Joyce Hwang
AIA, NCARB, NOMA
Director of Graduate Studies
Associate Professor
Department of Architecture
Joyce Hwang is associate professor and director of graduate studies with the Department of Architecture at UB. She is also founder of Ants of the Prairie, an office of architectural practice and research that focuses on confronting contemporary ecological conditions through creative means.
Joyce Hwang stands with “Habitat Wall,” a prototype wall structure that accommodates humans and urban animals such as bats, raccoons and birds. Says Hwang: "I am interested in exploring how a wall can act not only as a facade, but also as an inhabitable, living membrane." Photo by Scott Gable
My work is dedicated to developing creative approaches in confronting the pleasesures and horrors of our contempirary ecologies.
For over a decade, Hwang has been developing a series of projects that incorporate wildlife habitats into constructed environments. She is a recipient of the Exhibit Columbus University Research Design Fellowship (2020-21), the Architectural League Emerging Voices Award (2014), the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) Fellowship (2013), the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) Independent Project Grant (2013, 2008), and the MacDowell Fellowship (2016, 2011). Her work has been exhibited at Matadero Madrid, the Venice Architecture Biennale, and the Rotterdam International Architecture Biennale, among other venues.
Hwang’s projects and writing have been featured in publications including Curbed, Good, Praxis, Azure Magazine, Architect Magazine, Architectural Review, AV Proyectos, Bracket, MONU, Biophilic Cities Journal, Volume Magazine, and Next Nature. She is a co-organizer of the Hive City Habitat Design Competition and a co-editor of Beyond Patronage: Reconsidering Models of Practice, published by Actar. Hwang is on the Steering Committee for US Architects Declare, and serves as a Core Organizer for Dark Matter University.
Hwang is a registered architect in New York State, and has practiced professionally with offices in New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Barcelona. She received a post-professional Master of Architecture degree from Princeton University and a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Cornell University, where she was awarded the Charles Goodwin Sands Memorial Bronze Medal.
Hwang's "Bat Cloud" is a hanging canopy of vessels designed and constructed to support bat habitation. It is installed in Buffalo's Tifft Nature Preserve. Photo by Joyce Hwang
Education
- B Arch, Cornell University College of Architecture, Art and Planning, Department of Architecture
- M. Arch, Princeton University School of Architecture
Selected activities, honors and awards
- The MacDowell Colony Fellowship (2016, 2011)
- Architectural League Emerging Voices Award (2014)
- New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) Fellowship (2013)
- New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) Independent Project Grant (2013, 2008)