Margarita Jover received a Master of Architecture degree from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia in 1995. Together with Iñaki Alday, she founded aldayjover architecture and landscape in 1996 in Barcelona, Spain. The multidisciplinary, research-based practice focuses on innovation, and is particularly renowned for its leadership in a new approach to the relation between cities and rivers, in which the natural dynamics of flooding become part of the public space.
Margarita is tenured Professor of Architecture at Tulane University in New Orleans. Previously, she was associate professor at the University of Virginia where she first got tenured in 2017. Margarita has also taught at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, the University of Navarra and the University of Vic. She is co-author of the book Ecologies of Prosperity (ORO Editors, 2018), and The Water Park (ACTAR, 2008). Margarita has been jury of honor awards as the FAD Architecture Prize or the Mies van der Rohe European Union Prize for Architecture (2015), and of international competitions such us the Glories Square in Barcelona or the Hainan Eco-Island in China.
Both in academic research and in practice, Jover promotes a broader understanding of Architecture that aims to contribute to mitigate and reverse socio ecological crises.
All lectures are free and open to the public and, unless noted otherwise, will be held in person in Farish Gallery, MD Anderson Hall, with a livestream component. In the event that COVID-19 circumstances prohibit in-person lectures, the series will be held virtually via Zoom. Each lecture has been submitted for AIA CES approval.
This lecture series is made possible through the generous support of 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 Rice Design Alliance (RDA), the public programs and outreach arm of Rice Architecture, which includes the generous support of its members and RDA Underwriters: Harvey | Harvey-Cleary; Tellepsen Family; Big State Electric; Brochsteins; CED Houston; MAREK; Turner Construction; and Walter P. Moore. Additional support is provided by the Texas Commission on the Arts.