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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 professor and Institute for Quality Communities Director Dr. Amber N. Wiley’s book, Model Schools in the Model City: Race, Planning, and Education in the Nation’s Capital, has received two major honors from the Urban History Association.
Research initiated by Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture alumna Naila Hasan during her master’s studies at the University of Oklahoma has continued through faculty collaboration and resulted in a peer-reviewed publication in HERD: Health Environments Research & Design Journal.
Gibbs College of Architecture is pleased to announce Esther Thorp, Tyler Boydstun and Chukwuma Nwokoye as the winners of the 2026 Construction Innovation Translation Hub (CIThub) Student Ideas Competition.
