As the summer semester concludes for MSAAD and MSAUD students, studios culminate in a week of final review presentations, bringing guest critics and collaborators to campus. The reviews mark a key moment of reflection and exchange across the programs. View the final review schedule.

Francis Tseng works primarily with simulation and machine learning. He is currently Lead Independent Reseracher at the Jain Family Institute, and in the past he was a designer at IDEO, adjunct faculty at the New School, co-publisher of The New Inquiry, researcher-in-residence at NEW INC, fellow at the New York Times, and worked on spatial economic modeling at the Institute for Applied Economic Research. His research interests include how algorithmic systems, climate change, and logistics relate to autonomy and accountability, as well as sabotage and traps as forms of rhetoric and resistance.

Organized by the MS in Computational Design Practices program for the Conversations with Practitioners Lecture Series.

LOT-EK led by faculty Ada Tolla and Giuseppe Lignano, collaborate with Brooklyn-based transmedia artist Stephanie Dinkins on the design and build of If We Don’t, Who Will?, a public installation challenging the racialized AI space by highlighting Black ethos and cultural cornerstones. Recently featured in The Guardian, If We Don’t, Who Will? combines AI-generated imagery, community storytelling, and interactive design to reshape technology’s representation of marginalized voices with care and generosity. On view at 300 Ashland Place in Downtown Brooklyn, now through September 28, daily from 12–6PM.

• Faculty Lydia Kallipoliti, one year into her role as Director of the MSAAD program, speaks with Columbia News about teaching at the intersections of environmental systems and architectural practice. She discusses the development of new pedagogical formats, such as the Edible Summits, and the integration of cross-disciplinary methods in design education. The conversation explores her approach to material cycles, systems thinking, and agency, concluding with advice: “Ask questions… that indicate knowledge and know-how of the subject at hand.”

• Faculty Mario Gooden, is featured in Columbia Global Centers’ news for developing Black Holes Ain’t So Black, an installation-performance evolved during his residency with L’AiR Arts in Paris. Fusing Black Studies, architecture, and astrophysics, the work layers archival film, choreography, and oration to explore space as site of memory, violence, and liberation. The piece premieres at Pioneer Works and will evolve through New York residencies and workshops.