Awards
Awards
2023 Architect’s Newspaper ‘Best of Design’ Award
AN’s Best of Design: Hard Core, Park Core (Southwest Civic Core Plan)
Category: Unbuilt —Landscape, Urban Design, & Master Plan
We are thrilled to announce that UltraBarrio has been awarded the 2023 Architect's Newspaper Best of Design Award! UltraBarrio’s design for the Southwest Civic Core transforms a 'hard core' parking lot into a thermally optimal 'park core', located within the most diverse and dense part of Houston. Here, existing organizations that provide health and social services can thrive to support the community for a stronger, equitable, and resilient future. See our project page for more info.
ARCHITECT Magazine: Next Progressives
September 2023
We are thrilled to be selected as the Next Progressives by ARCHITECT Magazine, official journal of AIA National, and join a roster of talented firms. UltraBarrio’s feature appears in print in ARCHITECT Magazine’s September 2023 issue, as well as online. Our thanks to our enlightened clients and collaborators who reinforce the ethos of our practice.
AIA Houston Urban Design Award
2022 American Institute of Architects Award: Roaming Cart-Ographies.
See all winners here. More on our project here.
2022 AIA Texas Society of Architects Design Award: Roaming Cart-Ographies.
Category: Civic and Urban Design
The jury selected 25 projects from among 150 entries, and the winning projects will be featured in the September/October issue of Texas Architect.
All winners here. More on our project here.
AIA Houston Urban Design Award
2021 American Institute of Architects Award: Houston METRO Transit Environment Programming Catalog.
Juror Comment: “A very comprehensive way of looking at the complexity of urban design that can be applied to different cities’ looking at ‘multimodal levels of interactions between different models of transportation and mobility.”
Architect’s Newspaper: Best of Design Award for Architectural Representation 2016
Pierce Skypark, courtesy Marcus Martinez
Honorable Mention, Architectural Representation > Analog: Pierce Skypark: www.pierceskypark.com
These hand-drawn renderings of a transformed section of Houston’s former elevated freeway were a strategic choice to generate interest and dialogue in the project by conveying a sense that the concept was still “in progress” and open to feedback.
AIA Boston Society of Architects - BSA/ReGEN
Sargent’s Wharf - Affordable Housing
ReGEN International Competition
Honorable Mention: 'Best Unique City Infrastructure
Exhibition at (Boston Society of Architects) BSA Gallery Space
AIA Boston Society of Architects (BSA) - Shift Boston
BSA Shift Boston Competition - ‘Urban Grafting’
"Why Stop" Competition awards 'Urban Grafting' Honorable Mention.
Exhibition: Boston South Station 2012
The train is an active part of program as a device that enables urbanity. The fusion of plaza assemblage directly with the rail form a new perspective on the train cab as a public realm, and the motivating force to the experience of the city.
AIA Boston Society of Architects (BSA) Housing - Awarded Citation for Technology
Radial House
Prefab housing project uses automotive inspiration for an envelope that bridges a living space with landscape.
Italian Railway Network - 2nd Place
Italy RFI Railway Competition
Awarded 2nd place, design ideas for all transit station stops and types for Italy’s RFI Railway.
Publications / Exhibits
AIA Architecture of Bees - 2022 Exhibit
May 18 - August 26 at AIA Houston
We are thrilled to work on the upcoming exhibition ‘The Architecture of Bees’ opening this May at the AIA Houston. The exhibit is sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts and Innovative Environments. The City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance is sponsoring the 2022 season.
First Kick-Off Event March 12, 2022
The first event of the series for the Gulfton Placemaking project was held in March. Check out the event photos in the project link here.
Beyond the Build Environment with Texas Society of Architects
Women In Architecture Featured Designer
How to Think Like an Architect
Rice University Magazine - Spring 2022
Amna featured among other Rice Architecture faculty discussing the different avenues the practice of architecture offers.
Designers Explore How Changing Transit Could Change Cities for the Better
MIT Alumni Spotlight: UltraBarrio
2021 Slice of MIT - MIT Alumni
“Through their Houston-based urban design and architecture firm, UltraBarrio, Amna Ansari SM ’12 and Marcus Martinez SM ’12 are exploring the future of transit and how it could contribute to better future cities.”
Teams are Reimagining and Repurposing Parking Facilities for Tomorrow
PMI - Project Management Institute March 2021
“In Ultrabarrio’s concept Parked to Place, Martinez and his team propose the construction of ultra-flexible garages that can be transformed to accommodate a wide variety of needs.”
2019 Archinet
Parking Futures research featured in the article.
Exhibition at Center Gallery at Fordham University NYC
UH Alumni Spotlight: UltraBarrio
University of Houston Alumni Spotlight
Gerald D Hines College of Architecture
“Hines College alumni and professors Amna Ansari and Marcus Martinez speak to what sparked their interests in exploring design, the start of their careers, and ultimately creating their studio UltraBarrio.”
Texas Architect Magazine
Texas Architect Magazine May/June 2019
DRAWING: DIGITAL/ANALOG for Near Northside Houston
“For this issue of Texas Architect, we asked 10 currently practicing architects and architectural designers from across the state to send us drawings that figure their conception of Texas. Seen together, in succession, they convey some of the diversity of architectural production as it’s being done today in Texas.”
‘Designing for the Driverless Age’
Parking Futures research featured in the article.
‘Imagining the Driverless City’
Shuffle City featured in the article.
Center Gallery at Fordham University NYC - Exhibition
D3 Space | Sketch Exhibition | NYC
The international ‘Sketch’ exhibition at the Center Gallery at Fordham University. Organized by New York-based d3, the exhibit surveyed contemporary conceptual design process across the disciplines.
Talks / Invites
Marcus speaks at the Texas AIA Design Conference Panel ‘Decoding Houston’s Architectural Vernacular’
October 5, 2024
The discussions centered around a more expansive view of vernacular. The panel was moderated by Joe Rivers, AIA of Rivers Barden Architects , and included panelists: Lindsey Slay Williams, Assoc. AIA, NOMA from Houston Land Bank - HLB, and Ben Koush from Ben Koush & Associates.
Amna Moderates Rice Civic Forum ‘Preservation for Whom?’
September 28, 2024
Introduced by Shantel Blakely, Assistant Professor Rice Architecture
Rice School of Architecture dedicated its 2024 Civic Forum to preservation, with a panel discussion focusing on the Glenbrook Valley neighborhood in South Houston.
Speakers included:
Roman McAllen, Houston Office of Preservation
Chelby King, Independent art historian, and Glenbrook Valley resident
Steve Curry, Architect, and Houston Architectural and Historical Commission member
Caroline Cheong, Associate Director of the Center for Housing and Neighborhoods at the Kinder Institute
Elements of Placemaking Beyond Aesthetics Workshop
September 14, 2023
UltraBarrio will be presenting at Houston Galveston Area Council’s Annual Livable Centers Land Use/Transportation Workshop. The workshop will focus on elements of placemaking beyond aesthetics, such as safety, economic development, and environmental impact. Click Here for Registration.
Gulfton Shade Structure - NPR News Media
July 2023
Marcus is interviewed by NPR on UltraBarrio’s shade structure concept for the Gulfton neighborhood. Click link above for the audio and article.
Amna Moderates Panel on Houston Memorial Land Bridge
April 2023
TX ASLA Design Conference | Fort Worth
Panel discussion with Nelson Byrd Woltz, METALAB, and EcoServices on the Memorial Land Bridge re-uniting the north and south halves of Houston’s Memorial Park, while increasing the park’s resiliency and habitat through 45-acres of native coastal prairie.
RDA Research Grant - Invited Juror
May 2022
The Rice Design Alliance research grant supports areas of study that have a critical focus on Houston’s built environment, its history, present condition, and future development.
This year’s jury included: Amna Ansari, Founding Partner, Associates UltraBarrio; Margaret Wallace Brown, Director, City of Houston's Planning & Development Department; Daimian S. Hines, Founder and Principal, Hines Architecture + Design; Igor Marjanović, William Ward Watkin Dean, Rice Architecture; Ikhlas Sabouni, Dean, Prairie View A&M University.
WIA Equity Series - Invited Panelist
April 21, 2022
Amna is invited to speak as a panelist. In this discussion, architects will explore approaches to expanding entrepreneurial endeavors within and beyond the traditional practice of architecture.
Invited Faculty at Rice Architecture
Spring 2022 Visiting Critic
Amna joins Rice faculty as Visiting Critic for the Spring 2022 Semester - Sophomore Architecture Studio.
Aerial Futures: Houston Spaceport Panelist
Aerial Futures- The Next Frontier
UltraBarrio on Panel
“Expanding Houston’s reputation as Space City, USA, Ellington Airport’s Houston Spaceport will exemplify the city’s role as a front-runner in the space race of the 21st Century.”
10 Habits of Unlearners
AIAS CoAD Professors Mini-Lecture Series
Marcus presents at University of Houston College of Architecture
2019 Land 8/ ASLA 8x8 Lightning Talks
“As designers, let’s guide these emerging techs to take shape based on what we value first – cities, and how we can improve, maintain and protect our habitats.” – Amna Ansari
Larry Payne Interviews Marcus Martinez
On Houston Television
“Conversations with Larry Payne features in-depth, thought-provoking conversations with Houston’s leading thinkers and examine social situations on a dynamic scale within Houston.”
Re-Imagining Surplus
2018 Community Design for the Next Generation
Hosted by Children at Risk
Marcus presents his project with Tami Merrick, Pierce Skypark, and how Houston can always make the most from even a little.
2018 Texas ASLA Conference
Amna and Marcus present their work at Texas ASLA Conference on Flights, Flows, and Fields that imagines the possible roles for urban design and landscape architecture in the development of our fast-approaching airscape.
2018 AIA Iowa Conference
This research, presented by Marcus at AIA Iowa Conference, views the parking garage as a sub-ecology of the Texas region, a building type that is immersed in urban, suburban and campus contexts. How might our perspective change when we see this building type beyond its facilitative role, and towards an urban future when considered under the lens of long term use and generational equity?
Covert Landscapes
2017 Texas Society of Architects Design Conference 'Threshold' - Austin
Amna speaks at the TSA Design Conference. In the context of American cities, what challenges are practitioners and citizens confronting in the use of public space? From Athens to Amazon Inc. what is the historic role of spaces and how can the emergence of new technologies design and orchestrate new public space models?
Lanes to Landscape: Freeways as Evolvable Urban Structures
2016 Texas Society of Architects Design Conference 'Convergence' - San Antonio
Marcus presents a "big idea" for one of the largest cities in the US. The transformation of a to-be-abandoned elevated expressway that runs through downtown into an urban park in the sky.
‘Pierce Skypark’: An Unsolicited Movement
2016 Texas ASLA Conference
Marcus presents a "big idea" for one of the largest cities in the US. The transformation of a to-be-abandoned elevated expressway that runs through downtown into an urban park in the sky.
2013 ABX Boston Conference: 5x5x5 Variations on a Smarter City
Marcus and Amna present Shuffle City at the Boston Society of Architects- ABX Smarter City Panel