By Cindi Strauss, The Sara and Bill Morgan Curator of Decorative Arts, Craft, and Design

Since 1999, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), has collaborated with the Houston chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) to create a design collection by international architects of the past and present within the department of decorative arts, craft, and design. Twenty-five years later, the partnership remains the only one of its kind in the United States. 150 Years of Design: The AIA Houston Collection celebrates its tremendous impact on the Museum by highlighting the treasures of the collection in its entirety for the first time.

The initial idea for the AIA/MFAH design collection was the brainchild of Houston architects Carrie Glassman Shoemake and Ernesto Maldonado. In 1999 Glassman Shoemake was involved with the Museum’s decorative arts and design acquisitions subcommittee, and Maldonado was then AIA Houston board chair. Together, they approached me with a proposal for a collaboration between the two institutions that would help the public understand the role of architects in design history beyond the buildings they created.

Glassman Shoemake, Maldonado, and I initially discussed what such a collaboration could achieve and quickly settled on creating a collection of architect-designed objects that would become part of the Museum’s permanent collection. Furthermore, the proposed works would need to conform to the Museum’s collecting philosophy and parameters for design: to collect pieces in as original condition and as close to the original design date as possible; to create a balance of iconic objects by seminal international architects as well as objects by lesser-known or emerging ones; to acquire objects across all design media and a variety of forms within each medium; and to consider how works relate to the larger Museum collection.

In addition to these points, we discussed at length some guidelines as to who qualifies as an architect. In order to avoid questions of licensing across countries, Glassman Shoemake and Maldonado, with the approval of the AIA Houston board, recommended that a person who attended architecture school but perhaps never built buildings would be eligible, as would those who did not attend architecture school but spent their career designing structures. We also decided that the collection dates would span from about 1890 to the present, thereby focusing on early Modernism to contemporary design.

For the first four years of the collaboration, the initiative followed an existing MFAH collection-development program. At a “vote night,” members would select and underwrite objects presented by the curatorial team using raised funds. Seed money was provided by the AIA Houston with additional contributions made by individual AIA members or firms. Since 2004, the AIA Houston chapter has chosen one architect to honor with a lifetime achievement award. Funds are raised from AIA members, firms, and friends of the honoree to acquire works that are in keeping with the honoree’s interests. As of 2023, approximately sixty objects have been acquired for the AIA/MFAH collection with approximately $750,000 raised.

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, is extremely proud of its partnership with the Houston chapter of the American Institute of Architects. The relationship demonstrates the commitment that Houston architects have to their larger community and their dedication to all aspects of their field. The opportunity to build a first-rate collection of architect-designed materials is both challenging and exciting. The AIA Houston has been an exemplary partner in this endeavor, and the Museum looks forward to the collaboration’s future.