“Anaesthetic Architecture”

Wednesday, October 07, 5:00 p.m. est

Frank Pitts ’75 Lecture

EMPAC Theater

RUR is cosmopolitan, design-obsessed architecture office and atelier, comprising the collective knowledge of four generations of architects and designers from a diverse array of cultures and expertise. Their singular mission is to create bespoke works of architecture which resonate beyond clients’ needs—regardless of scale, site, or program—and to develop projects which advance the people, cultures, and ecologies around them.

RUR’s architecture is an art of optimism, demanding a forward-looking attitude and the nerve to stand out of sync with present norms. They believe the significant work of reconciling past traumas and addressing contemporary discord requires an architecture that posits a more ideal world. Doing so is a naturally enriching process, as they collectively seek to expand definitions of possibility toward the betterment of clients, their institutions, and the cultures of which we are all part. As we live in an increasingly divided society, there is a tendency to address this division by counterproductively retreating into provincial understandings of identity. In contrast to current provincialisms, the vocation of modern architecture was, is, and should be cosmopolitan, committed to enhancing the lives of all people everywhere.

A recently completed success is the 755,000 square foot Taipei Music Center, a work that is insistingly a real thing in the world. It is also a steep material investment for all concerned, necessitating that it not be squandered by shortsighted thinking. That an architecture be sustainable is a minimal requirement, and alone not enough to justify its concomitant efforts and cost. No doubt the final measure of an architecture—as with sustainability—lies not in quantities but in the myriad qualities it exhibits and affords over time, bettering the lives of all.

To posit and construct both a more livable world and a world worth living in: such is RUR’s shared motivation.

We look forward to seeing you at this lecture.

https://www.reiser-umemoto.com/