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On Friday, Oct. 19, principal of Substance Architecture, Paul Mankins lectured on his award-winning practice.
By breaking down his firm’s r2c2s4p ethos [respect, reduction, clarity, craft, sequence, stewardship, symbol, space, place], Mankins told the story of how Substance sensitively “finds agency in economy.”
By celebrating Iowa’s “shoulder seasons,” relentlessly carving out space for public art, and always looking for ways that “architecture can ‘be more,'” Substance Architecture’s practice demonstrates that there are “no excuses for not doing the best work imaginable.”
Humorous and inspiring, Mankins suggested that we should “celebrate the fact we’re ‘in the middle of nowhere,'” whether practicing in De Moines, Iowa, or Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Special thanks to RTA Architects for making Mankins’ lecture possible.
Read about Substance Architecture’s recent work in ARCHITECT Magazine.
Featured image: Principal Riverwalk Hub Spot, Des Moines, Iowa. Substance Architecture.
Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture congratulates Thinh "Henry" Duong, a master's student in the Division of Interior Design, for earning first place in the 2026 Robert Bruce Thompson Annual Student Light Fixture Design Competition.
Gibbs College of Architecture Institute for Quality Communities (IQC) Director and Division of Planning, Landscape Architecture, and Design (PLAD) faculty member Amber N. Wiley, Ph.D., recently published a new book, Collective Yearning: Black Women Artists from the Zimmerli Art Museum.
In May, students from the Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture's Architecture, Environmental Design, and Interior Design programs participated in an intensive five-day Studio in Residence at Taliesin West, the iconic winter home and desert laboratory of Frank Lloyd Wright.
