Rice Design Alliance Events 2017, RDA Lectures, Design Talks Texas, News

Rice Design Alliance, Texas : Events

RDA Lecture Series, USA – Texan Architectural News

Mar 7, 2017

Rice Design Alliance Civic Forum Event

RDA civic forum, Resilience H2Ouston: Living in Flood Plains

Join us tomorrow night at 6 pm for the RDA civic forum, Resilience H2Ouston: Living in Flood Plains, at the Cherie Flores Garden Pavilion inside the McGovern Centennial Gardens at Hermann Park.

Resilience H2Ouston: Living in Flood Plains will investigate Houston’s response to living and designing in flood plains through the eyes of homeowners and professionals who wrangle with flooding for a living. Moderated by Eric Berger, certified meteorologist with Space City Weather, the forum features the following presenters:

Alisa Max, PE, Harris County Watershed Protection Group Manager
David Robinson, Houston City Council at Large Position #2
Keiji Asakura, Principal Designer, Asakura Robinson
Wesley Highfield, Associate Professor, Texas A&M University at Galveston
Ed Wolff, President, Beth Wolff Realtors

The event is free and open to the public. Parking is also free and is in the surface parking adjacent to the Centennial Gardens. RDA Civic Forums are made possible by our 2017 Underwriters and our sponsors, including Minnette and Peter Boesel, DLR Group, Hoar Construction, Skanska USA Commercial Development, Telios, and Vaughn Construction.

The Cherie Flores Garden Pavilion is located at 1500 Hermann Drive, Houston, TX 77004.

Upcoming RDA Events:

H2Ouston, RDA’s 41st annual Architecture Tour, features homes and buildings in Houston built on flood plains. The six self-guided tour stops, selected based on demonstrated resilience to past flood events, span from construction in 1910 to 2017.

Purchase tickets here for the tour.
RDA member tickets: $25. Student tickets (with ID): $15. All others: $35. Tickets will also be available for purchase at the March 8 civic forum.

If you are an RDA member, volunteer to be a docent on the tour for the opportunity to purchase one docent ticket at a discounted rate of $15. Signup online.

Rice Design Alliance News

RDA News

Dear Rice Design Alliance members and friends,

It is with immense gratitude for her 28 years as the RDA executive director that I am writing to announce the retirement of Linda Sylvan this summer. I hope you will join me in wishing her the best in her plans to take on consulting work, volunteer, and spend more time with her family.

In 1988, Linda took on the executive director role when RDA was in debt and had only one other staff member. Under her leadership, the staff, board and membership have grown, and contributions and grants have balanced the budget. Moreover, RDA has become a respected and influential group within Houston, and a national model for public engagement around design.

Her accomplishments are too many to list, but here are three highlights:

* Linda organized the Heart of the Park Competition with the RDA board. The winning entries spurred the newly formed Friends of Hermann Park to commission and implement Laurie Olin’s master plan. In this effort and many others, Linda played a critical role in Houston’s “green transformation” that has recently garnered national attention.

* Before becoming RDA executive director, Linda was managing editor of Cite. As executive director, she was akin to publisher. She nurtured Cite through many different editorial teams and formats, including the Cite anthology, Ephemeral City. This incredible body of criticism, commentary, history, and interventions would not exist without her grace and grit.

* Through countless tours and forums and parties, Linda cultivated a broad community that includes professors, architects, engineers, builders, designers, developers, artists, writers, politicians, civil society, and more. In this time when our society may seem divided, Linda’s ability to not only get people into the same room but move them to work for the common good will be sorely missed.

The Mary Gibbs and Jesse H. Jones Reflection Pool, before and after the implementation of the Laurie Olin master plan for Hermann Park:

photo courtesy of architects

Fortunately, Linda is remaining in her position as a search is conducted to find a new executive director. Please share the job description widely.

And, once again, thank you Linda for all you have done to make the built environment and public life of Houston so much more vibrant and beautiful.

Linda can be reached via email if you’d like to send her a note.

Best wishes,

Chris Hudson
President, Rice Design Alliance

Rice Design Alliance Events

Civic Forum – Climate Change: The Role of Innovative Construction Methods, Houston, Texas, USA
March 1, 2017

Rice Design Alliance Civic Forum

‘Climate Change: The Role of Innovative Construction’

HOUSTON, TEXAS (February 17, 2015) —Buildings are responsible for a large proportion of greenhouse gases, but new construction methods could dramatically cut emissions.

The Rice Design Alliance is hosting a free and open to the public civic forum to investigate how construction methods serve a key role in slowing and mitigating climate change. The forum will take place at 6 p.m. in the conference center of Hines’ new LEED platinum highrise located in downtown Houston on 609 Main St, on Wednesday, March 1. Moderated by Rice University Sustainability Officer Richard Johnson, it will include presentations by the following panelists:

• Albert Pope – Gus Wortham Professor of Architecture, Rice University
• Steve Stelzer – Program Director, City of Houston Green Building Resource Center
• Stephen Cavanaugh – Principal Architect, DLR Group
• Elizabeth Love – Senior Program Officer, Environment and Arts & Culture, Houston Endowment

This forum continues the discussion from the RDA Fall 2016 lecture series where mass timber construction was explored.

RDA Civic Forums are made possible by Generation Park, Louisa Stude Sarofim, Cardno, D.E. Harvey Builders, Hines, Houston First Corporation, TDIndustries, and Walter P Moore. Sponsorship support comes from Minnette and Peter Boesel, DLR Group, Hoar Construction, Skanska USA, Telios, and Vaughn Construction.

For more information, please visit ricedesignalliance.org.

Civic Forum – Resilience H2Ouston: Living in Flood Plains, Houston, Texas, USA
March 1, 2017

Rice Design Alliance Civic Forum

Resilience H2Ouston: Living in Flood Plains

HOUSTON, TEXAS (February 17, 2017) — Architects thrive on limitations, but Houston’s flatness presents almost none, with one big exception — flooding. How do we live, build, adapt, and design in a city built on top of a swamp? The Rice Design Alliance is hosting a free civic forum to investigate Houston’s response to this question through the eyes of homeowners and professionals who wrangle with flood plains for a living. The forum will take place at 6 p.m. at the Cherie Flores Garden Pavilion inside the McGovern Centennial Gardens at Hermann Park on Wednesday, March 8th. Moderated by Rice University certified meteorologist and author Eric Berger, it will include presentations by the following panelists:

• Alisa Max, PE – Harris County Watershed Protection Group Manager
• David Robinson – Houston City Counsel at Large Position #2
• Keiji Asakura – Principal Designer, Asakura Robinson
• Wesley Highfield – Associate Professor of Department of Marine Sciences, Texas A&M University
• Ed Wolff – President, Beth Wolff Realtors

The forum is paired with RDA’s annual architecture tour, which presents six buildings located in flood plains. The tour titled H2Ouston: Living in Flood Plains, will take place March 25-26.

Annual Rice Design Alliance Architecture Tour, Houston, Texas, USA
March 25 & 26, 2017

Showcases Buildings and Landscapes on Houston’s Flood Plains

HOUSTON, TEXAS (February 17, 2017) — A series of catastrophic floods has left Houstonians looking for large-scale solutions. Some solutions can be found at the level of the individual house. This year, the Rice Design Alliance (RDA) annual architecture tour explores the ways architects have adapted to design for resilience within our flood plains.

“We can learn lessons from older buildings that have survived floods and find inspiration from innovative new buildings that find opportunities for beauty in challenging contexts,” says tour chair Florence Tang, who oversaw the selection of the houses on the RDA tour, now in its forty-second year.

H2OUSTON: Living in Flood Plains takes place on Saturday, March 25, and Sunday, March 26, from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. The tour includes:

1019 Commerce Street
The Sunset Coffee Building, c. 1910
Lake | Flato Architects and BNIM, 2016
Landscape: SWA Group

608B Stanford
Francois de Menil, 2007

5715 Logan Lane
Taft Architect, 1995

823 Skirkmere Lane
Nonya Grenader, 2017
Landscape: Mike Luegering

5231 Braesvalley Drive
Brooks and Brooks, 1965

3811 Linkwood
Brett Zamore Design, 2016
Landscape: Terry Gordon Smith

RDA has organized tours every year since 1975 to help Houstonians experience firsthand the most interesting works of architecture, landscape, and interior design in the city.

The tour is open to the public. Current RDA members may purchase discounted tickets for $25. RDA membership is open to all. Tickets for nonmembers are $35. Tickets are $15 for students with ID.

Please visit ricedesignalliance.org for more information and to purchase tickets, join RDA, or renew your membership.

H2Ouston is made possible by Generation Park, Louisa Stude Sarofim, Cardno, D.E. Harvey Builders, Hines, Houston First Corporation, TDIndustries, and Walter P Moore. Sponsorship support comes from Agile OFIS, Anslow Bryant Construction, ARC Document Solutions, Austin Commercial, Avadek Canopies & Walkway Covers, Brookstone, Builders West, Endurance Builders, Fellert North America, GSMA, McCarthy Building Companies, Inc., Mechoshade, Midway, Office Pavilion, Parra Design Group, PDR, Rogers O’Brien Construction, Tellepsen, Trammell Crow Company, Walker Engineering, Weaver, The Woodlands Development Co., WSP, and Wylie Consulting Engineers.

Rice Design Alliance Events 2013 Archive

19 Sep 2013 – The RSA/RDA fall lecture series, RE:ARCHITECTURE [NSFW], starts next week with architect Meejin Yoon!

Meejin Yoon is founder of MY Studio, co-founder of Höweler + Yoon and an Associate Professor in the Department of Architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Yoon has been awarded the 2008 United States Artist Award in Architecture and Design, the 2007 Architect League’s Emerging Voices Award, and the 2005 Rome Prize in Design.

The lecture series, curated by Rice Assistant Professor of Architecture Troy Schaum, features young firms that are building in unique ways and refuse to play it safe. The series will highlight a new generation of architects attempting to engage architecture by operating nimbly across scales, methods, techniques, and sites of work. Framed by the popular online tag, Re: Architecture [Not Safe For Work] investigates how architects’ assumptions regarding safe boundaries for contemporary disciplinary investigation simultaneously limit and propel their creative practices.

We hope that you can join us next Wednesday, September 25 at the MFAH for the lecture at 7 p.m. in the Brown Auditorium and a pre-lecture reception starting at 6 p.m. sponsored by Clark Condon Associates in the Caroline Weiss Law Building lobby.

Special thanks to our sponsors: ARC Document Solutions; Austin Commercial; Brochsteins; CEMEX; Chamberlin Roofing & Waterproofing; Fast Track Specialties, Inc; Gensler; HBL Architects; HBL Architects; D. E. Harvey Builders; Haynes Whaley Associates, Inc.; Jackson & Ryan Architects; Kendall/Heaton Associates; McKinnon Associates; Miller Dahlstrand Architects; Morris Architects; PM Realty Group; Satterfield & Pontikes Construction, Inc.; Shah Smith & Associates; The Southampton Group; Walter P Moore; Ziegler Cooper Architects; the Corporate Members of the Rice Design Alliance; the City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance, and the Texas Commission on the Arts.

Rice Design Alliance Trip

In June 12 – 19, 2012, RDA tour-goers will travel to Rio de Janeiro and Brasilia, accompanied by Rice School of Architecture professor Farès el-Dahdah and architectural historian Stephen Fox. The trip includes expert guides, private tours and receptions, and a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

If you would like to participate in this exciting travel opportunity, please let us know as soon as possible as there are only a few places left on this tour.

Rice Design Alliance

If you have questions, please contact Lynn Kelly, lynnkellyrda(at)gmail.com

Rice Design Alliance Lecture News

Chinese Architecture: 中国建筑

A lecture series focusing on the impact of the thirty-year building explosion in China.

“The lecture series will be a great opportunity to see design being done in China in the context of tremendous growth,” says RDA board member and Chinese Architecture steering committee member Camilo Parra. Read up on the series and learn how much China’s growth parallels Houston’s own with a great piece in the Houston Chronicle written by fellow board member, Christof Spieler.

The series will take place each Wednesday from September 28 through October 19

Rice Design Alliance Lecture

MFAH Bookstore Presents a Lecture by Lars Lerup

As a friend of RDA, we think you will be interested in attending a lecture and book signing with Lars Lerup, professor and former dean of the Rice School of Architecture, presented by The MFAH Bookstore.

Loved by its inhabitants, Houston is defined by both huge potential and difficult challenges. In his latest book, One Million Acres & No Zoning, Lerup examines America´s fourth-largest city as a test-case for twenty-first-century urbanism and our understanding of unregulated cities everywhere. As he writes, “Contemporary Houston is neither city nor metropolis, but an urban condition of a third kind.”

14 Sep 2011
7.00 pm
Brown Auditorium

Free Admission (Limited Seating)

You can reserve a copy of the book by calling 713.639.7360. MFAH Members receive a 10% discount.

Spotlight Award Winners La Dallman Lecture

Lecture by Spotlight winners Grace La and James Dallman, joint partners of the Milwaukee firm, LA DALLMAN – 7 Sep 2011

LA DALLMAN was named a 2010 Emerging Voice by the Architectural League of New York and was a recipient of the national 2007 Bruner Award for Urban Excellence Silver Medal. The firm is responsible for such innovative projects as the Miller Brewing Employee Meeting Center, the Marsupial Bridge, the UWM Hillel Student Center, and the “City of Freshwater and Great Lakes Future” permanent exhibits at Discovery World; among countless others.
TIME: 7:00 p.m. (pre-lecture wine reception begins at 6 p.m.)

PLACE: Brown Auditorium, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston 1001 Bissonnet. Additional parking is available until 7 p.m. for $6 in the museum garage located at the corner of Binz and Fannin Streets.

TICKETS: This event is free for RDA Members and students presenting identification. Tickets for non-members are $25, but those who join RDA that evening will receive a free ticket. Tickets are required for entry and will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis starting at 6 p.m. the evening of the lecture. Seating is limited; attendees are encouraged to arrive early.