Amanda is a licensed architect, Lecturer and Fourth Year Coordinator in the College of Architecture, Planning and Public Affairs (CAPPA) at the University of Texas at Arlington. Her work operates at the intersection of environmental and social systems and the built environment, informed by over fifteen years of professional experience with architecture and landscape urbanism practices, including Lake | Flato, SWA, Lewis Tsurumaki Lewis, and Welch | Hall Architects. She has taught undergraduate and graduate design studios, visual communication courses, and elective seminars at CAPPA for nine years. She received the 2025 CAPPA Teaching Excellence by APT Faculty Award and was CAPPA’s nominee for the 2024–25 Provost’s Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Her creative practice focuses on mapping, designing within and advocating for critical geographies of the built environment – human and non-human, physical and ephemeral – with particular attention to contested territories shaped by environmental and social injustice and inhabited by marginalized communities. Her work bridges professional and field-based creative practice and has been supported by grants and fellowships from the UTA Libraries Special Collections, the Dillon Center for Texas Architecture, Downtown Dallas Parks Conservancy, Landscape Architecture Foundation, Anchorage Design Week and the AIA New York and Center for Architecture.

Her research has been presented at national conferences and published in peer-reviewed venues. It has been recognized with the 2018–2019 Stewardson Keefe LeBrun Travel Grant and the 2022 National ACSA Best Project Award, and is published in Landscape Research Record, Journal of Creative Geography and the Atlas of Design.

Arne Emerson is a Partner and Design Partner at Morphosis Architects in Los Angeles, with nearly three decades of experience leading cultural, civic, and urban projects across North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. His work spans museums, embassies, academic institutions, commercial environments, and mixed-use developments.

At Morphosis, Emerson has led major international projects including the U.S. Embassies in Beirut and Riyadh, the ENI Headquarters in Milan and the Perot Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas and served as Design Lead for the UT Dallas Athenaeum cultural district, including the Crow Museum of Asian Art and the new Music Building and Performance Hall.

Prior to joining Morphosis, Emerson spent a decade at Studio Daniel Libeskind, where he led major international projects including the Denver Art Museum expansion, the Royal Ontario Museum, and the 18.36.54 House, as well as several international competitions.

Arne teaches graduate design studios at Arizona State University and is a faculty member at YACademy in Bologna. He has served as a visiting professor, lecturer, and critic at multiple institutions, and as a jury member for international design competitions. He continues to value the drawing as a fundamental tool for thinking, exploration, and the development of ideas.

Thad Reeves received his Masters of Architecture from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1997. During this time, he studied in Spain and traveled extensively in Europe. His interest in historic European architecture’s influence on contemporary design has led him on numerous architectural pilgrimages throughout Western and Central Europe, Australia, and the United States.

Upon graduation, Thad worked for RTKL Associates in Dallas, where he worked on both local and International award winning projects. After a short time he had the opportunity to participate in the legacy of Oglesby Greene Architects where he honed his skills on well-crafted, smaller scale projects.

In 2003, Thad helped form the offices of Thomas Krahenbuhl and Truett Roberts Architects where, as a senior associate, he continued to work on commercial and residential projects at all phases of the design process.

Thad co-founded IPB LLC in 2005 as a way to purchase and develop projects. He undertook the restoration of an historic 1920’s residential complex where he acted as developer, designer and contractor.

In 2005, Thad began teaching at the University of Texas in Arlington and co-founded A.GRUPPO Architects. He is a registered architect in the state of Texas and is the recipient of the McDermott traveling fellowship.