Internationally recognized architects and designers will present their work this semester at UT as part of the Church Memorial Lecture Series.

This year marks the fortieth anniversary of the series. Its first speaker was Louis Kahn, one of the most influential architects of the twentieth century. He gave his last public lecture on February 5, 1974 at the University of Tennessee.

This spring, the series kicks off on Monday, February 3. Free and open to the public, the events provide opportunities to gain insight into the works and ideas in the design disciplines today. The series includes lectures, films and exhibits (see our folding poster).

All activities will be held at the UT Art and Architecture Building, 1715 Volunteer Boulevard. Lectures begin at 5:30 p.m. and films begin at 8:00 p.m. in McCarty Auditorium. The exhibitions will be featured in Gallery 103.

The series was founded in memory of Robert B. Church III, a modernist architect and former dean of the School of Architecture. It has welcomed some of the world’s greatest architects and designers to Knoxville.

Since 2006, the lectures have been broadcast live in an effort to reach the mass public. An archive of this year’s lectures is available online.

The College of Architecture and Design is currently working to remaster and make past lectures, including Kahn’s, available through its YouTube channel and website as an educational resource.

The semester lineup:

Visiting Lectures

February 3—Nader Tehrani will present “Catalytic Structures: Transformed Types.” Tehrani is a professor and head of the Department of Architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is principal of NADAAA, a practice dedicated to the advancement of design innovation and interdisciplinary collaboration. His work has been recognized with notable awards, including the Cooper Hewitt National Design Award in Architecture (2007), the United States Artists Fellowship in Architecture and Design (2007), and the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Architecture (2002). It also has been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; and the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston.

February 21—Lawrence Scarpa will present “Latent Potentials.” He has received more than fifty major design awards in the last ten years, including nineteen national awards from the American Institute of Architecture. This spring, he is the UT BarberMcMurry Visiting Professor. He is founder and principal at Brooks + Scarpa (formerly Pugh + Scarpa) in Los Angeles. His work has been featured in numerous publications and has been exhibited in venues such as the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and the National Building Museum.

March 24—Eva Franch i Gilabert will present “Towards a Theory of Earliness.” She is a licensed architect and founder of Office of Architectural Affairs in New York City. She also is a researcher and curator at Storefront for Art and Architecture in New York City, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of architecture, art, and design. Most recently, Storefront was commissioned by the US State Department to represent the US Pavilion at the 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale.

March 31—Mack Scogin and Merrill Elam, principals of the Atlanta-based firm Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects Inc., will present the General Shale Lecture. The duo has won several awards for their design work, especially of university campus buildings. In addition to architecture, their work includes interior design, planning, graphic design, exhibit design, and programming and research.

Exhibitions

January 6-23: Julie Beckman and Keith Kaseman: The Work of KBAS

January 27-February 5: UT Printing Program: Printed Kites: Flying Portfolio

February 10-28: Lawrence Scarpa: Brooks + Scarpa

March 3-21: Omakuva—Finland Summer Architecture Institute

March 24-April 10: Rome [Re]Visited—The Necessity For Seeing 

April 14-May 15: Stroud Watson: The Chattanooga Studio

Films

January 29: Rivers and Tides (2002) by Thomas Riedelsheimer

February 12: Beauty is Embarrassing (2012) by Neil Berkeley

February 26: Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010) by Banksy

March 26: Manufactured Landscapes (2007) by Jennifer Baichwal

April 9: Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry (2012) by Alison Klayman