Events
Rubacha Featured Speakers: Susan Rodriguez (’81, B.Arch. ’82) and Michael Manfredi (M.Arch. ’80)
Join us for presentations by Rubacha Featured Speakers Susan Rodriguez (’81, B.Arch. ’82) and Michael Manfredi (M.Arch. ’80) exploring the intersections of architecture and the public realm. A 30-minute Q&A moderated by Architecture Professor and Chair Jose Castillo will follow their remarks.
Attend in person in Milstein Hall’s Abby and Howard Milstein Auditorium or register to attend remotely via Zoom.
In advance of this presentation, they share insights drawn from their professional trajectories and preview their upcoming talk: Built on Curiosity: Architecture and the Public Realm.
Susan Rodriguez (’81, B.Arch. ’82) — Overlay: Designing at the Intersection of Architecture and the Public Realm
Abstract
Designing at the intersection of architecture and the public realm, Susan T. Rodriguez creates buildings and spaces that distill the essence of cultures and communities. Inspired by the confluence of history, site, program, and the relationship of interior and exterior space, her work reflects an attitude about design that connects people to place and to each other through an architecture of interpretation. Whether rural landscape, campus setting, or a dense urban context, Rodriguez seeks to create an architecture that is fused with its surroundings and the natural world. Underscoring the delicate balance between architecture and the environment, her work is a model for the application of sustainable design principles and the creation of buildings that stand the test of time.
Through an exploration of STR | A·D’s current body of work, including the new Davis Center at the Harlem Meer in Central Park, Rodriguez will discuss designing 21st-century overlays upon significant sites to heighten awareness of place.
Biography
Susan Rodriguez, FAIA, lives and works in New York City, where she founded Susan T Rodriguez | Architecture · Design in 2017, combining more than thirty years of design leadership with a passionate belief in the power of architecture to affect change and improve the quality of life for all. Her award-winning work is recognized internationally for its contribution to the vitality of cities and landscapes, and the civic, cultural, and educational institutions they serve. She was elected as a 2025 National Academy of Design Academician and is a recipient of the Women in Architecture Design Leader Award from Architectural Record, recognizing the breadth and impact of her built work over more than three decades. Prior to establishing an independent practice, she was a founding Design Partner in Ennead Architects (formerly Polshek Partnership).
As an extension of her professional work, Rodriguez actively promotes the importance of design in the public realm as a long-term board member of the Architectural League of NYC. She lectures frequently on her work and has taught numerous studios at Cornell, Columbia, and City College. She received her undergraduate degree in architecture from Cornell University’s College of Architecture, Art, and Planning, where she is a cochair of the Dean’s Advisory Council and a former trustee of the university. She received a master’s degree from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture and is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects.
Michael Manfredi (M.Arch. ’80) — Drifting Symmetries: Projects and Provocations
Abstract
Michael Manfredi — cofounder of the interdisciplinary firm WEISS/MANFREDI connecting architecture, landscape, and urbanism — will be sharing projects and research that engage the public realm in the context of contemporary social and environmental challenges. In an era when climate change and social isolation loom large, this talk will illustrate historic precedents that elude disciplinary boundaries, as well as WEISS/MANFREDI’s public projects.
With a closer look at work such as the Seattle Olympic Sculpture Park, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden Visitor Center, Hunter’s Point South Waterfront Park, and the West Conservatory at Longwood Gardens, Manfredi will discuss new settings for public life by exploring the gradient between nature and architecture.
Biography
Michael Manfredi, FAIA, is cofounder of WEISS/MANFREDI Architecture/Landscape/Urbanism and a Senior Design Critic at Harvard University. Manfredi was born in Trieste, Italy, and grew up in Rome. He received his Master of Architecture at Cornell University, where he studied with Colin Rowe and where he won the Paris Prize, was a Cornell Fellow, and was awarded an Eidlitz Fellowship. He has taught design studios at Yale University, University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University, the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies, Cornell University, and, most recently, at Harvard University, where he teaches urban design studios that focus on larger interdisciplinary questions that connect architecture to pressing urban and environmental challenges. With Marion Weiss, Manfredi is a recipient of the 2019 Residence Fellowship at the American Academy in Rome. A founding board member of the Van Alen Institute, Manfredi is currently a board member for the Storefront for Art and Architecture and a member of the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning Advisory Council at Cornell University. He is a fellow of the American Institute of Architects and was recently inducted into the National Academy of Design.