Lecture Video: Alan Ricks on 'Justice is Beauty'

Nov. 14, 2021
Who
Alan Ricks, Founding Principal and Chief Design Officer, MASS Design Group
What
CAPLA Lecture Series Event
When
October 27, 2021
Image

Watch Video


About Alan Ricks

Image
Alan Ricks

Alan Ricks is a founding principal and the chief design officer of MASS Design Group. He leads strategy and design of the 200-person firm. With projects in over 20 countries and scope covering architecture, landscape, engineering, construction and fabrication, he oversees the design process of the interdisciplinary studios.

Alan and MASS were awarded the National Design Award for Architecture and the Royal Institute of British Architects awarded Alan an International Fellowship in recognition of his contribution to the field. He has previously taught at the Yale School of Architecture and the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Chris Anderson, chief curator of TED, described Alan Ricks's TED talk as “a different language about what architecture can aspire to be.”

Header image courtesy MASS Design Group.

  

Subscribe to The Studio

Sign up for CAPLA's monthly e-newsletter to get the latest news and events, insights from faculty and leadership, profiles of students and alumni and more.

Subscribe Now

Latest CAPLA News, Projects and Profiles

Image
arc 201

Gather Light: ARC 201

Students in CAPLA’s ARC 201 studio, guided by faculty including Christopher Domin and others, completed the "Gather Light" project focused on understanding and designing in harmony with the Sonoran Desert environment. Through observation, drawing, and modeling, students explored how light, nature, and architecture interact. Key activities involved studying desert plants, translating their forms into design systems, and developing canopies that filter light and enhance outdoor spaces. The project emphasized hands-on learning, teamwork, and iterative design using 2D and 3D representations to create thoughtful architectural interventions that respect and respond to the desert landscape.

Image
Chris Tucker Design Pedagogy Award

Lecturer Christopher Tucker wins AIA Design Pedagogy Award for innovative Abiotic Studio

Christopher Tucker, a lecturer in architecture at CAPLA, received the American Institute of Architects’ Design Pedagogy Award for his Abiotic Studio, a fourth-year course that challenges students to engage with ecological realities and reimagine post-industrial landscapes through more-than-human perspectives.