I oA Sliver Lecture Series 2022/23 Architecting Matter(s)
Lecture by Rodia Valladares (Studio Gang)
I oA / Institute of Architecture

Rodia Valladares is a Design Principal in the Paris office of Studio Gang. Since joining the Studio in 2010, Rodia has worked on civic, cultural, educational, and residential projects, including the WMS Boathouse at Clark Park and Eleanor Boathouse at Park 571, Rescue Company 2 for the FDNY, Writers Theatre, and the NYC Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice Neighborhood Activation Study. He is now working on several of the Studio’s upcoming projects in Paris, including the University of Chicago Center in Paris which is currently under construction. He graduated from the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid (ETSAM) and earned his Master of Architecture with Distinction from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design.
Architecting Matter(s)

matter (n.)

From c. 1200 as “a subject of a literary work, content of what is written, main theme;” sense of „arrative, tale, story” is from c. 1300. Meaning “physical substance generally” is from mid-14c.; that of “substance of which some specific object is or may be composed” is attested from late 14c. Meaning “piece of business, affair, activity, situation; subject of debate or controversy, question under discussion” is from late 14c. In law, “something which is to be tried or proved,” 1530s.

matters (n.)

“events, affairs of a particular sort,” 1560s, from plural of matter (n.).

matter (v.)

“to be of importance or consequence,” 1580s

Architecture structures matter. In parallel, architecture engages with scales of social and cultural matters, and today our living environments are increasingly augmented by digital processes, platforms, and social media. Ultimately matter and matters reveal the health of our planet (1), observable by current technologies that allow for an unprecedented spectrum of data gathered at nano or planetary scales. Hence, our notion of matter(s) encompasses physical scales and processes beyond the visible, including the digital realm’s immaterial building blocks and operations.

Interested in cultural complexities and architecture’s operations within it, the Sliver Lecture Series 2022/23, titled Architecting Matter(s), presents material entanglements intertwined with networks of living things. As (architectural) design activities or investigations, these engage with matter and matters simultaneously and beyond the borders of disciplinary thinking. From actionable idealism of global operations to landscaping across vast territories, through the digital atoms of worldbuilding and back to physical translations foregrounding spatial affairs, the series touches on what is the matter of/with ideas and realities we produce.

(1) Seetal Solanki: Why Materials Matter: Responsible Design for a Better World