Architecture Lecture Series Archive
Past Events
Feb 19, 2021 | Tyler Cukar (FXCollaborative Architects, LLP, New York)
Tyler Cukar, AICP, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP ND, is an Associate at FXCollaborative where he practices at the intersection of urban design, planning, and architecture. He approaches each project with an eye towards community and inter-connectivity by questioning ‘who’ in addition to ‘what’. He has worked on some of New York City’s largest planning projects, including regional growth strategies, district revitalization, scenario planning, and transit networks and stations. By understanding the social, economic, and physical, he shapes the organizational and programmatic concepts that define cities.
March 5, 2021| KU Faculty Spotlight: Chad Kraus, Dirt Works Studio
Chad Kraus is an Associate Professor of Architecture at the University of Kansas and a licensed architect. He teaches architectural theory, architectural design studio, and the award-winning designbuild Dirt Works Studio. His scholarship concentrates on designbuild pedagogy and material research. He is the editor of the book Designbuild Education (Routledge 2017) and an editor of the journal Technology | Architecture + Design (TAD). Prior to teaching, Professor Kraus worked for Pritzker-prize laureate Shigeru Ban and studied architectural history and theory under Alberto Perez-Gomez at McGill University.
March 19, 2021 | Andrew Moddrell + Christopher Marcinkoski (PORT, Chicago)
Christopher Marcinkoski and Andrew Moddrell are founding partners of PORT, a public realm design practice comprising architects, landscape architects and urban designers. PORT's practice model is based on a belief that the public realm represents the most essential spaces of the contemporary city. By helping communities to reimagine and shape these spaces, the firm is actively creating the venues in which society and culture evolve and progress. For PORT, the public realm is the closest thing we have to equitable and democratic space in the contemporary city.
PORT’s projects have principally resided within two broad project types. The first is designing strategies for the management and occupation of large and complicated urban territories. The second is executing transformational projects for the underinvested spaces of existing cities. PORT's portfolio includes interventions that transform neglected urban spaces into places of social collection; development of bespoke urban furniture systems as frameworks for larger corridor transformations; planning and design of large urban parks; and conceptualizing regional development and conservation strategies.
PORT was recognized with the 2020 Emerging Voices Award from the Architectural League of New York, given to a North American design practice with a significant body of realized work and the potential to meaningfully influence their field.
April 16, 2021 | Mae-ling Lokko (Director, Building Sciences Program, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, NY)
Mae-ling Lokko is an architectural scientist and building technology researcher from Ghana and the Philippines whose work centers on the upcycling of agrowaste and biopolymer materials into high performance clean building material systems for humidity control, indoor air quality remediation and water quality control applications. Lokko holds a Ph.D. and Masters of Science in Architectural Science from the Center from Architecture, Science and Ecology, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and B.A from Tufts University. Lokko teaches on seminars on energy and ecology in relation to the built environment, upcycling and ecoeffective material life cycle design both at the SoA and at the Center for Architecture, Science and Ecology in Industry City, Brooklyn.
September 10, 2020 | COVID / Care / Community
How can architecture support responses to the current COVID-19 pandemic and other crises caused by natural and manmade disasters? This panel discussion will address the public health characteristics of the current COVID event, how the architecture community is responding to support community -wide initiatives, specific healthcare building strategies, and post-event disaster recovery efforts.
Speakers:
- Rachel Minnery, FAIA, Senior Director of Resilience, Adaptation & Disaster Assistance at the American Institute of Architects (AIA)
- Molly Scanlon, Ph.D., FAIA, FACHA, Director of Standards, Compliance & Research at Phigenicenics; AIA COVID-19 Task Force member
- David Vincent, AIA, ACHA, LEED AP, Principal and Director of Health at HKS Architects
October 8, 2020 | Understanding VR in Architectural Design and Research
Virtual reality (VR) software is emerging as an important tool in creative design and for communications with users and clients. This session will explore the current state of the technology and how it can fit into the overall design process. Research into the effectiveness of this tool compared to other methods for client input will be presented along with insights into the future of VR.
Speakers:
- Callum Vierthaler, AIA, EDAC, LEED, architect at Pulse Design Group
- Deborah Wingler, PhD, EDAC, Health Research Lead, Vice President at HKS Architects
November 12, 2020 | The Future of Architecture
Current restrictions on travel, group meetings, and office work environments have resulted in radical shifts in the practice of architecture. Are these permanent changes in the way we work, are they temporary “blips” in the design process, or will there be some blend in virtual and traditional practice? This panel will explore the short and long-term implications from an industry-wide perspective and from practitioners leading large and medium size firms.
Speakers:
- Phillip G Bernstein, FAIA, NOMA, LEED AP, Associate Dean and Professor Adjunct at the Yale School of Architecture
- Heather Chung, MDA, Vice President and Healthcare Studio Leader at SmithGroup
- Richard Embers, AIA, ACHA, Principal at Pulse Design Group
Mar. 25 | Mark West
Mark West is an artist, builder, researcher, and educator. He is the inventor of many fabric-formed concrete techniques and founded the first academic laboratory and studio dedicated to fabric formwork technology – the Centre for Architectural Structures and Technology (CAST) at the University of Manitoba. After teaching architecture and civil engineering for over thirty years at universities around the world, West now works independently at his Atelier Surviving Logic in Montreal.
West will also host a concrete casting workshop, Mar. 23-24, at the East Hills Design-Build Center.
This lecture and workshop were made possible by the 80 + 40 Lecture Fund.
Apr. 8 | David Brown
David Brown is a designer, researcher, and educator based at the University of Illinois Chicago School of Architecture. As a practitioner and scholar, he investigates non-hierarchical, flexible, and variable approaches to urban design. Brown’s work has been exhibited at the Venice Architecture Biennale, the Chicago Cultural Center’s Expo 72, and the Chicago Architecture Biennial. In 2006, Brown curated the exhibition Learning from North Lawndale: Past, Present + Future at the Chicago Architecture Foundation (now the Chicago Architecture Center). Brown’s writing includes the book Noise Orders: Jazz, Improvisation, and Architecture and numerous essays.
Apr. 29 | Trent Preszler
Trent Preszler is a designer, builder, winemaker, and author. He is the founder of Preszler Woodshop in New York where he makes bespoke wooden canoes molded from hundreds of hand-cut wood strips, then finished with cast bronze trim and hand stitched leather seats. His bestselling memoir, Little and Often, was a USA Today Best Book of 2021. A documentary about Preszler’s life, Winemaker and Boatbuilder, won a 2018 New York Emmy Award. His work has been featured in Esquire, Robb Report, Financial Times of London, and The Wall Street Journal Magazine.
This lecture was made possible by the Sallie Casey Thayer Lecture Fund.
Other past speakers include:
Dan Wheeler
Wheeler Kearns Architects, Chicago
Andy Brayman
Matter Factory & Boston Valley Terracotta
Health & Wellness Symposium: Sustainable Health & Wellness Design
Fall 2019
Jason Smith
Partner, Kierantimberlake Architects
Peter Landon
Founder & Principal, Landon Bone Architects
Bob Coffeen
Founder and Principal Consultant, Avant Acoustics
Julia Manglitz
Associate Principal and Historic Preservationist, TreanorHL
Health & Welness Symposium Lecture
HDR Architecture
Rick Sommerfeld
Director, Colorado Building Workshop
Alex Ilten
Design Director, Obscura Digital
Jane Huesemann and Steve Clark
Founding Partners of Clark Huesemann
Dennis Heath and Tim Cahill
Founding Principal of MBH Architects and Director of Architecture Design at HNTB
Bill Zahner
CEO of A. Zahner Co