Talk About Architecture Symposium

View video recordings of the day's sessions here.

Talk About Architecture: Retrospect & Prospect will bring together the Tulane School of Architecture community for a day of conversation regarding the past, present and future of architectural education at the school.

Favrot Professor of Architecture John P. Klingman will host this interactive alumni forum. The event will feature a panel with special guests and Tulane School of Architecture friends Deborah Gans, Ben Ledbetter, Donna Robertson and Mark Shapiro, keynote by Professor Klingman, and a healthy dose of New Orleans hospitality.

The Talk About Architecture forum will mark Professor Klingman’s retirement from full-time teaching.

Advance RSVPs are requested.

For more information, visit http://architecture.tulane.edu/event/talkaboutarchitecture.

SCHEDULE:

Saturday, April 7, 2018

Tulane School of Architecture, Richardson Memorial Hall

8:30 a.m. - Coffee and Pastries

9:15 a.m. - Opening Remarks: Dean Kenneth Schwartz and Provost Robin Forman

9:40 a.m. - Alumni Forum: "What my Tulane School of Architecture education did and did not prepare me for"

10:45 a.m. - Speaker Panel: “Tulane School of Architecture and architecture education: what it is, has been and could be” - Deborah Gans FAIA, Ben Ledbetter, Donna Robertson FAIA and Mark Shapiro

11:50 a.m. - Lunch: Food truck round up

1:30 p.m. - Keynote: “Architecture, Tulane and New Orleans” - Professor John P. Klingman

2:15 p.m. - Alumni Forum: with guest commentary

4:30 p.m. - Closing Reception: “A Stage for Viewing” at the Fly

SPEAKERS:

Deborah Gans, FAIA is a professor of architecture at Pratt Institute and the founder and principal architect of Gans studio. She also taught at Yale University for 10 years. Gans has kept the pulse of Tulane School of Architecture through her attendance at thesis reviews over several decades, providing spirited, good-natured commentary.

Ben Ledbetter, architect and educator, was an important voice on Tulane School of Architecture's faculty in the late 1980s. He has taught at Wesleyan and Yale universities, and is currently a lecturer and client liaison for the Yale First Year Building program. Pursuant to his interest in architecture’s relationship to theater, he is also on the board of the Yale Drama School.

Donna Robertson, FAIA served as dean of Tulane School of Architecture from 1992-96, one of the first women to lead an architecture school in the United States. She went on to become longtime dean of the College of Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology, where she is currently a professor of architecture. Robertson was recognized by Architectural Record with the "Woman Educator of the Year 2016" award.

Mark Shapiro’s distinguished career in architecture includes academia and practice. Shapiro was an influential faculty member at Tulane School of Architecture in the early 1980s. Following teaching stints at Tulane and Syracuse universities and department head at Kansas State University, he entered full time practice with a number of notable design firms, including BNIM Architects.

ACCOMODATIONS:

Tulane University’s preferred hotel and bed and breakfast partners offer discounted rates to the Tulane community. Visit http://campusservices.tulane.edu/services/lodging-accommodations for more information and to book.