Ilze Wolff and Heinrich Wolff, principals Wolff Architects, South Africa, present the lecture "About Paying Attention" at 12:00 p.m. via Zoom as part of the Rice Architecture Fall 2020 Lecture Series.
IIze Wolff and Heinrich Wolff will discuss how their projects emerge out of a careful attention to the details of its conditions, as opposed to the obvious and often unquestioned constructed narratives of place and space. This is their frame for discussing research projects as well as spatial interventions through architectural form. Their attention to the oblique allows for the work to move towards uncomfortable questions around race, coloniality, and gender. They offer a conversation around architectural practice situated within the black studies and their readings of Bessie Head, Zoë Wicomb, Sol Plaatje, Chimurenga, Kemang Wa Lehulere, Fred Moten, Saidiya Hartman, Kader Attia, Miriam Makeba, Aretha Franklin, and Charles Mingus, to name a few.
Informed by the colonial history of their home in Cape Town, Heinrich and Ilze Wolff established their eponymous architecture firm as a vehicle for addressing social inequities, as well as the erasure of indigenous landscapes and narratives. While spatial design is at the heart of its activities, the firm distinguishes itself through its reliance on a diverse set of employees and collaborators—including photographers, artists, filmmakers, and writers—and an expansive practice that encompasses social justice advocacy, research and scholarship, and conceptual art. Wolff bolsters its practical design business with consultancy services, an in-studio art gallery, a publication, and site-specific artistic interventions, all of which emphasize innovation and social engagement, and blur the lines between design, art, and activism. “The city of Cape Town . . . is both a source and a site of knowledge production,” the firm asserts. “The public projects that we design all motivate for a more connected and inclusive public realm.”'
All lectures are free and open to the public. Please be sure to register online for each lecture to receive the link to join. For more information on all lectures and to register to attend, visit arch.rice.edu/latest/events or ricedesignalliance.org.
This lecture series is made possible through the generous support of the Betty R. and George F. Pierce Jr., FAIA, Fund and the William B. Coleman, Jr. Colloquium Fund for Architecture.
Rice Design Alliance’s Civic Forum is made possible through the generous support of the Humanities Research Center with additional support from the Texas Commission on the Arts. Funding also is provided by RDA Underwriters: Harvey |Harvey-Cleary, Tellepsen, W.S. Bellows Construction Corp., Hines, HKS, Inc., MLN Company, m Strategic Partners, TRIO Electric, and Walker Engineering, Inc. For RDA’s Houston Design Research Grant lunchtime lectures by awardees De Peter Yi (Faculty winner); Anna Fritz, Shree Kale, and Edward Liew (Student winners); and Sebastián López and Lene Sollie (Honorable Mention), please visit ricedesignalliance.org. The Houston Design Research Grant lunchtime lectures are made possible through the generous support of The Mitsui U.S.A. Foundation.
This lecture is eligible for one AIA/CES Learning Unit. Rice Design Alliance is an AIA/CES Registered Provider of quality educational programs. Watch the lecture, download the pdf, and submit for credit.