BLOCKWORK: Concrete Masonry Architecture of the Americas
Oct. 1 to 2, 2026, All Day
On October 1-2, The University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture presents the BLOCKWORK: Concrete Masonry Architecture of the Americas. The BLOCKWORK symposium features architect presentations, roundtable discussions, and an in-depth look at the spatial and expressive potentials of concrete masonry.
Contemporary architects have experimented with the spatial and expressive potentials of block—some consistently across their bodies of work, others exploring the material in a single project. Through project presentations and discussions, the BLOCKWORK symposium endeavors to advance our understanding of both why and how architects have used concrete masonry in significant contemporary projects in the Americas.
Despite a seemingly straightforward system of wall construction, modern architectural expressions of concrete block exhibit a variety of tactics. Grounded, resolute, prismatic forms native to masonry construction are celebrated by some, while others challenge masonry walls to deny volumetric building figures, hover free from the ground, or diffuse themselves as screens or pattern work. There is also a tension between expressions of the structural tectonics of the block wall, where beams, floors and lintels remain legible, and the use of masonry bonding patterns or veneers to renounce expressions of assembly in favor of other readings of surface. At times, these differences are embedded within a single project or practice.
Along with a desire to unveil the techniques and innovations through which the varied building expressions are achieved—the how— the symposium aspires to a fuller understanding of the architectural motivations behind these approaches—the why.
Thank you to The Concrete Masonry Checkoff (The Beauty of Block) and the Texas Masonry Council for supporting the symposium. More information available here.
PROGRAM
Location: Mebane Gallery, Goldsmith Hall (310 Inner Campus Drive, Austin, TX 78712)
Francisco Gomes AIA, symposium convener
Thursday, Oct. 1 | Block Technique
1:30 PM: Introduction
1:45 PM: Navigating Energy Codes to Maximize Thermal Mass Performance
- Block Design Collective | Lauren Kennedy
2:45 PM: Concrete Masonry for Schools: Durability, Safety, Energy Efficiency, and Cost
- Dake-Wells Architects | Matt Thornton AIA, Kirk Dillon AIA
3:45 PM: Embodied Carbon of Concrete Masonry: Understanding Impacts Through LCA
- Jandris Block | Heidi Jandris, MSSBS, BArch
4:45 PM: Reception
- Location: Eden and Hal Box Courtyard, Goldsmith Hall
Friday, Oct. 2 | Block Design
8:30 AM: Coffee
9:00 AM: Introduction
9:30 AM: Rehabilitation of Louis Kahn’s Trenton Bath House (Ewing, NJ)
- Mills + Schnoering Architects | Michael Mills FAIA
10:30 AM: Burnette Residence (Phoenix AZ)
- Wendell Burnette Architects | Wendell Burnette FAIA
11:30 AM: El Grove (Valle de Guadalupe, Baja California Norte, Mexico)
- Olson Kundig | Kevin Kudo-King FAIA
12:30 PM: Lunch
1:30 PM: Henri II (Austin TX)
- Murray Legge Architecture | Murray Legge FAIA
2:30 PM: Glitch House (Dominican Republic)
- Young Projects | Noah Marciniak AIA
3:30 PM: Laboratorio de Vivienda (Hidalgo, Mexico)
- MOS | Hilary Sample FAIA