Peter Reyner Banham Fellowship

The Banham Fellowship in the Department of Architecture is intended to support design work that situates architecture within the general field of socio-cultural and material critique.

Peter Reyner Banham.

Peter Reyner Banham taught at UB from 1976-1980 and left an important legacy in experimental architectural criticism.

The fellowship honors the legacy of Peter Reyner Banham, who taught at UB from 1976-80 and produced a foundational body of scholarship on material/visual culture as a reflection of contemporary social life. Banham spent his time in Buffalo engaged in a scholarly project on the imaginary of American industrial architecture at work in early modernism that took the form of historical research, hands-on engagement and seminar instruction, resulting in his landmark work, A Concrete Atlantis.

In celebration of Banham's legacy of experimental criticism, this fellowship supports the research and creative activity of emerging practitioners. Over the course of a year, fellows teach, deliver a public lecture and prepare an exhibition culminating from their research and creative work at the school.

2022-23 Banham Fellow: Maya Porath

Maya Porath.

Maya Porath is an architectural designer, educator and organizer. She has worked at various design firms in NYC, gaining experience in public, institutional and private projects. Maya holds a bachelor’s degree from Brown University, and a Masters of Architecture from the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University. 

As a member of The Architecture Lobby, a democratic member driven organization of architectural workers, Maya collaborated with designers and architects across the country on initiatives aimed at building a more just and equitable profession. She served as a co-Steward of the NYC Chapter and more recently, as the Lobby’s National Organizer in 2020-2022. Maya co-founded ParlorTalks, an informal, multidisciplinary critical conversation series about public space. In addition, she has previously taught history and design classes at NYIT and Parsons.

Previous Fellows