Virginia Tech architecture professor and author Aaron Betsky will present the Charles E. “Chick” Herbert Lecture in Architecture at 4 p.m. Friday, March 22, in Kocimski Auditorium.

His free talk, “The Monster Leviathan: Anarchitecture,” is part of the Department of Architecture’s 2023-2024 Public Programs series, “Of the Land.” A reception with refreshments will follow.

About the speaker

Betsky is a recognized critic of art, architecture and design who has authored more than 20 books on these subjects, most recently The Monster Leviathan: Anarchitecture (2023), Fifty Lessons from Frank Lloyd Wright (2021), Making It Modern (2019) and Architecture Matters (2019). He also writes a blog, “Beyond Buildings,” for architectmagazine.com.

Prior to joining the Virginia Tech School of Architecture and Design in 2020, he was the president (2017–2019) and dean (2015–2017) of the School of Architecture at Taliesin, director of the Cincinnati Art Museum (2006–2014) and the Netherlands Architecture Institute (2001–2006) and served as the curator of architecture and design at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (1995–2001). He directed the 11th Venice International Biennale of Architecture in 2008.

About the lecture

The Charles E. “Chick” Herbert Lecture was established in 2010 in memory of 1951 Iowa State architectural engineering graduate Chick Herbert, FAIA, the founding principal of Herbert Lewis Kruse Blunck Architecture in Des Moines and recipient of the 2007 Distinguished Alumni Award, the highest honor given to Iowa State alumni by the ISU Alumni Association.