PLAT utilizes a unique “call and response” format to explore and respond to compelling issues in architecture today. PLAT 9.0 and 9.5, as in each cycle, features content around a theme established in the first issue and a series of responses in the second. Across summer 2019, PLAT’s editors convene to identify a theme for PLAT 9.0 that is relevant, timely, and persuasive. The theme builds from the potential topics discussed for PLAT 8.0 Simplicity, currently in production, which included the body, failure, and humor and architecture. As with previous issues, PLAT 9.0 will source voices from the international architectural community, while its half issue, PLAT 9.5, will feature responses from Rice’s campus, creating a dynamic conversation between issues and positioning the journal as an instigator of architectural discourse at Rice and beyond.

Jack Murphy is a master’s of architecture candidate at Rice Architecture. He received his bachelor's of science in art and design with a concentration in architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has worked at Carlos Jiménez Studio in Houston and in the offices of Baldridge Architects and Dyal & Partners in Austin. Previously he was an intern at the Chinati Foundation. His writing has appeared in Places, Cite, Architectural Record, Texas Architect, The Architect’s Newspaper, PLAT, PLACE-HOLDER, and LOKE, among other publications. He has served on the editorial committees of Cite and Texas Architect. He received the 2017 Associate Member of the Year Award from the Texas Society of Architects. In 2018 he was the recipient of a John Crowder Traveling Fellowship. Along with Tiffany Xu, Murphy is coeditor-in-chief for PLAT 7.5 Oversharing and PLAT 8.0 Simplicity.

Tiffany Xu is a master's of architecture graduate student at Rice University entering her thesis year. Xu received a bachelor's of science in conservation and resource studies from University of California, Berkeley with minors in French and art history. Prior to studying architecture, she worked in the technology industry in San Francisco. She has worked at the offices of MG&Co. in Houston, assisting with the 2017 Chicago Architecture Biennial production Rooms for Books, and Sidell Pakravan in Berkeley. She is the recipient of the Mary Ellen Hale Lovett Traveling Fellowship (2017), John Crowder Traveling Fellowship (2018), and Morris Pittman Award in Architecture (2019). Along with Jack Murphy, Xu is the coeditor-in-chief for PLAT 7.5 Oversharing and PLAT 8.0 Simplicity.

Matthew Ragazzo is a graduate student currently pursuing a master's of architecture at Rice University and holds a bachelor's of science in public health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he also minored in urban planning and studies. Before enrolling in his graduate degree, Ragazzo worked at The Architectural League of New York and the Neighborhood Design Center in Baltimore. More recently, Ragazzo has interned at Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects in Atlanta and Koning Eizenberg Architects in Los Angeles. This summer, he represented Rice Architecture at the Campus Ultzama School under the direction of Francisco Mangado and Eduardo Souto de Moura. He is managing editor of PLAT 7.5 and 8.0.

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. This past summer, she was a recipient of the Mary Ellen Hale Lovett Traveling Fellowship. Francis is the design director of PLAT 8.0 Simplicity.

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.