Rice architecture prof discusses ‘One Million Acres & No Zoning’

Former Rice School of Architecture dean Lars Lerup, whose work focuses on the intersection of nature and culture in the contemporary American metropolis, and on Houston in particular, kicked off the Texas A&M Department of Architecture’s 2012 Spring Lecture Series with an appearance at Preston Geren Auditorium Feb. 13.

The author of the 2011 book “One Million Acres & No Zoning,” Lerup considers Houston as a test case for 21st century urbanism and our understanding of unregulated cities everywhere.

When considering urban sprawl, he said, “our biggest problem is not to build new environments, it’s to fix the old ones,” he said. “Architects have notoriously stayed away from the suburbs. Architects need to reintroduce themselves to the suburban condition and begin to take some claim in improving that environment and make it more interesting.”

Lerup, a professor of architecture at Rice, pushes students to think less about individual buildings and more about the urban landscape while instituting a more rigorous focus on design research, prototyping and material advancements in fabrication and construction. As dean, he introduced computer technology to every part of the curriculum.