The final issue of the award-winning journal of contemporary architecture, PRAXIS 15, was released last fall – and the unique topics it addresses have been resonating with audiences. At a time when the precarity of the present is too often met with ironically predictable responses, the last of PRAXIS, “Bad Architectures,” instead magnifies the wrinkles, ripples, disturbances, disruptions and glitches within the field, framing them as opportunities and alternative ways of working or thinking. To further discuss the final issue of the publication, and reflect on its twenty-year run, co-editor Amanda Reeser Lawrence, PhD, Associate Professor of Architecture at Northeastern University and Program Coordinator for the Master of Architecture program, spoke at two prominent locations for architects and designers this month: the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Center for Architecture (CfA) and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation.

“It was an exceptional opportunity to generate conversation around the last issue of the journal, but, more importantly, an opportunity to consider how PRAXIS has contributed to some of the most important architectural debates over the past twenty years,” said Professor Reeser Lawrence.

The Center for Architecture (CfA) event, which was held on February 12, featured all of the PRAXIS co-editors: Professor Amanda Reeser Lawrence; Ashley Schafer, Professor of Architecture, The Ohio State University; Lecturer, Harvard University Graduate School of Design; and Irina Verona, AIA, Principal, Verona Carpenter Architects; Adjunct Assistant Professor, Barnard College. The evening began with a gracious introduction from Barry Bergdoll, President of the Board of Trustees of the CfA, Meyer Schapiro Professor of Art History and Archaeology, Columbia University, and former Philip Johnson Chief Curator of Architecture and Design at the Museum of Modern Art. The three editors were in conversation with Alice Chung, Partner, Omnivore; Senior Critic in Graphic Design, Yale University School of Art; Bryony Roberts, Founder, Bryony Roberts Studio; Adjunct Assistant Professor, Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation; and Florian Idenburg, International Associate AIA, Founder, SO – IL; Visiting Professor; MIT. The lively discussion took place at the Center for Architecture in New York City.

The talk at Columbia University, which took place on February 13, was sponsored by Amale Andraos, Dean of the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, and featured a stimulating conversation with Bernard Tschumi, Dean Emeritus. Lawrence wrote that it was “astonishingly meaningful” for all three editors to have the chance to speak with Tschumi about the project, as his own writing and practice were such an inspiration for their work. The backdrop for this event was the Arthur Ross Architecture Gallery on Columbia’s main campus.

These New York events have been in addition to local and national events. Professor Lawrence spoke about the journal as part of the “Loose Talks” series at the Ohio State University on January 10. In addition, Northeastern University’s School of Architecture, Center for the Arts, and Library recently hosted 20 Years of Praxis: A Celebration and Final Issue Launch. The Pinkcomma Gallery’s exhibit, entitled PROVISIONAL: (An)Other PRAXIS Exhibition, also offered a glimpse into the design process, and is intended to reveal the provisional nature of the eventual result.

PRAXIS 15 was funded by the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, which aims to foster the development and exchange of diverse and challenging ideas about architecture and its role in the arts, culture, and society. For more information about PRAXIS, click here.