.
• A project budget (equipment such as computers, digital cameras, etc. may not be included)
Mail application and supporting materials to:
Rice University
Rice Design Alliance MS-51
P.O. Box 1892
Houston, Texas 77251-1892
Don’t miss the upcoming exhibition of ten years of winning projects from the Initiatives for Houston grant program. The exhibition will run January 14 – February 26, 2010 at the Architecture Center Houston (ArCH). The public is invited to attend the opening reception on Thursday, January 14, 2010 from 6 – 8 p.m. at ArCH.
The “City of Palaces” is what radio announcers used to call Mexico City in their daily broadcasts—an apt nickname since its architectural treasures are unmatched in the Western Hemisphere. As Richard Neutra pointed out in a 1952 essay, only Peru can rival its Pre-Colombian and Colonial riches, but no other city in the Americas can boast of monuments from both of these eras, as well as an extraordinary body of modern architecture that keeps growing. During 2010 Mexico will be celebrating the Bicentennial of Mexican Independence (la Independencia de México) and the Centennial of The Mexican Revolution (la Revolucíon Mexicana). The Rice Design Alliance joins the celebrations with a lecture series, “Mexico City Surging: DF Architecture,” featuring a remarkable group of young architects who are making an impact on Mexico City with their built projects.
The Small House Tour may have been held in spring 2009, but our friends at Hometta have been working on something special. They just published a short three minute video about the Tour and the Civic Forum. Take a look (and watch it full screen for optimal viewing):
Small Houses from Hometta, Inc. on Vimeo.
Letter from the Guest Editor
In the 1990’s, a new wave of architecture professors at Rice University took on Houston as an experiment in urbanism. Whereas American cities like Boston and New York offered infill and contextual strategies by which to analyze and investigate, the seemingly blank canvas of the “Space City” offered up the idea of a new breed of city, or anti-city. As students we were rolled out to all corners of the region to investigate the hidden city — how the industrial warehouse, the bayou, the suburban tract, the mega-mall, the parking lot, and all the spaces in between created the tapestry that is Houston.
RDA is pleased to announce the 2010 Hometown Tours: Marfa, Texas in February followed by Madrid and Barcelona, Spain in June. If you are interested in receiving more information, please email us as soon as possible:
MARFA – Mary Swift: mswift@rice.edu
SPAIN – Lynn Kelly: lynn_kelly_tx@yahoo.com
Space is limited and reserved on a first-come, first-served basis. If you would like to participate in one of these exciting travel opportunities, please let us a know as soon as possible. A per-person deposit will be required. Your reservation will be confirmed upon receipt of your deposit and all signed forms.
Marfa Refried: Trans-Pecos x2
February 11-14, 2010
$1,500 pp/dbl including airfare
Our 2009 tour of Marfa was such a success, we are excited to offer it again in 2010!
Marfa, Texas, is not in the middle of nowhere. It’s at the far edge of nowhere. And that is its magic.
Marfa was founded in 1883 as a water stop on the Galveston, Harrisburg & San Antonio Railway, the Texas segment of the Southern Pacific’s transcontinental railway. Historically, Marfa was a market town for cattle ranchers on the arid Marfa Plateau, midway between the Davis Mountains to the north and the Río Grande and Chihuahua to the south. It is also the county seat of Presidio County.
The dramatic basin-and-range landscape and the extraordinary crystalline atmosphere, which makes you feel as though you can see for hundreds of miles, drew director George Stevens to Marfa in 1955 to film Giant. Most recently scenes from No Country for Old Men and There Will be Blood were filmed in Marfa.
The epic quality of the Trans-Pecos drew the artist Donald Judd from New York to Marfa in 1973. Until his death in 1994, Judd used Marfa and the landscape of the Trans Pecos as the setting for a remarkable series of installations for his own art works as well as works by contemporary artists whom he admired. Judd became an architect to shape buildings and places that, as he saw it, worked with the landscape to define space and frame works of art.
The Chinati Foundation, which Judd founded, maintains his architectural settings. After Judd’s death, other philanthropists, collectors, and creative people were drawn to Marfa, where they have restored some of the town’s historic buildings as well as building exciting new works of architecture to engage this magic landscape. Carlos Jiménez and Victor Lundy of Houston and Lake/Flato and Ford, Powell & Carson of San Antonio are among the well-known architects who are expanding Marfa’s architectural heritage.
The Rice Design Alliance will visit Marfa and the Chinati Foundation, as well as astonishing sites in Presidio on the Río Grande, and an amazing guided tour of Big Bend. Prior to our departure on Sunday, we will enjoy a brief tour of El Paso.
Madrid and Barcelona
June 12-19, 2010
$3,400 pp/dbl not including airfare
Madrid, capital of the kingdom of Spain, and Barcelona, capital of the autonomous community of Catalunya and the second largest city in the Spanish kingdom, represent two poles of Iberian architecture.
Madrid lies in Castilla la Nueva at the center of the Iberian penninsula; Barcelona is a port city on the Mediterranean Sea open to the world. Both have profited from the renaissance of Spanish architecture that occurred in the last quarter of the twentieth century.
Led by Houston’s most illustrious figure in the world of international architecture, Carlos Jiménez, the Rice Design Alliance will visit both Madrid and Barcelona to experience a new, architectural Edad de Oro and see how Spanish (and international) architects have reinvented these two extraordinary cities with architecture that is daring, often austere, yet also fits into the urban places and landscapes where it has been built.
Madrid was founded in the ninth century as an Islamic citadel on the río Manzanares. In 1561 Felipe II made Madrid the seat of the royal court. Although Madrid has monumental urban spaces dating from the 17th century, it was not until the 18th century, with the ascent of the Bourbon dynasty to the Spanish crown, that it was reshaped into a modern European capital. As in other European capitals, the 20th century was a period of explosive population growth and urban expansion, despite the Spanish Civil War of 1936-39.
Barcelona existed as early as the beginning of the Christian era. It was a Roman, then a Visigothic, and then a Muslim city before becoming in the 12th century part of the kingdom of Aragón. Barcelona fell out of favor with the Bourbon kings but in the 19th century it revived to become Spain’s first industrial center engaged in the making of textiles. In the 1870s, modernism affected Barcelona’s architecture, most notably through the work of Catalunya’s greatest architect Antoni Gaudí i Cornet. Barcelona’s militant anti-Fascism caused the city to again fall into official disfavor from the 1940s until the 1970s. As host to the 1992 Summer Olympics, Barcelona was dramatically re-shaped by its Socialist mayor, Pasquall Maragall i Mira, who commissioned Spain’s leading architects to transform Barcelona into a world city.
Carlos Jiménez has arranged for us to be welcomed by the brilliant young Madrid architect, Antón García Abril, winner of the RDA’s Spotlight Award for 2009. Luis Fernández Galiano, Spain’s most important architectural critic and Cullinan Visiting Professor of Architecture at Rice in 1996, will show us his Madrid. In Barcelona, we will meet Carlos Ferrater, one of Barcelona’s most outstanding architects, and explore the Barri Gòtic and, of course, the masterworks of Gaudí. In Madrid and Barcelona we will see works by Rafael Moneo, architect of the Beck Building of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
And in both cities we will be introduced to the most characterful and delicious restaurants.
We invite you to sign up for one or both of these exciting tours!
