PLAT utilizes a unique “call and response” format to explore compelling issues in architecture today. PLAT 13 and 13.5, as in each cycle, features content around a theme established in the first issue and a series of responses in the second. In fall 2023, a new student-run editorial board for PLAT will be selected to develop a theme for PLAT 13 that is relevant, timely, and persuasive. The theme builds from the prospective topics discussed for PLAT 12: Divine, currently in production, which discusses the potential of framing architecture as a medium for conveying meanings beyond spatial experience. As with previous issues, PLAT 13 sources voices from the international architectural community, while its half issue, PLAT 13.5, features responses from Rice University’s campus. Together, they create a dynamic conversation between issues, positioning the journal as an instigator of architectural discourse at Rice and beyond.

PLAT is an independent architecture journal edited by students at Rice University’s School of 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.