Gulf Coast Green Schedule
7:30-8:15am
Registration, Check-In, Breakfast
8:15-9:45am
Inheriting the Contemporary by Farshid Moussavi
AIA & ASLA Credit: 1.25 HSW
This lecture examines how architecture can draw on inherited spatial intelligences while responding to contemporary conditions. Through the design of the Ismaili Center Houston and other projects, it explores how geometry, material, craft, and light can reactivate architectural traditions without relying on historical representation. Rather than treating tradition as a set of images to be repeated, the projects presented understand it as a way of thinking: an intelligence capable of generating new forms and experiences. The lecture reflects on how architecture can transform precedents into beginnings, allowing continuity and invention to coexist within the design of contemporary buildings.
Morning Keynote presentation brought to you as part of the Sally Walsh Lecture series.
9:45-10:15am
Coffee Break & Expo
10:15-11:15am
Session 1
The Gessner Center: Building with Nature for Resilience and Renewal
AIA Credit: 1.0 HSW ASLA Credit: 1.0 HSW
Speaker
Catherine Callaway, AIA, Blake Coleman, & Bob Stokes
About the Session
| How can developing a site improve quality of life beyond its boundaries? How might a building emulate an oyster? This presentation explores how the Gessner Center project exemplifies Galveston Bay Foundation’s mission of ecological stewardship on the Gulf Coast. Participants will examine strategies for restoring native ecosystems, integrating educational and event spaces among natural habitats, providing benefits beyond the property line, and pursuing Living Building Challenge goals. Presenters from GBF, Kirksey, and TBG Partners will highlight lessons applicable to any project, offering practical insights into sustainable design, resilient development, and long-term community impact. |
From COVID to Civil Legacy: The Life-Cycle of a Downtown Promenade
AIA Credit: 1.0 HSW ASLA Credit: 1.0 HSW
Speaker
Alex Ramirez, Tarana Hafiz, & Ariel Wright
About the Session
| This session explores how a temporary, pandemic-era street intervention became permanent civic infrastructure through More Space: Main Street in downtown Houston. Using the seven-block project as a case study, the presentation traces the full life cycle of a public space—from rapid deployment and experimentation to design refinement, construction, and long-term stewardship. It highlights how climate comfort, transit operations, emergency access, maintenance, and governance were integrated into a flexible, resilient street design. Participants will gain practical lessons on turning short-term interventions into durable public assets that support daily life, economic vitality, and long-term resilience. |
Culture, Climate, and Community: Landscapes of the Ismaili Center, Houston (Walking Tour)
AIA Credit: 1.0 HSW ASLA Credit: 1.0 HSW
Speaker
Jeff Aten, ASLA, PLA
About the Tour
| In 2019, Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects, in partnership with Farshid Moussavi Architects and AKT II Engineers, and DLR as the AOR, was awarded the commission for an extensive, nine-acre landscape design project for the first Ismaili Center in the United States. The Ismaili Center, Houston, the seventh Ismaili Center worldwide, builds on the mission of the Ismaili community to advance pluralism, public understanding, and civic outreach in communities around the world. The Ismaili Center, Houston will host social and cultural gatherings, foster intellectual engagement and reflection, and act as a sanctum for spiritual contemplation. The Center’s monumental architecture sits at the top of a series of terraces that step down to the Buffalo Bayou, reflecting a topographical and hydrological relationship to rivers that dates back thousands of years. Constructed site elements connect the site to global Persian landscapes and architecture, while the horticulture grounds each garden in Texas, utilizing emblematic plants from the state’s unique ecoregions. |
11:15-11:30am
Expo
11:30-12:30pm
SESSION 2
Designing for Connection: Biophilic Principles in High-Stress Environments
AIA Credit: 1.0 HSW ASLA Credit. 1.0 HSW
Speakers
Rachel Theurer, IIDA; Natalie Thurman, AIA; & Sonja Bochart, IIDA
About the Session
| This session reframes design practice through the lens of CYCLE, demonstrating how biophilic design restores balance in high-stress learning environments by embracing renewal, continuity, and long-term stewardship. Drawing on current research and a local case study, presenters explore strategies including daylight, views, vegetation, fractals, natural materials, prospect–refuge, and spatial organization to renew attention, strengthen belonging, reduce stress, and support prosocial interaction. The session offers guidance for intentionally integrating biophilia throughout the design process as a form of stewardship. It concludes by aligning biophilic strategies with wellness criteria in building rating systems and the AIA Framework for Design Excellence outcomes. |
Transforming an Iconic Campus Landscape: Sustainability and Stewardship at Rice University
AIA Credit: 1.0 HSW ASLA Credit: 1.0 HSW
Speakers
George Ristow, Richard Johnson, Dr. Cassidy Johnson, Brent Moon and Ian Housman
About the Session
| The grounds of Rice University – designated as the Lynn R. Lowrey Arboretum and long recognized as one of Houston’s most iconic landscapes – are undergoing a transformation. From signature projects to subtle interventions to specific maintenance practices, this transformation is characterized by a commitment to sustainability. Furthermore, the landscape and its transformation are firmly embedded in supporting the educational mission of the university while also being guided by the outcomes of classroom and research projects through what is known as Rice’s Living Lab program. |
Culture, Climate, and Community: Landscapes of the Ismaili Center, Houston (Walking Tour)
AIA Credit: 1.0 HSW ASLA Credit: 1.0 HSW
Speaker
Jeff Aten, ASLA, PLA
About the Tour
In 2019, Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects, in partnership with Farshid Moussavi Architects and AKT II Engineers, and DLR as the AOR, was awarded the commission for an extensive, nine-acre landscape design project for the first Ismaili Center in the United States. The Ismaili Center, Houston, the seventh Ismaili Center worldwide, builds on the mission of the Ismaili community to advance pluralism, public understanding, and civic outreach in communities around the world. The Ismaili Center, Houston will host social and cultural gatherings, foster intellectual engagement and reflection, and act as a sanctum for spiritual contemplation. The Center’s monumental architecture sits at the top of a series of terraces that step down to the Buffalo Bayou, reflecting a topographical and hydrological relationship to rivers that dates back thousands of years. Constructed site elements connect the site to global Persian landscapes and architecture, while the horticulture grounds each garden in Texas, utilizing emblematic plants from the state’s unique ecoregions.
12:30-1:30pm
Lunch & Expo
1:30-2:30pm
SESSION 3
Transforming Movement
AIA Credit: 1.0 HSW ASLA Credit: 1.0 HSW
Speakers
Donna Kacmar, FAIA
About the Session
| This presentation will look critically at how our current public right of way became dominated by the personal vehicle and what we can do to enhance our streets and public life (along with personal health and communal well-being). The presentation will include contemporary ideas and data from Janette Sadik-Khanthat, Ben Wilson, and others. We will look at the relationship between the streetscape and architect designed buildings and explore how architects can work to enhance the public realm. This session will also offer specific ways citizens can become more involved with the decisions that influence our streets and transportation systems. |
Taboo Terminology: Reframing the Green Building Conversation
AIA Credit: 1.0 HSW ASLA Credit: 1.0 HSW
Speakers
Julie Hendricks, AIA, Tricia Loe, and Garrett Ferguson, AIA
About the Session
| People judge you by the words you use. We have all encountered resistance to the terminology of green buildings, where some people see LEED as a four letter word. In today’s polarized climate, even the words “sustainability” and “climate change” can spark resistance. Yet, the urgent need to address environmental challenges, enhance building performance, and promote responsible business practices remains. Our challenge is to implement these vital concepts effectively, regardless of the terminology we use. |
Building Tour: The Ismaili Center
AIA Credit: 1.0 HSW ASLA Credit: 1.0 HSW
Speakers
Emily Moore, AIA
About the Session
The Ismaili Council for the USA awarded DLR Group|WRL the role of executive architect and architect of record through an international design competition that included design architect, London-based Farshid Moussavi, and landscape architect Nelson Bird Woltz. The Ismaili Center will serve as a national hub for the social, cultural, and intellectual activities of the Ismaili Muslim Community. It will be the seventh in a series of iconic cultural buildings, His Highness the Aga Khan, has commissioned over the past four decades in the United Kingdom, Canada, Portugal, United Arab Emirates, and Tajikistan.
Join Emily Moore, Principal and Senior Designer, Senior Project Manager, Job Captain, AIA for a tour of the building.
2:30-3:00pm
Afternoon Stretch & Expo
3:00-4:00pm
SESSION 4
A Hybrid Path: Regional Solutions to Implementing Mass Timber in South Texas
AIA Credit: 1.0 HSW ASLA Credit: 1.0 HSW
Speakers
Gretchen Foust, Sunnie Diaz AIA, Jessalyn Nelson and Cameron Patterson AIA
About the Session
| With the increase in mass timber buildings across Houston, how has our understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of mass timber architecture evolved? Using the design, construction, and operations journey of a recently completed hybrid steel and mass timber building at the Houston Zoo, this presentation provides a fresh perspective on the environmental, economic, and constructability advantages for our region. Lessons from this project will help owners and design teams maximize the benefits and minimize the challenges of mass timber in the Gulf Coast Region and help identify when mass timber – or hybrid systems – offer the most value. |
The Gravel Silos and Stormwater Park on Buffalo Bayou’s East End
AIA Credit: 1.0 HSW ASLA Credit: 1.0 HSW
Speakers
Isaac W Stein, Maggie Tsang, and Ian Rosenberg
About the Session
| This presentation will provide an overview of Dept.’s work on Buffalo Bayou East, specifically project work adjacent to the Gravel Silos and an adjacent site that will be transformed into a stormwater retention park. The presentation will demonstrate how the project addresses issues of adaptation in riparian conditions, provide examples of material reuse strategies, and showcase examples of ecological restoration and land management. |
4:15-5:30pm
Closing Remarks, Student Competition Awards, and Closing Keynote:
Let’s Go! Piecing together past and future to go farther by Dr. Matthew Berg and Jaime González, M.Ed.
AIA Credit: 1.25 HSW
It’s all too easy at the outset of a project to identify the client, the need, and the product. But what if we thought…longer? This lighthearted session will take a non-traditional approach to design that links past and future landscapes, with major implications for engagement and stewardship. We will encourage big imaginations and full hearts in engaging with communities to make for resilient places that function much farther into the future than we usually let ourselves think.
5:30-7:00pm
Final Toast: Zero Proof Hour
Earn up to 6.5 HSW AIA & ASLA Credits
