UNM to celebrate Professor Nora Wendl’s new book and exhibition, Almost Nothing

University of New Mexico architecture professor Nora Wendl hosts a launch event for her new book, Almost Nothing, an architectural history written in the form of a memoir. The book follows Wendl as she navigates the institutions and personalities that guard the legacy of famed architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, while exploring the structures that make telling women's histories in architecture so difficult and contentious.

The launch event is set for Monday, Oct. 27, in the Garcia Honda Auditorium at George Pearl Hall and in the Rainosek Gallery and will begin with a discussion with Wendl and Eva Hagberg, an architecture critic, writer and historian, from 5 to 6 p.m. Following the discussion, there will be a reception, book sale and signing in the Rainosek Gallery, where Wendl's related exhibition-also titled Almost Nothing-will be on view from 6 to 7 p.m.

Almost Nothing tells the story of Dr. Edith Farnsworth, the first-and only-woman in the United States to commission a glass house from Mies van der Rohe. After the house was completed, he attempted to sue Farnsworth for ownership of the property. Against all odds, she prevailed in court, though she spent what would now be nearly $1 million to complete the home. Farnsworth lived in the house for 20 years, but her story was misrepresented in both the press and architectural history, where she was frequently-and incorrectly-described as Mies van der Rohe's jilted lover.

Structured in alternating chapters that intertwine Farnsworth's and Wendl's voices, Almost Nothing offers a new narrative of women's contributions to architectural history. The book was shortlisted for the Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prize in 2022 and published by the University of Illinois Press in 2025.

For more information, visit https://saap.unm.edu/