The Dallas Architecture Forum
Announces its 2018-2019 Season
Opening on September 11 with
Visionary Architect Alberto Kalach
The Dallas Architecture Forum, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing public education about architecture, design and the urban environment, is pleased to announce an outstanding 2018-2019 Lecture Season, beginning on September 11 with internationally celebrated architect Alberto Kalach, Principal and Co-Founder of TAX Architects of Mexico City. Details about Mr. Kalach are below.
This season The Forum will present founders and design principals of leading studios, and esteemed and emerging voices in architecture, academia, urban strategy, landscape architecture and interior design. We will also present our second annual Frank Welch Memorial Lecture in tribute to Frank’s remarkable and enduring legacy.
Distinguished professionals who will speak for The Forum include:
Carol WILLIS
Founder and Director
The Skyscraper Museum, New York City
In partnership with the DMA and its exhibition
Cult of the Machine: Precisionism and American Art
25 September 2018 (Tues, 7pm)
Horchow Auditorium, DMA
skyscraper.org
Thomas PHIFER
Founder and Partner
Thomas Phifer and Partners
23 October 2018 (Tues, 7 pm)
Horchow Auditorium, DMA
thomasphifer.com
Rick JOY
Founder and Principal
Rick Joy Architects
The Frank Welch Memorial Lecture
23 January 2019 (Wed, 7 pm)
Horchow Auditorium, DMA
rickjoy.com
Thomas WOLTZ
Principal
Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects
6 February 2019 (Wed, 7 pm)
Venue TBA
nbwla.com
Sebastian SCHMALING
Co-Founder and Partner
Johnsen Schmaling Architects
Spring 2019
Date and Venue TBA
johnsenschmaling.com
Calvin TSAO and Zack MCKOWN
Founders and Partners
TsAO & McKOWN Architecture and Design
Spring 2019
Date and Venue TBA
tsao-mckown.com
Details of these speakers will follow in the coming weeks, and The Forum will also present ADDITIONAL lectures this Spring featuring leading architecture and design leaders. We look forward to sharing those updates with you.
Alberto Kalach will open The Dallas Architecture Forum’s 2018-2019 lecture season on Tuesday, September 11 at 7 p.m. at the Angelika Theater at Mockingbird Station, Dallas. NOTE NEW VENUE LOCATION.
Kalach is a leader of the gifted generation of Mexican architects fully engaged in the global issues of the 21st century. Cited as one of the most versatile and prolific architectural voices in Mexico City today, Alberto Kalach cofounded the firm Taller de Arquitectura X (TAX) in 1981 with Daniel Álvarez. Kalach works collaboratively, completing projects from residential commissions to civic structures with firms and contemporaries such as Teodoro González de León, Juan Palomar, Tonatiuh Martínez, Gustavo Lipkau, and José Castillo. His award-winning José Vasconcelos Library in Mexico City remains the largest public library in Latin America.
Kalach's concern for the emerging problems of his vast native city has inspired projects in a range of scales, from his minimal $5,000 houses, to housing developments and urban master plans. His most ambitious plan, México Ciudad Futura, is a speculative program to rejuvenate the city's environmental and social dynamics through the rescue of the dry Texcoco lake bed, 10 kilometers away from the city's center. This project was awarded a special mention at the 2002 Venice Biennale.
Kalach has lectured and taught at many universities throughout Central and North America, as well as in Western Europe. His work is the subject of a monograph from the series Contemporary World Architects, published by Rockport Publishers. Kalach studied at the Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico City and Cornell.
www.kalach.com
Additional Media Coverage: The Guardian, Colorado Design Magazine, Arch Daily, Wallpaper Magazine
The Guardian
http://bit.ly/2wjobAx
Colorado Design Magazine
http://bit.ly/2wlc2Lp
Arch Daily
http://bit.ly/2PIzwlF
Wallpaper Magazine
http://bit.ly/2PJKJT5
“Alberto Kalach is a visionary who has over thirty years of experience in studying the complex ecology and workings of his native Mexico City, one of the largest cities in the world. His work explores the balance of the needs of society with nature and history, and seeks to create equity among neighborhoods of varying income levels, and to seamlessly merge communities with their surrounding environments,” stated Forum Executive Director Nate Eudaly. “We believe Mr. Kalach’s vast experience and insights in urban planning and the design of various building types will be of great interest as Dallas attempts to implement its first comprehensive housing program, and North Texas experiences continued growth as one of the largest metropolitan areas in North America.”
The lecture will occur at 7 p.m. on September 11 with a complimentary reception beginning at 6:15 p.m. Tickets are $20 per lecture for general admission and $5 for students (with ID). Tickets can be purchased at the door before the lecture. No reservations are needed to attend Forum lectures. Dallas Architecture Forum members receive free admission to all regular Forum lectures as a benefit of membership, and AIA members can earn one hour of CE credit for each lecture. For more information on The Dallas Architecture Forum, visit www.dallasarchitectureforum.org or call 214-764-2406.
Season Benefactors for The Dallas Architecture Forum’s 2018-2019 Season are Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Realty – Faisal Halum, D Home, Maharger Development – Reggie Graham, and SMINK. Series Benefactors are Architectural Lighting Associates, Bodron + Fruit, DLR Group STAFFELBACH, Headington Companies, HKS, Janet + Terry Kafka, modmedia, inc // moderndallas.net. Scott + Cooner, and studioOutside.
ALBERTO KALACH
PRINCIPAL AND CO-FOUNDER
TAX Architects
MEXICO CITY
In partnership with UTA CAPPA
11 September 2018
Tuesday, 7:00 pm
Reception and check-in 6:15 pm
Angelika Theatre, Mockingbird Station, Dallas
NOTE NEW VENUE LOCATION
Alberto Kalach studied at the Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico City, and later at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. In 1981 he and Daniel Álvarez founded the firm Taller de Arquitectura X (TAX), which Kalach continues to lead. A primary focus of the firm is on urban planning challenges of Mexico City, which led to his developing a think-tank of leaders focused on "México: Future City". Kalach has realized several milestone projects, some of them together with notable colleagues like Teodoro González de León, Gustavo Lipkau and Jose Castillo. His prestigious lake concepts are significant to solving existing water supply problems in Mexico City. He has published several articles in national and international magazines of architecture and participates in the project "Recovering the City of Lakes".
Alberto Kalach is known for his uncompromising approach to the issues of ecology and landscape. His projects range from minimal $5,000 houses to social housing developments, from verdant gardens to elegant towers, and from inventive airports to inspirational urban master plans.
His largest project, The Lakeside City, which set out to recover the ancient Texcoco lake in the east of Mexico City, is the most comprehensive urban plan the city has ever seen. It is the largest project ever conceived for the Valley of Mexico Basin called México Ciudad Futura (Return to the city of Lakes), that embraces the city as a whole, studied through its Geography.
Carried out over a decade in collaboration with architects and scientists the speculative plan proposed to rejuvenate the city’s environmental and social dynamics, limit urban growth and allow groundwater and rain to restore the historic body of water, eventually regenerating an area of some 17,300 acres. It was awarded special mention at the 2002 Venice Biennale and can be studied in three publications, Mexico Future City, Atlas of Projects for Mexico City I and II.
Kalach’s practice has several built projects in the city – including the internationally acclaimed 409,000 sq ft José Vasconcelos library. Labeled by the press as the Megabiblioteca ("megalibrary"), it is in the downtown area of Mexico City (Buenavista neighborhood, Cuauhtémoc borough) on what was a barren plot of land. Kalach designed an extensive botanical garden to surround the library. Lush with over 60,000 species endemic to Mexico, the space serves not only as a collection of human knowledge, but an encyclopedia of natural life. It was dedicated to José Vasconcelos, the philosopher and former presidential candidate and former president of the National Library of Mexico. The library was inaugurated by former President of Mexico Vicente Fox on 16 May 2006.
Other Notable works include Casa GGG in Mexico City, Casa La Atalaya in California, Casa Romany in California and Reforma 27 Tower in Mexico City.
About the Dallas Architecture Forum
The Dallas Architecture Forum is a not-for-profit civic organization that brings leading architectural thought leaders from around the world to speak in Dallas and also fosters important local dialogue about the major issues impacting our urban environment. The Forum was founded in 1996 by some of Dallas’ leading architects, business, cultural and civic leaders, and it continues to benefit from active support and guidance from these citizens. The Forum fulfills its mission of providing a continuing and challenging public discourse on architecture and urban design in - and for - the Dallas area. The Dallas Architecture Forum's members include architects, design professionals, students and educators, and a broad range of civic-minded individuals and companies intent to improve the urban environment in North Texas. The Forum has been recognized nationally with an AIA Collaboration Achievement Award for its strategic partnerships with other organizations focused on architecture, urban planning and the arts. For more information on The Forum, visit www.DallasArchitectureForum.org.
Among the over 230 speakers who have addressed The Forum’s Lecture Series are Shigeru Ban, Brad Cloepfil, Diller + Scofidio, Peter Eisenman, Michael Graves, Daniel Libeskind, Thomas Phifer, Rafael Vinoly, Juhani Pallasmaa, AIA Gold Medal Winner Peter Bohlin, and regional architects David Lake and Ted Flato. Pritzker Prize winners speaking to The Forum have been Kazuyo Sejima, Rafael Moneo, Thom Mayne, Rem Koolhaas and Norman Foster (the latter two in collaboration with the ATT Performing Arts Center). Other speakers for The Forum have been leading designers Calvin Tsao, Andrée Putman, and Karim Rashid; landscape architect Michael Van Valkenburgh; and National Trust President Emeritus Richard Moe. Important critics, authors and patrons who have spoken to The Forum include Emily Pulitzer, Terence Riley, Pulitzer Prize winners Robert Campbell and Blair Kamin, Aaron Betsky, and the late David Dillon.
The Forum organizes and presents an annual series of Panels—local, informal, open, and offered free of charge as a public service to the community—led by a moderator who brings a subject of local importance along with comments by participating panelists. Moderators and Panelists have also come from both other Texas cities as well as from national institutions that were connected with particular Panel subjects. Panels offer attendees the opportunity to participate in creating discourse. Important topics addressed in Panels in recent years include: “Thoughts on the Dallas Comprehensive Plan”; “The Kimbell Expansion: A Discussion”; “Filling Out the Dallas Arts District”; and “Re-envisioning the Trinity”.
For more information on The Dallas Architecture Forum, visit www.dallasarchitectureforum.org. For questions about The Forum, call 214-764-2406.
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