CULTURE

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.

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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

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Spring 2026 School of Architecture Lecture Series

Unless otherwise noted, all lectures are scheduled to begin at 5:30 PM in the Plym Auditorium.

03.30 | 2026
5:30PM / Plym Auditorium.
Kimberly Dowdell
VP of Strategic Partnerships at Amrize, Chicago

04.01 | 2026
12:15PM / Atrium
Marci Uhlein
Associate Director for Research and Associate Professor at ISoA
Book talk

04.06 | 2026
5:30PM / Architecture 120
Ron Klemencic
Chairman and CEO at Magnusson Klemencic Associates, Seattle
Theiss Lecture

04.13 | 2025
5:30PM / Plym Auditorium
Amin Taha
Founder, Chairperson at Groupwork, London, UK
Tutor, Royal College of Art, London

04.20 | 2026
5:30PM / Plym Auditorium
Balazs Bognar
Partner at Kengo Kuma & Associates,
Tokyo, Japan

The ISoA lecture series invites reflection on the evolving role of designers as critical agents in shaping equitable, resilient, and culturally grounded futures. In the face of today’s social and environmental urgencies, this series explores how designers think, make, and act within and beyond the built environment. Contributing practitioners and educators working across architecture, landscape, and urbanism activate design as a tool for critique, transformation, and care. Together, these voices sketch a field in motion—one that is actively reshaping what it means to practice today.

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