Archinect
McKenna Cole

McKenna Cole

Brooklyn, NY, US

 

About 

Currently a Research Associate at SITU Studio in Brooklyn, NY. Current projects include an online geospatial platform mapping drone strikes in the Middle East that was carried out in conjunction with the United Nations and Goldsmiths University as well as the upcoming MoMA Exhibition, "Uneven Growth."

Drone Strike Platform - http://unsrct-drones.com/

More information on the MoMA Exhibition - http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/1438

Employment 

SITU, Brooklyn, NY, US, Research Associate

http://unsrct-drones.com/

http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/1438

Sep 2013 - current
 

Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, Student Editor and Exhibitions Designer

Editorial and graphic design.

Jun 2013 - Mar 2014
 

Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, US, Teaching Assistant

Fall 2012 - Infrastructural Ecologies: A Projective Urbanism
Instructor - Chris Reed
"This research seminar will explore cultural ideas of ecology specifically as they relate to life in the contemporary metropolis. We will begin by defining ecology in its broadest sense, as a set of ideas about the interrelationships and interactions among humans and their physical, social, and experiential worlds—not simply a project of the natural sciences. Theoretical readings by Félix Guattari, Reyner Banham, and others will be featured, as well as contributions from a forthcoming book titled Projective Ecologies.

The seminar will also explore the projective possibilities of the unique and often bizarre interactions among the infrastructural systems, emergent and adapted environmental ecologies, and social and jurisdictional relationships along two infrastructural lines of water in the greater Los Angeles region: the Los Angeles Aqueduct and the Los Angeles River. We will use three years’ worth of research from previous seminars (Recalibrating Infrastructure) on infrastructural systems and dynamics as a basis for our work. We will research through drawing, experimenting with various available software platforms (scripting, processing, flow modeling, animation, etc.) to inform and project ideas about the city. And we will ground our work in theoretical discussions about issues of representation, modeling, and visual culture—with a full understanding that ideas are generated through speculation, projection and experimentation."

Spring 2013 - Landscape Architecture Core IV
Coordinator - Chris Reed
Instructors - Leire Asensio Villoria, Silvia Benedito, Zaneta Hong, David Mah
"This studio focuses on the development of urban form as driven by ecology and environmental dynamics. The studio will introduce students to methods and representational techniques for describing urban form and the underlying ecologies that might be invoked to shape the urban fabric. Representational strategies begin with mapping and diagramming larger ecological processes and dynamics on an urban brownfield site, and then focus on the description of built form, urban infrastructure, and the relationships between the city and its reconstituted riverine setting. Early and mid-semester workshops will focus on urban ecologies and parametric urbanism, respectively."

Aug 2012 - May 2013
 

Harvard University Loeb Library Materials Collection, Cambridge, MA, US, Student Assistant

Aug 2012 - May 2013
 

Peter Walker and Partners, Berkeley, CA, US, Intern

Jun 2012 - Aug 2012
 

Shimoda Design Group, Los Angeles, CA, US, Intern

Jun 2008 - Aug 2011
 

Chris Ward Architects, Pasadena, CA, Intern

Jun 2009 - Aug 2010
 

Education 

Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, US, Masters, Landscape Architecture

Aug 2011 - May 2013
 

University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, US, Bachelors, Landscape Architecture

Aug 2007 - May 2011
 

Awards 

Penny White Travel Grant, Grant

Travel and research supported by the Penny White Travel Fund at the Graduate School of Design to pursue the research topic "Hydrologic Impact of Maritime Industry: A Case Study - Ingalls Shipyard" in Pascagoula, Mississippi, with colleague Ellen Garrett.

2012
 

Geraldine Knight Scott Traveling Fellowship, Grant

Awarded through the landscape architecture department at UC Berkeley, the travel fellowship supported two months of travel to Germany in order to study the social and spatial implications of memorials.

2011
 

Areas of Specialization 

Skills