Tatiana Bilbao Spamer Presents 'Two Sides of the Border' Lecture Online on Feb. 15

Iwan Baan

"Remittance Houses," which resemble popular styles in the United States but are built with local methods, commonly populate areas of Mexico that have high levels of migration.

Tatiana Bilbao Spamer will present the virtual lecture "Two Sides of the Border: Reimagining the Region" at 4 p.m. Monday, Feb. 15, as part of the spring lecture series in the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design.

Bilbao Spamer is a Mexican architect and educator who leads the Mexico City-based multicultural and multidisciplinary office Tatiana Bilbao Estudio. Work initiated by Bilbao Spamer is the focus of a book titled Two Sides of the Border: Reimagining the Region, which was published in 2020 by Lars Müller Publishers in collaboration with Yale School of Architecture. Bilbao Spamer, Ayesha S. Ghosh and Nile Greenberg are editors of the book, and photographs are by Iwan Baan. An exhibition of this work, designed and curated by NILE, the design office of Nile Greenberg, is on display through Feb. 26 in Vol Walker Hall on the University of Arkansas campus.

The Fay Jones School's spring lecture series is presented in collaboration with Places Journal, an internationally respected online journal of architecture, landscape architecture and urbanism, and the University of Arkansas Office for Diversity and Inclusion. The series is also made possible in part by a gift from Ken and Liz Allen of Fayetteville, part of an overall set of commitments the Allens have made to the school's programs and initiatives in diversity, equity and inclusion.

Registration for the entire lecture series is available on Zoom.

In her lecture, "Two Sides of the Border: Reimagining the Region," Bilbao Spamer will discuss a collection of work that is the subject of the book and the exhibition. She describes the book as an atlas of a territory rarely described in terms of a single region, a guide to a cross-continent shared life that takes place across Mexico and the United States. The work does not focus on the politics that charge and polarize the border, but instead, it considers the histories, cultures and economies that form a single, shared region.

Under the direction of Bilbao Spamer, this work is a collaborative project and presents a compilation of research, essays, student work, and conversations across the region that contribute to existing efforts on the topic.

The project began in 2018 with 13 architecture studios responding to an initiative by Bilbao Spamer across the United States and Mexico, each engaging with complex trans-border issues. These findings were first presented at an exhibition at the Yale School of Architecture Gallery. The project has involved more than 180 participants and 12 institutions. Throughout the atlas, photographer Iwan Baan captures a small glimpse of this region. Contributions here are part of a larger discourse; this atlas is a collective reimagination of the United States and Mexico — but the aim of "Two Sides of the Border" is to ask everyone to reimagine the region for themselves.

Bilbao Spamer began her eponymous studio in 2004 with the aim of integrating social values, collaboration and sensitive design approaches to architectural work. Prior to founding her firm, she was an advisor in the Ministry of Development and Housing of the Government of the Federal District of Mexico City. During this period, she was part of the General Development Directorate of the Advisory Council for Urban Development in the City.

The work of Tatiana Bilbao Estudio intersects with research, allowing the office to design for diverse circumstances and in reconstruction or crisis scenarios. Bilbao Spamer holds a recurring teaching position at Yale University School of Architecture and has taught at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design; AA Association in London; Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation; Rice University; University of Andrés Bello in Chile; and Peter Behrens School of Arts at HS Dusseldorf in Germany.

Her work has been published in The New York Times, A + U Architecture and Urbanism Magazine and Domus, among others. Bilbao Spamer has been recognized with the Kunstpreis Berlin (Berlin Art Prize) in 2012, was named as an Emerging Voice by the Architecture League of New York in 2010, and received the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture Prize from the LOCUS Foundation in 2014. She also has been recognized with the A+ Awards Impact Award from Architizer in 2017, Tau Sigma Delta Gold Medal in 2020, and the Marcus Prize Award in 2019.

The school is pursuing continuing education credits for this lecture through the American Institute of Architects and the American Society of Landscape Architects.

This virtual lecture is open to the public. For details on watching the lecture, please visit the Fay Jones School's lecture page. To register for the entire lecture series, complete this form on Zoom.

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