The exhibition MESO-COSM, organized by Rice University School of Architecture Assistant Professor Brittany Utting and University of Houston Instructional Assistant Professor Daniel Jacobs, cofounders of HOME-OFFICE, won an ACSA Faculty Design Award for 2024.
The Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture honors architectural educators for exceptional work in a range of areas including scholarship, building design, architectural education, and faculty design. MESO-COSM was on view at Mashburn Gallery at the Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture and Design at the University of Houston from September through October 2023.
The exhibition presented four architectural prototypes that experiment with various climate systems and gradients of enclosure, positing the mesocosm as one methodology to reimagine the ecological-urban future of the city. As their proposal explains, “A mesocosm, or ‘medium world,’ is an infrastructure for long-term outdoor ecological experimentation. According to the systems ecologist Eugene P. Odum, mesocosms are situated between the microcosm of the laboratory and the macrocosm of the planet, enabling observations of real-world conditions. Filling the gap between these scalar extremes, mesocosms are critical research infrastructures for studying the effects of anthropogenic climate change.” Read more about this project on the ACSA website.
The design and exhibition team included the following Rice Architecture students: Anna Brancaccio, M.Arch. ’24, Nino Chen, M.Arch. ’25, Maximilien Chong Lee Shin, M.Arch. ’25 and recent alums Harish Krishnamoorthy, B.A. ’21, B.Arch. ’23, and Jane Van Velden, M.Arch. ’23. The exhibition was sponsored by the Hines Scholar as Design/Design as Scholar (HdSd) Program of the Undergraduate Architecture Program at the Hines College of Architecture and Design, University of Houston. Additional funding was provided by the Diluvial Houston Initiative, an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation–supported project by Rice Humanities; and the Rice University School of Architecture.