Malcolm Rio (he/they) is a Providence-based graphic and architectural designer and thinker. They are currently a PhD student in Columbia University’s Department of Architectural History and Theory, where they research the historical intersections of race, sexuality, kinship and nation building in the 18th–20th centuries.
Rio holds a Master of Science in Architecture Studies (SMArchS) from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where they were recognized with the 2019 SMArchS Thesis Prize and the Arthur Rotch Special Prize for research on the urbanism of house-ballroom culture in New York City titled Drag Hinge: “Reading” the Scales between Architecture and Urbanism (2019).
Additionally, Rio has earned a Master of Architecture from RISD, and both a Bachelor of Science in Philosophy and a Bachelor of Fine Art in Art + Design from Towson University. From 2015–17, Rio was among the inaugural cohort of AICAD Postgraduate Teaching Fellows, through which they taught at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in the areas of foundation studies, graphic design and architectural design.
Rio’s scholarship, criticism and interviews have appeared in Thresholds, Avery Review, The New York Review of Architecture, ArchitectureMPS and Pidgin, as well as in forthcoming books like Living Room, a volume on sexuality, gender and architecture edited by Sophie Hochhäusl.
Courses
Fall 2023 Courses
ARCH 2196-08 - THESIS SEM: NAVIGATING THE CREATIVE PROCESS
LevelUndergraduate
UnitArchitecture
Subject Architecture
Period Fall 2023
Credits 3
FormatSeminar
Mode In-Person
Start date
End date
ARCH 2196-08
THESIS SEM: NAVIGATING THE CREATIVE PROCESS
LevelUndergraduate
UnitArchitecture
Subject Architecture
PeriodFall 2023
Credits3
FormatSeminar
ModeIn-Person
Start and End2023-09-06 to 2023-12-13
Times: W | 1:10 PM - 4:10 PMInstructor(s): Malcolm RioLocation(s): Bayard Ewing Building, Room 413Enrolled / Capacity: 12Status: Open
SECTION DESCRIPTION
We begin work on your Thesis Projects from the outset of the semester: navigating arbitrary beginnings; setting boundaries like nets; developing a whole language of grunts, smudges and haiku; gathering the unique and unrepeatable content, forces, and conditions of your project; hunting an emerging and fleeting idea; recognizing discoveries; projecting forward with the imagination; and distilling glyphs, diagrams and insight plans.This course satisfies the prerequisite requirement for Thesis Project.
Estimated Cost of Materials: $50.00 - $200.00
Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Architecture Students.
Major Requirement | BArch, MArch (3yr), MArch (2yr): Architecture
Under the supervision of a faculty advisor, students are responsible for the preparation and completion of an independent thesis project.
Estimated Materials Cost: $50.00 - $200.00
Permission for this class is based on the student's overall academic record, as well as their performance in the Wintersession course ARCH 2197: Thesis Discursive Workshop. If the department recommends against a student undertaking ARCH-2198: Thesis Project, two advanced elective studios must be taken instead.
Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Architecture Students.
Major Requirement | BArch, MArch (3yr), MArch (2yr): Architecture
