Hyde Chair Nicole McIntosh gives the next Hyde Lecture

Nicole McIntosh, cofounder of the internationally renowned, Swiss-American practice, Architecture Office, will be giving the next Hyde Lecture entitled “How We Forgot Where We're From and Learned to Live Abroad,” at 4 p.m., April 1, at Nebraska Union, Swanson Auditorium.

Architecture Office is a Zurich based, Swiss-American practice led by Nicole McIntosh and Jonathan Louie. Their research and design are influenced by images that create new contexts for architecture.

Their office engages with a variety of scales and typologies, ranging from restaurants and workspaces to exhibition design and houses. Recent work has been exhibited at the Yale Architecture Gallery, the Kunsthaus Glarus and the 2021 Seoul Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism. As educators they are the 2023-2024 Hyde Chair of Excellence at University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Architecture.

Their contributions to design and research have been recognized by the Architectural League Young Architect's Prize (2017), ACSA Faculty Design Award (2020), and the Swiss Art Awards (2022). Built projects have been recognized by Architects Newspaper Best of Design Awards (2018, 2019), Interior Design Best of Year Awards (2020) and the 'Frame Awards' (2018).  

For this lecture, McIntosh will share how the firm has utilized United States and Switzerland, cross cultural influences in their work since moving to Zurich in 2021. The work of the office focuses on the role of cultural imagery in their approach to typology, materials and assembly. One recent example, Swissness Applied, is a research project on the translation of the Swiss chalet type in New Glarus, Wisconsin - with a focus on architectural details. And now, as Hyde Chairs of Excellence, they have undertaken a new project on the image of the Swiss Chocolate factory with their students in 2023-2024.

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.