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A MESSAGE FROM THE DEAN
We are back!
Posted Thursday, December 10
Dear Members of the Cooper Community:
We are back!
Some twenty-one months ago we went into lockdown, and we learned how difficult it would be to remain apart. At the same time, we could not begin to imagine the challenges of coming back together after all this time.
The Fall semester has been underway for three months, and the reverberations are becoming increasingly clear. We like to think of institutions as the foundations of continuity, and yet we have seen how in such a short span of time, institutional memory can wear thin very easily. Some fifty percent of our student population is entirely new to the physical place of The Cooper Union, and they are only now becoming familiarized with the spaces, programs, and events that are a central part our cultural experience.
As our alumni know so well, beyond the presence of faculty, the lion’s share of learning happens in the liminal spaces between courses: in the after hours, and between students as peers. Maintaining and further developing our school of thought has proven to be a true challenge. The pandemic may have kept us apart, but the return to in person was marked by sufficient administrative protocols that ensured an experience that was anything but normal: weekly testing, limited access to workshops, mask mandates, and many other small details that would otherwise go unnoticed. These conditions have become the defining features of our daily experience. The mere recognition of each other behind masks is possibly the first obstacle of everyday communication, requiring our added efforts to overcome the inevitable anonymity that they enforce. Today, as I write down these thoughts, I acknowledge the delicacy of the situation, having overcome the isolation of the pandemic, only to face the Delta variant some months ago, and now the renewed uncertainties brought about by the Omicron variant. These are reminders of the new, ever-changing conditions under which we need to thrive.
Despite this, or maybe precisely because of it, there is no substitute for being back in person. It is a joy to be able to see people, and to reclaim a studio space that is so vital for speculation and experimentation. From an administrative perspective, we’ve had to take stock of what online learning has allowed, and in strategic instances take advantage of it. For one, it opened the doors of our school to professors and critics who would otherwise not have been able to join us. Mae-ling Lokko and Matthew Waxman have both taught this semester from different time zones, and they have genuinely transformed our intellectual reach. In turn, our lecture series has taken advantage of varied modalities to bring many people back into The Cooper Union in person, while advancing other voices online. In person, we had the pleasure of hosting Yung Ho Chang, Lacaton & Vassal, and our own visiting critics, Gary Bates, Susannah Drake, and Joshua Ramus within our own spaces. And we celebrated the work of Diana Agrest, The Irwin S. Chanin Distinguished Professor for the 2021-22 academic year, through her lecture The Wall and the Books. With Professor Nora Akawi as curator, we have also hosted another series of talks under the banner of “Pluriversal, Bewildered and Otherwise,” drawing in speakers such as Arturo Escobar and Mpho Matsipa, among many others. And in between, we have taken advantage of key accomplishments to celebrate faculty and friends whose books were just published, with Matthew Soules’s recent release of Icebergs, Zombies, and the Ultra-Thin: Architecture and Capitalism in the Twenty-First Century, as well as our own Michael Young’s new publication Reality Modeled after Images.
As much as we plan our semesters, friends and family have come to our support on many occasions, and this semester has been no exception. We were fortunate to take advantage of Fabio Gramazio’s sabbatical from the ETH, to host him as a Visiting Scholar at Cooper Union. This was serendipitous, but also strategically well-timed, as it aligned perfectly with the launching of the AACE Lab, designed by our own Professor Sam Anderson, a facility that expands our workshop towards new digital capabilities. After over a year online, many students yearned for the basic tactility of model making, mock-ups, and material explorations. This facility has radicalized our opportunities in the School of Architecture, and we were able to host several events to help foster a dialogue that helped to expand its discursive possibilities. We mounted an exhibition of the collaborative work of Mania Aghaei Meibodi and Wes McGee, titled Plastic Architecture, a theme that invited a roundtable moderated by Fabio Gramazio and Brandon Clifford of MIT. Beyond computation and digital protocols, the event was dedicated to questions of labor and the environmental impacts that such research could unleash, with recycled materials and 3D-printed cavity walls as the protagonists under examination. Looking forward, we are planning an exhibition curated by Anna Bokov and Steven Hillyer on the pedagogies of the Vkhutemas, the result of an extended research over a decade, and Anna’s recent book Avant-Garde as Method: Vkhutemas and the Pedagogy of Space. This is a brilliant case study that sheds light on modernism at large, as well as the intellectual cultures we have inherited through the meticulous compilation of exercises, prompts, and works across disciplines.
With all that has kept us together, not being able to gather the alumni community into our spaces over the past two years has been difficult. Our students and faculty were very proactive in setting up our end of year exhibitions, and with the special initiatives of Steven Hillyer and Farzin Lotfi-Jam, our 2020 virtual exhibition was particularly poignant in its reconstruction of the Foundation Building as the site of projection. Still, what it lacked was you, and the many that populate the opening at the end of each academic year, what I sincerely hope will be possible at the end of this coming Spring. It was in these events that I came to meet the Cooper community, and I would very much like to celebrate my last year as dean with the same ritual.
School of Architecture alumni have been exceedingly generous in their engagement with the school over the years, and it would be difficult to enumerate each and every one of you. In our small circle in school, it has been an enormous pleasure to bring back as faculty, such voices as Pamela Cabrera, Christina Yessios, and Dionisio Cortes Ortega. Others, such as Brad Samuels, are teaching elective courses here and building new histories in the process. Old friends such as Francois de Menil, Jesse Reiser, and Nanako Umemoto — as well as Edward Gormley, are repeat guests for Sue Gussow and Sam Anderson respectively. I hope to be able to expand this list over the course of the spring semester and bring yet many other voices. Indeed, with the help of curator Yael Hameiri Sainsaux and her colleagues, we will be soon hosting an exhibition in honor of the late Diane Lewis, titled Conceiving the Plan: Nuance and Intimacy in the Construction of Civic Space, bringing together the contributions of an even longer list of Cooper alumni, faculty, and former faculty back into Houghton Gallery.
The last six years have been an immensely enjoyable experience for me, and I hope with the completion of the seventh I can step down as dean with the comfort of having overseen a transition that has been volatile from many perspectives. The early years had significantly different challenges than those we have all been experiencing of late. We are truly in a different place now, and with new priorities —the most important one being the search for a new dean already underway. Soon there will be a formal communication from the search committee, which is working closely with President Sparks to define the mission and engage the community at large.
With the end of year upon us, I want to thank you for your generosity of the past years, and even more so the past two years. The pandemic has defined completely new needs for both students and faculty, and your support to us has meant a great deal.
Happy Holidays to everyone!
Nader Tehrani
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CURRENT WORK
Andrew Freear and Rusty Smith, Rural Studio: The Challenges of Sustainable Rural Living
Tuesday, January 19
In the Great Hall & Zoom | 7:00 PM
Andrew Freear and Rusty Smith direct Auburn University Rural Studio, a context-based service-learning program that questions the conventional education and role of architects. To date, Rural Studio has built more than 200 projects and educated more than 1,200 students in the Black Belt region of Alabama and Mississippi.
The organization’s current research focuses on innovative practices in-home access and affordability, efficient timber use, small-scale farming, and access to resources like clean water. Working with partners throughout the Southeast, Rural Studio is building homes to address rural America’s silent housing crisis.
This event will be conducted in-person and through Zoom. In-person lecture attendees are required to show proof of vaccination and wear a facial covering indoors. All participants— both in-person and online— must register in advance, please register according to your attendance preference:
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VIDEO ARCHIVE
Watch Our Public Lectures and Events Anytime
Vimeo | On Demand
The School of Architecture records, archives and publishes videos of public programs to open access and accommodate asynchronous learning and research for audiences in different time zones. You may visit our Vimeo channel for access to all our video content.
You may also use Cooper website's search bar to look for a particular lecture title or a lecturer's name to find embedded videos of their events with us, if any are available, along with other pertinent event and bio information.
If you recently missed a lecture or event you wanted to see, make sure to check out the Fall 2021 and the Spring 2021 Lecture and Events Lists. Links to earlier semester event lists are found at the bottom of their respective event pages.
Our public programs are free and recorded for access anytime.
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ANNOUNCEMENT
Coronavirus Response
For campus-wide COVID-19 updates and resources, please visit The Cooper Union's website.
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Nader Tehrani, Arch dean/fac | Featured | "TSOA Welcomes New Board Members," THE SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, December 6, 2021
Lydia Kallipoliti, Arch fac | Article | “The CIRCULAR BLOCK COMPETITION wants to reinvent Soviet housing for the 2022 Tallin Architecture Biennial,” The Architect’s Newspaper, December 16, 2021
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Michael Samuelian AR'95/Arch fac | Speaker | Community Conversations with Cornell Tech: Michael Samuelian: Urban Tech at Cornell Tech, December 6, 2021, Zoom
Caitlin Biggers, Arch staff | Article | "Archivists and Architects: A Case Study on Mitigating Design Cataloging Challenges through Copyright Outreach," THE AMERICAN ARCHIVIST, Fall/Winter 2021, Volume 84, Issue 2
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Diller Scofidio + Renfro (Elizabeth Diller AR’79, Ricardo Scofidio AR’55/Arch fac emeritus) | Article | "An office tower-studded vision is unveiled for Museum of London redevelopment site," THE ARCHITECT'S NEWSPAPER, December 9, 2021 | Article | “AD 100 Hall of Fame – 2022," ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST, November 30, 2021
Daniel Libeskind AR’70 | Article | "BITS at SoHo’s a83 gallery could not have arrived at a better time," THE ARCHITECTS' NEWSPAPER, December 8, 2021
Toshiko Mori AR’76 | Article | "AD 100 Hall of Fame – 2022," ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST, November 30, 2021
RUR (Jesse Reiser AR’81, Nanako Umemoto, AR’83) | Article | “BITS at SoHo’s a83 gallery could not have arrived at a better time," THE ARCHITECTS' NEWSPAPER, December 8, 2021
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Maurice Cox AR’83 | Article | "City to Launch ‘Clark Street Crossroads’ to Study Key North Side Commercial District From Montrose to Foster," CITY OF CHICAGO, December 7, 2021
Yellow House Architects (Elizabeth Graziolo AR’95, principal) | Article | AD 100, ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST, November 30, 2021
Margaux Wheelock-Shew AR’18 | Article | "Three Student Proposals Addressing the National Housing Crisis Place at the 2021 Hack-A-House Competition, HARVARD GSD NEWS, November 1, 2021
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Open Calls & Opportunities |
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NEW
CALL FOR APPLICANTS
CALL FOR ENTRIES
DEADLINES APPROACHING
CALL FOR FELLOWS
Architecture Fellowships The University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning seeks applications for fellowships in the areas of architectural research, design, and pedagogy. Deadline: December 19
CALL FOR ENTRIES
DWR Champagne Chair Competition invites students to carve out their place in design history by entering their designs for a chance to win one of four prizes worth up to $1000 to spend at Design Within Reach. Deadline: January 4, 2022
CALL FOR APPLICATIONS
ONGOING
CALL FOR APPLICANTS
Interior Design Instructor Position Texas Christian University invites any qualified recent architecture graduates to join the Department of Design to prepare the next generation of creative leaders in the arts. Deadline: Open until filled
CALL FOR APPLICANTS
CALL FOR ENTRIES
CALL FOR APPLICATIONS
2022-23 Visiting Professorships The Carnegie Mellon University School of Architecture invites early to mid-career practitioners, scholars, and studio educators to apply for the Ann Kalla Professorship in Architecture and the Joseph F. Thomas Visiting Professorhip. Deadline: February 14, 2022
CALL FOR ENTRIES
CALL FOR APPLICANTS
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CALL FOR ENTRIES
The Marker Design Challenge is a dedicated recognition of women in architecture in which participants are prompted to design a physical marker that will be placed next to a structure designed by a woman anywhere in the world. Deadline: March 30
CALL FOR REGISTRANTS
International VELUX Award invites students of architecture to explore the role of daylight and sunlight as sources of energy in architecture and inspire new thinking. Deadline: April 15, 2022
CALL FOR ENTRIES
MICROHOME - Small living, huge impact is an ideas competition open to students and professionals that prompts participants to design a new concept of small-scale architecture. Deadline: April 19
CALL FOR ENTRIES
Iceland Volcano Coffee Shop is a project competition that prompts participants to design a coffee shop at the base of an Icelandic volcano. Deadline: April 20
CALL FOR ENTRIES
Caramel Shore Traveller Rooms is a project competition open to all that prompts participants to design eco-friendly cabins in Europe’s greenest country. Deadline: April 20
CALL FOR ENTRIES
Lyceum Fellowship 2022 Competition: UNDERLAND challenges students to create a solution for the Friesenhahn Cave site, an important paleontological site outside of San Antonio and managed by Concordia University in Austin, Texas. Deadline: May 26, 2022
FREE GROCERIES
The College Student Pantry welcomes all college students in need of groceries. Open first and third Wednesdays from 3-5pm. Stop by 602 E 9th St in the East Village (corner of Ave B) for a free bag of groceries. Ongoing: 1st and 3rd Wednesdays at 3PM.
CALL FOR PROPOSALS
Harvard Design Press seeks book proposals from researchers, practitioners, theorists, historians, and critics, among others. Deadline: Rolling
CALL FOR SUPPORT
Mophradat: Support the Arts in Beirut Prioritizing those already disadvantaged, and those who influence the community around them in a thoughtful manner, Mophradat offers resources to artists, visual thinkers and architects. Deadline: Rolling
CALL FOR ALLIES
CALL FOR STUDENT PROPOSALS
Write for Urban Omnibus! Shaped by a wide range of contributors In an effort to advance the collective work of city making, Urban Omnibus calls for students and professionals to submit article proposals. Deadline: Ongoing
CALL FOR APPLICANTS
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