Join us for Rice Design Chats: Looking at Houston, a gallery talk convened by John Casbarian and William Ward Watkin Dean Igor Marjanović in conjunction with the exhibition Iwan Baan: The Notational Surface. Co-organized with AIA Houston, the conversation will explore the layered perspectives on Houston’s urban form, environmental conditions, and architectural narratives revealed in Baan’s sweeping photographic survey.
Framed by the Houston Archive Project and grounded in the school’s commitment to architectural discourse, the discussion will bring together faculty, students, practitioners, and members of the public to reflect on how Baan’s images record and reimagine the city. Participants will consider Houston as both a local condition and a planetary lens—examining how its evolving landscapes embody larger social, ecological, and infrastructural dynamics.
This event is free and open to the public.
This program 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; and the Wm. W. Caudill Lecture Series Fund.
About Rice Design Chats
Rice Design Chats is a public program of the Rice School of Architecture dedicated to fostering dialogue around the ideas, challenges, and opportunities shaping architecture and design today. Targeting the community of architecture and design practitioners while inviting broader participation, Rice Design Chats connects the school’s events, research, and exhibitions to the local Houston community and beyond.
Mobilizing conversation as a form of design research, the series bridges academic inquiry and professional practice—offering a space where architects, designers, scholars, and the public can engage with the issues that define our built environment. Through timely discussions and intimate exchanges, Rice Design Chats advances the school’s mission to cultivate architectural discourse as both a cultural practice and a civic mandate.