Principal, Joel Sanders Architect & MIXdesign

In addition to running his studio based in New York City, Joel is a Professor and Director of the Post-Professional M.Arch Program at the Yale School of Architecture. Prior to joining the Yale faculty, he was the Director of the Graduate Program in Architecture at Parsons School of Design and an Assistant Professor at Princeton University. Joel received both a B.A. and M.Arch from Columbia University.

The editor of Stud: Architectures of Masculinity (Princeton Architectural Press, 1996), he frequently writes about art and design, most recently in Pin-up, Art Forum and the Harvard Design Magazine. His monograph, Joel Sanders: Writings and Projects, was published by Monacelli Press in 2005. Groundwork: Between Landscape and Architecture, co-edited with Diana Balmori, was released by Monacelli Press in 2011.

An active member of the design community, he has served on committees and panels on behalf of the American Academy in Rome, MacDowell Colony, American Institute of Architects, Architectural League, the GSA Peer Review, and the Van Alen Institute's Program Leadership Council.

Principal, FELECIADAVISTUDIO

Felecia Davis is an associate professor of architecture and the Carey Memorial Early Career Professor in the Arts at the Stuckeman Center for Design and Computation at Penn State University where she is also director of SOFTLAB. She has lectured, taught workshops, published, and exhibited her work in textiles, computation, and architecture internationally, including the Swedish School of Textiles, Microsoft Research, and the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.).She is principal of FELECIADAVISTUDIO and a founding member of the Black Reconstruction Collective.

Davis is the recipient of numerous design awards including designs for the California Valley Central History Museum, the Queens Museum of Art Addition and the Pittsburgh Charm Bracelet Neighborhood Revitalization Competition, and the Little Haiti Housing Association in Miami.

Davis earned a Ph.D. from the Design and Computation Group in the School of Architecture and Planning at M.I.T. She received her M.Arch from Princeton University, and her B.S. in Engineering from Tufts University. While at M.I.T., she worked on a dissertation that develops computational textiles or textiles that respond to commands through computer programming, electronics, and sensors for use in architecture. These responsive textiles used in lightweight shelters will transform how we communicate, socialize, and use space.

Founding Partner, LOT-EK

Ada Tolla is a founding partner of LOT-EK and an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Architecture at Columbia GSAPP. She has a Master Degree in Architecture and Urban Design from the Universita’ di Napoli, Italy, and has completed postgraduate studies at Columbia University.

LOT-EK has achieved high visibility for its sustainable and innovative approach to construction, materials and space, through the upcycling of existing industrial objects and systems not originally intended for architecture. LOT-EK is also recognized for the use of technology as an integral part of architecture, for addressing mobility and transformability in architecture and for working across art and architecture. LOT-EK’s projects have been published in national and international publications, magazines and books, including The New York Times, The London Times, Herald Tribune, The Wall Street Journal, Domus, A+U, Wired, Metropolis, Mark and more.

LOT-EK’s latest monograph, Objects + Operations, was released by Monacelli in August 2017. Earlier monographs include: Urbanscan, published by PAP in February 2002; LOT-EK Mixer, published by Edizioni Press in 2000 and MDU Mobile Dwelling Unit, published by DAP in June 2003.

In December 2011, Ada Tolla was recognized as USA Booth Fellow of Architecture & Design by United States Artists (USA).