Ajay Manthripragada and Miranda Mote Among the Recipients of the American Academy in Rome’s 2023–2024 Rome Prize

Ajay Manthripragada, Design Critic in Architecture at GSD, and Miranda Mote (MDes HPD ’15) have received a 2023–2024 Rome Prize from the American Academy in Rome (AAR). These highly competitive fellowships support advanced independent work and research in the arts and humanities. This year, the gift of “time and space to think and work” was awarded to 36 American artists and scholars. The fellows will each receive a stipend, workspace, and room and board at the academy’s 11-acre campus on the Janiculum Hill in Rome, starting in September 2023.

Ajay Manthripragada is principal of an eponymous design practice, based in Los Angeles. He has taught at several schools, including Rice University School of Architecture, where he was a Wortham Fellow. His writing has appeared in Log, Cite, and Domus, among other publications. In 2018, Manthripragada was nominated for a Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize as an emerging practitioner. Current work includes private and public projects in California and India.

Manthripragada is the recipient of the Lily Auchincloss Rome Prize in Architecture. His project Imbrex and Tegula, which takes its name from the ubiquitous roof tiles of Rome, will forge a dialogue between ancient and new applications of architectural terra cotta. The imbrex (a hollow half-cylinder) and the tegula (flat with raised edges) work together in overlap to create an impervious roofing assembly, versions of which are seen the world over. Manthripragada’s proposal views the imbrex and tegula technology as a means for understanding and leveraging the interplay of environment, craft, and geopolitics in building materials.

Miranda Mote is currently Visiting Assistant Professor in the School of Architecture at Pratt Institute and Lecturer, Program in Architecture, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Pennsylvania. Mote received the Garden Club of America/Prince Charitable Trusts Rome Prize in Landscape Architecture for her project Botanography and Botanic Gardens: The Italian Art of Nature Printing and Its Influence on Early American Gardens and Botanical Language. She will be focused on archival work related to the history of nature printing in Italy as it was brought to Philadelphia before 1720, making a narrative series of botanical prints about the gardens of the Academy in Rome, and working with children of the Academy and local schools teaching nature printing as a part of literacy and botany lessons.

Rome Prize winners are selected annually by independent juries of distinguished artists and scholars through a national competition. The 11 disciplines supported by the Academy are: ancient studies, architecture, design, historic preservation and conservation, landscape architecture, literature, medieval studies, modern Italian studies, music composition, Renaissance and early modern studies, and visual arts.

Established in 1894, the American Academy in Rome is America’s oldest overseas center for independent studies and advanced research in the arts and humanities. It has since evolved to become a more global and diverse base for artists and scholars to live and work in Rome. The residential community includes a wide range of scholarly and artistic disciplines, which is representative of the United States and is fully engaged with Italy and contemporary international exchange. The support provided by the academy to Rome Prize winners, Italian fellows, and invited residents helps strengthen the arts and humanities.

For information on this year’s winners, please visit 2023 Rome Prize Fellowship Winners and Jurors.

 

 

The American Museum of Natural History Reveals Gilder Center Designed by Studio Gang with Landscape Architecture by Reed Hilderbrand

The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in New York City has revealed its Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation. The center is designed by Studio Gang, the international architecture and urban design practice led by Jeanne Gang (MArch ’93), Professor in Practice of Architecture at GSD. Scheduled to open May 4, the Gilder Center is the latest in a series of major projects over the last three decades that have transformed the Museum’s campus. The 230,000-square-foot $465 million Gilder Center project was announced in 2014 and includes six floors above ground, four of which are open to the public, and one below. It creates 33 connections among 10 Museum buildings to link the entire campus and establishes a new entrance on the Museum’s west side, at Columbus Avenue and 79th Street, in Theodore Roosevelt Park.

In a press release, Gang said, “The Gilder Center is designed to invite exploration and discovery that is not only emblematic of science, but also such a big part of being human. It aims to draw everyone in—all ages, backgrounds, and abilities—to share the excitement of learning about the natural world. Stepping inside the large daylit atrium, you are offered glimpses of the different exhibits on multiple levels. You can let your curiosity lead you. And with the many new connections that the architecture creates between buildings, it also improves your ability to navigate the Museum’s campus as a whole.”

Upon entering the Gilder Center, visitors are surrounded by the grand five-story Kenneth C. Griffin Exploration Atrium, a space illuminated with natural light admitted through large-scale skylights. The center houses more than 4 million scientific specimens and visitors will be able to explore three levels of spectacular displays featuring more than 3,000 objects and representing every area of the Museum’s collections in vertebrate and invertebrate zoology, paleontology, geology, anthropology, and archaeology.

The five-level facility includes three floors of floor-to-ceiling exhibits that showcase the breadth of the Museum’s collections. Located along the south side of the Griffin Atrium, the Louis V. Gerstner, Jr. Collections Core establishes the central role of scientific collections as evidence from which knowledge is derived. Along the north side of the building, on the Gilder Center’s first floor, visitors will find the 5,000-square-foot Susan and Peter J. Solomon Family Insectarium. Directly above the Solomon Family Insectarium, on the second floor is the 2,500-square-foot Davis Family Butterfly Vivarium, housing 1,000 free-flying butterflies. On the third floor of the Gilder Center is Invisible Worlds, a 360-degree immersive science-and-art installation designed by the Berlin-based Tamschick Media+Space with the Seville-based Boris Micka Associates.

In addition to the Gilder Center project, NYC Parks has worked alongside the Museum to make significant improvements to sections of Theodore Roosevelt Park, creating new gathering areas, expanding circulation, adding seating and plantings, and enhancing park infrastructure. The design of the renovated portions of the park was developed by landscape architecture firm Reed Hilderbrand with input from community organizations, elected officials, and government agencies including NYC Parks and Community Board 7. Gary Hilderbrand (MLA ’85) is the founding principal of Reed Hilderbrand and the Peter Louis Hornbeck Professor in Practice of Landscape Architecture at GSD.

In a review of the Center for the New York Times, architecture critic Michael Kimmelman writes, “…Gilder is spectacular: a poetic, joyful, theatrical work of public architecture and a highly sophisticated flight of sculptural fantasy.”

Why the Digital World Needs Sustainable Architecture: An Interview with Marina Otero

Data centers located around the globe function 24 hours a day to support digital networks. These facilities consume vast energy resources, occupy fragile ecosystems, and emit prodigious amounts of CO2. Marina Otero, winner of the 2022 Wheelwright Prize , is researching new architectural methods and systems for storing data, and reimagining how digital infrastructure could meet the unprecedented demands facing the world today. Through field research, data collection, and prototype development, Otero aims to publish the first open-source manual for global data center architecture design, featuring examples of ecological, sustainable, and egalitarian data storage models. By looking at cases in Australia, Chile, China, Iceland, Netherlands, Nigeria, Singapore, Sweden, and the United States, she investigates spatial and material innovations. This work is especially urgent at a time when digital-data production is outpacing the scalability of today’s storage solutions, and AI usage is on the rise. We caught up with Otero to discuss the progress of her globe-spanning research project, Future Storage: Architectures to Host the Metaverse.

Sweden is an international leader in renewable energy with the digital infrastructure sector making up a large percentage of the economy. In the past year, you have toured several data centers in the country. What did you discover?

Yes, in December 2022 I visited several data centers in the North of the country. One of them is the Infrastructure and Cloud research & test Environment (ICE) Data Center in Luleå. ICE is one of the main data center research institutions in Europe and a testbed focusing on digitalization and information technology infrastructure. During my visit, I learned of several prototypes being tested at ICE to recover data center heat in subarctic climates. One of them involves growing mealworms in a heat box, whose heat comes from the server cooling system. In the long run, these mealworms ultimately become chicken feed. They can replace the soy concentrate that has been until now used to feed chickens in the region, and which is largely produced in the Amazon. According to ICE, this can become an economical and environmentally friendly solution. And, apparently, the chickens are quite happy. ICE also repurposes heat from data centers to dry firewood and heat water for their own office consumption and for local fish farms. Together with the company Containing Greens, ICE has designed a facility that uses excess heat inside vertical hydroponic systems, harvesting produce that is delivered to local restaurants. Our emails can feed chickens and grow lettuce!

How are data centers in Sweden using solar, wind, and hydro power?

Data center providers are attracted to the possibility of using renewable energy for their functioning, which grants them green labels. I visited Ecodatacenter Piteå , powered by hydropower, and Ecodatacenter Falun , a facility that is powered entirely by wind and hydropower and built in wood with the frame, interior walls, and ceiling in cross-laminated timber and glulam. The data center uses a heat recovery system that pumps surplus energy into a district heating system for the municipality of Falun, as well into a wood pellets factory.

In the country’s capital I visited Stockholm Data Parks in Kista. This is a joint initiative by the City of Stockholm, district heating and cooling provider Stockholm Exergi, power grid operator Ellevio, and fiber network provider Stokab. The operation contributes to the City of Stockholm’s objective to be entirely fossil fuel free by 2040. This public-private partnership model that involves energy loops between data centers and the urban energy grid is becoming a reference for cities around the world.

However, the Swedish data center “boom” has also sparked national protest. During my visit I participated in debates on how the development of this digital infrastructure in the Nordic countries is occurring at the expense of indigenous peoples. The expansion of wind farms to provide renewable energy for industries such as data centers is having an adverse impact on the Sami people’s culture and environment, raising concerns of “green colonialism.”

Iceland is one of the only place in the world where a data center can operate with 100% sustainable green power. You visited the Verne Global campus, which relies on local geothermal and hydroelectric sources. What did you learn about the use of geothermal energy during the site visit?

I was interested in experiencing first-hand how geothermal energy is used in the country, and how it powers data centers. I travelled to one of the largest single-site geothermal power plants on the planet, Hellisheiði power plant . The area also includes carbon capture infrastructure. I then followed the power lines that cross and power the country. The journey took me to the Verne Global campus, which relies on local geothermal and hydroelectric sources. With Halldór Eiríksson, a partner at T.ark Architects, the architects responsible for the Verne Global data center design, I learned about the interconnections between geothermal energy sites and data centers. Eiríksson is also the designer of the Sky Lagoon, a human-made geothermal bath complex in Kópavogur.

I also met with Marcos Zotes, partner at Basalt Architects, who are responsible for the design of the Blue Lagoon . The lagoon is located in a lava field near Grindavík and is supplied by water used in the nearby Svartsengi geothermal power station. In fact, the Blue Lagoon was formed from water spilling from the geothermal power plant.

In these architectures where people undress and bath together in the hot waters coming from the entrails of the earth, one could comprehend how our bodies connect to others and to the planet. These embodied experiences help us question the intricate energy processes that keep bodies and data centers up and running.

The Humboldt Cable in Chile will be the first submarine cable linking Latin America and Oceania. The project will make the country a preferred data center location in the Southern Hemisphere. When you return to Chile, what do you intend to research?

I was invited by the Chilean Senate to participate in Congreso Futuro , the main scientific-humanist dissemination event in Latin America and the Southern Hemisphere. I had the opportunity to present the research and meet representatives from the government, universities, companies, and other Chilean institutions. Together with members of the government, I travelled to Chilean Antarctica. I will be back in Chile in May and June to visit data centers and related infrastructures in a field trip and program jointly organized with the Master of Architecture at the Universidad Católica de Chile. I will visit the site selected for the construction of the Humboldt Cable. I will also meet with members of a network of academics and activists who oppose data colonialism, and work closely with communities protesting data centers around the world.

For example, I will meet with representatives from the Cerrillos community, who opposed a Google data center megaproject due to the project’s shortcomings in its environmental processing. The community successfully demonstrated that the project contributed to the overexploitation of the Santiago Central aquifer in a context of drought. I will also meet with representatives from ALMA observatory, a state-of-the-art telescope that studies light from some of the coldest objects in the Universe. ALMA comprises 66 high-precision antennas, spread over distances of up to 16 kilometers. I am interested in learning about data processing and data storage connected to their activities.

What other site visits are planned for 2023?

This August I travel to Australia. My aim is to meet Stewart Stacey, managing director of Binary Security, who developed the world’s first Indigenous-operated data center at Charles Darwin University in Darwin. I am also planning to meet with representatives of Kalinda IT, an indigenously owned Australian IT services business formed in 2018, which recently partnered with TRIFALGA DC to develop a network of hyperscale and edge data centers across Australia, of which Toowoomba, Queensland-based Pulse Data Centre, is their first location. I am also interested in the work of the Maiam nayri Wingara Indigenous Data Sovereignty Collective, which advocates for Indigenous data sovereignty.

In October I travel to California to meet experts working on DNA data storage (Illumina, Microsoft, Twist), hologram data storage (Microsoft), and floating data centers (Nautilus). On my return, I will be in Cambridge and hope to meet with George Church, who leads Synthetic Biology at Harvard’s Wyss Institute . I am looking forward to learning more about their DNA data storage experiments and about the Whitesides Research Group’s research on fluorescent dye storage. Later in the year I travel to Singapore, China, and Nigeria.

Has the Wheelwright Prize grant generated other research opportunities or collaborations?

Absolutely! I am conducting research on the future of data centers alongside NASA Senior Research Scientist Eduardo Bendek. I will study the possibilities and implications of building data center in orbit around the Earth. We will look into how these facilities could harness energy through solar panels, and benefit from the lack of gravity and absence of air to avoid cooling problems and reduce the impact on energy consumption. We will also explore the ecological implications and possible geopolitical and urban transformations that such infrastructures could unleash. There is a trend of locating data centers in increasingly remote and extreme locations, such as underwater or in space, and it is important to inspect its repercussions.

With the Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC), in the context of an invitation by Tabakalera, Spain, an international center for contemporary culture located in Donostia / San Sebastián, I will look at how quantum computing will transform the design of data centers. The Center has received European investment for the study of superconductors (essential in quantum computing) and will soon celebrate the opening of the IBM quantum computing center that will host one of the most advanced quantum computers in the world. I am interested in study two main aspects. On the one hand, data centers can take advantage of the power of quantum computing to accelerate and improve their operations and optimize resource allocation and the simulation of complex systems. On the other hand, quantum computing requires new hardware and software solutions and a highly controlled and isolated environment from the outside world to reduce interference and errors. Cooling and energy management are also important in this context, as qubits, the building blocks of quantum computing, require extremely low temperatures to function properly. This is way beyond my area of expertise but that’s precisely why I am so eager to learn about it.

In Fall 2023, I will lead a clinic at Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, focusing on the case of Tuvalu. The island nation has an interest in creating a digital twin to preserve its heritage in the face of rising sea levels. The team will comprise a group of students from architecture, theory, historic preservation, urbanism, as well as leading experts from the fields of data storage, archiving, and computing. We will consider how to approach the storage of different types of data, their access, ownership and governance, their ecological cycles, as well as processes of preservation, celebration, decay, and mourning.

Hannah Teicher awarded MURI research grant to study climate resilience

Hannah Teicher, Assistant Professor of Urban Planning, will be part of a research team receiving a $5.6 million grant through the Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) program, funded by the United States Department of Defense (DoD). Teicher will act as co-principal investigator for Sea-Level Rise in the Indo-Pacific Region: Building a Framework for Interdependent Resilience, a five-year project that will develop adaptation pathways for military island communities vulnerable to sea-level rise.

In case studies in Hawaii and Guam, the team will develop a decision-making framework that integrates social and organizational factors with awareness of sea-level rise risks to utilities, transportation, and infrastructure. Considering a long history of military engagement in these urban communities, the team will investigate previous joint decision-making efforts, barriers and enablers to adaptation planning, and how the disproportionate impacts on vulnerable communities can be addressed in this context. The project will have implications for the broader region and small island nations facing dramatic sea-level rise impacts.

Teicher will join Christine Kirchhoff, Associate Professor in the School of Engineering Design and Innovation at Penn State University; Peter Ruggiero, Associate Professor in the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University; and Mark Merrifield, Principal Investigator, Director of the Center for Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation at the University of California San Diego.

In March, the DoD announced $220 million in awards for basic research projects as part of the MURI program. At an average award amount of $7.1 million over five years, these competitive grants will support 31 teams located at 61 U.S. academic institutions.

Alumni Spotlight: Corey Zehngebot

“You can be an ambitious person who’s had a robust professional career, but also be self-aware enough to know when you need to take a break—because of whatever is happening in the world or in your life. The choice was clear to me once I sat down and really thought hard about what the best decision was, and I don’t want to be self-conscious or apologetic about that.”

— Corey Zehngebot (MArch ’09)

We are continuing to share conversations we have had with several of our alumni, each of whom pursued different areas of study at the GSD and have gone on to lead impactful careers in design.

We recently spoke with Corey Zehngebot, AIA, AICP, MArch ’09. Corey is an urban designer, architect, and planner. She has worked for the past 20 years in both the public and private sectors and remains captivated by cities. Most recently, Corey worked as the Director of Urban Design at Graffito SP , a consultancy that works with landlords, tenants, and developers focused on ground floor activation of mixed-use projects. Prior to joining Graffito, Corey worked as a Senior Urban Designer and Architect for the Boston Planning and Development Agency (BPDA, formerly the Boston Redevelopment Authority). Corey has also worked as a senior urban designer, architect, and planner for Utile in Boston. In addition, she has taught at Harvard and MIT, and served as a design critic at many area colleges and universities. She received a B.A. with distinction from Yale University and a Master of Architecture from the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Corey is currently a member of the GSD Alumni Council .

When did you know that you wanted to pursue a career in design?

I wasn’t one of the people who knew from birth. I took a long, roundabout way to figure it out. In college, I double majored in behavioral neuroscience and history of art, but I was very interested in architecture. Also, I went to Yale, which has two of the best designed art museums in the country: The Yale University Art Gallery and the Yale Center for British Art—the latter of which, in particular, was one of the first buildings where I really understood how design can profoundly impact the way people feel about space.

After college, I got a job working in master planning and construction at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. This museum is a classical stone civic building that sits in a park, not unlike The Met in New York City, and it was embarking on a large-scale expansion project. I was part of the in-house team that was working with the architects and landscape architects; I had always struggled to figure out how to combine the sciences with the arts until I had a front row seat to this design process. The proverbial light switch flipped on in my head, and I thought: “This might be something that I want to do.”

You studied architecture, but have gone more into planning, correct?

I’m both an architect and a planner. Ultimately, I consider myself an urban designer in the sense that I’m very interested in the buildings themselves, but I’m more interested in how they operate within the space of the city. My focus has been in urban design, meaning the space between buildings and the first floor of those buildings—the public spaces that most people in cities would occupy and interact with.

I could care less about curtain walls and detailing certain aspects of a building; I want to play a role in creating the space of the city. I like to think about how buildings meet the sky and how the buildings meet the ground, and if they don’t meet the ground in a way that is sensitive to a vibrant urban context, then they’re failures to me.

Is there a specific GSD experience that you look back on as significant in shaping how you practice now?

Exploring other curricular options in my final two years [at the GSD] was really important to me, which does mirror how I approach things today. I took two high-level option studios where I traveled to Mumbai and São Paulo. In both cases, I was very deliberate in not choosing to take an architecture studio. I took an urban design studio and a landscape architecture studio. My final year, I took a course called Real Property at Harvard Business School and a course on smart cities and transportation at MIT. [At the GSD] I took a Field Studies in Real Estate course with students in other disciplines. It was a team-based project, and I worked with people in the real estate program who built financial modeling for projects. In many ways, that course most closely resembles what I ultimately wound up doing.

Could you talk a bit about your practice or projects that you have worked on?

I left working at the city of Boston Planning and Development Agency to join a firm called Graffito, which is predominately a retail broker but was expanding its consulting practice into advising on early-phase development projects. I was advising developers, architects, and consultant teams that were working on large-scale development projects on the design of the ground floor and how it interfaces with the public realm.

I have pretty extensive knowledge of the city of Boston at this point, because I worked more than six years for the city. When you’re in government, you know all of the projects that are in the pipeline, many of which may not be publicly known. They’re still percolating in that pre-permitting stage. My approach to the work involved trying to connect the dots between projects that might be proximate to one another and to other city initiatives, while thinking about how best to create a well-designed, high-quality, consistent, and safe public realm. At Graffito, I was really able to get into the specific uses on the ground floor of these projects—both retail and, as the firm liked to call it, “non-retail ground floor active spaces.” Everything from libraries to COVID testing sites (at the time) to uses related to the arts. There are a lot of creative professionals like architects that prefer to operate out of a storefront location, as opposed to being in some commercial office tower way up in the sky. All of these uses bring vibrancy and life to the street. I would summarize the mission statement of the firm as “using ground floor space as a way to create value rather than revenue.”

How are you spending your time lately?

I’m taking a self-imposed sabbatical at the moment. I prefer the term sabbatical as it implies both intellectual pursuit and an endpoint. I’ve been working for 20 years, basically, nonstop, and I really needed a break. For me, it was more about the physical burnout than the mental burnout. Between two kids, working, teaching, and a global pandemic, I was exhausted. But I also had gotten to a point where I was reviewing development projects that I had seen earlier iterations of years prior because I had been working in government for so many years, and it was becoming difficult for me to get excited about some of these projects. That was another clear indication that I needed to step away.

Being on sabbatical has given me time to reflect and take care of myself, which was long overdue. I’ve done an enormous amount of reading about social injustice, race, feminism, and parenting. I have two young daughters; when they’re little, their needs are very custodial. But they’re getting older, and this time has given me an opportunity to recalibrate how I approach parenting.

What would you say to fellow alumni about your experience taking a sabbatical? Specifically, how has it been valuable for your life and career moving forward?

I don’t feel old or wise enough to impart wisdom, but I can offer my perspective, which is that my sabbatical has allowed me to see my career as a number of different chapters. I really subscribe to the notion of a nonlinear career path, and I think that my interest in design and cities is very broad; it’s become clear to me that I can enter the field from a number of different angles. To young people, I would say: The first job you have (or whatever job you’re currently in) is probably not going to be the only job you’ll ever have. I’ve found it’s a useful framework to think about the things you learn in school or on the job as seeds being planted that may not bear fruit for a long, long time, until the conditions are just right—even though that can be really frustrating.

I would like to note that I’m extraordinarily privileged to be able to make the decision to take a sabbatical. Architecture as a profession does not compensate people nearly as well as it should, and I know that there are many folks out there who are burdened by substantial loans and may not have the luxury of being able to take time off.

What happens to our society if initiative and progress in the design world stop moving forward?

As I said, I have two daughters, and I’m fearful that they’re going to grow up in a world where they have fewer personal freedoms than I did. On one hand, it’s important to advocate for and acknowledge how important design is to the world. But on the other hand, we’re living in a moment where many are realizing that the world’s problems are enormous and we’re all trying to put out fires left and right. I am a pathological optimist and don’t want to be dramatically pessimistic, but I worry that if the bottom falls out for a while, we’re going to have bigger problems. That said, I think there is much more awareness and acknowledgment about the value of design—certainly among sophisticated developers. They absolutely appreciate and understand the value of design, and they’re much more inclined to hire skilled and competent designers. “Value of design” is now a phrase that has infiltrated other discourses (like in business schools) and other spaces where that vocabulary didn’t always exist.

Do you see designers as leaders?

Absolutely. Designers have the ability to visualize tangible outcomes, which can inspire all sorts of people. They are trained to take in diverse information, synthesize it, and come up with a solution that’s tangible in the world. It is truly a remarkable skill set. I think that designers are recognizing that in order to show leadership, they have to speak multiple vocabularies and know how to operate in diverse contexts in order for what they’re saying to resonate with people.

The younger generation of architects has shown tremendous leadership around big issues like climate change, resiliency, and social justice—even with projects that are not generating money, or projects that people are pursuing independently because they feel that they’re important.

Diane Davis Named Co-director of the Humanity’s Urban Future Program at the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research

Diane Davis, Charles Dyer Norton Professor of Regional Planning and Urbanism, has been named program co-director of the Humanity’s Urban Future program, part of the Global Call for Ideas initiative at the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR). For this third cycle, CIFAR invited proposals for new research programs to address the theme Future of Being Human, a call to confront the dynamic problems facing the world and develop potential solutions to transform the planet for the better.

Davis, also a CIFAR fellow, will lead the Humanity’s Urban Future program and share directorship responsibilities with Simon Goldhill, A. G. Leventis Professor of Greek Culture at the University of Cambridge. The research initiative is created to drive dialogue and envision a more just and unified city of tomorrow. The program will consider many important factors, including infrastructure (both material and institutional), political divisions, questions of scale, climate change, and other crises. In seeking answers to these pressing general questions, the program will take six cities as test cases: Calcutta, Toronto, Shanghai, Naples, Mexico City, and Kinshasa. By studying what constitutes a good city of the future, the researchers aim to make a transformative impact on urban policy and planning, regulation and infrastructure, inspiring collective deliberation and learning around how one should work towards a better urban future. Through engagement with policy makers, political advisors, and civic actors, the Humanity’s Urban Future program will also establish a platform to publish research that will lead to changing the discourse of planning and the understanding of cities.

“I am thrilled to be working with a global team of historians, planners, anthropologists, geographers, and architects to interrogate how a ‘good urban life’ is conceptualized and produced,” says Davis. “We frame our deliberations around two main questions. The first is not merely ‘what is a good city?’—a question that has motivated city builders and philosopher’s since at least Plato’s Republic—but more specifically, ‘How do you plan for an urban future when you know that the city is a palimpsest of the past? The second question follows from the first: ‘How do cities inhabit time, and how can the future be planned with urban pasts in mind?”

CIFAR bring together international, interdisciplinary researchers who work together for five-year terms. Programs are led by a director or two co-directors, engage approximately 20-40 fellows and advisors from around the world, and include two or three CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars for two-year terms. Target areas for impact emerge from the program’s core research agenda, and the strategy is informed by long-term, iterative exchanges of ideas and perspectives between program members and non-academic stakeholders. Programmatic commitments support funding of approximately 10 million (Canadian) dollars for the five-year project, with the possibility of renewal.

 

Harvard GSD announces more academic leadership transitions

Harvard University Graduate School of Design (GSD) announces more academic leadership changes across academic programs that will go into to effect as of July 1, 2023, in addition to Grace La’s appointment as chair of the Department of Architecture.

Rahul Mehrotra, John T. Dunlop Professor in Housing and Urbanization, is stepping down as Chair of the Department of Urban Planning and Design. Mehrotra has held the Chair since February 2020, and prior to that, from 2010 to 2015. As the School searches for a new chair for the Department of Urban Planning and Design, Ann Forsyth, Ruth and Frank Stanton Professor of Urban Planning, will serve as interim chair through the 2023–2024 school year.

Charles Waldheim, John E. Irving Professor of Landscape Architecture, will become co-director of the Master in Design Studies program alongside K. Michael Hays, Eliot Noyes Professor of Architectural Theory, who will be returning to this role following his sabbatical.

Stephen Gray, Associate Professor of Urban Design, will become the director of the Master of Architecture in Urban Design program and co-director of the Master of Landscape Architecture in Urban Design program, alongside Chris Reed, Professor in Practice of Landscape Architecture.

Andrew Witt, Associate Professor in Practice of Architecture, will become co-director of the Master of Design Engineering program, replacing Martin Bechthold, Kumagai Professor of Architectural Technology.

Martin Bechthold will serve as interim director of the Doctor of Design Studies program for the fall 2023 semester, while Ali Malkawi, Professor of Architectural Technology, takes leave for a sabbatical.

 

Alumni Spotlight: Ruben Segovia

“I believe our role as designers is to think more systematically. It’s not just about designing the layout of the house, but understanding the impact of that house. What trees were on the land before? What species lived in those trees? We are beginning to understand that our role is not to design spaces and floor plans, but to think in systems in order to better our environments.”

— Ruben Segovia

Over the next couple months, we are continuing to share conversations with several GSD alumni, each of whom pursued different areas of study at the GSD and are now leading impactful careers in design.

We recently spoke with Ruben Segovia MArch ’17, co-founder of LS-LAB , an architecture and urban design practice. Ruben is the director of the master’s degree program in Architecture and Urban Design at the Tecnológico de Monterrey’s School of Architecture, Art and Design.

What drew you to apply to the GSD for architecture versus another area of study?

I was able to go to the GSD because there’s an alumni foundation here in Mexico called Fundación México en Harvard , that helps Mexican students pay tuition and cover costs associated with going to school abroad. They connected me with a network of alumni who were very encouraging and helpful with navigating the application process. Being able to sit down and talk with alumni here in Mexico helped me understand what the GSD is all about, and, ultimately, those conversations made me certain I wanted to attend. It was such a fundamental part of the process, which is why I’ve been doing the same for current students who are thinking about applying to the GSD [from Mexico].

I applied to and researched multiple schools, all around the world. Before [attending the GSD], I completed my bachelor’s degree in architecture at Tecnológico de Monterrey [in Monterrey, Mexico]. I was very immersed in architecture, meaning I thought it was the only discipline regarding design and having an impact on a city. Through my experiences at the GSD, my vision grew broader because I was able to take courses in different disciplines: architecture, urban design, urban planning, and landscape architecture.

Is there a specific course, professor, or experience that you look back on as the most valuable in shaping your career?

All of the studios were amazing and non-prescriptive. We were able to explore lots of different avenues in terms of design, creativity, and representation. Each studio was really different from project to project. You could be designing a hyper-specific building or object, or you could be working on a larger master plan for an entire region.

I took one studio in Ferguson, Missouri with urban planning professor Daniel D’Oca MUP ’02 where we went to St. Louis to learn about the impact of racial zoning ordinances. The project was to create a comic book that told the story of the various policy instruments used to orchestrate racial segregation. Each book was part of a series called Affirmatively Further . It was a unique, enriching experience and was completely different from anything I had done before.

Internationally, I traveled to Peru, South Africa, and Japan [for studios]. The best part of those trips was being able to connect with stakeholders and professionals who are regarded as leaders in their fields. My first studio was with a Peruvian architect, Jean Pierre Crousse. It was great because it was my first experience learning about interdisciplinary design. It was really interesting to see multiple approaches taken toward complex urban issues. I brought the more architectural solutions to the table, while others brought more landscape-oriented solutions, and we merged them into a singular vision.

How did learning about interdisciplinary design change your view of architecture?

Currently, I have my own practice, LS-LAB, in Mexico with my partner and wife, Delia Leal. Architecture is still part of the big picture, but we’re also pursuing urban design, territorial analysis, and landscape design. I’ve been inviting friends who I met at the GSD from the MLA and MAUD programs, and we’ve been working on many of these projects together.

At the beginning of my career, I was leading a lot of side projects: a house here or there for friends and family members. I wasn’t fully embedded in or committed to my practice. At the GSD, I took classes that taught me how to start my own office and practice, so I felt more prepared. Now, we look at larger dynamics in play. For example, we start with a housing project, but we also develop a larger system and a master plan for that project. This leads to another set of deliverables and new avenues that we can continue to explore—not just for that plot or piece of land, but for other projects to enhance the urban environments.

What are some similarities and differences you’ve seen in the way design is practiced in different countries?

In Mexico, we use a lot of the American design standards because they are well structured and defined in terms of how to approach a project and what the constraints are. What’s great about Mexico is that there’s more room to be an entrepreneur and to start your own practice. Our cultural heritage and territorial diversity allows for the exploration of different material implementations and vernacular design solutions. It’s not as if it’s easier to get projects started in Mexico, but there is a lot more latitude in terms of infrastructure. It presents a big opportunity and a lot of room for creativity.

You are the director of a master’s program in Monterrey. Can you talk about the program and your role?

I’m the director of the Masters in Architecture and Urban Design program at Tecnológico de Monterrey. It’s a hybrid program related to Vision 2030 for Tecnológico de Monterrey , where the Institute has identified global trends that are redefining education. Our program was designed to generate sustainable, resilient, healthy, and just cities. We are working to face the urban challenges of climate change, migration, inequality, and accelerated growth by focusing on the design and management of multi-scale projects that will positively impact the environment.

Currently, we’re in our third cohort and have around 50 students. My role is to help define the program and invite faculty. I’ve always wanted to come back and teach in Mexico, so it’s very meaningful that I have been able to do that.

I teach a few architecture history courses and lead a studio that is related to climate change. We’re working with GSD Loeb Fellows Alejandro Echeverri LF ’16 and Surella Segú LF ’18 [Chief Heat Officer at the Extreme Heat Resilience Alliance], to develop sustainable solutions to decrease the temperature of the city—because Monterrey is one of the hottest cities in Mexico, and it’s getting hotter each day.

Tell us about your practice, LS-LAB. What have you been working on?

We have a base team of four and fluctuate between 7 and 10 total team members when we invite GSD friends to collaborate. Most of our architectural projects are located in the southern part of Mexico—schools, houses, apartments, and mixed-use. In northern Mexico, we lead larger-scale projects, like master planning and urban analysis. Our main goal when approaching a project is to practice systemic thinking. We are asking ourselves: What are the urban implications of an architectural project? What are the landscape implications?

Architecture has been changing because we are all trying to have less of an impact on the environment. How can we have more green spaces, more public spaces, and better mobility? There’s a lot of hacking when it comes to the existing rules and legislation. For example, we’ve been working with Urbanología , a local development team from Chihuahua, strategizing ways in which we can catch and reuse rain and gray water on new projects. Ten years ago, something like this would have been much more difficult to implement.

We are also working on two very interesting projects with Tecnólogico de Monterrey and C+LAB (led by Nélida Escobedo Ruiz). One is a master plan for Escobedo, a municipality north of Monterrey. The goal is to propose a plan for sustainable urban growth that will allow for improved relations between various programs and systems such as industry, housing, and the river network. The second project is happening with an NGO called Fundación FEMSA . We are leading various efforts including studio, research, and design projects that promote Caring Cities, and we have published manuals on good practices and urban strategies.

How has architecture changed in the last 10 years?

Technology to produce architecture has changed a lot. Ten years ago, we mostly used 2D-related drawing tools. And now, we are fully embedded in 3D tools. We’re also shifting with AI.

When we work with younger developers, they have these conversations about sustainability, resiliency, better materials, and low carbon impact. Right away, they understand that designing with sustainable solutions in mind creates more social, environmental, and economic value.

Why is it important that designers continue to assume the role of leaders across different fields?

Leadership, or the idea of leadership, is changing for designers. We are no longer the masterminds who draw a line and everything changes around that line. We’re learning how to be more malleable in order to adapt to new situations. We make a lot of very important decisions in terms of design, urban solutions, landscape approach, and architecture, but we also merge those decisions with input from other professions and with the communities that we’re working alongside.

Leadership is understanding that you don’t have the final say on a project; instead, it’s about recognizing everyone—engineers, social workers, designers, communities, and users—and taking their input into account.

You can learn more about Ruben’s work and leadership by checking out the LS-LAB website .

Alumni Spotlight: Kotchakorn Voraakhom

“Nature is changing, the climate is changing, and so we, too, need to change. We must understand that fixed definitions of nature from the past no longer apply in this era of uncertainty we are confronting. Climate change is causing cities to sink, and our current infrastructure is making us even more vulnerable to severe flooding. What if we could design cities to work with nature instead of against it?”

— Kotchakorn Voraakhom

Over the next couple of months, we are continuing to share conversations with several of our alumni, each of whom pursued different areas of study at the GSD and are now leading impactful careers in design.

We recently spoke with Kotchakorn (Kotch) Voraakhom (MLA ’06). Kotch is the founder and lead designer of the award-winning landscape architecture and urban design firm LANDPROCESS , where she’s working to improve Thailand’s public spaces and solve urban ecological problems through landscape architectural design. During the spring 2023 semester, Kotch is also a design critic in Landscape Architecture at the GSD and is co-teaching the Option Studio BANGKOK REMADE with Niall Kirkwood, Professor of Landscape Architecture and Technology and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.

Kotch’s recent work spans a major urban ecological park at the heart of Bangkok and numerous innovative public landscape designs. She’s a Chairwoman of the Climate Change Working Group of the International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA World) and a 2018 TED Fellow. The United Nations honored Kotch as a winner of the 2020 UN Global Climate Action Awards: Women for Results.

How did you hear about the GSD and what drew you to apply?

In Thailand, I studied landscape architecture at Chulalongkorn University. After graduating, I got a chance to work in the U.S. for a couple of years—which is quite hard to do as an international student, so I was very lucky. My landscape architecture profession started in the U.S. at Sasaki. My boss at the time, Alistair McIntosh, is on faculty at the GSD, and my professor Pornpun Futrakul MLA ’77 had graduated from the GSD, so I heard great stories about their experiences. The GSD seemed like a commonality among many people I looked up to, which made me think, “If I really want to be a great landscape architect, maybe the GSD is the answer.”

Was there a certain experience that you look back on as being helpful in finding the right practice?

A huge turning point was meeting my peers at the GSD. We were all questioning our place within the profession, and six of us founded an organization called the Kounkuey Design Initiative . It felt like my dream job to work for those in need of our services, rather than those who hired us for services they wanted. So, we wrote a proposal for a grant through the Penny White Project Fund —and we got it.

This was around 15 years ago—it’s remarkable, looking back. It wouldn’t have been possible without the platform the GSD provided; it wouldn’t have been possible without meeting the right people, [who became] my colleagues and friends.

Why is it so important to learn about the various cultures you’re serving when trying to come up with new design solutions?

We’re designing for humans, right? If we want to understand the needs of the people we’re designing for, we have to go and listen to them. We have to experience their culture, their food, their language—even if it’s just for a short period of time. Each unique site is so specific, and every project can vary dramatically depending on the location.

That’s why the option studios were such a great learning opportunity [at the GSD]. They gave us the chance to learn about another culture through real hands-on experience. Culture, climate, and people can vary drastically, and something that works in one country might not work in another. I feel that is what’s lacking in much of our practice. We talk to our clients, or whoever is paying us, but we don’t talk to the real stakeholders, who are the people being impacted by our work.

What goals and objectives did you have in mind when starting your current practice, LANDPROCESS?

There’s no “land process” without “people process.” I am very excited about the possible solutions for climate-vulnerable communities. I’m excited for the challenges that my team and I will face, even though they are very serious. For example, I’m from Bangkok; Thailand is [one of the 10 most] flood-affected countries in the world. Every year, our land sinks and goes missing because of rising sea levels. New buildings mean nothing if entire cities flood and sink in the near future.

The point that we are at now is “adapt or die.” The work that we are doing is helping to shift cities to a carbon-neutral future by prioritizing livelihood and utilizing neglected spaces.

Utilizing neglected spaces—can you expand on that?

Forgotten and unused spaces, like rooftops, can present opportunities to make a city more useful for everyone. My team at Thammasat University, working alongside the surrounding communities, has achieved this. We created the largest urban rooftop farm in Asia. The idea for this project was derived from the wisdom of landscapes of the past, when people used rice terraces to harvest the rain from the mountainous area.

Our goals for the project were to relieve flash floods and turn the urban heat island effect into clean energy. One solution [for flooding] was implementing a flood roof, equipped with rainwater tanks that are designed to flood, allowing water to flow up and down. Solar panels on the roof create clean energy, pumping out water from the retention pond, and gravity slows down the runoff to prevent flooding.

What would you say is the biggest worry or concern you have in your field right now?

The biggest global concern is climate change, by far. Thailand has tried to tackle its flooding problems by building higher and higher dams, but this is not the right solution because dams will eventually cause more problems.

There are 7,000 fishermen in villages along the coast of Thailand. These Thai people are not allowed to stay in their country, because their homes have been built into what’s now the ocean. These villages are in the most dangerous part of Thailand, next to Cambodia, so the people who live there have nowhere to go. The government has forced everyone in the villages to be displaced.

My work now is addressing these problems by helping villages design viable solutions and negotiate with the government. We were able to get the government to commit to a housing credit with UN-Habitat [United Nations Human Settlements Programme ]. Eventually, we helped the first village secure a permit to let us enter and address the [housing crisis]. This all happened right before COVID, and unfortunately, they only granted a permit for one local community. This problem is ongoing and is some of our most important work.

With these climate concerns, what do you see as the biggest opportunity for global designers today?

There should be more concern around how we manage resources. I feel that only thinking about structure in the traditional way of “fixing things” won’t get us very far in regard to sustainable design.

Nowadays, the world needs a nature-based solution, or an ecosystem-based adaptation, which is an open opportunity for landscape architects. I think we need to push for climate-focused design in all departments. If urban designers, planners, engineers, architects, and landscape architects all work more collaboratively, we will strengthen our cities in very significant ways.

Why is it important for designers to give back to the younger generations—whether it’s through teaching or being involved in the broader design community?

Education is best transmitted by human-to-human interaction. We need humans to teach and pass on their knowledge to other humans, to the next generation, whether it’s through experience, practice, or academia. The transmission of knowledge between generations is crucial. The next generation is full of energy and potential.

And for us as alumni, we are part of the GSD culture. Even if it was a brief two years, it was such an intense period that shaped who we are as designers. It’s important to be involved in the community as alumni because it’s such a gift that we’ve already received, and we get to share it with a new generation of designers.

How are designers leaders, and why is it important that designers continue to be leaders across industries?

When I graduated, I asked my professor, Niall Kirkwood, “Why did [the GSD] choose me as a student?” And he said, “Because of your potential to be a leader.” I had no clue what he was talking about because I didn’t want to lead anyone; I didn’t want to be the head of any defined organization.

Through my practice and experiences after the GSD, I started to understand the word “leadership” more and more. It’s not about a title or position, it’s about action and impact. It’s about what you care for. I’m a designer who cares for the future of humanity, my homeland, my people, and my community. That’s what “leadership’’ means to me.

You can learn more about Kotch’s work and leadership below:

How to Adapt to Climate Change | Harvard Magazine

How to transform sinking cities into landscapes that fight floods | TED Talk

Landscape Processes Discussion Series | Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts

Meet the Woman Behind Asia’s Largest Urban Rooftop Farm | Bloomberg Quicktake

Architect Fights to Keep Bangkok from Flooding | Bloomberg Quicktake

GSD Names Kimberly Dowdell the 2023 Class Day Speaker

Harvard University Graduate School of Design (GSD) names Kimberly Dowdell as its 2023 Class Day speaker. Dowdell will address the GSD’s class and their families during the School’s 2023 Class Day exercises on Wednesday, May 24, at 3:30 PM ET in the Gund Hall Back Yard.

Kimberly Dowdell is a principal at HOK, a leading global design firm based in Chicago, and frequently lectures on the topic of architecture and the future of cities. Driven by the overarching mission to improve the lives of those living in urban environments, Dowdell has dedicated her career to applying social and economic principles to the profession. She has long championed diversity and triple-bottom-line sustainability, a business concept that posits that firms should commit to measuring their social and environmental impact—in addition to their financial performance—rather than solely focusing on generating profit. In 2024, she will act as the 100^th National President of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the first Black woman to hold this position in the organization’s history.

Dowdell currently serves on the Cornell University Board of Trustees, and in 2020 she was recognized as an AIA Young Architect of the Year awardee as well as a recipient of the Architectural Record Women in Architecture award. In her 2019-2020 term as National President of the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA), Dowdell worked closely with her board of directors and staff to increase opportunities for women and people of color to gain more equitable access to the building professions. Her professional aspirations are rooted in her upbringing in Detroit, where she was initially inspired to utilize architecture as a tool to revitalize cities.

Dowdell earned a Bachelor of Architecture degree at Cornell University and a Master of Public Administration degree from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Dowdell’s contributions to the architectural profession began during her undergraduate years, when, in 2005, she co-founded the Social Economic Environmental Design (SEED) Network during an internship with the chief architect of the General Services Administration. A global movement that sets standards for economic, social, and environmental justice for design projects, SEED boasts more than 2,000 pledged members and is featured in The Architect’s Handbook of Professional Practice.

After graduating from Cornell, one of Dowdell’s first projects was the renovation of a dormitory that serves deaf students at Gallaudet University at Ayers Saint Gross in Washington, DC. She was later hired as an architectural technician and communications manager for HOK’s New York studio. To promote the firm’s efforts to empower the communities it serves, she co-founded HOK IMPACT, one of the profession’s first corporate social responsibility programs. Since 2010, the program has given employees a greater sense of connectivity and provided venues to engage the community in a meaningful way. Dowdell recently returned to HOK as a principal, where she is focused on generating new business models in the Midwest. She is the co-chair of the firm’s diversity advisory council, which aims to create a more diverse and inclusive firm culture.

To see a full schedule of 2023 Class Day and Commencement exercises, and for other Commencement information, please visit the GSD’s Commencement webpage.