FAUNA: Designing for More Than Human Worlds

The panel will feature five distinguished panelists who will each discuss a specific project, providing a detailed account of the circumstances that shaped its development, including client needs, design challenges, site considerations, funding sources, and community involvement. They will reflect on the design, construction, and performance of their projects, evaluating their functionality as built and their impact on traditional architectural goals. Additionally, the panelists will explore the new relationships between species facilitated by their projects, examining concepts such as coexistence, cohabitation, mutualism, kinship, and ecological entanglement. Following the presentations, the moderator will lead a discussion with the audience on how architecture can engage with and advance these emerging efforts in multispecies design.

Ariane Lourie Harrison, PhD, AIA is a principal and co-founder of Harrison Atelier (HAT) and a registered architect in New York State. She is the coordinator of the Master of Science in Urban Design at the Graduate School of Architecture at Pratt Institute and a lecturer at the Yale School of Architecture and the Weitzman School of Design. HAT’s work on multi-species design has been internationally recognized by the Barcelona Architecture Festival, Hempcrete Habitats Global Architecture and Design Award, and Pollinators Pavilion (AIANY Design Awards). Ariane's projects and writing explore the concepts and realities of making architecture for multiple species. She earned her AB from Princeton University, her M. Arch from GSAPP Columbia University and PhD from New York University. 

Brad Howe, RLA is a principal at SCAPE, a landscape architecture and urban design practice that utilizes diverse forms of design to connect people to their environments. He leads design teams for a number of large-scale waterfront and resilience planning projects across the firm. Brad’s work focuses on creating ecologically vibrant waterfronts and public spaces—from complex, large-scale planning projects with extensive engagement to detailed site design. Brad holds a master’s in landscape architecture from Harvard University and a bachelor’s with distinction from the University of Nebraska. 

Joyce Hwang is professor and director of graduate studies of Architecture at the University at Buffalo. She is the director of Ants of the Prairie, an office of architectural practice and research that focuses on confronting contemporary ecological conditions through creative means, and a partner in Double Happiness. For nearly two decades, Joyce has been developing a series of projects that incorporate wildlife habitats into constructed environments. She is a recipient of the WOJR/Civitella Ranieri Architecture Prize Fellowship, Exhibit Columbus University Research Design Fellowship, the Architectural League Emerging Voices Award, the New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship, the New York State Council on the Arts Independent Project Grant, and the MacDowell Fellowship. Her work has been featured by the Museum of Modern Art, and exhibited at Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Matadero Madrid, the Venice Architecture Biennale, and the Rotterdam International Architecture Biennale, among other venues. Joyce is a registered architect in New York State, and 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.

Mitchell Joachim, PhD, Assoc. AIA (BPS '94) is the co-Founder of Terreform ONE and professor of practice at NYU. He upholds noteworthy leadership roles as a University Senator and Co-Chair of Global Design NYU. Previously, he was the Frank Gehry Chair at the University of Toronto and faculty at Pratt, Columbia, Syracuse, Rensselaer, Washington (St. Louis), Cornell, Parsons, and EGS. A former architect, Mitchell’s design work has been exhibited across the globe and has won many awards including Fulbright Scholarship, LafargeHolcim Acknowledgement Prize, Ove Arup Foundation Grant, Architect R+D Award, AIA New York Urban Design Merit Award, Victor Papanek Social Design Award, 1st Place International Architecture Award, Zumtobel Award for Sustainability, Architizer A+ Award, History Channel Infiniti Award for City of the Future, and Time Magazine Best Invention with MIT Smart Cities. He is a TED Senior Fellow and has been awarded fellowships with Safdie Architects and the Martin Society for Sustainability at MIT. He earned a Ph.D. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MAUD at Harvard University, and M.Arch at Columbia University with honors.

Nina-Marie Lister is professor in the School of Urban Planning at Toronto Metropolitan University where she founded and directs the Ecological Design Lab. Winner of the 2021 Margolese National Prize for design, Lister is a registered professional planner and landscape ecologist whose work connects people to nature in our cities. Her research is funded by the federal government and is published widely, focused on green infrastructure design for climate resilience, biodiversity, and human wellbeing. A recipient of the Canadian Green Building Council’s excellence and leadership award, Lister was nominated among Planetizen’s Most Influential Urbanists. She is currently visiting professor of landscape architecture at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design.  

Julia Czerniak, Dean and professor at the School of Architecture and Planning, is an internationally recognized design thinker. Educated as both an architect and landscape architect, her work explores the cultural, ecological, and urban potentials of landscapes, particularly in deindustrializing cities. Czerniak has authored over 30 publications and participated in over 50 global conferences and events. Previously, she served as Associate Dean at Syracuse's School of Architecture, where she led strategic planning and enhanced diversity initiatives. Czerniak also directed CLEAR, a design practice focused on urban landscapes in Rust Belt cities.