Steven Ehrlich to Present 'Evolution of Multicultural Modernism' Lecture

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The Interdisciplinary Science and Technology Building IV (ISTB 4), home to the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona. (Photo by Bill Timmerman)

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Steven Ehrlich will present a lecture titled “The Evolution of Multicultural Modernism” at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 27 in Ken and Linda Sue Shollmier Hall, Room 250 of Vol Walker Hall, on the University of Arkansas campus. This is the Fay Jones School of Architecture's  Warren Segraves Lecture, sponsored by Modus Studio. The public is invited to attend. Admission is free, with limited seating. 

Ehrlich is the founding partner of Ehrlich Architects, based in Culver City, California. This internationally recognized design firm extends the traditions of modernism through “Multicultural Modernism,” a distinctive approach to creating meaningful architecture for the 21st century. This style involves designs that are environmentally conscious, fused with cultural meaning and rooted in the specificities of their sites. They also embrace the advances made in technology and materials.

Ehrlich, a self-proclaimed “architectural anthropologist,” learned early on the significance of architecture’s response to the culture and to the environment. After graduating from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, he spent six years working in Africa in the 1970s. Two of those years, Ehrlich served with the Peace Corps as their first architect in Marrakech, Morocco.

He later traveled across the Sahara and taught architecture at Ahmadu Bello University in Nigeria. The wisdom of indigenous building—architecture without architects—was instrumental in forming Ehrlich’s approach to design and continues to influence the firm’s work today.

Ehrlich is currently a visiting professor at the University of Southern California, where he previously was the inaugural Jon Jerde Visiting Chair. He also has taught at the University of California, Los Angeles and Southern California Institute of Architecture, and has been the guest critic at Arizona State University, Harvard University and Yale University. He has lectured at universities and symposiums in on five continents, including Asia, South America, Europe and Australia.

He also sits on various awards juries across the country and is a recipient of the prestigious Maybeck Award for outstanding lifelong achievement in architectural design, presented by the California chapter of the American Institute of Architects. Ehrlich Architects has won eight national AIA design awards under Ehrlich’s leadership.

For more information, contact 479-575-4704 or architecture.uark.edu.