Georgia Tech SoA February 2026 Newsletter: Inside the Architect's Studio

Inside the Architect's Studio:

News from Georgia Tech

School of Architecture

Florian Idenburg and Jing Liu, SO-IL, 2026 Portman Prize Critics

Florian Idenburg and Jing Liu of SO-IL, 2026 Portman Prize Critics, invoked Hannah Arendt’s Amor Mundi in their framing of the 2026 Portman Prize Competition Studio.

As I reflect on their studio provocation, Amor Mundi (or love of the world) feels especially urgent now. In the current Portman Prize competition studio, this idea is being tested by our students as they grapple with architecture’s responsibility to bind people, places, and purpose while also considering materials, ethics, and (of course) imagination.

I guess I am saying this. If architecture is a way of caring for the world, then Amor Mundi in the Earth reminds us that our work can still hold things together, through thought, through making, and through sustained attention to what the world asks of us.

Follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn - stay tuned to see the work from this exciting studio emerge!

Our 2026 Spring lecture and events lineup is outstanding - all dates are at the end of this newsletter. Take note of our inaugural Excellence in Architectural Design and Practice lecture with Mack Scogin and Merrill Elam this week! I hope you can make a plan to join us. Go ahead and save the date for three events coming up in April:

- Our World in Design: Immortal Spaces. Ventulett Symposium, April 16, 2026 at the High Museum of Art

- Amor Mundi. Portman Symposium, April 25, 2026 at Reinsch Pierce Auditorium

- The Biggest Design Show of the South: End-of-Year Show and LaunchPad, May 7, 2026 in Hinman and West Architecture

As always, my door is always open so, if I have not met you yet, let's make it happen in 2026!

Julie Ju-Youn Kim, FAIA

William H Harrison Professor and Chair

Inaugural Excellence in Architectural Design and Practice Lecture

Mack Scogin and Merrill Elam

Wednesday, February 11, 2026 at 4:30pm

Reinsch Pierce Auditorium

Image courtesy of Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects

More than the design of buildings - we design impact

In this video, leaders from across the School and the profession reflect on what it means to educate architects today and why that work matters. Featured speakers include Julie Ju-Youn Kim, FAIA; David Yocum, AIA; Jack Sawyer, AIA; and Merica May Jensen, RA…each offering perspectives shaped by practice, teaching, and a shared commitment to architecture as a public good.

Exhibitionist Storage: Reimagining Civic Architecture through Self-Storage

This exhibition presents work developed in a senior design studio, taught by Assistant Professor Hyojin Kwon. It's making the rounds - last seen in Archinect!

The Kent Richard Hofmann Foundation's final act supports tomorrow's Tech Architects.

The Kent Richard Hofmann Foundation, a small private foundation ensures its mission endures through a $3.3 million need-based scholarship endowment.

Visual Intelligence(s) is a virtual mini-lecture series that examines how images function today as sites of cognition, judgment, and production across architecture, design, and artificial intelligence. As computational tools increasingly shape how images are generated, interpreted, and operationalized, visuality is no longer limited to representation alone. It has become a mode of thinking, learning, and decision-making.

Guest lecturers include Olivier Campagne, whose work interrogates contemporary image culture and architectural visualization; Marius Grootveld, whose research addresses architectural documentation, culture, design knowledge, and disciplinary transmission; Karla Saldaña Ochoa, whose research examines the interplay of human and artificial intelligence at building and urban scales; and George Guida, who investigates multimodal AI workflows linking language, images, and design.

Dates are included below in the Spring 2026 Lectures and Events!

LECTURES + EVENTS: SPRING 2026

All lectures in Reinsch Pierce Auditorium, unless otherwise noted

Monday, 2/9 at 5pm on Zoom

AI Virtual Mini-Series

Marius Grootveld, RWTH Aachen University

Wednesday, 2/11 at 4:30pm

Excellence in Architectural Design and Practice

Mack Scogin and Merrill Elam

Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects

Friday, February 13, 2025

School of Architecture and City & Regional Planning Career Fair

10am – 3pm

Location: Exhibition Hall

Monday, 2/16 at 5pm on Zoom

AI Virtual Mini-Series

Karla Saldana, University of Florida, SHARE Lab

Monday, 2/23 at 5pm on Zoom

AI Virtual Mini-Series

George Guida, UPenn Weitzman School of Design

Wednesday, February 25 at 12:30pm

Douglas C. Allen Lecture

Sara Zewde, Studio Zewde

"Ecologies of Memory"

Wednesday, March 11 at 12:30pm

Ben Gilmartin, Diller Scofidio + Renfro

"Prime Cuts"

Friday, April 1 from 12pm- 4pm

Open House for Admitted Graduate Students

April 16

Our World in Design: Immortal Spaces

Ventulett Symposium

High Museum of Art

April 15-24

Spring Studio Final Reviews

Saturday, April 25 from 10am-2pm

Amor Mundi

2026 Portman Prize Symposium

Thursday, May 7 from 5pm - 9pm

5pm: SoA Awards Day, followed by

The Biggest Design Show in the South!

End-of-Year Show and LaunchPad

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