PLAT utilizes a unique “call and response” format to explore and respond to compelling issues in architecture today. PLAT 10.0 and 10.5, as in each cycle, features content around a theme established in the previous issue and a series of responses in the subsequent. Building off the topics discussed for PLAT 9.0: Commit, PLAT 10.0: Behold discusses the potential of framing architecture as a medium for conveying meaning by suspending the primacy of the spatial experience. As with previous issues, PLAT 10.0 sources voices from the international architectural community, while its half issue, PLAT 10.5, features responses from Rice University’s campus, creating a dynamic conversation between issues and positioning the journal as an instigator of architectural discourse at Rice and beyond.

Sebastián López Cardozo is a master’s of architecture candidate at Rice University. In 2018, López Cardozo obtained his bachelor’s of architectural studies from the University of Toronto. During his time there, he worked as a research assistant for architectural historian Mary Louise Lobsinger, where he developed an early interest in the relation between pedagogy, practice, and current policy models. In the summer of 2020, López Cardozo coproduced an architecture podcast series with Rice Architecture’s Tête-à-Tête. His writing has been published in Azure Magazine and Yale’s Paprika! with articles forthcoming in nonsite.org and Cite. Currently, he is working on a book on contemporary Mexican architecture with Jesús Vassallo, and also works for Toronto-based Partisans Architecture. Recently, he was the recipient of the H. Russell Pitman Graduate Fellowship in Architecture and was awarded an honorable mention for the 2020 Rice Design Alliance (RDA) Houston Research Grant. Along with Lauren Joseph Phillips, López Cardozo is coeditor-in-chief of PLAT 8.5: tl;dr and PLAT 9.0: Commit.

Lauren Joseph Phillips is a master’s of architecture candidate at Rice University in Houston, Texas. He grew up between Fort Worth, Texas, and Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he developed an early interest in vernacular architecture and its interplay with regional Modernism. After dropping out of architecture school in 2002, Phillips pursued a career first as a chef, and then as a paralegal, earning a degree in paralegal studies from Texas Wesleyan University in Fort Worth. A side job writing on art and culture for Fort Worth Weekly rekindled his interest in architecture, culminating in his 2017 piece on development near the Kimbell Art Museum, Need and Desire: What we owe a building. In summer 2019, Phillips taught architecture at Duke University’s Talent Identification Program, where he developed his interest in architectural pedagogy. Along with López Cardozo, Phillips is co-editor-in-chief of PLAT 8.5: tl;dr and PLAT 9.0: Commit.

Mai Okimoto is a graduate student currently pursuing a master’s of architecture at Rice University, and holds a bachelor’s of arts in political science and mathematics from Williams College. Prior to studying architecture, she worked in a management consulting firm in Tokyo. Her writing has been published in  Paprika!. She is a recipient of the Mary Ellen Hale Lovett Traveling Fellowship. She has spent the past year conducting research with Mark Wamble to develop a flat-pack shelter for refugees settled in Rwanda’s Mahama refugee camp. She serves as the student representative for the Rice School of Architecture lecture series committee. Okimoto is managing editor of PLAT 8.5 and 9.0.

Carolyn Francis is a master’s of architecture candidate at Rice University. Francis holds a bachelor's of arts in architectural studies from the University of California in Los Angeles with a minor in German. She has worked at SKD Architects, Inc. in Minneapolis and Skidmore, Owings and Merrill in Chicago. She was a recipient of the Mary Ellen Hale Lovett Traveling Fellowship. Recent publication design includes PLAT 8.0: Simplicity, as well as An (Im)material Cookbook, an exhibition catalogue designed with architect Liz Gálvez. She is currently conducting research with Rice University Wortham Fellow Amelyn Ng regarding the impact of the current pandemic on domestic life in Houston. Francis is design director of PLAT 8.5 and 9.0.

Elina Chen is an undergraduate architecture student at Rice University, minoring in museum and cultural heritage. Originally from Wuxi, China, she enjoys traveling and has published her writings in Cite Digital and Traveler. She serves as the mentorship coordinator of Rice School of Architecture and the student representative of Rice Design Alliance for 2020–21. Chen is development director of PLAT 8.5 and PLAT 9.0.

Harish Krishnamoorthy is an undergraduate architecture student at Rice University. Originally from Bangalore, India, his writings have been published in Cite Digital and Log, where he also served as assistant editor in summer 2019. His interests lie in the intersection of urbanism, policy, and cultural regionalism. In 2019, he received the Rosemary Watkin Barrick Travelling Fellowship to pursue research in Chefchaouen, Morocco. He also loves cooking. Krishnamoorthy is the lead copy editor of PLAT 8.5 and PLAT 9.0.

PLAT is an independent architecture journal produced by students at Rice Architecture. Its purpose is to stimulate relationships between design, production, and theory. It operates in a call-and-response format by curating professional and academic work into an open and evolving dialogue that progresses from issue to issue. PLAT is a speculative catalyst for architectural discourse, a platform on which the important issues in architecture today can be addressed and advanced. PLAT utilizes a unique call and response format to explore and respond to compelling issues in architecture today.