STUDIO REVIEWS, MASTER CLASSES, AND TOURS
Engaging students about their work is one of the most enjoyable things that I do. Over the past two decades I have served on studio reviews, juries, and panels as well as conducted master classes at a wide range of institutions.
The key to a good studio review is to create a pedagogical environmetn where the focus is fully on the stuents' work. Often faculty treat reviews as opportunties to talk about themselves or to argue with each other. Aside from being rude, this approach is counterproductive to good learning. Instead, reviewers and critics should focus on the work in front of them--the premise, the story, the argument, the assumptions, the execution and results.
Here is a selection of reviews and master classes with which I have been engaged in one capacity or another:
May 2025 "Architecture and Planning in Jackson Heights." Tour for students from London School of Economics, Goldsmiths, and New York University attending a conference at the Institute for Public Knowledge.
Oct 2024 "First Houses, Stuy Town, and Other Experiments in Living." Tour for the Municipal Arts Society, New York City.
Dec 2023. Reviewer for BArch Thesis, Parsons School of Design, Prof. Miodrag Mitrasinvoic.
Apr 2023 "How to Spatialize Crisis: A Tour of Long Island City." Tour organized for students and faculty from the University of Vienna.
Oct 2022 Foodscapes of The Bronx: Logistics and Infrastructure to Feed the Metropolis. Tour organized for the Nineteenth Biennial Planning History Conference, New York, NY.
Sept 2021 "Nezayork: From Mexico City to New York City." Tour of Corona, Queens, organized for students and faculty from Universidad Anahuác, Mexico City.
Mar 2021 Reviewer for midterm BArch studio, Spitzer School of Architecture, CCNY, Prof. Marta Gutman.
Nov 2020 Reviewer for graduate Urban Design studio, Spitzer School of Architecture, CCNY, Profs. Nadini Bagchee and Vyjayanthi Rao.
May 2020 Reviewer for final critique in Master in Urban Design studio, Yale University, Prof. Alan Plattus.
Nov 2019 Art and Design as Visual Methods. Master class at the Royal College of Art, London. Prof. Adam Kaasa.
Oct 2019 Methods for Research on Design and Urban Form. Master class at L'École Urbaine, Sciences Po. Prof. Marco Cremaschi.
Oct 2019. "Postmodern Parks of Paris." Tour of Parc de Bercy and Parc de Villette for students at Parsons Paris.
Sept 2019. "Ghosts of Les Halles." Tour for students at Parsons Paris.
May 2018 "Learning from Roosevelt Avenue: Hyperdiversity in the Global City." Tour organized for students and faculty from the Zolberg Institute on Mobility and Migration.
Dec 2017 Reviewer for final critiques in Architecture and Neuroscience studio, Columbia University, Prof. Laura Kurgan.
Sept 2017 "Learning from Roosevelt Avenue: Hyperdiversity in the Global City." Tour for University of Thessaly School of Architecture.
Mar 2017 Reviewer for midterm critiques in two Urban Design studios, Yale University, Prof. Keller Easterling and Prof. Ed Mitchell.
Jul 2016 Applying critical urban practice to public space. Master class for University of Vienna Summer Program in Urban Studies.
Mar 2016 "Learning from Roosevelt Avenue: Hyperdiversity in the Global City." Tour organized for the University of Vienna Urban Studies Program.
Mar 2016 Reviewer for BArch studio on Urban Sprawl, Princeton University, Profs. Liz Diller and Mario Gendelsonas.
Oct 2015 "Learning from Roosevelt Avenue: Hyperdiversity in the Global City." Tour for University of Thessaly School of Architecture.
Mar 2015 "Learning from Roosevelt Avenue: Hyperdiversity in the Global City." Tour for the London School of Economics NYC Design Studio.
Mar 2015 Reviewer for Master in Urban Design studio, Yale University, Profs. Ed Mitchell, Alan Plattus, and Keller Easterling.
Nov 2014 Reviewer for final critiques in Urban Design studio, Pratt Institute, Prof. Quilian Riano.
Mar 2014 Reviewer for MArch Housing Studio, Parsons School of Design, Profs. Andy Bernheimer and David Leven.
Oct 2013 Reviewer for Urban History Lab, Parsons School of Design, Prof. Aseem Inam.
April 2013 "Queensbridge: America's Largest Housing Project." Tour or the Municipal Arts Society, New York City.
Mar 2013 Reviewer for graduate Urban Design studio, Yale University, Prof. Edward Mitchell.
Oct 2012 "Jackson Heights: America's First Garden City." Tour organized and delivered for the Municipal Arts Society, New York City.
Sept 2012 "Learning from Roosevelt Avenue: Hyperdiversity in the Global City." Tour organized and delivered for the Municipal Arts Society, New York City.
Apr 2012 Reviewer for graduate studio on Visualization in Urban Design, Parsons School of Design, Prof. Elizabeth Barry.
Mar 2011 Reviewer for the final critique, MA in City Design studio, London School of Economics, Profs. Fran Tonkiss and Suzie Hall.
Feb 2011 Streets and the design of the public realm. Master class for students in the Master of City Design, London School of Economics.
Feb 2011 Researching government-sponsored photography projects, master class for students in the Ph.D. in Art, London College of Communication.
Jan 2011 Using visual materials as evidence in urban research, Master class for Ph.D. in Cities program, London School of Economics, Prof. Ricky Burdette.
Jan 2011 What is curatorial knowledge? Master class for students in MA Curatorial Studies and MA in Art Theory, Chelsea College of Art and Design, and staff of the South London Gallery, Prof. David DiBosa.
Dec 2010 Reviewer for the midterm critique, MA in City Design studio, London School of Economics, Profs. Fran Tonkiss and Suzie Hall.
Nov 2010 Connecting textual to material evidence in archival research. Master class for students in the Ph.D. in Art, Chelsea College of Art and Design, Prof. Michael Asbury.
Dec 2010 Art, epistemologies, and knowledge production. Master class for MFA in Arts Research, Wimbledon College of Art.
Dec 2010 Documenting and archiving curatorial projects, Part Two. Master class for MA in Curatorial Studies, Chelsea College of Art and Design, Prof. Isobel Whitelegg.
Nov 2010 Documenting and archiving curatorial projects, Part One. Master class for MA in Curatorial Studies, Chelsea College of Art and Design, Prof. Isobel Whitelegg.
May 2010 "Sunnyside and Queens: America's First Garden Cities." Tour organized and delivered for Vassar College Dept. of Urban Studies (18 students, one instructor), New York City.
May 2009 Reviewer for graduate studio in Advanced Data Visualization. Parsons School of Design. Prof. Brian McGrath.
Dec 2008 Reviewer for undergraduate studio in Integrative Design, Parsons School of Design. Prof. Meret Lenzlinger.
July 2008 Sustainable Red Hook. Reviewer for Summer Design Institute, Parsons School of Design, Prof. Meret Lenzlinger.
May 2006 Juror for final reviews, graduate studio in Urban Design, Prof. Jacqueline Tatom.
Apr 2006 "Five Contested Sites: Planning, Redevelopment, and the Built Environment." Tour organized for the Society for Industrial Archaeology, St. Louis, MO.
Mar 2006 "Historical Morphology of Public Housing Sites." Master class for Urban Design Studio, Washington University School of Architecture, Prof. Robert Hansman.
Nov 2004 Juror for final reviews, multiple graduate and undergraduate studios in landscape architecture, Knowlton School of Architecture, Ohio State. Invited by Prof. Laurel McSherry.
May 2004 "Remnant City: Tracing the Nineteenth Century Urban Landscape in the Twenty-First." Tour for the Nineteenth Century Studies Association Annual Meeting, St. Louis, MO.
Mar 2003 Guest critic for midstream reviews, undergraduate studio in Visual Studies, School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Prof. George Roeder.
Oct 2002 "Tearing Down, Building Up, and Saving: The Archeology of Urban Renewal." Tour organized for the Social Science History Association Annual Meeting, St. Louis, MO.
May 2001. Juror for final reviews, first year graduate architecture studio, Washington University School of Architecture. Prof. Yusef Amin.
Dec 2000 Juror for Forest Park Southeast neighborhood project, undergraduate Urban Design studio, Prof. Tom Thompson.
Dec 1999 Juror for final reviews, Hewlett Program for First-Year Architecture Students, Washington University. Prof. Robert Hansman.