Architecture alumna Luján builds community through art, design

By Chi Pham     1/21/25 10:43pm

Over a decade ago, Melissa McDonnell Luján ’10 was tasked with redesigning the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston as one of her Rice Architecture studio assignments. Now, after she was appointed the museum’s co-director earlier this month, she’s designing CAMH’s future.

“When I was hired for this job, I just kept remarking to my Rice alumni friends and a couple of my studio-mates that … now my student project at Rice is my professional project,” Luján said. “It was certainly a project that has left an impression.”

Before settling in Houston, Luján’s life spanned continents and coasts. Raised in a military family, she moved frequently across the country and spent part of her childhood in Japan before eventually settling in Austin. She began her undergraduate studies at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City and later attended Central Saint Martins University of the Arts in London.

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Yet Luján said she didn’t grow up around art or design. Instead, her interest in art began during her freshman year of high school when a Spanish teacher introduced her to Latin American artists. Her fledgling passion deepened after encountering the works of artists such as Yayoi Kusama and Frida Kahlo during a visit to the Museum of Modern Art at age 16, which she said left a significant impression. Soon afterward, a career in design — which she was drawn to as a form of applied art — became clear, she said.

“The pragmatic side of me really appreciated [design],” Luján said. “I wanted the things I was making to have purpose and … the Fashion Institute of Technology just really opened up my world to the types of design. I ended up in a program that was called [Retail] and Exhibition Design [and] ... worked for Bergdorf Goodman through college doing store windows.” 

After graduating from Central Saint Martins and moving to Los Angeles, Luján said her then-boss, architect John Kaliski, was the first to encourage her to apply to Rice.

“At the time, I lived in an art warehouse in downtown L.A. and … [my landlords] were these architects, and they had just taught a studio at Rice, so they also encouraged me,” Luján said. “What was really exciting about Rice is that when I came to the open house, the students were so welcoming and we had a lot of fun. While all of the programs myself and my friends were looking at were fantastic academically, [Rice] signaled a quality of life that said this is gonna be a place that I’m gonna have friends.”

Luján said the former Rice Gallery and Media Center were pivotal to her student experience, recalling fond memories of attending exhibition openings and watching films with friends. At the Rice Gallery, she said she was particularly struck by the architectural elements of Sarah Oppenheimer’s aluminum D-17 installation, which penetrated the entire gallery.

“I loved that … every single exhibition was wildly different,” Luján said. “Having the kind of opportunity to get out of that [rigorous academic] space as a student … in any discipline, and just … have access to the arts, I think is really important.”

Reflecting on her time in the Master of Architecture program, Luján said she most valued the semester abroad at Rice Architecture Paris and the opportunity to collaborate on regional-scale projects with professors.

“We were working in Galveston … Fifth Ward … the Museum District,” Luján said. “I feel like Houston as a laboratory was really present in my education.”

One of Luján’s favorite aspects of Rice is its size, she said.

“[The] scale of the university allowed for you to really create community,” Luján said. “Still, some of my closest friends are from my time at Rice.”

After graduating from Rice, Luján worked for the arts nonprofit Ballroom Marfa while teaching studio classes at Texas Tech University at El Paso. Four years later, Luján returned to Houston to work for the Menil Collection. As Director of Project Development, Luján played a key role in the construction of the Drawing Institute, which she said is the highlight of her career.

In 2023, Luján joined the leadership team of the Contemporary Art Museum Houston, which she said she was drawn to for its partnerships with living artists.

“There’s no collection, so it’s not beholden to … looking at what’s in the holdings,” Luján said. “It’s really kind of free to look at today’s artists … At [collecting museums], that’s not always the case, because there’s many exhibitions that are with artists that are long since deceased.”

Luján said she also values the museum’s strong ties to the local community.

“CAMH is diverse and inclusive … and I think that reflects in the audience [and] staff,” Luján said. “I was really excited about those aspects because museums … have histories of being exclusive.”

Luján attributes the strength of Houston’s art scene today to the efforts of the previous generation in promoting local art while bringing in international artists.

“We just have a fantastic arts community,” Luján said. “There’s less pressure [against being] experimental and trying things than, like, New York City and other cultural centers. I think that that’s also allowed artists and the cultural community [to] embrace and iterate and test ideas in ways that have really helped Houston evolve.”

Luján said she views her leadership at arts institutions as an extension of her architectural background.

“I still identify as an architect,” Luján said. “At the Menil, I was very much involved in design. [In] the role that I now have at the [CAMH], I’m over finance and HR … but this would be the same case if you worked in an architecture firm … I see myself as an architect … in [the] conception of the project [thinking], what does this organization need? How … are we going to fundraise for it? How do we collaborate with our staff and community to support this project?”

Under her co-direction, Luján said she envisions a future for the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston that prioritizes collaboration and civic-scale projects, including building climate resilience and communal spaces. She said she also hopes to see greater interaction and “connective tissue” between the city’s cultural institutions.

“The Museum District feels very isolated, that you’re on all these islands,” Luján said. “I would say that’s kind of a dream that we can … have a better pedestrian and multimodal experience.”

Luján said that she encourages Rice students to explore Houston beyond the hedges.

“Be a part of your community [and] city,” Luján said. “You have to experience life. You can’t [just] stay on campus [or] in studio. [Find] ways in your academic career to participate in urban life … It can feel very much like a bubble — getting out and being more in the city is really important.”

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