Interior Provocations: WEATHER Symposium
The symposium Interior Provocations: WEATHER encourages provocative, boundary-expanding thinking from design practitioners, historians, educators, and theorists that challenge traditional definitions of atmosphere within the interior realm of living environments. With WEATHER as a prompt, the aim is to reflect upon the interconnected nature of atmosphere as both a social and environmental condition, and in this way open up questions about the potential of interiors as spaces of design speculation and experimentation in the age of planetary change.
Hosted by the Interior Design Program at The University of Texas at Austin, Interior Provocations was founded by Pratt Institute faculty as an annual symposium dedicated to furthering the scholarship of the expanding fields of interior design practice, history, and theory.
Weather is a situated state of atmosphere; an atmospheric event marked by place and time. As a term, atmosphere refers to the gaseous layers that envelop astronomical objects, but more broadly also encompasses mood, vibes, and other similarly spatial and social phenomena. Following such an expanded definition, how might weather similarly stretch beyond meteorology to permeate other facets of living environments, past, present, and future? Furthermore, what can the framing of weather as an unfolding and dynamic yet situationally specific condition reveal about the role that interiors play—or have historically played—in the shaping of both social and ecological atmospheres?
What roles and responsibilities do fields engaged in shaping the atmosphere of interiors assume in the age of extreme weather events unfolding across a heating planet? How do atmospheric patterns, traditions, metaphors, or mishaps from the past inform current interior responses? How do shifting weather patterns signal the urgent need for rethinking interiors and interiority as a composite space that engages multiple forms of life, mixed realities, evolving urbanisms, and emerging material conditions with profound social and environmental consequences? What projections, speculations, and mitigations might be needed in response to impending weather? How do we, in other words, forecast changes in the field’s atmosphere?
PROGRAM
Location: Mebane Gallery, Goldsmith Hall, GOL 3.120 (310 Inner Campus Drive, Austin, TX 78712)
9:00 AM–9:45 AM: OPENING REMARKS
- Igor Siddiqui, Program Director for Interior Design, Symposium Committee Chair, School of Architecture, UT Austin
- Allan Shearer, Associate Dean for Research and Technology, School of Architecture, UT Austin
- Deborah Schneiderman, Co-Founder, Interior Provocations, School of Design, Pratt Institute
- Clay Odom and Ria Bravo, Exhibition Co-Curators and Designers, School of Architecture, UT Austin
- Eric Colleary, Cline Curator of Theatre & Performing Arts, Harry Ransom Center, UT Austin
9:45 AM–12:00 PM: PRESENTATION SESSION 1
Moderated by Tara Dudley, UT Austin and Anca Lasc, Pratt Institute
- Paula Lupkin, University of North Texas
“Rethinking the Interior: Refrigerated Spaces, Lager Beer, and Climate Control in the Railroad Southwest” - Rebekah Radtke, University of Kentucky
“Interiors as Sites of Atmospheric Inscription” - William Mangold, Drexel University
“Weathering, Care, and the Aesthetics of Use” - Alice Friedman, Wellesley College
“I Can See Queerly Now”
12:30 PM–1:15 PM: LUNCHTIME ROUNDTABLE TEACHING DISCUSSION
Moderated by Allison Gaskins, UT Austin and Keena Suh, Pratt Institute
- Kevin Moore & Jennifer Pindyck, Auburn University
- Steven Chodoriwsky, University of Utah
- Hannah Dewhirst, University of Kentucky
- Rana Abudayyeh, University of Tennessee – Knoxville
- Stefan Di Leo, Pratt Institute
1:30 PM–3:45 PM: PRESENTATION SESSION 2
Moderated by Nerea Feliz, UT Austin and Karyn Zieve, Pratt Institute
- Aniel Guxholli, American University in Paris
“The Hôtel Tassel: Urban Life in the Glasshouse Atmosphere” - Mili Kyropoulou, University of Houston
“The Interiority of the Semi-Outdoor: Atmosphere, Threshold, and Resilience” - Alberto Martinez Garcia, Yale University
“Modeling a Domestic Empire: Reconstructing Building Performances and Social Hierarchies in Cartagena Colonial Architecture” - Viola Ago, Toronto Metropolitan University
“’Your Eyes Resemble Mine’ and the Concept of Hauntology”
4:00 PM–4:45 PM: “WEATHER: SELECTIONS FROM THE COLLECTION"
Location: Harry Ransom Center (300 W 21st St, Austin, TX 78712)
- Presented by Eric Colleary, Cline Curator of Theatre & Performing Arts
KEYNOTE LECTURE
5:00 PM–6:00 PM: “THE ANTHROPOCENE STYLE / TOWARD A CLIMATIC DESIGN"
Location: Prothro Theater, Harry Ransom Center
- Presented by Philippe Rahm, Philippe Rahm Architectes, Paris, France
Keynote speaker Philippe Rahm is a Paris-based Swiss architect, whose internationally acclaimed work in the context of sustainability spans from physiological to meteorological realms. His practice, Philippe Rahm Architectes, has completed numerous projects, including the Taichung Central Park in Taiwan, inaugurated in 2020, and has taken part in numerous biennials, including those in Venice (2025), Tbilisi (2024), Madrid (2024), Chicago (2023) and Tallinn (2022). Rahm is the author of the books Histoire naturelle de l'architecture, Climatic Architecture and The Anthropocene Style. In 2025, he co-curated the Île-de-France and Saint-Étienne biennials. He is a knight of the Monaco Order of Cultural Merit and has been awarded the Silver Medal of the French Academy of Architecture.
EXHIBITION
An exhibition of works by leading architects, designers, and artists in the field accompanies the symposium and is on view from Friday, November 7 to Friday, November 21, 2025 in Mebane Galley of Goldsmith Hall. Titled Meteorologic Imaginaries and designed and curated by Ria Bravo, Clay Odom, and Igor Siddiqui, the exhibition features thematically resonant contributions by Rana Abudayyeh, Alexandra Arènes, Daniel Barber, Natalie Boverman, Danelle Briscoe, Amy Campos, Chris Cornelius, Patrick Danahy, Nancy Diniz & Frank Melendez, Anda & Jenny French, Marcelyn Gow, Michelle Boyoung Huh, Aleksandra Jaeschke, Lydia Kallipoliti & Areti Markopoulou, Brian Kelly, Karel Klein, Lindsey Krug, Perry Kulper, Sean Lally, Elena Manferdini, Adam Marcus, Victoria McReynolds, Adam Miller, Kendra Ordia, Ryan Roark, Virginia San Fratello, Charles Sharpless, Anya Sirota, Andrea Sosa Fontaine, Martin Summers, Liz Teston & Catty Zhang, Hans Tursack, Tania Ursomarzo, Barry Wark, Leah Wulfman, Liam Young, and others.
The symposium is organized by UT Austin School of Architecture faculty Ria Bravo, Tara Dudley, Nera Feliz, Allison Gaskins, Clay Odom, and Igor Siddiqui (symposium chair), in collaboration with Pratt Institute faculty Anca Lasc, Deborah Schneiderman, Keena Suh, and Karyn Zieve.
This event will be live streamed on our YouTube. This event is free and open to the public, and does not require pre-registration.