UB Celebrates Mitchell Joachim’s Impact on Innovative Design with Alumni Award

Joachim remembers sitting in Architecture 101 at the start of his first semester. At the time, students had to accumulate class time at UB before even applying to the architecture program. “It was enormously competitive,” he recalled. “The professor told us to look at our classmates to our left and our right and then said, ‘they’re probably not going to make it.’”

Joachim did make it though. He got accepted into the program, whose intensity and rigor set the foundation for a lifetime of academic and professional success.

“Honestly, I think it was tougher for me at UB than it was in grad school or working in the field,” he admitted. “UB covered everything I needed to understand about a very diverse, complex field, from topics like engineering, plumbing, safety, and accessibility to deep theories and design philosophy.”

His experience at UB also taught him so much more beyond just academics, most notably the importance of balancing your commitment to your studies with time and energy spent on your community, friends, and self-discovery, all of which he came to see as equally valuable.

Through the consequences of a (perhaps) ill-advised moment of creative inspiration during his first year, he quickly learned an additional life skill: the ins and outs of living on your own. “I wrote Allen Ginsberg’s ‘Howl’ on the back fire stair,” he shared. “I have pretty mad graphic design skills, so it wasn’t bad graffiti, but it was graffiti.” After cleaning and repainting the stairwell, Joachim was asked to leave the dorms, so he moved in with roommates in an off-campus apartment. “If I had stayed in the dorms, I would have been a little more sheltered for a while.”

After graduating from UB, Joachim went on to earn three advanced degrees: a master of architecture from Columbia University, a master of architecture in urban design from Harvard University, and a PhD in architecture and computation from MIT.

In 2006, he co-founded Terreform ONE, a Brooklyn-based nonprofit architecture and urban design research group that’s dedicated to confronting planetary extinction by means of architecture, urban design, and public art. Past projects have included a multi-species dwelling made entirely from living grafted woody plants, butterfly feeders crafted from recycled plastic ocean waste for the American Museum of Natural History, and an Anti-Extinction Library at the Brooklyn Navy Yard that houses the frozen embryos of threatened local species.

When asked what current trends or developments are most prominently shaping the future of the field, Joachim’s answer was definitive. “AI, AI, AI.” The sweeping impact that artificial intelligence will have on all industries is at the forefront of his mind.

With change on the horizon, he noted the importance of learning how to make things with your hands, whether that’s creating models, welding, making furniture, or crocheting. “Robots will eventually get to that level of dexterity and be capable of doing that, but not in the next ten years,” he predicted. “I would say that craft is the future of architecture.”

An example of this practice in action is Terreform ONE’s Fab Tree Hab, a one-of-a-kind terrestrial reef and grafted living tree structure in New York’s Hudson Valley, which has earned a slew of awards, including Fast Company’s Innovation by Design Award, a Paris Design Award for green architecture, and support from the National Endowment for the Arts. The structure’s wall components include handmade crocheted jute fiber volumes that serve as habitats and food webs for the surrounding flora and fauna.

Joachim explained, “Hand crocheting nests and places for burrowing or hives—I think the mammalian life forms find an affinity for things that are made by hand and crafted in an organic way. I don’t know for sure if mice or snakes or owls know the difference, but as designers and craftspeople, we felt it would be impactful.”

As a non-profit organization, Terreform ONE relies on contributed income to make all this possible, but this task is made easier when you’re doing exceptional work. As they gain more recognition, funders are now starting to seek them out, like Estee Lauder’s Crème de la Mer, who called Joachim wanting to support a project studying the implications of architecture and kelp. “Kelp is our client,” he noted, “and kelp is also the main ingredient in their skin care products.”

Amid the influx of recognition that Joachim’s work has received, the UB Distinguished Alumni Award is particularly meaningful for him.

He recalls traveling on the UB Shuttle from North to South Campus many years ago while reading the student newspaper. It contained an article announcing an event featuring a notable UB alumna, an astronaut named Ellen Shulman Baker. At the time, he was absolutely in awe of her success.

Thinking back to that moment, Joachim now feels humbled to be in the company of alumni like her. “I find that to be an exceptional honor that I’m even in the category of other alumni who have done such amazing work,” he reflected.

Joachim has gained valuable insights over the years and has some thoughtful advice to share with UB’s current students:

Hard work pays off. “Life is hard. No one automatically thinks you’re talented. As soon as you step outside the door, you’ve got to stay positive and focused, always be prepared, and work hard. That way, when opportunities come around, you’re ready. You can’t rely on luck.”

Don’t play the comparison game. “Measure your progress against your own goals. Don’t look at someone else and think, ‘Why are they so successful? How did they do it?’ It doesn’t matter—focus on yourself.”

Stay curious. “Little kids are curious about everything, but as we get older, we block out so much. We stop asking questions. Curiosity leads to passion and an in-depth understanding and deep comprehension. It’s that gateway to becoming an expert in something.”

On October 3, Joachim joined fellow 2025 alumni award winners from the UB School of Architecture and Planning—including Gary Jastrzab (BA ’76), Murat Soygeniş (MArch ’85), and Sema Soygeniş (MArch ’86)—in Crosby Hall to speak to current students and the school community about his rise to success and how UB made it all possible.

As Joachim took the microphone to address the crowd, he looked out at the room full of students who are still just beginning their journeys. With a smile, he reassured them: “You’re in good hands.”