POSTPONED: Book Talk | Design with Life: Biotech Architecture and Resilient Cities

NYU’s Institute for Public Knowledge invites you to join for a book talk for Design with Life: Biotech Architecture and Resilient Cities, featuring the authors Mitchell Joachim and Maria Aiolova in conversation with Vivian Kuan, Paul D. Miller, and Alexandra Polier.

In the challenging context of accelerating climate dynamics, the core discipline of architectural design is evolving and embracing new forms of action. New York-based nonprofit Terreform ONE has established a distinctive design tactic that investigates projects through the regenerative use of natural materials, science, and the emergent field of socio-ecological design. This kind of design approach uses actual living matter (not abstracted imitations of nature) to create new functional elements and spaces. These future-based actions are not only grounded in social justice but are also far-reaching in their application of digital manufacturing and maker culture. Terreform ONE tackles urgent environmental and urban social concerns through the integrated use of living materials and organisms.

Mitchell Joachim is the Co-Founder of Terreform ONE and an Associate Professor of Practice at NYU. Formerly, he was an architect at the offices of Frank Gehry and I.M. Pei. He has been awarded a Fulbright Scholarship and fellowships with TED, Moshe Safdie, and Martin Society for Sustainability, MIT. He was chosen by Wired magazine for “The Smart List” and selected by Rolling Stone for “The 100 People Who Are Changing America”. Mitchell won many honors including; LafargeHolcim Acknowledgement Award, ARCHITECT R+D Award, AIA New York Urban Design Merit Award, 1st Place International Architecture Award, Victor Papanek Social Design Award, Zumtobel Group Award for Sustainability, Architizer A+ Award, History Channel Infiniti Award for City of the Future, and Time magazine’s Best Invention with MIT Smart Cities Car. He’s featured as “The NOW 99” in Dwell magazine and “50 Under 50 Innovators of the 21st Century” by Images Publishers. He co-authored four books, “Design with Life: Biotech Architecture and Resilient Cities,” “XXL-XS: New Directions in Ecological Design,” “Super Cells: Building with Biology,” and “Global Design: Elsewhere Envisioned”. His design work has been exhibited at MoMA and the Venice Biennale. He earned: PhD at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MAUD Harvard University, MArch Columbia University.

Maria Aiolova is an architect, urban designer, and teacher who focuses on ecological design. She is the co-founder of Terreform ONE, a nonprofit organization for architecture, urban, and ecological design. Terreform seeks to improve depressed and derelict urban areas through ecological design. Aiolova was most recently a faculty member at Pratt Institute and has taught at a number of schools, among them the University of Toronto, Wentworth Institute of Technology, Boston Architectural Center, and Cornell University, to name a few. This year she won the 2013 AIA NY Award for Urban Design. She was also the winner of the Victor J. Papanek Social Design Award sponsored by the University of Applied Arts Vienna, the Austrian Cultural Forum, and the Museum of Arts and Design in 2011. Aiolova received her Master of Architecture in Urban Design from Harvard University, B.Arch. from Wentworth IT with Honors, Dipl.-Ing. from the Technical University of Vienna, Austria and Sofia, Bulgaria.

Vivian Kuan is Executive Director at Terreform ONE. As an architect with an interdisciplinary background in art, architecture, entrepreneurial marketing, and startups, she is dedicated to improving the future of our environment through impactful design and education. Vivian is currently faculty at Parsons in the Strategic Design and Management graduate program.  She was a Launch Director at the incubator, idealab! and later directed the online strategy and eCommerce business units for the Estee Lauder Companies, Inc. and for The L’Oreal Group Inc. Before business school, Vivian worked as an architect and project manager in Hong Kong for Sun Hung Kai Properties, Ltd., as well as in New York City for Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates. She earned an MBA/MA at the Wharton School/Lauder program, University of Pennsylvania, and B.Arch. from Cornell University.

Paul D. Miller is a composer, multimedia artist, and writer whose work immerses audiences in a blend of genres, global culture, and environmental and social issues. Miller has collaborated with an array of recording artists, including Metallica, Chuck D, Steve Reich, and Yoko Ono. His 2018 album, DJ Spooky Presents: Phantom Dancehall, debuted at #3 on Billboard Reggae. His large-scale, multimedia performance pieces include “Rebirth of a Nation,” Terra Nova: Sinfonia Antarctica, commissioned by the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and Seoul Counterpoint, written during his 2014 residency at Seoul Institute of the Arts. His multimedia project Sonic Web premiered at San Francisco’s Internet Archive in 2019. He was the inaugural artist-in-residency at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s The Met Reframed, 2012-2013.

Alexandra Polier is a media and communications expert with more than 15 years of experience. Her early career as a journalist took her from New York to Nairobi, where she worked for the Associated Press, Newsweek, Forbes, and Condé Nast Traveler. Over the past eight years, Alex has worked as the Director of Communications for Donna Karan’s Urban Zen Foundation, The Louise Blouin Foundation, Richard Meier & Partners, and most recently, Dwell Media. Alex lives in Manhattan with her two sons Lawrence and Avery.