Architect Sheila Kennedy to Present 'Mix, Mix, Max, Min' Lecture in Fayetteville, Little Rock

Photo courtesy of Kennedy and Violich Architecture, Ltd.

A burnt red brick envelope of the Tozzer Anthropology Building at Harvard University unifies and transforms a 1971 "wing" into an independent building with a distinctive new public entry.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Sheila Kennedy will present a lecture titled "Mix, Mix, Max, Min" at 5 p.m. Monday, Feb. 20, in Ken and Linda Sue Shollmier Hall, Room 250 of Vol Walker Hall, on the University of Arkansas campus, as part of the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design lecture series.

In addition, she will present a lecture Tuesday, Feb. 21, at the Arkansas Arts Center, 501 E. 9th St., in Little Rock. That lecture begins at 6 p.m. in the center's Lecture Hall, following a 5:30 p.m. reception, and is part of the Architecture and Design Network's 2016-17 series of public lectures.

Kennedy, FAIA, is an American architect, innovator and educator. She is a professor of architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and founding principal of Kennedy & Violich Architecture Ltd., an interdisciplinary practice based in Boston that is recognized for innovation in architecture, urban design, material research and the design of resilient infrastructure for emerging public needs.

Designated as one of Fast Company's emerging Masters of Design, Kennedy is described as an "insightful and original thinker who is designing new ways of working, learning, leading and innovating." She is the recipient of the 2014 Design Innovator Award, the 2015 Rupp Prize, and a 2016 Green Innovation Award from the Lemelson Foundation with SELCO India.

Kennedy directs KVA's material research division, Matx, which works with business leaders, universities and public agencies to design resilient architecture and "soft" infrastructure for networked cities and urbanizing regions. Recent work at KVA Matx includes the Tozzer Anthropology Building at Harvard University, winner of the 2016 Hobson Award for Design Excellence, and the Chrysanthemum Building in Boston, recipient of a 2014 Holcim Design Excellence Award for North America. Urban design projects include the RiverFirst Minneapolis Riverfront Initiative, the new East 34th Street Ferry Terminal in Manhattan, and the carbon neutral Soft House work/live residential development in Hamburg, Germany.

In this lecture, Kennedy will present recent projects of KVA Matx. She will discuss design strategies that expand the agency of architecture through the vehicles of built work in architecture, design research, digital fabrication and integrated project delivery. These approaches — the mixing of digital and traditional fabrication techniques, the essential minimization of materials used in architecture and the maximization of their spatial affects, and the design of "super natural" bio-sourced materials — become the means to transform the conventional material culture of architecture and offer an alternative vision for its possible futures.

KVA Matx has been recognized by AIA National Design Excellence Awards, Progressive Architecture Awards, Industrial Design Excellence Awards, and Digitizer A-Plus Design Excellence Awards. The KVA Matx Portable Light Project, a non-profit global initiative to provide energy harvesting textiles in the developing world, has been recognized with the 2012 and 2009 Energy Globe Awards, a 2009 U.S. Congressional Award and a 2008 Tech Museum Award for technology that benefits humanity.

Kennedy's design work has been exhibited at the United States Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, at the Museum of Modern Art, the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum, the International Rotterdam Biennial, the Vitra Design Museum and the TED conference in California. She has been invited to share her work at the United Nations in New York, on National Public Radio, BBC World News, Swedish Television, CBS Spotlight on Design, The Discovery Channel, CNN Principal Voices, Wired, Elle, The Economist and The Wall Street Journal.

The Fayetteville lecture is the Lewis Architects Engineers Lecture for the Fay Jones School. This lecture has been approved for AIA and ASLA continuing education credits (not HSW). The public is invited to attend. Admission is free, with limited seating. For more information, contact 479-575-4704 or fayjones.uark.edu.

The 2016-17 June Freeman Lecture Series is sponsored by the Architecture and Design Network with support from the Arkansas Arts Center, the Fay Jones School, the Central Arkansas section of the Arkansas Chapter of the American Institute of Architects and community members. The lecture is free and open to the public, and no reservations are needed. For more information about this and other ADN programs, contact jonathan@amr-architects.com.