Professor R. Beneytez-Durán Published in CENTER 23 – A I R

By Destiny Vaquera

Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture and Design Professor and Director of Undergraduate Architecture Rafael Beneytez-Durán Ph.D. recently published the chapter “Air: From Bodies to Breathable Skins” highlighting the concept of air and its complexities within architecture and design in the University of Texas School of Architecture’s CENTER 23 – A I R issue.

Within the publication, Professor Beneytez-Durán and other contributors, including Steven Connor, Sean Lally, Geoff Manaugh, David Gissen, Salvatore Basile, and Michael Benedikt, conceptualized the subject of air in different forms – sensual, metaphorical, and even metaphysical. 

“It was really exciting to see that a topic so intangible, such as the one of air, has become tangible in the form of the book,” said Beneytez-Durán. “Having highly educated and renown scholars participating in making this topic present was astounding.”

The complexities of Beneyez-Durán’s chapter “Air: From Bodies to Breathable Skins” gives a retrospective point of view of the human body in context with the atmosphere. Beneyez-Durán incorporates the significance of anthropology and the history of air within the process of architectural design to display the relationship between these elements and how air challenges all our systems of understanding.

“This material is an extension of my Ph.D. dissertation focusing on the atmosphere as foreign in architecture,” said Beneytez-Durán. “I was very happy to work on this chapter because it put my research in context with some very important voices within the Architecture discipline.”

A native of Madrid, Spain, Beneytez-Durán joined the Hines College in 2019 as a professor of Architecture and Director of Undergraduate Architecture. He and his wife, Ophélia Mantz, operate Z4Z4, an architecture and design office located in Madrid and Houston.

Hines College Students Help Build School in Honduras

By Destiny Vaquera

Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture and Design Professor Dijana Handanovic and seven undergraduate Architecture students joined forces with Houston’s Awty International School and non-profit organization Schools for Children of the World (SCW) to raise money and build a new school in a rural Buenos Aires village, fifteen miles from Comayagua, Honduras.

Professor Handanovic and the students – Sarah Neiman, Morgan Mendenhall, Chris Nguyen, Sarah White, Andrew Medina, Edgar Castillo, and Steven Griffin – built a physical model of the Honduras school building envisioned by SCW. The students also produced several graphic representations, which were initially scheduled to be displayed at the annual Awty International Festival before the event’s cancellations due to COVID-19.

“It was nice to see our students interact and build a relationship with The Awty School students,” said Handanovic. “They were enthusiastic about this project and doing something good for the community in Honduras.”

SCW and Awty International students raised more than $23,000, with the total cost of construction for the project estimated to be $22,000.

Hines College undergraduate students initially planned to travel to Honduras for a week with Awty students this past summer to help build the school; however, due to the unprecedented pandemic, they could not see the project come to fruition in person. While the upcoming year is uncertain, everyone involved desires to continue involvement in projects impacting the global community, such as this one.

“I am proud of the relationship coming out of this project with the Awty School,” said Handanovic. “There was even talk about starting a program with Awty International upper-level students and University of Houston undergraduate students.”The Hines College of Architecture and Design is known for its work in the community, including locally with its Community Design Resource Center and other partnerships worldwide.