The College of Architecture is excited to announce Robert Adams, renowned advocate for designing with disability inclusivity, will be giving the next Hyde Lecture entitled “Criptographies: Disability Aesthetics and Design” at 4 p.m., October 30, at Richards Hall, room 15. Adams is an associate professor of architecture at Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, with faculty appointments in the Stamps School of Art and Design and Digital Studies Institute. Additionally, Adams directs the University of Michigan Initiative on Disability Studies. Adams’s research focuses on the interplay between architecture and responsive environments, disability culture and health infrastructure. His design work prototypes spatial strategies to de-stress the workplace by enhancing a sense of well-being, social connection and mindfulness. He co-founded Beijing Architecture Studio Enterprise (B.A.S.E.) in 2005 and has extensive experience working in China where he consults with disability rights organizations and collaborates with other artists and designers. Adams established Adams+Gilpin Design Studio (A+GDS) in Los Angeles in 1996 with his partner Dawn Gilpin, who is also a Taubman College faculty member. A+GDS is currently integrating LiDAR 3D scanning technology to document significant works of architecture, indigenous sites and industrial landscapes in the United States and Mexico that make cultural artifacts accessible to a broader audience through immersive extended reality narratives.

This lecture will introduce audience members to core concepts in disability studies that aim to promote radically inclusive and accessible possibilities for architectural thinking.

This presentation is part of the College of Architecture’s 2023-2024 Hyde Lecture Series featuring speakers from across disciplines that are united under the common theme of “Advancing Health: Planning and Designing for Healthful Places,” a thought-provoking series that highlights the important connection between the built environment and human health. Join the lecture series and explore avenues strategizing and creating healthful places that foster a brighter, more equitable future.

The college’s Hyde Lecture Series is a long-standing, endowed, public program. Each year the college hosts compelling speakers in the fields of architecture, interior design, landscape architecture and planning that enrich the ongoing dialog around agendas which are paramount to the design disciplines and our graduates.