Assistant Professor Lola Ben-Alon and the Natural Materials Lab inaugurate the Raw Earth Sgraffito installation at the Institute for Ideas and Imagination in Paris. Constructed with blocks pressed from soil excavated during the expansion of Paris’ RER rapid transit system, this installation reflects on the relationship between site and source along lines of supply, tracing the flow of construction materials, labor, and tools along the Seine River. This installation is part of a broader research project co-led by Lola Ben-Alon and Lynnette Widder (Associate Professor, Columbia SPS), bridging together histories of construction and material geographies to develop fabrication techniques for raw and low-carbon materials in architecture.

Read more about the installation on GSAPP News.

Notes on Culture, Narrative, and Place

Transdisciplinary designer, public artist, and educator Curry J. Hackett, founder of Wayside, will deliver a lecture on how practice and research braids cultural and ecological narratives using quantitative data, oral history, and artificial intelligence.

Organized by the M.S. in Computational Design Practices Program.

Environmental scholars Drew Pendergrass and Troy Vettese, co-authors of the book Half-Earth Socialism: A Plan to Save the Future from Extinction, Climate Change and Pandemics, will deliver a lecture on the political and economic structures of climate crisis.

Drew Pendergrass and Troy Vettese will be introduced by Ranjani Srinivasan, who will be joined by Elise Misao Hunchuck and Marco Ferrari in responding to the presentation and hosting the Q&A.

Organized by the M.S. in Advanced Architectural Design program.

Columbia Books on Architecture and the City (CBAC) publication Deserts Are Not Empty, edited by Samia Henni and designed by Laura Coombs, is featured in the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) 50 Books | 50 Covers round-up.