In our latest installment of Fellow Fellows, Archinect connects with Michael Jefferson, the 2019-2020 Innovation in Design Fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Together we unpack his fellowship experience and his exhibition False Walls. "The fellowship was organized as a series of exercises that examined rules, standards, and conventions when interpreted and reconfigured by artificial intelligence." According to Jefferson, the project was "an exhibition of fake walls built with real materials. Tied up between the computational logics of artificial intelligence and the conventional tectonic arrangements of stud framing, the protocols of the machine were mapped on to traditional methods of construction."
The nature of fellowships and their exhibition outcomes will continue to adjust as the COVID pandemic continues. When discussing his thoughts on fellowships, Jefferson makes an intriguing point that renders some reflection. "The 2019-2020 fellows (across the US) may end up as a sort of index of how things once were," he states. "I imagine future fellows might (and should!) feel emboldened to challenge the brief including its expectations and deliverables if for no other reason than that they can change at any moment."
Fellow Fellows is a series that focuses on the role fellowships play in architecture academia. These prestigious academic positions can bring forth a fantastic blend of practice, research, and pedagogical cross-pollination, often within a tight time frame. By definition, they also represent temporary, open-ended, and ultimately precarious employment for aspiring young designers and academics.
Fellow Fellows aims to understand what these positions offer for both the fellows themselves and the discipline at large by presenting their work and experiences through an in-depth interview. Fellow Fellows is about bringing attention and inquiry to academia's otherwise maddening pace while also offering a broad view of the exceptional and breakthrough work done by people navigating the early parts of their careers.
...the fellowship was aimed at unpacking how the ways we think about and make architecture are infected and biased by technologies and software often in unseen ways.
What fellowship were you in and what brought you to that fellowship?
I was the 2019-2020 Innovation in Design Fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. In surveying the fellowship landscape, it seemed these positions often fell into one of two categories: those that emphasize teaching as a vehicle for developing research and those that encourage the production of an exhibition or design project. UWM’s fellowship was enticing because it offered both a set of self-initiated courses and the time and resources to conduct a research and design project.
What was the focus of the fellowship research?
My focus was on examining the legacy and durability of type in the discipline through contemporary tools that hold the capacity to fundamentally disrupt it. Specifically, the work took on the procedural methods of formation inherited from J.N.L. Durand but through the medium of machine learning. In a larger sense, the fellowship was aimed at unpacking how the ways we think about and make architecture are infected and biased by technologies and software often in unseen ways. A lot of effort was put into crafting methods for applying attention to seemingly haphazard and erroneous machine-generated images in order to suss out the “mistakes” and leverage them as a new site for work.
The research and design studio reflected on how systems of allocating and producing knowledge are radically displaced by AI. Students were asked to develop instruction manuals appropriated from studies of rule-based systems, shape grammars, and serial art.
What did you produce/teach and how has it reshaped your relationship to architecture and academia?
The fellowship was organized as a series of exercises that examined rules, standards, and conventions when interpreted and reconfigured by artificial intelligence. Each exercise was established as a kind of disruption to disciplinary norms that, on one hand, revealed the medium of production (machine learning) through visual miscues and how that medium operates. On the other, it allowed us to get to know, question, and recalibrate existing conventions. Because the fellowship consisted of a hybrid of teaching and production expectations, sometimes this occurred in pedagogy and other times in the form of a design project and exhibition. The research and design studio reflected on how systems of allocating and producing knowledge are radically displaced by AI. Students were asked to develop instruction manuals appropriated from studies of rule-based systems, shape grammars, and serial art.
One part exhaustive and one part translative, the project features the production of over two thousand typical walls, one machine learning model, infinite artificial walls, and four False Walls.
These manuals were used to propagate a new series of forms that in turn were employed to train a machine learning model. The final design projects selectively edited existing rules and instructions according to machine misbehavior. In doing so the students were asked to literalize the epistemological ruptures that occur in the translation from deep structures to deep fakes. The fellowship project and exhibition, False Walls, was an exhibition of fake walls built with real materials. Tied up between the computational logics of artificial intelligence and the conventional tectonic arrangements of stud framing, the protocols of the machine were mapped on to traditional methods of construction. One part exhaustive and one part translative, the project features the production of over two thousand typical walls, one machine learning model, infinite artificial walls, and four False Walls.
How has the fellowship advanced or become a platform for your career?
The fellowship was a valuable crucible that sharpened and consolidated many ideas that had been percolating during previous academic appointments I had held. That has translated into teaching appointments at other institutions including a visiting studio which has been a fantastic way of continuing to develop the work. These settings are opportunities to have conversations with faculty at other institutions that are operating on similar issues. It has also served to bring new modes of practice into the design office that I maintain with my partner Suzanne Lettieri, JE-LE.
The fellowship was a valuable crucible that sharpened and consolidated many ideas that had been percolating during previous academic appointments I had held.
What are you working on now, and how is it tied to the work done during the fellowship?
Probably similar to other former-fellows, I am refocusing the work into scholarship through journal articles and conference submissions. There is a tremendous amount of work left on the table from the fellowship project and research conducted in the formation of a new course. In that sense, the fellowship has set up a host of topics I’d like to explore in future writing and practice. In the office, we have sought out paths for increasing the ambitions of the project through program and scale. Currently, we’re designing an installation for NYC and are working on a proposal for a house, both of which absorb the tactics developed during the fellowship.
With the pandemic impacting the future of architectural academia and exhibition do you have any advice for future fellows?
The 2019-2020 fellows (across the US) may end up as a sort of index of how things once were. Unlike research conducted in a multi-year or recurring appointment which can hypothetically be put on hold, the duration of a fellowship demands that the project reacts to the circumstances. I imagine future fellows might (and should!) feel emboldened to challenge the brief including its expectations and deliverables if for no other reason than that they can change at any moment. Especially so during hybrid and online teaching, forming connections with the faculty of a home institution may be difficult, but they are a tremendous resource. Encourage new discursive formats with faculty and students and bring some life to the school. And if you apply and don’t receive a fellowship, keep on applying!
A handful of programs have begun work that forms links between higher education and early education in disadvantaged and marginalized communities. My hope is that institutions can become both agile and persistent in these efforts.
Where do you see the future of academia headed? What do you hope to see as schools begin to address today’s issues? Where are areas where institutions can improve?
Since Spring 2020, I have been on the faculty at three institutions and have seen the tremendous work of leadership as they adapt to concurrent health, racial inequity, and financial crises. On one hand, I am encouraged to see how nimble schools can be. In this respect, the fellowship is actually an interesting model. Whereas searches for tenure-line positions might be caught up in red tape, a fellowship call can be written to respond to specific topics and cultural dynamics and thereby engage them directly and rapidly. On the other hand, fellowships and short-term positions could be used as a limited and reactionary measure with the unfortunate effect of masking systemic and deeply rooted issues. To that end, I would hope to see more institutions invest in long term efforts. A handful of programs have begun work that forms links between higher education and early education in disadvantaged and marginalized communities. My hope is that institutions can become both agile and persistent in these efforts.
In addition to their Design Innovation Fellowship, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee offers an additional fellowship opportunity, the Urban Edge Fellowship. Stay tuned for our upcoming Fellow Fellows interview with the 2019-2020 Urban Edge Fellow José Ibarra.
Katherine is an LA-based writer and editor. She was Archinect's former Editorial Manager and Advertising Manager from 2018 – January 2024. During her time at Archinect, she's conducted and written 100+ interviews and specialty features with architects, designers, academics, and industry ...
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