Is Housing Still Housing?

Earlier this month, University of Houston Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture and Design professor and director of graduate studies Gail Peter Borden, FAIA, along with Michael Bell (Columbia University) and Eunjeong Seong (Pratt Institute), opened Is Housing Still Housing? Houston’s Single-Family House, an exhibition critically examining the evolving role of single-family housing in contemporary society, at the Hines College’s Mashburn Gallery. As economic, environmental, and technological shifts redefine how and where people live, the exhibition challenges the conventional understanding of housing and proposes new frameworks for addressing shelter at scale. Two symposiums are scheduled for March 26 and April 9 to further explore contributions to the exhibition.

The exhibition brings together architects, urbanists, and scholars to explore the intersection of housing, automation, climate change, and economic transformation. With more than 80 million single-family homes in the United States, the exhibition questions whether the prevailing housing model remains viable amid shifting labor markets, affordability crises, and emerging settlement patterns. Contributors to the exhibition consider whether housing, as it has traditionally been defined, is still a productive concept—or if entirely new models and terminologies are required.

“As a second chapter to the important exhibition 16 Houses, which happened at DiverseWorks in 1998, this exhibition revisits similar questions 25 years later,” shared Borden. “Inviting twelve distinguished practices with deep connections to Houston, each team designed an original proposition for the contemporary house.”

Houston serves as an ideal setting for this discussion. As a city deeply tied to energy production and rapid urban expansion, Houston has historically exemplified the proliferation of single-family housing. However, the region's shifting economic landscape and vulnerability to climate change make it a microcosm of the challenges facing housing across the nation.

With a focus on both speculative and real-world possibilities, Is Housing Still Housing? explores questions of affordability, density, financialization, and sustainability. Participants examine how economic models, from mortgage debt to speculative investment, have shaped the housing market and whether alternative structures could better serve communities in an era of automation and climate-driven migration.

By convening thought leaders in design, research, and policy, the exhibition aims to catalyze new discussions about the future of settlement. As housing markets continue to evolve, this exhibition invites audiences to rethink shelter, not only as a physical structure but as a complex and interconnected system shaped by global forces.

“Examining contemporary influences and future opportunities for this ubiquitous building type presents an important conversation about an essential building block of our urban landscape,” said Borden.

Is Housing Still Housing? is open at the Hines College through April 11. The exhibition continues to break open the future of housing with symposiums on March 26 and April 9.

Symposium I

March 26, 2025 at 6:00 p.m.

Moderators:

• Gail Peter Borden
• Michael Bell
• Eunjeong Seong

Participants:

• Jesse M. Keenan, Favrot II Associate Professor of Sustainable Real Estate and Urban Planning and Director of the Center on Climate Change and Urbanism, School of Architecture, Tulane University
• Stephen Fox, Lecturer at the University of Houston Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture and Lecturer Rice University School of Architecture
• Carlos Jimenez, Carlos Jimenez Studio and Professor at Rice University School of Architecture
• Matt Johnson, LOJO, Associate Professor of Architecture at the University of Houston Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture and Design
• Jason Logan, LOJO, Associate Professor of Architecture at the University of Houston Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture and Design
• Brian D. Andrews, Atelier Andrews, Assistant Professor University of Memphis
• Yung Ho Chang, Atelier Feichang Jianzhu (FCJZ), Professor and Architecture Chair, Hong Kong University
• Gail Peter Borden FAIA, Borden Partnership, Professor and Director of Graduate Studies at the University of Houston Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture and Design

Symposium II

April 9, 2025 at 6:00 pm

Moderators:

• Gail Peter Borden
• Michael Bell
• Eunjeong Seong

Participants:

• Christina Sanders, Columbia University, Climate School
• Stephen Fox, Lecturer at the University of Houston Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture and Lecturer Rice University School of Architecture
• Sam Clovis, clovisbaronian, Instructional Assistant Professor at the University of Houston Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture and Design
• Georgina Baronian, clovisbaronian, Assistant Professor, Rice University School of Architecture
• Raphael Beneytez-Duran, Z4Z4, Associate Professor of Architecture at the University of Houston Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture and Design
• Ophelia Mantz, Z4Z4, Assistant Professor of Architecture at the University of Houston Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture and Design
• Shawn Lutz, SMLA, Adjunct Professor of Architecture at the University of Houston Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture and Design
• Neil Denari, Neil M. Denari Architects, Professor, UCLA Architecture and Urban Design
• Rene Peralta, Generica, Lecturer, Christopher C. Gibbs, College of Architecture, University of Oklahoma
• Monica Fragoso-Peralta, Generica
• Lindy Roy, Roy Projects, Adjunct Professor, Columbia GSAPP
• Sanford Kwinter, Professor of Science and Design, Pratt Institute School of Architecture
• Michael Bell, Bell Seong Architecture / Visible Weather, Professor of Architecture at Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation
• Eunjeong Seong, Bell Seong Architecture / Visible Weather, Adjunct Associate Professor, Pratt Institute School of Architecture