MG&Co.

“2026 Rice Architecture Dissertation Colloquium” event poster, inspired by Eric Zimmerman’s Black Cat, Dark Room, Not There (2012), hand-crafted in-house. Black-and-white digital print, duplexed on yellow construction paper, circular cuts executed with a Zünd flatbed cutter. Dependent on location and light condition, a yellow glow from the paper reflection highlights the holes. Please join us at the Rice School of Architecture on Friday and Saturday, March 6 and March 7, for a colloquium of international doctoral students discussing new research in the history and theory of architecture, urbanism, landscape architecture, and design as approached through the lens of architectural methodology. As political boundaries shift and national identities evolve, as economic dependencies grow more volatile, as the scale of globalization expands in concert with ever more intensive resource extraction and planetary warming, reference frames within architectural history are also shifting and, with them, the discipline’s approaches to methodology, epistemology, and practice. The colloquium will address these pressing issues by presenting new research in architectural history—in its broadest sense—while also rethinking the field’s narratives, periodization, geographic reach, and methods for collecting historical evidence. An open platform for the exchange of ideas and questions about architectural methodology, the colloquium will illuminate how internal and external disciplinary forces not only advance but shape the field’s historiography. With the ambition to address and further strengthen the position of architectural history as an amalgamating force within humanistic research across different schools and departments at Rice University, this two-day event offers an international group of doctoral students a forum to present new research in the history and theory of architecture, urbanism, landscape architecture, and design.

“Under Construction” has crossed the Atlantic to the Rhode Island School of Design. This adaptation of the exhibition, first presented at the Solar Observation Tower at Collegium Helveticum, Swiss Institute for Advanced Study in Zurich, highlights construction sites as an ephemeral and often neglected stage in the documentation of the built environment. Curated by Reto Geiser, the installation presents works by contemporary photographers Tibor Bielicky, Federico Farinatti, Stefano Graziani, Marianne Mueller, and David K. Ross, along with a selection of Geiser’s research materials, to reflect the building site as a pivotal moment in architecture at the intersection between the invisible and the visible. The installation is on view through October 16, 2025 at the Architecture Department of the Rhode Island School of Design, Bayard Ewing Building, 231 S Main St, Providence, RI. Special thanks to Stephanie Rae Lloyd and Michael Kubo (RISD), Igor Marjanović (Rice University), Philip Ursprung (ETH Zurich), Sebastian Bonhoeffer and Mario Wimmer (Collegium Helveticum, Swiss Institute for Advanced Study, Zurich), Hanan Traiba, Noëmi Mollet. Details of artworks shown are copyright by the artists. #architecture #construction #underconstruction #buildingsite #photography #architecturalphotography #mockup #reverseruins #ruins

This exhibition of contemporary photography highlights construction sites as an ephemeral and often neglected stage in the documentation of the built environment. Curated by Reto Geiser, the installation at the Sonnenturm (solar observation tower) presents works by Tibor Bielicky, Stefano Graziani, Marianne Mueller, and David K. Ross to reflect the building site as a pivotal moment in architecture at the intersection between the invisible and the visible. The installation is on view through July 11, 2025 at Collegium Helveticum, Swiss Institute for Advanced Study, ETH Zurich, Schmelzbergstrasse 25, 8092 Zürich, Opening hours Mon–Fri, 12:30–16:30, admission is free.

It’s been a rewarding fortnight teaching a master class at the Berlage Center for Advanced Studies in Architecture and Urban Design at TU Delft. We engaged the history of the architecture book and its role as a messenger of architectural theories and ideas through lectures and engaged reading discussions of relevant literature. Participants were introduced to the theoretical foundations of graphic design, rooting the book in a larger disciplinary and cultural context, and providing alternative takes on the book as a mode of architectural discourse. Oscillating between theory seminar and hands-on workshop, we explored such topics as the organization of information, fundamentals of composition, typography—including a field trip to the Plantin Moretus Museum in Antwerp—, and production—culminating in a visit of Wilco printers and binder in Amersfoort—, which were all applied in short design experiments. In the second part of the class, students analyzed György Kepes’s canonical Vision + Value series, researching its context and design, and creating a text-free illustrated book to offer a new perspective on the material. They then used these insights to design and construct a small architectural publication inspired by Italo Calvino’s “Six Memos for the Next Millennium,” with each participant focusing on one of the memos and acting as editor, designer, and producer. We wrapped up the week with a collective conversation about architecture books that included the participants of the class, Zurich-based graphic designer and publisher Gregor Huber, and Salomon Frausto, director of studies at the Berlage. The work produced in this course is on display at the TU Delft Central Library (through June 27, 2025), emphasizing the development of critical, editorial, and bookmaking skills, with the aim of producing books that communicate primarily through visual means. Acknowledgments in comment.

Please join us for this one-day symposium, which re-examines the international networks and media through which ideas and concepts that shape the built environment travel. Attending to the idiosyncrasies of language, we consider the impact of translation in the dissemination of architectural thought and assess how ideas have been received, adopted, discussed, and challenged globally. By assembling translators and scholars of architectural history concerned with questions of cultural exchange, this event emphasises the importance of linguistic plurality as well as the continuing need for widely accessible, and accurate translations to enrich an inclusive architectural historiography and discourse. Organised by Richard Anderson (University of Edinburgh) and Reto Geiser (Rice University) This symposium is made possible with the generous support of the Rice-Edinburgh Strategic Collaboration Awards PROGRAMME 9:30–10:00 Introduction Richard Anderson and Reto Geiser TRANSLATION PRACTICES 10:00–10:30 Iain Boyd Whyte (University of Edinburgh) 10:30–11:00 Claudia Hopkins (University of Edinburgh) 11:30–12:00 Katie Lloyd Thomas (University of Newcastle) TRANSLATION NETWORKS 13:30–14:00 Daniel Talesnik (University of Bath) 14:00–14:30 Helena Čapková (Ritsumeikan University) 15:00–15:30 José Tavares Correia de Lira (Universidade de São Paulo) 15:30–16:00 Andres Kurg (Estonian Academy of Arts) 16:30–18:00 Final Roundtable #architecture #architecturalhistory #translation #translationpractice #networks #historiography #history @ricearch @riceuglobal @riceuniversity @esala_edinburgh @aht_esala_edinburgh @edinburghcollegeofart @edinburghuniversity_global @anderson.richard.patrick @molletgeiser

A house is a house is a house… or: Bunker Archeology in the port of Napoli. This monolithic house, without details, cast in concrete is a witness and a reminder of a dark period in European history.

Hands down the best facade in Napoli: Novello da San Lucano, Chiesa del Gesù Nuovo, 1470.

Whatever happened to kerning? #milanoinzurich #signage #environmentalgraphics #typography #type #kerning #typcrime

"Found in Translation" symposium poster on press this afternoon at Siebdruck27 in Zurich. Deep black silkscreen, recto and verso on hyper-thin 40gsm pharma paper (yes, the kind typically used for your medication leaflets). Beautiful ghosting on both sides. Thanks @julian.kaser for a perfect job! #silkscreen #posterdesign #graphicdesign #foundintranslation #architecturalhistory #riceuniversity #edinburguniversity #mg&co

Urban egress. Code required signage on steroids. #sechseläuten #bellevuezurich #environmentalgraphics #egress #signage #wayfinding #swissgraphicdesign

Details. LC at @zentrumpaulklee

🚧 🏗️ 𝗝𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗙𝗶𝘅𝗲 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗰 𝗼𝗳 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 (𝗦𝗶𝘁𝗲𝘀) Once a month, the fellows and staff meet for lunch in the library of the Collegium. In the afternoon, the community makes a site visit or excursion to a location in or around Zurich. Last Thursday, we had the opportunity to visit the construction site of the new University Hospital Zurich. Few of us realized the sheer scale of the transformation happening just a block away from the Collegium: a massive 20-meter-deep excavation, soon to give rise to an eight-story hospital. Thanks to Senior Fellow Reto Geiser– @molletgeiser from Rice University, we had the privilege of a guided tour. Olivia Gerber from @christgantenbein provided insights into the building’s history and design vision, while Lukas Blum from Schnetzer Puskas Ingenieure AG explained the complexities of implementation. A huge thank you to both for sharing their expertise! We were all fascinated by the scale of the project and the meticulous coordination required to manage different planning phases in parallel. 🏢 In the afternoon, Reto introduced 𝘙𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦 𝘙𝘶𝘪𝘯𝘴, his fellowship project on construction sites as temporary yet revealing stages in architecture. Through archival photography, it captures the overlooked moments of unfinished buildings, highlighting their cultural, economic, and technological significance. ➡️ Learn more about Reto's fellowship project on our website: https://collegium.ethz.ch/projects/fellow-year-2024-2025/reverse-ruins (link in bio). Milad Abolhasani, @brontesuzanne , Grace Ballor, Moran Bercovici, @denisebertschi , Audrey Bowden, @ettore_camerlenghi , Anna Elsner, Viktoria Cologna, @Gina Gibson, Naomi C. Hanakata, @dannyvdhaven , Bjørn Hofmann, Jill Johnson, @lugovska_anna , @jean.souviron , @sovrano_francesco , Mahdi Taiebat, Corina Tarnita, @andreatruttmann , Valentina Azzato, Leila Freutel, Mario Wimmer, Sebastian Bonhoeffer, Mick Lehmann @uzh.ch @ethzurich @zhdkcampus @universitaetsspitalzuerich #architecture #construction #urbandevelopment #universityhospitalzurich #USZ #christ_gantenbein #zürich