Fall 2025 events

In The Manhattan Transcripts, Bernard Tschumi reminds us that “there is no architecture without events”: Space is defined just as much by action, performance, and discourse as formal and structural qualities shape it. At the Rice School of Architecture, we build discourse not only through our curriculum but also through our events, which we see as an extension of conversations begun in our studios, seminars, and hallways.

We invite you to join the conversation and participate in our fall 2025 events—a dynamic series of lectures, exhibitions, and symposia that reflect our commitment to advancing discourse and engaging with the pressing questions of our time. From guest talks to exhibitions and civic forums, we explore topics that are relevant locally, in Houston, and also globally, using architecture as a lens to look at the world differently, more holistically. Some of the questions we will ask are: What is the nature of the urban project today, and how does it engage architecture’s representational, ecological, and civic mandates? How can we rethink architecture’s materiality in terms of sourcing, variability, and geometry? What is the nature of the design process today—is it beholden to the idea of a “plan,” or can it thrive on play, risk, and even humor? Join us as we reflect on how design can be used to connect these strands. Nimbly jumping across scales, geographies, and methodologies, we aim to approach these issues with an open mind and an open invitation to join this collective conversation as we build community through architecture.

Exhibition
Iwan Baan: The Notational Surface
Houston Archive Project
September 3, 5 pm lecture, 6–8 pm opening
Exhibitions at Rice, Cannady Hall, September 3–October 25, 2025

Michael Meredith
“Smaller Architecture”
September 15, 6 pm

Brett Schneider
“Geometry, Form, Structure”
September 22, 12 pm 

Rice Civic Forum
“In Motion: Downtown Streets, Stories, and People”
October 4, 1pm
Architecture Center Houston / Convened by Amna Ansari, co-organized with AIA Houston

Nile Greenberg and Michael Abel Deng
“Abel Nile New York Texas 2025”
October 6, 6 pm 

Launch
Sphere 01, collective reading
October 15, 6 pm

Paola Viganò
“The Biopolitical Garden and the Horizontal Metropolis”
October 20, 2025, 6 pm

Rice Design Chats: Looking at Houston
October 25, 1 pm
Gallery talk in conjunction with Iwan Baan: The Notational Surface
Convened by John Casbarian and Igor Marjanović, co-organized with AIA Houston
Exhibitions at Rice, Cannady Hall

Jennifer Bonner
“On Cuteness”
October 27, 6 pm 

Exhibition
Art in Context
November 7, 6–8 pm opening
Curated by Troy Schaum, Caitlin Murray, and Stephen Martin, co-organized with the Chinati Foundation
Exhibitions at Rice, Cannady Hall, November 7–February 7, 2026

Launch
PLAT 14—Resolution
November 10, 6 pm 

Symposium
“Art in Context: Art, Architecture, and the Middle Landscape, Part II”
November 14–15
Convened by Troy Schaum, Caitlin Murray, and Stephen Martin, co-organized with the Chinati Foundation

All events are free, open to the public, and qualify as AIA continuing education courses. Unless otherwise noted, programs are held in Farish Gallery, MD Anderson Hall, Rice University. For accessibility information, please email arch@rice.edu or call +1 713 348 4375. Dates and times are subject to change; please refer to our calendar of events at arch.rice.edu/events for updates. 

About Rice School of Architecture
The Rice School of Architecture is an international center of design research, experimentation, and debate that engages and reconstructs our world in the most imaginative and holistic ways. We educate the next generation of architects to be at the forefront of our discipline and to embody the dual role of public intellectual and agile practitioner as they design for a world in flux. 

About Exhibitions at Rice
Exhibitions at Rice is a curatorial program and gallery venue at the Rice School of Architecture located in Cannady Hall. The Notational Surface exhibition title is from an accompanying essay by Clare Lyster published in Sphere 01 (2025).

 Support for events is provided by the Betty R. and George F. Pierce Jr., FAIA, Fund; the William B. Coleman Jr. Colloquium Fund for Architecture; the Wm. W. Caudill Lecture Series Fund and the Rice Design Alliance Endowed Fund. PLAT is supported in part by the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts and by individual supporters. Art in Context: Art, Architecture, and the Middle Landscape, Part II, is generously supported by Rice University, Office of Research, Creative Ventures Fund.

Fall 2025 events are organized through the office of Dean Igor Marjanović and the lecture series committee led by Georgina Baronian and Albert Pope. 

To learn more about the Rice School of Architecture, visit arch.rice.edu.