Cite, the venerable voice of Houston's architecture and design community, marks a significant milestone with the release of its 40th-anniversary edition, issue 104. Since 1982, Cite has been a communal anchor and a unique platform for Houston, connecting scholarship with public advocacy around critical urban, societal, and environmental issues.
On November 15th, readers and supporters are invited to attend a launch event for Cite 104 at Basket Books & Art, located at 115 Hyde Park Blvd., Houston. The event will begin at 6:00 p.m. There will also be a small exhibition featuring photography and archival materials related to Cite. Everyone is invited to join us. Find more details about the launch event here.
Architecture critic Ada Louise Huxtable once described Houston as “the city of the second half of the twentieth century,” capturing its unconventional, exciting, and unsettling essence. Today, Houston faces new challenges, and Cite has diligently chronicled this urban transformation with a wide variety of thought-provoking content.
The anniversary issue not only celebrates the rich, fifty-year history of Rice Design Alliance (RDA)—the community engagement arm of the Rice University School of Architecture—but also reflects on the legacy of Cite magazine with more than two hundred pages of insightful and engaging content guest edited by Reto Geiser, associate professor and codirector of undergraduate studies at Rice Architecture.
The first part of Cite 104 contains an illustrated oral history with founding RDA members and those who were involved with the production of the magazine over the years. This section is indebted to a seminar course titled “Houston Talks” taught by Geiser in which Rice Architecture students interviewed several of the members who shaped RDA and especially Cite. The second part of this anniversary issue is dedicated to a renewed look at Houston along three thematic subsections that include visual contributions by artists Jamal Cyrus, Marianne Mueller, Thomas Struth, and Vincent Valdez, among others. Along with conversations, criticism, field notes, historical case studies, projects conceptualized but never built, and essays covering challenges like homelessness and affordable housing, Cite 104 reflects on a culture of excess as well as tackles urbanistic, environmental, and infrastructural issues. The magazine is a collection of fifty contributions including those by Curtis Davis, B.A. ’75, Judith K. De Jong, Peter K. Haff, Joy Horak-Brown, Scott Key, M.Arch. ’13, Jeffrey S. Nesbit, and Enrique Ramirez. It is an exquisite compendium of conversations that let Houston talk for itself.
Additional information about Cite 104 can be found on our website.