Architecture at Illinois

Architecture students create models, drawings for exhibit, materials collection of Ricker Library

A collaborative project between Illinois architecture students and the Ricker Library of Architecture and Art will add models, drawings and other information to the library’s materials collection and show how the library’s resources can help with studio projects. The items are currently on display in an exhibit in the Ricker Library. Photo by Michelle Hassel

Read more here >>> https://news.illinois.edu/architecture-students-create-models-drawings-for-exhibit-materials-collection-of-ricker-library/

Illinois architecture and landscape historians convened April 15-18 in Mexico City at the Society of Architectural Historians annual conference.

It was a great showing with Dede Ruggles, Windy Zhao, and Yazmín Crespo-Claudio chairing sessions, Marci Uihlein, Heather Grossman, and Delnaaz Kharadi giving papers, Kate Holliday speaking as part of a roundtable, and Didem Ekici joining the SAH board meeting. Their topics ranged from decolonial narratives of architecture, to issues of heritage and preservation around the world, digital documentation, academic freedom, and Chicago skyscrapers.

Congrats to the entire crew - proof that Illinois is a great place to study history, theory, and preservation!

Lecture Series – Balazs Bognar

April 20, 2026
Monday, 5:30 PM
Temple Buell Hall Plym Auditorium, Room 134, 611 E. Lorado Taft Drive, Champaign IL, 61820

Illinois School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture
Stanley H. White Lecture

Monday, April 20 at 5:30 p.m.
Temple Hoyne Buell Hall, Plym Auditorium Room 134
Champaign, IL

Speaker: Balazs Bognar
Partner and Executive Vice President, Kengo Kuma & Associates/KKAA

Out of the Woods
Methods of Location and Detail

In his lecture, Bognár will describe methods for determining location and detail as applied through the work of KKAA. In the first part of the talk, he will discuss the practice of place, looking specifically at two projects by the firm—in Yusuhara and Minamisanriku, Japan—both borne out of initially disadvantageous forces of nature, and both generating multiple projects and longer relationships between design and community. In the second part of the talk, Bognár will talk about how the KKAA office works, emphasizing the importance of conversation in processes. Then, in the final part of the talk, he will focus on a particular wood detail that manifests itself across a series of projects, demonstrating the firm’s interest in developing ideas through evolution, and not revolution.
BIO: Balázs Bognár, Partner and Executive Vice President of Kengo Kuma & Associates/KKAA (Tokyo, Japan), earned a BA in Architecture at Washington University in St. Louis and an M.Arch. at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. He has worked at KKAA since 2007 with a focus on projects in the U.S., Canada, Australia, Japan, and China. In that context, he served as Chief Manager for the Cultural Crossing expansion at the Portland Japanese Garden, collaborating closely in that work with Department of Landscape Architecture alum Sadafumi Uchiyama (BLA 1991, MLA 1993), who was then Chief Curator of the garden and Director of the International Japanese Garden Training Center there.
This lecture is made possible with support from the Stanley H. White Lecture endowed fund, and it is being co-sponsored with the Illinois School of Architecture.
Reception at 5:00 p.m. In TBH Atrium.
Please see flyer attached.

Illinois School of Architecture assistant professor Joseph Altshuler and students featured in article about local group that advocates for land-use reform and walkable cities is hoping to bring attention to the housing needs of Champaign-Urbana! Read more here >>> https://ipmnewsroom.org/curbanism-club-uses-data-and-art-to-draw-attention-to-champaign-urbanas-housing-needs/

Keynote lecture for the Rationalizing Architecture Through Research symposium
Join us for an exciting lecture this Thursday April 8 at 5pm in Temple Buell Hall, room 227.
Dr. Bill Leslie will be discussing hospital architecture in African contexts. This lecture touches on design, post-coloniality, health, and community context. The full talk abstract is below. We hope you can join us.

This lecture is the keynote for the Rationalizing Architecture Through Research symposium, jointly sponsored by two program areas in the School of Architecture: Health and Well Being and History, Theory + Preservation. The event co-chairs are Julie Zook (contact) and Kate Holliday.

Keynote lecture for the Rationalizing Architecture Through Research symposium

Join us for an exciting lecture this Thursday April 8 at 5pm in Temple Buell Hall, room 227.

Dr. Bill Leslie will be discussing hospital architecture in African contexts. This lecture touches on design, post-coloniality, health, and community context. The full talk abstract is below. We hope you can join us.

This lecture is the keynote for the Rationalizing Architecture Through Research symposium, jointly sponsored by two program areas in the School of Architecture: Health and Well Being and History, Theory + Preservation. The event co-chairs are Julie Zook (contact) and Kate Holliday.

In addition to the Thursday lecture, Friday symposium activities are linked under "event schedule" here: https://arch.illinois.edu/about-us/events/rationalizing-architecture-through-research/

Talk abstract:
The Butaro District Hospital (2011) in Rwanda, and the Tambacounda Hospital in Senegal point toward a promising new direction in rural African healthcare. They offer a stark and deliberate contrast to their British and French colonial predecessors, which still bear the imprint of their imperial past. Africa's hospitals, for so long the face of medical modernity, too often 'appear as monumental white elephants' in an unbalanced system of healthcare that neglected preventive medicine and primary care for rural communities.

Butaro and Tambacunda provide relatively low-cost and low-tech alternatives. Their subtle but powerful architecture draws on local materials, resources, labour, and cultural traditions. Designed in partnership with local physicians and patients, these new spaces of healing are mindfully embedded within their communities, economies and landscapes, in a clear departure from their colonial predecessors. Butaro, a collaboration of MASS Design Group, Partners in Health (the non-profit founded by the late Paul Farmer), takes full advantage of its site, locally sourced materials, and indigenous construction techniques to provide healing spaces that architecturally quarantine contagious airborne diseases like tuberculosis. Tambacounda Hospital, by Swiss architect Manuel Herz, with funding from the Albers Foundation, wrapped a modern maternity and pediatric wing around an existing hospital, employing local brick, brise soleil, and passive ventilation and cooling wherever possible, to hold the total cost for the project to just $2 million. Together, Butaro and Tambacounda offer convincing evidence of the Albers Foundation motto, "minimal means for maximum effect."

School of Architecture Lecture Series Critical Practice
Theiss Lecture with Ron Klemencic
Chairman and CEO, Magnusson Klemencic Associates

****Today**** - Monday, April 6, 2026, 5:30 p.m.
Architecture Building, Room 120
Reception in Architecture at 5:00 p.m.

Realizing Iconic Architecture through Collaboration

Iconic architecture doesn't happen in a vacuum. The realities of gravity, natural forces, budget, and schedule often threaten the delivery of the most ambitious projects. At the heart of every success is deep-rooted collaboration between architects and engineers. The intersection of art and science is where the true magic of the best buildings in the world exists.

Magnusson Klemecic Associates is a structural and civil engineering firm with a long and consistent history of turning dreams into reality. Ron Klemencic, Chairman and CEO of MKA, will share some highlights of recent projects and the extraordinary adventures that accompanied them.

Spring 2026 Japan Studio

Recently, our Japan Studio spent a week immersed in the architecture, culture, and urban life of Tokyo and Kyoto. From navigating public transit to experiencing spaces firsthand, students explored everything from Kengo Kuma and Tadao Ando’s work to traditional Japanese architecture.

This studio continues a legacy of global engagement, building on past international studios and exchanges that have shaped the program over the years.

Brian Vitale is the Co-Managing Director and inspirational leader of Gensler Chicago. Named one of the 50 people “shaping Chicago’s design culture,” his influential work has earned over 80 major design honors locally, nationally, and internationally. A firm believer in the benefits of blurring the line between academia and professional worlds, Vitale has served as adjunct design faculty at multiple universities and has delivered convocation speeches at both the University of Illinois’ School of Architecture and Columbia College Chicago where he was bestowed an Honorary Doctorate of the Arts for his transformative work. Brian is an alum of both the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Washington University in St Louis, where he recently received the school’s Award of Distinction, given to an alum who has demonstrated outstanding accomplishments in their career.

Join us tomorrow for the second event in our lecture series!

Book talk on:
The Elements of Construction
N. Clifford Ricker, Architecture, and the University of Illinois

Professor and author Marci Uihlein examines the legacy of Nathan Clifford Ricker (1843-1924), a central figure in shaping architectural education in the United States.
As head of the School of Architecture at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, dean of the College of Engineering, and chair of the Illinois State Board of Examiners of Architects, Ricker helped define the discipline at a formative moment-educating nearly a quarter of the nation’s architecture students between 1873 and 1916.

April 1st 2026 | 12:00pm-1:00pm | TBH Atrium

School of Architecture Lecture ***Today*** at 5:30 p.m. + Reception at 5:00pm in TBH Atrium

School of Architecture Lecture Series
Lecturer Kimberly Dowdell
Today, Monday, March 30 at 5:30 p.m.
Temple Hoyne Buell Hall, Plym Auditorium
Reception at 5:00pm, TBH Atrium

Title: Building The Future

Abstract:
Join Kimberly Dowdell for a lecture and fireside chat exploring the themes of architecture, urban transformation, sustainability, resilience, and leadership. Architects play a pivotal role in shaping tomorrow, which is why students and practitioners must remain engaged with the evolving role of designers and architects in the AEC industry today. With rapid shifts in technology, coupled with the expanding need for climate action and social responsibility, the profession of architecture is poised to take on a greater leadership role in building the future.

BIO:
Kimberly Dowdell is an award-winning architect and building industry leader. In her current role as Vice President of Strategic Partnerships with Amrize, she is working to advance innovation in the delivery of critical infrastructure and building solutions in all construction markets, from foundation to rooftop. She is a trustee at Cornell University and the National Building Museum, and she also serves as a board member for several key civic organizations in Chicago.

In 2024, Dowdell served as the 100th President of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), which was preceded by her 2019-2020 term as President of the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA). Her career has included leadership in a global design firm, public service, academia, real estate development, project management, and distinguished service to various organizations. In 2005, Dowdell co-founded the Social, Economic, Environmental Design (SEED) Network, and she earned her initial LEED AP credential in 2007.

Inspired by her early-life in Detroit, Michigan, Dowdell was initially driven to use architecture as a tool for urban revitalization. She holds a Bachelor of Architecture from Cornell University and a Master of Public Administration from Harvard University. Her overarching mission is to improve the quality of people’s lives, by design.