Spring 2024 Visiting Reviewers

We’re excited to welcome several out-of-town reviewers to the UT School of Architecture this spring. These accomplished practitioners and academics will contribute their insights and expertise as they participate in our Spring 2024 final reviews. 

Thank you for joining us: Isla Berman, Naomi Darling, Susannah Drake, Eduardo Duarte, Benjamin Ennemoser, Patty Heyda, Robert Hutchison, Kaja Kuehl, James Leng, Carlos Jiménez, Peter Massin, Sam Obelkson, Rudabeh Pakravan, Michael Rotondi, Andrew Saunders, Andrea Sosa Fontaine, John Szot, and James Michael Tate. 

ILA BERMAN

Ila Berman, Elwood R. Quesada Professor and former Dean of the University of Virginia School of Architecture and Principal of Scaleshift design, is an architect, theorist, and curator of architecture and urbanism whose research investigates the relationship between culture and the evolution of contemporary material, technological, and spatial practices. Dr. Berman is the founding director of the Next Cities Institute, the editor of its book series, and the author of several publications, including Expanded Field: Architectural Installation Beyond Art, URBANbuild: local/global, New Constellations New Ecologies, and FLUX: Architecture in a Parametric Landscape, among others. Many galleries and museums have exhibited her design work and installations, including the 2006 and 2018 Venice International Architectural Biennales.

NAOMI DARLING

Naomi Darling is the Five College Associate Professor of Sustainable Architecture in a shared position between Mount Holyoke College and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She is the founding principal of Naomi Darling Architecture and has recently co-founded Ko-LAB Architecture with UMass Colleague Ray Mann and sculptor Darrell Petit. An architect with a background in environmental and structural engineering, climate change science, ceramics and sculpture, Naomi’s teaching, research and practice focus lies at the intersection of climate, culture and materiality. Current Ko-LAB projects include the Amherst Bandshell, the Six Nations Cultural Center, an Adaptive Reuse of the Phoenix Fire Station in South Hadley in collaboration with C&H Architects, and several net zero residential projects.

SUSANNAH DRAKE

Susannah C. Drake is a Principal at Sasaki, founder of DLANDstudio, and a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and the American Society of Landscape Architects. Drake combines practice, teaching, and research in a practice that focuses on environmental justice, climate adaptation, infrastructure, and campus design. She is currently an adjunct associate professor at the Irwin Chanin School of Architecture at the Cooper Union. Her award-winning work is consistently at the forefront of innovation in urban ecological infrastructure. She lectures globally about resilient urban design and taught at top schools across the U.S., including Harvard, IIT, and Syracuse. Drake was recognized as an Architectural League Emerging Voice and AIA Young Architect Award winner. Her work is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art and the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian National Design Museum. She was awarded the inaugural Cooper Hewitt National Design Award for Climate Action in 2020.

EDUARDO DUARTE

Eduardo Duarte is a Portuguese and American architect, designer, and artist. He is a Professor at the Rhode Island School of Design, where he currently serves as Graduate Program Director at the Department of Interior Architecture. His current academic research and practice identify reflexive systems that foster the transformation of our living environments based on the adaptation of a geometrical abstract apparatus in dialogue with a preexisting material condition or a pre-figuration of a thought as a spatial typology. He is the recipient of various research awards from several institutions globally, including the National Science Foundation, Moroccan Ministry of Handicrafts, Luso American Foundation, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, and FCT Fundação Ciência e Technologia. Duarte graduated with a Master of Science in Advanced Architectural Design from the Columbia Graduate School of Architecture Planning and Preservation and a Ph.D. from the Instituto Superior Téchnico / Universidade de Lisboa.

BENJAMIN ENNEMOSER

Benjamin Ennemoser is an Assistant Professor at Texas A&M University’s Department of Architecture, where he leads the research lab for Artificial Intelligence in Architecture. He has previously taught and lectured at UCLA, the University of Innsbruck, and the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, among others. He has received several fellowships and grants, including a research grant from the Academy of Performing and Visual Arts, a CRS Probes grant at Texas A&M, and the Start Grant from the Austrian Federal Ministry of Arts and Culture. In 2023, his research and teaching received the Architizer Vision Award as well as the Undergraduate Faculty Award for outstanding contribution to the graduating class at Texas A&M. His research on computational design, robotics, and artificial intelligence in architecture has been published in international journals, books and conferences such as IJAC, ACADIA, eCAADe, and ACSA. He is a licensed architect and founded his practice in 2016. He has recently collaborated with Google R&D for the Built Environment, Carvana, and Gensler DxD as a technology consultant and design lead.

DANIEL ESCOTTO

Daniel Escotto holds a master’s in arts and architecture studies from Polytechnic University of Catalonia in Barcelona, Spain. He has been professor at the Department of Theory and History of Architecture at the School of Architecture of UNAM for the last 21 years and has taught studio and urban design at the Monterrey Tech for 10 years. His areas of research are 20th century architectural heritage, the European diaspora of modernity in Latin American countries and its effects on the arts and architectural culture. Escotto also has profound expertise in implementation of projects and policies in urban public spaces and the relation to politics and civic culture. Escotto had the responsibility of integrating the inscription dossier for the Central University City Campus of UNAM as a World Heritage Site (UNESCO 2007). He is former Public Space Authority of Mexico City Government (2008-2012) and the founder and director of the post graduate program in Public Space and Urban Mobility at UNAM. From 2018 to 2020, Escotto led project development on public space and infrastructure improvement program, a nationwide action of the Federal Government of Mexico (SEDATU-PMU). He is in front of the Special Projects Office at UNAM’s school of architecture and frequently lectures, writes and publishes books and articles on arts, architecture and urban culture.

AARON FORREST

Aaron Forest is a registered architect and co-founding principal of Ultramoderne. He has extensive professional experience, having practiced in New York with Bernheimer Architecture and Guy Nordenson and Associates Structural Engineers and in Madrid with Ábalos & Herreros Arquitectos. Forrest received both his bachelor’s degree and M.Arch from Princeton University. From 2014 to 2022, he was a professor of architecture at Rhode Island School of Design, where he attained the rank of associate professor. In addition to RSID, he has taught at Harvard Graduate School of Design, Princeton University, and the University of Pennsylvania. He is currently an Associate Adjunct Professor of Architecture at the University of California Berkeley College of Environmental Design.

PATTY HEYDA

Patty Heyda is an Associate Professor of Urban Design and Architecture at Washington University in St. Louis, where she also holds a courtesy appointment in the American Culture Studies program and is an affiliate faculty at the Center for Race, Equity, and Ethnicity. She studies urban design and the political economy in American cities, focusing on mapping, typology, privatization, redevelopment, and spatial justice in weak market contexts and transitioning inner suburbs. Heyda is the author of Radical Atlas of Ferguson, USA (Belt: August 2024), an exploration of the hidden manifestations of inequality in the contemporary built environment, told through the lens of Ferguson, Missouri. She co-authored Rebuilding the American City (Routledge, 2016) and Rebuilding the American Town (Routledge, forthcoming, 2024) alongside numerous other publications and projects. Heyda has worked professionally in the offices of Architectures Jean Nouvel (Paris) and Chan Krieger Associates (Boston), and she maintains a small independent design practice with projects awarded in the U.S. and abroad. Heyda has a Master of Architecture II with Distinction from Harvard University.

ROBERT HUTCHISON

Robert Hutchison is a practitioner, researcher, and educator whose interests and practice overlap the fields of architecture, art, and photography. Hutchison received an M.Arch degree from the University of Washington in 1996 and a BS degree in Structural Engineering and Architectural Engineering from Drexel University in 1990. In 2013, Hutchison established the Seattle-based architecture studio Robert Hutchinson Architecture. Hutchison is an Affiliate Associate Professor in the Department of Architecture at the University of Washington, where he teaches architectural design studios at the undergraduate and graduate levels. He is the recipient of honors and fellowships that include a 2017 Rome Prize from the American Academy in Rome, a 2022 MacDowell Fellowship, a 2024 Loghaven Fellowship, a 2010 and 2021 Japan/U.S. Friendship Creative Artists Fellowship, and the 2009 Emerging Voices awarded by The Architectural League of New York.

CARLOS JIMENEZ

Carlos Jimenez is a Professor at Rice University School of Architecture and principal of Carlos Jiminez Studio in Houston. He has taught at numerous universities and frequently acts as a lecturer, juror, and visiting critic at academic and cultural institutions in the United States and internationally. Jimenez was a long-term (2001-2011) jury member of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, the most prestigious architectural prize in the world. Notable built commissions include cultural institutions such as the Central Administration Building for the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the Houston Fine Art Press; the Spencer Studio Art Building at Williams College; the Tyler School of Art at Temple University, Philadelphia; and commercial enterprises such as the Evry Housing Tower in Evry, France, and the Saint George Hotel in Marfa, Texas. 

KAJA KUEHL

Kaja Kuehl is an urban designer and the principal of youarethecity, a research and design practice based in Brooklyn NY. Her work and teaching focuses on civic engagement and design for a regenerative, low-carbon built environment. Her projects range from large-scale urban systems and policies on affordable housing, urban farming and spaces of migration to built examples of carbon neutral construction with biogenic materials. She is a passionate educator and teaches seminars and design studios at Columbia University and the City College of New York in addition to frequent workshops in non-institutional settings. Kaja received a Diploma in Architecture from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany and a M.S. in Urban Planning from Columbia University. 

JAMES LENG

James Leng is a founding partner of Figure, a San Francisco-based architecture office, and a lecturer at the University of California Berkeley’s Department of Architecture. Previously, Leng was the Harry der Boghosian Teaching Fellow at Syracuse University and has received various accolades such as the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise for immigrant contribution to the arts, the SOM Foundation Research Prize for independent research, and the James Templeton Kelley Prize for best graduate thesis. Leng has professional experience from numerous international practices, including Michael Maltzan Architecture, Renzo Piano Building Workshop, Office for Metropolitan Architecture, UNSTudio, and Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Leng holds an M.Arch degree from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design and a Bachelor of Art in Architecture from the University of California Berkeley.

PETER MASSIN

Peter Massin is an architect, educator, and researcher who focuses on digital design processes and the theory of ornament. In 2021, he finished his doctorate entitled “Zur Konstitution des Ornaments in der Architektur.” The award-winning thesis investigates the historiography of the ornament and its recent implications in the post-digital era. He has held teaching and research positions at the Department of Experimental Architecture in Innsbruck. Currently, he is the Jimmy D. Tittle Visiting Professor of Architecture at Texas A&M University. Massin received grants from Swarovski and the Universität Innsbruck; he co-authored with Marjan Colletti and received the national FWF (PEEK) grant. Massin has worked for several architectural offices, including Giencke & Company and LAAC. In 2016, he founded his architectural office, massinarchitecture. Since then, he has been a member of the Chamber of Architects and part of the committee for professional education and the national think tank for higher education in architecture.

SAM OBELKSON

As an Indigenous architect with over 25 years of design, comprehensive planning, and cultural visioning experience, Sam Olbekson serves tribal communities and Indigenous organizations by bringing a Native perspective to the design and planning process. Published nationally as a thought leader in contemporary Native American design theory, Sam is known as a progressive and skilled design thinker on culturally significant projects and produces unique and inventive design solutions that respond to cultural tradition in innovative and contemporary ways without relying on stereotypical imagery. Sam holds leadership positions with a number of American Indian organizations and has received numerous recognitions for both design and community service.

RUDABEH PAKRAVAN

Rudabeh Pakravan teaches architecture at the University of California, Berkeley, and is a principal at Sidell Pakravan Architects. She is interested in how architectural form affects individual and collective experience, the rules and processes that influence building, and architecture’s influence on culture and the city. In her housing studios, she works with students to explore specific relationships between architectural elements and the public realm. Her research on architecture and public space has been published in Log and Places Journal. Her practice has several residential, commercial, and civic projects under construction and has been recognized with Architectural Record’s Design Vanguard Award.

MICHAEL ROTONDI

Michael Rotondi is an architect and educator. Based in Los Angeles, Rotondi co-founded two international practices, first as a Founding Partner of Morphosis (1975-1992) and currently RoTo Architects (1992-present). In 1972, he and 50 colleagues co-founded SCI-Arc. He started and was the first Director of Graduate Programs (1978-1987) and, for ten years (1987-1997), served as the second director of SCI-Arc. Rotondi’s broad interests, coupled with an open mindset, are the basis for a cross-disciplinary practice that has attracted unique clients and projects.

ANDREW SAUNDERS

Andrew Saunders is an Associate Professor of Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design. He is also the founding principal of Andrew Saunders Architecture + Design, an internationally published, award-winning architecture, design, and research practice committed to the tailoring of innovative digital methodologies to provoke novel exchange and reassessment of the broader cultural context. The practice innovates at a number of scales ranging from product design, exhibition design, and residential and large-scale civic and cultural institutional design.

ANDREA SOSA

Andrea Sosa Fontaine is a shoemaker and interior design educator. She is an Assistant Professor of Interior Design at Kent State University. Andrea teaches her students diverse and non-linear methods of design through interdisciplinary translations of interior space. Her research has focused on modifications to the practices and languages of interior design, protecting future memory through acts of repair. She is a graduate of both the Bachelor of Environmental Design and Master of Interior Design programs at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada. She has over twelve years of professional experience and eight years of experience teaching a range of interior design courses.

JOHN SZOT

John Szot is an award-winning architect in New York City. He received his B.Arch from The University of Texas at Austin and his M.Arch at the Columbia Graduate School of Architecture Planning and Preservation. His personal work related to building design has been exhibited internationally. In addition to practice, he has held teaching positions at Columbia University, University of Texas at Austin, and Parsons New School for Design, and the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. 

JAMES MICHAEL TATE

James Michael Tate is an Assistant Professor of Architecture at Texas A&M University and runs the architectural practice T8projects. He received a Bachelor of Environmental Design from Texas A&M University and a Master of Architecture from the Yale School of Architecture, where he was awarded the Alpha Rho Chi Medal.