Today we’d like to introduce you to Donna Kacmar.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I was educated at Texas A+M University and graduated with a Bachelor of Environmental Design in 1988 and a Master of Architecture in 1992. I am a National American Institute of Architects 2004 Young Architects Award recipient and was elected to the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects in 2009. I have served on the board of the Houston AIA, the Avenue CDC, the Rice Design Alliance, the Architecture Center Houston Foundation, and the Texas Society of Architects and taught at Rice University and Texas A&M University.
I am currently a Professor at the University of Houston where I teach architecture design studio and direct the Materials Research Collaborative (MRC). The MRC is engaged with research projects while providing instruction and education on sustainable building materials for new generations of architects and designers.
The work of the Materials Research Collaborative tries to connect materials research to practicing architects.
From 2000 until 2011, I was the principal of Architect Works, Inc. The work of the firm has received several awards and has been nationally published. In 2003 the firm received a Texas Society of Architects Design Award for the Round Valley Texas Office Building + Garage in Bellaire, Texas. This project also won an AIA Houston Design Award in 2002. The Kacmar House (a.k.a. a very long skinny house) won an AIA Houston Design Award in 1999 and was published in the book A House for My Mother by Beth Dunlop (Princeton Architectural Press).
In 2011, the firm received an AIA Houston Design Award for the Oak Forest Neighborhood Library Renovation, a collaboration with Natalye Appel + Associates Architects and James Ray Architects. That library renovation and an addition were also honored in 2012 with a Greater Houston Preservation Alliance Good Brick Award. That same team recently completed the renovation to the Jungman Neighborhood Library in Houston. Her Fisher Street House, a small 544 square foot dwelling, received a 2013 AIA Houston Design Award. My recently completed book, titled BIG little house, published by Routledge, was released in March of 2015. I currently practice architecture and am working on a book on the work of Victor Lundy, FAIA, to be published by Princeton Architectural Press in November 2018.
Has it been a smooth road?
Each building project, research project, and book has its own unique challenges.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I see a lot more interest in materials. Architects want to know the impact of using materials on indoor air quality, energy use, carbon emissions, and overall responsible design
Contact Info:
- Address: 4200 Elgin Street, #122, Houston, TX 77204
- Website: http://www.uh.edu/architecture/resources/mrc/
- Phone: 713-743-2400
- Email: dkacmar@uh.edu
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