Spring 2026 events

In 1993, Donald Judd warned his readers not to reduce artworks solely to physical forms devoid of politics. “The basic nature of art,” he wrote, “is invisible” and includes aspects such as history, space, color, and land, along with the complex relationships that form among them. The spring 2026 event series at the Rice School of Architecture expands on Judd’s list of the unseen aspects that condition physical form and the built environment. Through ongoing, critical discussion, we investigate how material constructions, however isolated they may appear, are never neutral. Our host city of Houston both situates and complicates these conversations, as it is simultaneously the locus of our immediate school community and a place very much on the front lines of global dynamics, from sea-level rise to shifting demographics and unchecked urban sprawl.

This spring, our curatorial program, Exhibitions at Rice, presents two exhibitions. Art in Context: Art, Architecture, and the Middle Landscape features woodcut prints by Judd on loan from the Judd Foundation, alongside the preservation work of Schaum Architects on the Chinati Foundation’s artillery sheds. The Order of Place: A Collaborative Process, opening at the end of February, offers a retrospective of the work of Taft Architects, founded in Houston in 1972.

Both exhibitions are accompanied by Rice Design Chats, which engage the Houston art, architecture, and design community in conversations around curatorial topics pertinent to the works on view. Lectures feature joint initiatives with the Rice University Department of Art, including talks by painter Laura Owens and photographer Rory Gardiner. Emerging architectural practices that negotiate various scales of building and collaboration are highlighted, including Adrien Comte and Adrien Meuwly of Comte/Meuwly; Ognjen Krašna and Nemanja Zimonjić of TEN, winners of the school’s 2026 Spotlight Award; and Raha Talebi and Paul Vantieghem of Vantieghem Talebi. The annual Cullinan Lecture features Kersten Geers and David Van Severen of Office KGDVS, who are also teaching an advanced research platform studio. In support of the school’s commitment to advanced scholarship in the fields of architectural history and theory, a Dissertation Colloquium will take place in March, featuring a keynote lecture from historian Claire Zimmerman.

All lectures, exhibitions, and colloquia are free, open to the public, and qualify as AIA continuing education courses.

Exhibition
Art in Context: Art, Architecture, and the Middle Landscape
Curated by Troy Schaum, Caitlin Murray, and Stephen Martin
Co-organized with the Chinati Foundation
Exhibitions at Rice, Cannady Hall
November 7, 2025–February 7, 2026

Laura Owens
“Recent Works”
Co-organized with the Department of Art
Sarofim Cinema
January 15, 6:00 pm

Adrien Comte and Adrien Meuwly
“Critical Construction”
Llewelyn-Davies Sahni Innovative Practice Lecture
January 21, 6:00 pm

Rice Design Chats: Judd at Chinati
Convened by Igor Marjanović and Troy Schaum in conjunction with Art in Context: Art, Architecture, and the Middle Landscape
Co-organized with AIA Houston
Exhibitions at Rice, Cannady Hall
January 24, 1:00 pm

Rory Gardiner
“Photographs”
Co-organized with the Department of Art
February 4, 6:00 pm

Ognjen Krašna and Nemanja Zimonjić
“Practice as a Prototype”
Spotlight Award: TEN Zurich / Belgrade
February 23, 6:00 pm

Exhibition
The Order of Place: A Collaborative Process
Curated by John Casbarian and Danny Samuels, Taft Architects
Exhibitions at Rice, Cannady Hall
February 27–May 30, 2026
February 27, 5:00 pm, lecture; 6:00–8:00 pm, opening

Dissertation Colloquium
Convened by Reto Geiser
March 6, 6:00 pm, keynote
March 7, 10:00 am–5:00 pm, paper sessions

Claire Zimmerman
“Control and Communication: Architecture, Industry, and Spatial Autarchy”
Dissertation Colloquium keynote
March 6, 6:00 pm

Kersten Geers and David Van Severen
“The Large City”
Cullinan Lecture
March 25, 6:00 pm

Raha Talebi and Paul Vantieghem
“Restraint and Abandon”
March 30, 12:00 pm

Rice Design Chats: Reflecting on the Past
Convened by Rusty Bienvenue and Igor Marjanović in conjunction with The Order of Place: A Collaborative Process
Co-organized with AIA Houston
Exhibitions at Rice, Cannady Hall
April 11, 1:00 pm

Unless otherwise noted, programs are held in Farish Gallery, MD Anderson Hall, Rice University. For accessibility information, please email arch@rice.edu or call 713–348–4375. Dates and times are subject to change; please refer to our calendar of events for updates.

Exhibitions at Rice is a curatorial program and exhibition venue at the Rice School of Architecture located in Cannady Hall.

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. Art in Context: Art, Architecture, and the Middle Landscape is generously supported by the Rice University Office of Research Creative Ventures Fund.

Spring 2026 events are organized through the office of Dean Igor Marjanović and the lecture series committee led by Assistant Professor Georgina Baronian and Gus Sessions Wortham Professor Albert Pope.

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.

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

© 2026 Rice University, School of Architecture, 6100 Main Street MS–50, Houston, Texas 77005.