Join the UB School of Architecture and Planning in Hayes Hall to hear the second speaker in our Spring 2022 Lecture Series, "Looking Askance”. Joshua Prince-Ramus, founding principal of REX, will present “Rethinking Flexibility”.

February 23 from 6 to 7:30 p.m.
Hayes Hall, Room 403
University at Buffalo
Buffalo, NY 14214

AIA continuing education credits pending

Despite an increased need to accommodate change, contemporary architecture still relies on the antiquated modernist vision of flexibility: a blank slate (or white cube or black box) upon which any activity can occur. This approach has historically produced banal, sterile architecture, and the intellectual and economic costs to reconfigure these architectural tabula rasa have become prohibitive. New concepts of flexibility must, and can, be advanced. The mission of REX is to challenge and advance building paradigms and promote the agency of architecture.

Joshua is currently working on the Ronald O. Perelman Performing Arts Center at the World Trade Center; the Brown University Performing Arts Center in Providence; two mixed-use towers in Australia; the Necklace Residence on Long Island; and a virtual museum and performing arts space for Metapurse, which will “house” Beeple’s infamous NFT The first 5000 Days. Joshua’s belief that architecture should do things for its users and communities, and not simply be a representational art, was first applied to his design of the Seattle Central Library, which he led as a founding partner of OMA New York.

Joshua has been honored with the Action Maverick Award from the experimental performance company STREB and was the first American recipient of the international Marcus Prize. He has also been credited as one of: the “5 greatest architects under 50” by HuffPost; the world’s most influential young architects by Wallpaper*; the twenty most influential players in design by Fast Company; “The 20 Essential Young Architects” by ICON magazine; and the “Best and Brightest” by Esquire.