The Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture and Design offers its students a platform of integrated disciplines - architecture, space architecture, interior architecture, and industrial design - from which to negotiate the complexities of contemporary practice in a world that is grappling with diminishing economic and natural resources, the realities of post disaster re-construction, and, at the same time, continued, rapid urbanization. Faculty and students work together in a studio-centric curriculum, supported by a premier digital fabrication facility. Open studios seamlessly incorporate coursework into project-based learning through material investigations and applied research. At the Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture and Design, making is not simply an action or a craft, but a form of critical thinking, calling forth innovative solutions for contemporary conditions. Our programs foster an environment where ideas find form, where practices that are socially equitable and fundamentally ecological establish a model from which to develop Houston's future and to inform and shape design strategies globally.