Dallas Architecture Forum

MISSION The Dallas Architecture Forum provides a continuing and challenging public discourse on architecture and urban design in – and for – the Dallas area. The Forum offers presentations of architecture through public lectures by designers, critics, and historians; through topical discussions; and through occasional study tours to buildings and cities locally and throughout the world. The Dallas Architecture Forum serves as an inclusive arena where people interested in and concerned with the built environment, non-professionals and professionals alike, may interact intellectually and socially. Our membership comes from business, development, public affairs, education, the arts and from the design fields. This mix of interests and ties is one of the strengths we bring to our involvement with architecture. Support for the Forum's programs is a grassroots effort, coming from membership subscriptions at all levels and from the generous sponsorship of Forum seasons and events. HISTORY The Dallas Architecture Forum was founded in 1997 to promote ongoing public discourse and awareness of architecture and design for people in Dallas and the surrounding communities. As a not-for-profit 501(c) (3) corporation, it is supported entirely by the dues and volunteer efforts of its members and by the contributions of local individuals, companies and foundations. Our organization draws people from a variety of professional interests, including the arts, development and business, public affairs and education, design, as well as people with no professional connection but with an abiding personal interest in architecture and design. The Forum sponsors an annual lecture series that features nationally and internationally distinguished speakers from disciplines that include architecture, interior design, landscape architecture, and urban planning. Speakers have also included noted critics, writers, and historians. The Lecture Series grew over the Forum's first decade in both popularity and in the number of lectures offered. The Lecture Series entered its second decade as one of the leading lecture series in the country focused on architecture and related topics. Because the organization seeks to promote an atmosphere where people can interact intellectually and socially, most Lectures and Panels are accompanied by receptions or informal opportunities where members can meet and socialize with our guest lecturers, Panel moderators, and with each other. The Forum also sponsors a series of Panel Discussions throughout the season that feature moderated roundtable discussions with local professionals to foster discourse about specific topics. In addition, the Forum offers or promotes occasional study tours to architecturally significant destinations, as well as Symposia and events at local private homes and commercial developments of architectural interest.