The Dallas Architecture Forum
Presents Leading Architect
Alan Ricks
Wednesday, June 2, 2021, 7 pm
The Dallas Architecture Forum, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing public education about architecture, landscape architecture, design and the urban environment, is pleased to present leading architect Alan Ricks IN PERSON on Wednesday, June 2, 2021 at the Kalita Humphreys Theater.
Alan Ricks is Founding Principal and Chief Design Officer of MASS Design Group, with projects in over twenty countries covering architecture, landscape, engineering, construction, and fabrication. MASS Design was awarded the National Design Award for Architecture from the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum, and the Royal Institute of British Architects named Alan an International Fellow. Ricks is also a member of The Young Global Leaders of the World Economic Forum. A highly sought-after lecturer, Alan has taught at Yale and the Harvard GSD. Chris Anderson, chief curator of TED, described his TED talk as “a different language about what architecture can aspire to be.”
Mass Design Group was named WSJ Magazine’s Architecture Innovator of the Year for 2020 for their healthcare architecture that reimagines spaces for everyday life. The studio’s National Memorial for Peace and Justice has become an iconic touchstone in the movement for racial justice in our country. Alan currently oversees many projects including a new agricultural university campus in Rwanda that upon completion will be one of the most climate positive projects ever built. The master plan contains 55 buildings on the campus and includes site reforestation and a conservation plan that will build back biodiversity on the site.
“MASS Design Group is of the moment. The firm celebrates today’s principles of sustainability, dignity and justice in their work,” said Nate Eudaly, Executive Director of The Forum. “By applying the lessons they continue to advance from projects in the developing world, particularly in healthcare, they are creating projects in America and internationally that are equally sustainable and regenerative and reflect the desires for social justice that are of deep concern in our world today. Moreover, in the past year, MASS has opened the new Family Health Center on Virginia in McKinney, Texas which has been widely covered in the media both for its unique design as well as for its innovative consortium of community partners. “We believe MASS founder Alan Ricks will provide a program of great interest to attendees.”
This lecture will be presented IN PERSON at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, June 2, 2021 at the Kalita Humpheys Theater with limited, pre-assigned seating for Forum members and sponsors only. Anyone may join The Forum at www.DallasArchitectureForum.org to attend this and other upcoming lectures. Advance registration for the lecture is required. Forum members will receive information about registration.
Dallas Architecture Forum members receive free admission to all regular Forum lectures as a benefit of membership, and AIA members can earn one hour of CE credit for each lecture. For more information on The Dallas Architecture Forum, visit www.dallasarchitectureforum.org or call 214-764-2406.
https://edit.massdesigngroup.org/
https://issuu.com/dallasarchitecture1/docs/forum_lecture_ricks_issuu
Additional Media Coverage: Wall Street Journal, Fast Company and Dallas Morning News
Wall Street Journal
https://bit.ly/3v3cAlf
Fast Company
https://bit.ly/3wl4956
Dallas Morning News
https://bit.ly/3bBnNSw
Sponsors for Mr. Rick’s lecture include Season Sponsors Maharger Development | Reggie Graham and SMINK, Inc. Series Sponsors are Architectural Lighting Alliance, Bentley Tibbs Architect, Bodron / Fruit, DLR Group | Staffelbach, Faisal Halum Group, Headington Companies, Jackson Walker, Kafka Properties LLC, modernDallas, O’Brien Architects, Perennials & Sutherland LLC and Scott + Cooner. Lecture Sponsors are bulthaup, Callison RTKL, Gensler, GFF, Perkins & Will and Turner Construction. Reception Sponsors are Bernbaum/Magadini Architects, Demesne Design, Ink + Oro, Kimley-Horn, OMNIPLAN, SmithGroup, Talley Associates and TKO Associates.
ALAN RICKS
FOUNDING PRINCIPAL and CHIEF DESIGN OFFICER
MASS DESIGN GROUP
BOSTON
2 June 2021
Wednesday, 7:00 pm
IN PERSON at the Kalita Humpheys Theater with limited, pre-assigned seating for Forum members and sponsors. Anyone can join The Forum at www.dallasarchitectureforum.org
The mission of MASS Design Group is to research, build, and advocate for architecture that promotes justice and human dignity. MASS is a team of over 140+architects, landscape architects, engineers, builders, furniture designers, writers, filmmakers, and researchers representing 20 countries around the globe. They believe in expanding access to design that is purposeful, healing, and hopeful. In 2020, MASS was named the Architecture Innovator of the Year by the Wall Street Journal, for its origins in healthcare and designing architecture as a medium for healing. In 2019, Architect Magazine ranked MASS 4th in Design, and in 2017, MASS was awarded the National Design Award in Architecture, given each year by the Cooper Hewitt, the Smithsonian Museum for Design. To date, their work has been featured in over 4,000 publications.
MASS believes that every project has a mission, and they accompany their partners throughout the design process – from early visioning through project completion – to develop and implement a shared vision for how design can achieve that mission. They do this through architecture, landscape design, engineering, planning, research, film, and community engagement. Helping build a climate positive future is imperative. MASS projects move beyond just issues of energy use and efficiency, to holistically design the project ecosystem, including an entire supply chain that is sustainable, resilient, and regenerative. One Health design is a strategy that produces diverse, healthy, and productive habitats for human, animal, and ecological growth.
MASS Design Group, which stands for Model of Architecture Serving Society, is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization, governed by a board of directors who oversee and advise on the organization and the maintenance of their mission. The board is comprised of a diverse group of through leaders from different sectors and perspectives that meet quarterly to review the organization’s strategy and operations. The full-time senior leadership of MASS Design Group is comprised of design principals and senior directors who develop and administer the strategy of MASS’s work. The group meets weekly to assess where to direct grants in the form of in-king services, select what projects to take on, and review general operations and strategy.
ABOUT THE DALLAS ARCHITECTURE FORUM
The Dallas Architecture Forum educates, enriches and connects our community by presenting programs and events, creating experiences, and engaging global and local thought-leaders from the design fields to enhance how we live.
As a not-for-profit organization for design enthusiasts founded over two decades ago, The Forum explores ideas related to how and why design matters in our daily lives through dynamic programming centered on current topics and trends in architecture, landscape architecture, interior design, urban planning, engineering, construction, and other related fields of art and design. Our collaborative programming and community outreach are enriched by the active involvement and leadership of businesses, arts and cultural organizations, government and academic institutions at regional, national and international levels.
THE FORUM LECTURES | PANELS
The Forum Lecture Series features emerging voices as well as established leaders from the allied fields of architecture and design. Pritzker Prize, Pulitzer Prize, AIA and ASLA Gold Medal winners as well as internationally acclaimed designs, authors and critics are among the over 210 speakers from over 20 countries who have presented at The Forum over the last two decades. Some of those Lecture Speakers include Diller / Scofidio / Renfro, Kazuyo Sejima, Tsien / Williams, Deborah Berke, Annabelle Selldorf, Lake / Flato, Craig Dykers / Snohetta, Jeanne Gang, Marlon Blackwell, Kai-Uwe Bergmann / BIG, Rick Joy, Juhani Pallasmaa, Tom Phifer, Leo Marmol, Lee Mindel, Laurie Olin, Tsao/McKown, Thomas Woltz, Brad Cloepfil, Gordon Gill, Alex Krieger, Tom Kundig, Enrique Norten, Daniel Libeskind, Eric Owen Moss, Michael Van Valkenburgh, James Burnett, Brian Mackay-Lyons, Jamie Carpenter, Wang Shu, James Corner, Norman Foster, Rem Koolhaas, Rafael Vinoly, Reed/Hilderbrand, Segiru Ban, Peter Bohlin, Thom Mayne, Michael Graves, Jorge Silvetti, and Peter Eisenman.
In 2018, The Forum established the Frank Welch Memorial Lecture to honor Frank Welch, the Dean of Texas Modernist architects and great friend of The Forum. Past presenters include Ted Flato, Co-Founder of Lake | Flato Architects and Rick Joy, Founder and Principal, Studio Rick Joy.
PANEL DISCUSSIONS
The Forum organizes and presents an annual series of interactive, educational, and informal panel discussions about topics and issues of local and regional interest. The panels are moderated by community leaders and design professionals, and feature panelists recognized as experts in their fields. In addition, The Forum highlights regional design talent focusing on both their design inspirations and award-winning projects. Panels are presented as a service to the community at no charge.
DESIGN SYMPOSIUM
The Dallas Design Symposium brings thought leaders from architecture, art and design together to explore the intersection of these fields for thoughtful and critical conversation. Past participants have included: environmental artist Christo, New York Times architecture critic Michael Kimmelman, Aaron Betsky, Leo Marmol, Tom Kundig, Brad Oldham, Johnston Marklee, Terrence Riley, Karim Rashid, artists Walead Beshty and Jorge Pardo, and the Directors of the Chinati Foundation and MASS MoCA.
THE DESIGN SOCIETY
The Design Society is a satellite established to enhance and expand The Forum’s relationships with a broader audience and new constituencies. This group is led by visionary and emerging leaders in the design professions and offers additional programs, outreach and engagement primarily designed for a younger audience. Activities include: casual gatherings after Forum events, Pecha Kuchas, design-related community projects, informal design tours and Happy Hours. Design Society events are detailed on their Facebook page.
365 MODERN LIVING | DESIGN EXPERIENCES
“365 Modern Living” is a series of receptions hosted by The Forum focused around living with great design every day of the year. “365 Modern Living” features some of Dallas’ most architecturally significant modern and contemporary residences and explore the ideas surrounding design, inspiration, and innovation. Attendees have the opportunity to converse with the homes’ design teams of architects, interior designers, and landscape architects as well as owners. Experiencing architecture and design first-hand is vital to fulfilling the Forum’s mission. The Forum hosts its Annual Members’ Meeting and other special events at significant buildings in Dallas. Study Tours have been conducted to Spain, Switzerland, Finland, and Mexico City. Forum Study Groups have visited mid-century modern residences in Palm Springs in association with the University of Texas at Austin, and toured art and architecture in Los Angeles in conjunction with the Nasher Sculpture Center.
PUBLICATIONS
Dallas Modern is a monograph published by The Forum featuring twenty of the most architecturally outstanding modern and contemporary residences in Dallas. With over 200 pages and 250 color photographs as well as insightful essays written by Maxwell Anderson, Mark Gundersen and Jeremy Strick, the book advances The Forum’s mission to explore how design matters in daily life. The Forum also produced a limited-edition folio featuring important Dallas-Fort Worth cultural buildings designed by some of the most influential architects from the twentieth and twenty first centuries. The Forum commissioned esteemed photographer Laura Wilson to take original images for this folio celebrating these civic treasures in North Texas. The Forum plans to produce future publications about the significant architecture of the North Texas region.
OUR COMMUNITY | COLLABORATIONS | ACCOLADES
Since its founding, The Forum has fostered vibrant partnerships with over fifty regional, national and international educational, civic and cultural organizations. These collaborations produce meaningful discussions that connect the community to the importance of design in modern life. Among our collaborators is the College of Architecture, Planning and Public Affairs (CAPPA) at the University of Texas at Arlington. Recent collaborations between CAPPA and The Forum explored issues and topics related to architecture and urban planning, including Texas Regional Architecture and Affordable Housing in cooperation with bcWorkshop (Building Community Workshop).
The Forum also works closely with Preservation Dallas, the Dallas chapter of the American Institute of Architects and its affiliated Architecture and Design Exchange. Other cultural, education and civic partners include: Dallas City Design Studio, DoCoMoMo North Texas, Meadows School and Museum at SMU, The MAC, Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas Contemporary, and the Kimbell Art Museum. The Forum also collaborates with other national organizations focused on stimulating discourse on architecture, design and urbanism. Among the groups with whom The Forum has cooperated are: Aga Kahn Foundation, Auburn University’s Rural Studio, Architectural League of New York City, Harvard Graduate School of Design, National Building Museum, Rice Design Alliance, Texas Tech University andthe University of Texas at Austin.
The Forum’s successful collaborative initiatives and leadership have been recognized with numerous awards and accolades, including an AIA Dallas Community Honor Award, a Citation of Honor from the Texas Society of Architects, and a Collaborative Achievement Award from the national offices of the American Institute of Architects. The Forum is a founding member of the Association of Architecture Organizations (AAO), an international organization dedicated to enhancing public dialogue about architecture and design. The Forum’s Executive Director serves on the Board of Directors of the AAO.
For more information on The Dallas Architecture Forum, visit www.dallasarchitectureforum.org. For questions about The Forum, call 214-764-2406.
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