Ricker Report Launch!
Dear architecture students,
The Ricker Report, the Illinois School of Architecture’s student-run architectural publication, cordially invites you to the official launch party for our Spring 26 Issue, Intention/Intension, on Wednesday, September 30th, from 11am-1pm in the Temple Hoyne Buell Hall Lounge. We will be distributing copies of this issue as well as offering pizza and refreshments.
This issue of the Ricker Report, Intention/Intension, examines how architects and designers engage with social issues. This publication is curated to highlight the missions and intentions of our featured architects, designers, and researchers and to examine their personal exploration of activism. Through their work, we trace how personal convictions evolve into spatial strategies and how individual practices intersect with broader movements for equity, justice, and systemic change. We aim to provoke nuanced, critical questioning of design activism’s boundaries: where it begins, where it fails, and how it might be reimagined. Rather than offering a singular definition, we embrace the multiplicity of approaches that exist within activist design practices, understanding that they are shaped by context, identity, and lived experience.
The title, Intention/Intension, speaks not only to the intent of architecture that strives to better the world around it but also to the tension that exists between architecture’s efforts to improve the world and that which has caused irreparable harm to communities. By holding these contradictions in view, Intention/Intension does not seek to resolve them but rather to sit with their complexity. It invites readers to consider how design can move forward with greater accountability, humility, and responsiveness. How can architects and designers not only envision better futures but actively participate in building them?
The Ricker Report is a student-run journal published by the University of Illinois School of Architecture. Originally founded as Ricker Notes, a periodical edited and published by students, featuring articles, news, poetry, drawings, and book reviews. In 2018, Ricker Notes returned in the form of Ricker Report. The goal of the new Ricker Report is to provide a platform dedicated to exploring cutting-edge topics in architecture, design, and the built environment. Named after Nathan Clifford Ricker, the first licensed architect in the U.S. and a pioneer in architectural education, the journal serves as a venue for showcasing innovative research, critical analysis, and creative projects. By fostering a dialogue between academic inquiry and professional practice, the Ricker Report highlights the diverse voices shaping the future of design, sustainability, and urbanism.
The Ricker Report is also seeking individuals interested in editing and graphic design as well as a 2026-2027 art director. We have opened applications for the positions of Lead Editor and Lead Graphic Designers. To apply for these positions, or to get involved, please join our GroupMe and fill out our contact form. To learn more, follow our Instagram or look through the slides from our past info sessions.
Best,
Naomi Rockower
Ricker Report 2026-2027 Editor-in-Chief