In 2001, Liane Hancock, an assistant professor of architecture at Louisiana Tech, remembers seeing the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts building in St. Louis’ completion. According to Hancock, Tadao Ando, who designed the Pulitzer, was attempting to build the world’s best concrete building. “Tadao Ando is an internationally recognized architecture,” Hancock said. “He is known for his minimalist architecture that is constructed on concrete.” A little more than a decade later, Hancock organized a colloquium in St. Louis, which brought a number of participants together to talk about their experiences in designing and building the Pulitzer. “These internationally renowned architects will design a building, but a lot of times, you do not hear the story of the local architects,” Hancock said. “This was the opportunity to bring the contractors, the architects and the client, Mrs. Pulitzer, together to discuss the process of building the building.” Hancock is from St. Louis, and prior to teaching at Louisiana Tech University, she taught at Washington University. She began research on building materials, such as Ando’s concrete buildings, before coming to Ruston and hopes one day her research will be published in a narrative model. The colloquium was open on Feb. 8 and 9, where all the participants gathered to listen to each other’s stories. “In a lot of cases, some of these people hadn’t seen each other in 10 years,” Hancock said. “It was also a way for me to gather more information for this book.” Hancock was able to attend the celebration and said it was a great experience for any architect. “It was great to have the opportunity to hear the stories about how hard it was to complete this building,” Hancock said. “The kind of dedication and teamwork that occurred on this building was something that was rarely seen in this type of architecture.” Written by Derek J. Amaya