Spring 2021 Architecture Lecture Series programming announced


LAWRENCE — The School of Architecture & Design at the University of Kansas has announced the Spring 2021 Architecture Lecture Series lineup.     

The Architecture Lecture Series welcomes architecture and experiential design leaders from across the country to the School of Architecture & Design. Lecturers bring a wide range of expertise in such areas as sustainable building, digital environments, public interest design, historic preservation, health and wellness design and more.   

All lectures are free and begin at 11:30 a.m. on Zoom.  See event site for Zoom details. 

Feb. 19  

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 toward community and interconnectivity 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   

Chad Kraus is an associate professor of architecture at KU and a licensed architect. He teaches architectural theory, architectural design studio and the award-winning design-build Dirt Works Studio. His scholarship concentrates on design-build 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, Kraus worked for Pritzker-prize laureate Shigeru Ban and studied architectural history and theory under Alberto Perez-Gomez at McGill University.  

March 19   

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  

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 doctorate and a master's degree in architectural science from the Center from Architecture, Science and Ecology, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and bachelor's from Tufts University. Lokko teaches 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.