In the mid-aughts, acclaimed architect Nader Tehrani was tapped to reconceive the historic Hinman Research Building on Georgia Tech’s campus for its College of Architecture. But when the market crashed in the early days of the project, Tehrani and the team at his architecture firm, NADAAA, had to find a way to deliver on the college’s programming needs—with half the budget.
Taking a page from the Tate Museum in London, they maximized the building’s functionality by minimizing the intervention, maintaining an uninterrupted ground floor—suitable for studio classes, large-scale events, installations and even graduation—while suspending other functions, like workspaces, from the ceiling.
“The kind of boundary between the existing conditions and the new are almost illegible,” said Terhani, who repurposed the “ARCH” from the building's original “RESEARCH” exterior signage to save money. “And in a way, it gives more back to the school.”
Hinman’s reconception was one of several pedagogical projects Tehani unpacked for a standing-room only audience last week to kick off the 2025 Architecture Research Centers Consortium conference at the University of Maryland. Faculty and students from 67 colleges and universities from around the world convened in College Park for the annual international conference, which offers a platform for new research around pressing challenges within the built environment.
Hosted in partnership with Howard University, this year’s conference highlighted research addressing technological, environmental and social challenges, from the advent of AI in the profession and climate change to rapid urbanization and global migration. Tehrani, who also served as UMD’s 2024-2025 Kea Distinguished Professor, kicked off the three-day conference that included a second keynote by SHoP Architects’ John Cerone, two plenaries, 38 paper sessions, poster session, talks, tours and workshops.
Architecture faculty and students from the University of Maryland shared research on topics ranging from the digital documentation of UNESCO heritage sites and building emissions analysis to biophilic design and structural integrity. A plenary panel with Associate Clinical Professor Brittany Williams and Associate Dean of Academic Affairs Lindsey May, as well as architects Shajay Booshan and Curry Hackett, dove into AI and its impact on the practice and the pedagogy. A paper on the subject, which was co-written with Associate Clinical Professor Michael Ezban, was also presented at the conference.
Research was also presented by Ph.D. candidates Bahereh Vojdani and Hernan Rosas; Assistant Professors Deok-Oh Woo, Andressa Martinez and Joseph Williams; Associate Clinical Professor Julie Gabrielli; Architecture Librarian Cindy Frank; Associate Professor Michael Kleiss; and Professors Mohammad Gharipour and Edward Bernat.
“There’s a misconception that architects don’t engage in research,” said UMD architecture Professor Madlen Simon, who co-chaired the conference with Howard University colleague Edward Dunson. “This conference showcases the foundational research happening at global and national scales that will be applied in practice to address the wicked problems of our time.”
AI, industrialization of construction practices and the development of biomaterials—all of which are coinciding with an era of climate change—is creating a substantial shift in how we design and build, said Simon, and requires research and practice to join forces.
"We bring together researchers, practitioners, and industry to envision the future of architecture," she said.