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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.
Telesis, the Gibbs College of Architecture’s student journal, has been awarded a grant from the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts to support its next two issues, “Pause” (Volume IX) and “React” (Volume X).
Gibbs College of Architecture is pleased to announce that Amber N. Wiley, Ph.D., associate professor in the Division of Planning, Landscape Architecture and Design and director of the Institute for Quality Communities, has been named to the shortlist for the Museum of African American History (MAAH) Stone Book Award for her book, Model Schools in the Model City. The book was one of 14 titles selected from 158 eligible submissions for the 2026 award.
The Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture is proud to announce the release of Telesis “Design_less,” the eighth volume of its student-led journal.
