Amna Moderates The Rice Civic Forum ‘Preservation for Whom?’
September 28, 2024
Introduced by Shantel Blakely, Assistant Professor Rice Architecture
Rice School of Architecture will dedicate its 2024 Civic Forum to preservation, with a panel discussion focusing on the Glenbrook Valley neighborhood in South Houston.
Speakers will include:
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
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.
Gulfton Shade Structure - NPR News Media
July 2023
Marcus interviews with NPR on UltraBarrio’s shade structure concept for the Gulfton neighborhood. Click link above for the audio and article.
April 2023
UltraBarrio team in Sharpstown/Gulfton gaining further input on the Southwest Civic Core Plan concepts developed in partnership with stakeholder and public feedback.
Healthy Pasadena
October 2022
We’re kicking off a new study for the region with talented partners. The study is focused on health, both at the scale of the environment and the individual as it relates to youth, elderly, healthcare, housing, connectivity, climate resilience, biodiversity, and aging-in-place. We look forward to connecting with community members and learning more about their needs.
September 2022
We are honored to be featured by the Rice Design Alliance, where we had a chance to discuss our latest projects and reflect on the impact of supportive mentors. On our path to entrepreneurship the most rewarding experience has been getting to know the people we work with and the communities we work within.
June 2022
UltraBarrio kicks off the Resilient Housing Study as a member of Chicago based Hagerty Consulting's team. UltraBarrio is continuing research for Resilient Housing strategies that are increasingly necessary in our new climate normal.
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.
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.
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.
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 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
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.
Texas Architect Magazine May/June 2019
DRAWING: DIGITAL/ANALOG
“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.”
Italian Rail Network - 2nd Place
Italy RFI Railway Competition
Awarded 2nd place, design ideas for all transit station stops and types for Italy’s RFI Railway.
Marcus speaks as panelist at TSA Design Conference ‘Decoding Houston’s Architectural Vernacular
October 5, 2024
The panel will unravel the vibrant tapestry of Houston’s architectural vernacular, showcasing the interplay of culture, history, climate, materials, functionality, aesthetics, and community.
Visiting Faculty at Rice Architecture: Urbanism Studio
Spring 2024 Visiting Critic
Amna concludes the Spring 2024 Semester, Sophomore Architecture Studio, with focus on Urbanity, examining Houston’s Warehouse District.
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.
June-July 2023
UltraBarrio team facilitated public outreach leading engagement for South Houston Livable Centers Study. The team designed an outreach kit to be used at multiple public events to gather feedback for informing the study.
Marcus is invited to Final Reviews at UBC SALA
April 2023
Marcus is invited as a guest design critic to serve on final reviews at the University of British Columbia’s School of Architecture + Landscape Architecture in Vancouver.
South Houston Livable Centers Study
January 2023
We have started work on a transportation focused study with partners in Houston that will promote a healthy lifestyle with improved connectivity to parks, retail, and housing via sidewalks, trails, streets, and transit connections in South Houston.
Invited Jurors for ‘Greening the Industrial City’ Competition
September 2022
Excited to take part in reviewing masterplan proposals for a centrally located industrial park built over a natural waterway in East Houston. Participants are asked to frame a sustainable and equitable development.
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. Check out all the winners here. More on our project here.
Visiting Faculty at Rice Architecture
Spring 2022 Visiting Critic
Amna joins Rice faculty as Visiting Critic for the Spring 2022 Semester - Sophomore Architecture Studio.
2021 AIA Houston Urban Design Award
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.”
Beyond the Build Environment with Texas Society of Architects
Women In Architecture Featured Designer
Aerial Futures: Houston Spaceport
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.”
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.”
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.”
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.
10 Habits of Unlearners
AIAS CoAD Professors Mini-Lecture Series
Marcus presents at University of Houston College of Architecture
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
Designing for the Driverless Age
2018 ULI Urban Land Magazine
Parking Futures research featured in the article.
Urban Grafting
BSA Shift Boston Competition
"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.
Amna is Teaching a Seminar at Rice: Civic Workshop
Fall 2024
This seminar will examine Houston as a live case study to cultivate a shared platform for conversations about cities and their communities—including the lived and constructed social fabric of our cities that engages the academics and citizens alike.
Anna Brancaccio Teaching Graduate Design Studio at UH
Fall 2024
The Graduate Design Studio will focus on the typology of the dwelling and critically asses what it means to provide shelter; pursuing design strategies that produce a dialogue between occupant and climatic context.
Archigram Print: Award for Architect’s Newspaper ‘Best of Design’ Award
April 30 2024
As winners of the 2023 Architect’s Newspaper Best of Design Award for ‘Unbuilt-Landscape, Urban Design, & Master Plan’ for our entry ‘Hard Core Park Core’- today our award arrived and we unboxed the limited-edition print by Archigram, signed by Archigram members, that was produced for the Architect’s Newspaper. We are absolutely blown away! See the awarded project here.
Katy East Community and Mobility Study
April 20 2024
For Katy East Community and Mobility Study’s second public workshop held on April 20, one of the activities asked participants to design their ideal street and think about the many possibilities of creating a designed corridor with concepts of transit, lighting, signage, parks, trails, setbacks, and program variety.
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.
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.
Marcus joins the ArCH Board of Trustees
January 2023
Marucs is invited to join the Architecture Center Houston Board of Trustees.
Texas Architect Magazine
September 2022
Find ‘Roaming Cart-Ographies’ published in the latest issue of Texas Architect Magazine! 'Roaming Cart-Ographies', is recipient of the 2022 Texas Society of Architects Design Award and the 2022 AIA Houston Design Award in the Urban Design and Civic category.
Thank you to our client Connect Community and the whole team!
2022 AIA Houston Urban Design Award
American Institute of Architects Award: Roaming Cart-Ographies.
Category: Urban Design
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.
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.
Sargent’s Wharf - Affordable Housing
Affordable Housing - ReGEN International Competition
Honorable Mention: 'Best Unique City Infrastructure
Exhibition at (Boston Society of Architects) BSA Gallery Space
‘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.
2019 Archinet
Parking Futures research featured in the article.
Exhibition at Center Gallery at Fordham University NYC
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.
Radial House
Boston Society of Architects (BSA) Housing - Awarded Citation For Technology
Prefab housing project uses automotive inspiration for an envelope that bridges a living space with landscape.