Tulane School of Architecture (TuSA), one of Archinect’s School Partners, welcomes nine full-time incoming faculty members who will hold permanent positions at the school starting in the 2023/24 school year.
TuSA Dean Iñaki Alday shared that the aim for this new round of faculty hiring was to respond to the school's growth and impact on the school's programs housed within the school – Real Estate Development, Landscape Architecture, Historic Preservation, Social Innovation, Design and Architecture. Dean Alday explained, "...new people equals new perspectives, new reach, and a richer learning environment." He adds, "We're very committed to this work because we need our faculty to represent different perspectives, different cultures, different educations, and different experiences. Diversity of thought is essential for excellence and innovative thinking."
As schools strive to improve hiring practices and faculty recruitment, Tulane's Edson Cabalfin, Associate Professor, Director of SISE, and Associate Dean for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, shared, "The goal is to increase the number of faculty from historically underrepresented groups-including race, sexuality, gender identity, socioeconomic status, nationality, educational/academic background, and research focus, among others." He adds by expressing that the work to diversify and improve on providing opportunities for individuals to bring new insights into academia must continue. "We're explicit that this is part of our goal, and it's something we're working hard on."
Learn more about each incoming faculty's background, area of expertise, and what they hope to achieve at TuSA below.
What excites you most about joining the faculty at Tulane’s School of Architecture?
As an architectural historian who is concerned with utilizing the archive to guide curriculum design for future practicing architects and scholars, I’m super excited to join the Tulane School of Architecture. Together, architects like Cordula Roser Gray and preservationists like Fallon Samuels Aidoo, along with the many real estate developers who currently teach at Tulane, approach critical issues of housing, climate change, and urbanization through interdisciplinary methods. By bringing my expertise about the intersection between social movements, urban planning, environmentalism, race, and gender into the school, I hope that my research and teaching will contribute to what I see as an already innovative contemporary design education at Tulane.
How would you describe your teaching philosophy?
My teaching philosophy is rooted in the belief that I have to consistently work to improve the learning environment. I don’t see teaching as a profession but as a personal commitment. As someone who will primarily be teaching architectural history, I know that my courses will serve as some of the few experiences that challenge students to face the social components of their future work. My ultimate goal is for students to develop a social and historical awareness, as well as strong written analytical skills, that they find to be applicable to a broad range of career ambitions.
What is your prior education and teaching history?
After receiving my undergraduate degree at the University of California, Los Angeles, I worked as a graphic designer for five years before returning to UCLA to complete a Master’s in Urban Planning and a PhD in Architectural History. Throughout that time, I redesigned and taught survey courses at USC and UCLA for 7 years before joining the faculty at ETH Zurich, where I taught lecture courses as well as graduate-level proseminars for 3 years. In the past several years, I have also contributed to the development of new architectural teaching modules for the Global Architectural History and Theory Collaborative (GAHTC), a Mellon Foundation-funded initiative at MIT that supports the production of teaching materials for university courses in architectural history. As part of the GAHTC, I co-created a teaching module titled Architecture of the African Diaspora in/of the United States, which includes syllabi, reading lists, handouts, and quizzes on the topic of architectural production by people of African descent.
What distinguished Tulane (and particularly the School of Architecture) from other schools as you were making the decision to join the faculty?
During my campus visit, I spent the majority of my day in the Newcomb Quad Pavilions, the temporary studios for the School of Architecture, and walked the Newcomb Art Museum. I later learned the history behind the Newcomb name, and was drawn in particular to the story of Sophia Newcomb and the Newcomb Memorial College for Women endowed in her honor in 1886. The Newcomb College for Women was affiliated with Tulane and supported women’s education through fine and applied arts. The rich tradition of arts and crafts, as well as feminist education practices at Tulane was a big draw for me. By joining the faculty at Tulane's School of Architecture, I have the exciting opportunity to bring research about women and their contributions to the field of architecture into a space that has historical ties to feminist education.
Can you tell us about a project or research you are currently pursuing?
I am currently completing my first book project Black Architectures: Race Pedagogy and Practice. The book places oral histories into conversation with archival resources to narrate how Civil Rights and Black Power movements reverberated through architectural culture in the 1960s. The case studies included in Black Architectures consist of un-built plans, proposals, and ideas for buildings that originated during a tumultuous moment. Rather than center the archive of architectural production, the book underscores how Black architectural thought imagined other ways of space-making, and demonstrates how these proposals are key to writing an anti-racist history of architecture.
What's something you hope to achieve while at Tulane?
In my first couple of years at Tulane, I will complete my first book, Black Architectures, and subsequently conduct significant archival research for a second book project, provisionally titled Swamp Life. Extending my initial engagement with Black theories of urban space, I am interested in engaging with concepts of property, ownership, and capital through more rural developments. By considering a group of 5 African-American women as figures who put abolition and spatial frameworks for property in direct dialogue with architectures of the 19th century to the present, I am particularly interested in highlighting designs meant for swamp lands and swamp living. One of the key figures in my book is Black queer designer Amaza Lee Meredith, who brokered the purchase and development of Azurest North, an exclusively Black resort community on the unwanted swamplands of northeastern Long Island in the 1930s. Through close examination of a collection of Meridith’s Papers, currently held at the University of Virginia, I will develop a foundation for understanding how imaginative reconceptualizations of swamplands have built passageways to Black freedom and home ownership since abolition. While making New Orleans my new home, the questions I address in my research will surely be reshaped by my engagement with the swampy wetlands of the Mississippi River Delta.
What excites you most about joining the faculty at Tulane’s School of Architecture?
I am excited to help build new capacities in computational design and digital fabrication at the school and to find ways that these technologies can interface with existing research and interests among students and faculty colleagues. I am particularly interested in how we can develop critical approaches to digital technologies in architecture that help us to address the significant challenges of our time, such as the climate crisis and its impacts on the environment and society.
How would you describe your teaching philosophy?
When introducing computational methods of design and fabrication, I try to instill a critical sensibility among students in regard to these technologies. Too often in both academia and practice, we associate these tools with specific aesthetic, formal tropes; in my teaching, I try to cultivate a much broader understanding of computational thinking and workflows that is less driven by a formal agenda and more focused on expanding architecture’s capacities to address challenges like environmental performance and material efficiency. Making at or near full scale—getting the work out of the computer and into the world—is central to this work, as it encourages students to understand the physical logics of fabrication and assembly.
What is your prior education and teaching history?
I am a graduate of Brown University, where I studied architectural history and theory, and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, where I received my Master of Architecture degree. Prior to coming to Tulane, I taught for ten years at California College of the Arts, where I co-founded and directed the Architectural Ecologies Lab. From 2011-2013 I was the Cass Gilbert Assistant Professor at the University of Minnesota School of Architecture, and prior to that, I taught at the Department of Architecture at Barnard College/Columbia University in New York.
How would you describe your teaching philosophy?
When introducing computational methods of design and fabrication, I try to instill a critical sensibility among students in regard to these technologies. Too often in both academia and practice, we associate these tools with specific aesthetic, formal tropes; in my teaching, I try to cultivate a much broader understanding of computational thinking and workflows that is less driven by a formal agenda and more focused on expanding architecture’s capacities to address challenges like environmental performance and material efficiency. Making at or near full scale—getting the work out of the computer and into the world—is central to this work, as it encourages students to understand the physical logics of fabrication and assembly.
What do you hope to achieve while at Tulane?
A primary focus of my work is developing innovative material systems that perform ecologically, and I hope to collaborate with colleagues both within the School and in other disciplines and departments to expand architecture’s engagement with ecological systems and critical environmental issues related to climate adaptation. This year I will be leading a new collaboration with Tulane’s Ceramics program in the Newcomb Art Department, where we will be working with 3D printers to design and fabricate modular ceramic systems. I hope the partnership can generate new opportunities for collaboration between artists and architects at the University.
Can you tell us about a project or research you are currently pursuing?
For the past several years, I have been developing research into 3D-printed ceramics, focusing on ecological performance and how this material might serve as a substrate for plant and animal life. I am interested in how we can build upon architecture’s long tradition of architectural ceramics but also engage new technologies of design and fabrication to open up new forms of ecological engagement through material innovation. I am currently working on a public art commission in Norfolk, Virginia, that explores these techniques. Next spring, I’ll be teaching a Research Studio focused on this work, and I’m looking forward to collaborating with Tulane Architecture students to advance this research.
This summer, I am completing the book Drawing Codes: Experimental Protocols of Architectural Representation, co-edited with my colleague Andrew Kudless of the University of Houston. This book, published by Applied Research + Design, is the culmination of a 6-year curatorial project exploring the impact of computation on architectural representation. It features commissioned drawings by 96 architects, as well as five critical essays by invited authors.
Do you feel that New Orleans is a unique place to be teaching architecture? If so, why?
It is hard to think of a more relevant context in which to speculate and work on architecture’s relationship to climate. The Gulf Coast’s vulnerability to the impacts of climate change and the city’s complex layers of social and environmental infrastructures present numerous challenges to which I think architects can bring important expertise. I look forward to learning more about the region’s rich architectural history, particularly in relation to climate and environment, and working with students to prototype new ways for architecture to engage with the broader ecosystem.
What excites you most about joining the faculty at Tulane’s School of Architecture?
What truly excites me about joining Tulane’s School of Architecture (TuSA) is its multidisciplinary and collaborative approach toward research and design. I'm drawn to TuSA's emphasis on ecological and social sustainability, which harmonizes perfectly with my research interests. Furthermore, it would be a privilege to work alongside TuSA's distinguished faculty and students, for I share their dedication to advancing our world through architecture.
What is your prior education and teaching history?
Before joining TuSA, I taught and mentored both within institutions and outside of them in several countries, including Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and China. I taught at the Rhode Island School of Designand was the Joseph F. Thomas Visiting Professor at the Carnegie Mellon University School of Architecture. Prior to that, I worked with several offices, including Gensler in Los Angeles and UNStudio in Hong Kong on various projects like theaters, residential towers, and mixed-use developments of different scales. All these experiences have enriched my understanding of diverse teaching methods and my ability to engage with students while acknowledging their unique worldviews.
What is something you hope to achieve while at Tulane?
While at Tulane, I aim to cultivate a more profound ecological consciousness within the architectural discourse. I plan to reshape the political, economic, and cultural forces that underpin our built environment through design-oriented methodologies. My ultimate goal is to produce more inclusive and equitable design practices that address the challenges faced by disadvantaged minorities, particularly in the face of environmental degradation.
What distinguished Tulane (and particularly the School of Architecture) from other schools as you were making the decision to join the faculty?
The forward-thinking focus of Tulane, particularly within the School of Architecture, really set it apart for me. Its emphasis on ecological and social sustainability aligns with my own research interests. Furthermore, TuSA’s commitment to a multidisciplinary and collaborative approach, as well as its dedication to fostering critical and creative pedagogy, strongly resonated with my personal teaching philosophy and values.
How would you describe your teaching philosophy?
My teaching philosophy emphasizes the importance of practice-based learning, where students can apply theoretical concepts to real-world scenarios. I strive to broaden the scope of references used in traditional exercises like precedent studies to include non-traditional and non-colonial knowledge, making discourse more inclusive and relevant. This approach encourages students to consider structures that have a broader impact than their local footprints and to engage in critical design thinking. Ultimately, I aim to equip students with the tools to engage in architecture beyond academia, preparing them to address ongoing and impending socio-environmental crises.
Can you tell us about a project or research you are currently pursuing?
Currently, I am collaborating with Atelier Wei, a Wuhan-based office, on large-scale projects in China's Hubei Province. These projects aim to invigorate rural values through cultural and economic revitalization. We are balancing the quantitative requirements of clients with ecological explorations to bring a holistic attitude to designing aesthetic projects. I have named this area of my research "Architecture's Ecological Restructuring," which highlights the importance of reorienting architecture along ecological lines.
Do you feel that New Orleans is a unique place to be teaching architecture? If so, why?
New Orleans presents a unique context for teaching architecture due to its rich cultural heritage, dynamic socio-economic landscape, and challenges posed by climate change. The city serves as a living laboratory where students can learn how design can respond to socio-environmental crises while respecting cultural context. It provides a strong foundation for discussions about the role of architecture in social equity and environmental resilience.
What excites you most about joining the faculty at Tulane’s School of Architecture?
I am excited to be a part of a faculty that prioritizes the student experience while also pushing the field in exciting new directions. Having visited the school several times over the years for reviews of student projects, the commitment to learning is clear in both the rigor of the curriculum as well as the interactions between students and professors.
What is your prior education and teaching history?
I have been studying landscape architecture since my undergraduate days. I started in the Forestry School at the University of Georgia, and after a summer as a wilderness intern in Colorado repairing trails, I decided I wanted to be more on the design side of the landscape, but I didn’t know what that meant at the time. When I returned to campus that fall, I discovered by accident—I happened to walk by the building—the Landscape Architecture department and immediately switched majors. After several years of practice in Boston, I entered graduate school at Harvard University to revisit the field from a new perspective and perhaps move into academics. After graduation, I taught for a year at Auburn University, and from there took a tenure-track position at Louisiana State University (LSU) and taught for 12 years. I arrived in January 2005, about 9 months before Hurricane Katrina hit the state, and have been teaching and practicing in Louisiana since.
How would you describe your teaching philosophy?
I believe teaching should be socially relevant and directly engaged with issues students face today. Take, for example, a history course in Landscape Architecture. We might think ‘history is history,’ and students should learn what came before them in their field, who did what, what were the influential projects, and what were the big ideas. That the history of the field is sort of immutable.
But the history course I took in the early 90s should be very different from the same history course taught today. The questions we were asking back then were different, as was the context in which those ideas lived. This applies to all of the courses I teach, from studios to ecology courses. Teaching should give students the tools they need to navigate the future and engage with the world.
What distinguished Tulane (and particularly the School of Architecture) from other schools as you were making the decision to join the faculty?
The Tulane School of Architecture is leading the way in finding synergies between disciplines. The questions we are asking require a 360-degree view of the issues, and Tulane has a culture of bringing people together. I am excited about the opportunity to build a network of colleagues, both within the School of Architecture and throughout the University, that can illuminate parts of my work with their perspectives and experience.
What is something you hope to achieve while at Tulane?
I hope to be a part of building the most innovative Landscape Architecture program in the world around the issues of climate change. My dream is to see students coming out of the Landscape Architecture program working across the globe to help vulnerable communities adapt to sea level rise, extreme heat, inland flooding, and the host of other challenges we will be facing over the coming decades.
Can you tell us about a project or research you are currently pursuing?
I am working on a series of projects with EPA, and in some communities with FEMA as well, on a program focused on Equitable Disaster Resilience. We are working with communities across the country to build their capacity to withstand natural hazards. We are working with communities like the Gullah Geechee in coastal South Carolina, the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes in Montana, and even the local shrimpers and Pont au Chien Indian Tribe in Terrebonne Parish here in Louisiana. The goal of the project is to build capacity from within the community based on the needs they define and their local knowledge and skills.
Do you feel that New Orleans is a unique place to be teaching landscape architecture? If so, why?
New Orleans and coastal Louisiana are on the frontlines of the issues that will fundamentally change the world over the next seven to eight decades. Rethinking our landscapes and our cities is central to our ability to thrive in the new world we have created. The summer of 2023 feels like the first real reckoning in the US with the fact that climate change is here and that it is not going to wait for us to catch up. But New Orleans is almost two decades ahead of most parts of the country in coming to terms with these issues. New Orleans has learned so much in the last two decades about the technical challenges of dealing with climate change, but more importantly—and this is where I think Louisiana is ahead of the curve—we have learned about the cultural issues, the economic issues, the moral issues, the equity issues that are critical to adapting to a new world. This is an understanding, a capacity within the culture that has been built over time that is not easily transmitted via textbooks. It must be experienced. And New Orleans is the place to learn about these issues.
What excites you most about joining the faculty at Tulane’s School of Architecture?
I’m most excited about the fact that TuSA is very forward-thinking and looking to be at the cutting edge of solving the most crucial problems (built environment). This is evident in the way the School has grown in the last couple of years.
How would you describe your teaching philosophy?
My teaching philosophy encompasses the following ideals; Facilitator, Diversity, Experiential, and Inspirational. I believe in being a facilitator of the learning experience that supports students to get the right information (diversity of perspectives), knowledge, and understanding (critical thinking and experiential) and inspires them to apply wisdom (take action) to become productive individuals.
What is your prior education and teaching history?
I have a BSc in Business Economics (2009) from the American University of Nigeria (AUN) and an MS in International Development (2016) from Tulane University. My previous teaching history includes being a TA at the Taylor Center (2015- 2016, Intro to SISE and Leadership for Social Impact). I also taught SISE at the AUN until 2022.
What's something you hope to achieve while at Tulane?
I hope to be able to demonstrate the importance/synergy of SISE to the study and practice of the built environment.
What distinguished Tulane (and particularly the School of Architecture) from other schools as you were making the decision to join the faculty?
TuSA is highly rated in the country and attracts a dynamic profile of students. It is a forward-thinking school that is looking to be at the cutting edge of producing the best graduates and solutions to the world’s most pressing problems.
Can you tell us about a project or research you are currently pursuing?
I’m currently working with a group of educators and entrepreneurs to reimagine traditional African educational systems and adapt it into a curriculum for the establishment of self-sustainable schools.
Do you feel that New Orleans is a unique place to be teaching architecture? If so, why?
New Orleans, like many other major cities globally, is a coastal city that is facing the ever-increasing threat of climate change and other socioeconomic disparities, such as multidimensional poverty. Therefore, it is an ideal place for the birthing of innovative ideas that will solve some of the world's biggest challenges in the coming decades.
What excites you most about joining the faculty at Tulane’s School of Architecture?
I am deeply passionate about Tulane's School of Architecture, which strongly commits to sustainability and developing socially conscious and environmentally just models to inhabit the planet. Their emphasis on fostering a culture of innovation aligns perfectly with my values and aspirations. It's thrilling to be part of a university that consistently aims for excellence.
How would you describe your teaching philosophy?
Architectural education goes beyond just training students to become architects. I strongly believe that education is about empowering individuals to reach their full potential and make valuable contributions to society. In essence, teaching is about acquiring knowledge, and knowledge is about making a positive impact.
Energy and enthusiasm can be infectious, and I strive to bring both to my classroom. When students are passionate about their work and can relate to it based on their personal experiences and knowledge, they tend to be more productive. I enjoy challenging my students with project designs and assignments that help them gain more knowledge and confidence. It is a journey that both the faculty and students should be committed to and engaged in.
My teaching philosophy has two main components: recognizing design as a process and utilizing technology in design. On the other hand, I understand that optimal learning in building technology courses occurs when technology and design are engaged. I strive to combine technology and design and utilize design principles with imagination and creativity.
What is your prior education and teaching history?
I grew up in a European city and was educated in an environment spectrum of cultures and identities. I hold a Bachelor's in Architecture, a Master’s degree Master of Science in Architecture and Sustainable Environment, and a Master's Degree in Business Administration, and I am a Certified Passive House Designer Consultant. I am a practitioner architect with over 15 years of experience working alongside private clients and builders to develop architectural designs for residential, commercial, and healthcare projects. I am also a founder-partner of studioVRA
Moreover, I have lived in several cities such as Leeds (UK), Milan (Italy), Dubai (UAE), and New Orleans (EEUU), absorbing regional traditions and understanding their cultures, which led me to develop a way of design and practice enriched with diverse insights thanks to cultures so different from my own country Spain.
What's something you hope to achieve while at Tulane?
At Tulane, I have started my independent research around energy modeling, architectural design, and climate change, so I plan to continue with that theoretical part deeply while developing and improving my professional practice. One of my obsessions, besides my passion for architecture, is the way in which technology can help us architects address climate change to be more resilience for the future and be a friendly environment with our designs
What distinguished Tulane (and particularly the School of Architecture) from other schools as you were making the decision to join the faculty?
The School of Architecture is dedicated to promoting innovative work that crosses disciplinary boundaries. It is one of the leading universities that tackle the most urgent challenges in the built environment and has a rich history of addressing fundamental issues and creating new knowledge. Its mission and its values are something that aligns perfectly with my values and aspirations.
Can you tell us about a project or research you are currently pursuing?
I conduct research in two main areas: theoretical and practical. My practical research involves submitting proposals for design and construction competitions. My most recent submission was for an indoor swimming pool and sports center with high-efficiency performance. Meanwhile, my theoretical research aims to create a customized strategy catalog for different climate zones. The goal is to mitigate the effects of climate change by designing buildings with low energy consumption, high indoor environmental quality, thermal comfort, and sustainability. To achieve this, I'm using digital and energy modeling tools to evaluate building performance from the initial design stages. My overall objective is to propose energy-efficient buildings that maintain design quality.
In terms of my theoretical research, I plan to share and promote it through peer-reviewed conferences and journals. This will help me receive external feedback and gain real-world experiences to enhance my research. Additionally, I plan to work on developing my book ‘’ Environment, and Design Approaches to Climates ‘’ while pursuing these goals.
Do you feel that New Orleans is a unique place to be teaching architecture? If so, why?
I strongly believe that New Orleans is a one-of-a-kind city that has successfully navigated through various disasters with remarkable resilience and social cohesion. This makes it an ideal learning ground for architects and students to realize that designing architecture is not just a creative endeavor but also a responsible social and environmental undertaking that can bring about positive change and adapt to climate change.
What excites you most about joining the faculty at Tulane’s School of Architecture?
It’s a super exciting time to be at Tulane with so many new faculty joining the school with fresh perspectives and so many new programs and initiatives on the horizon. Personally, I’m most excited about the ongoing work Margarita Jover, Wes Michaels, and I are doing to create the new graduate Landscape Architecture and Engineering program. It’s an amazing opportunity to be able to work with two brilliant designers to shape the curriculum of this program into something that we hope will be new and innovative and will really prepare the next generation of landscape architects for tackling the scale of the ecological crises we’re dealing with, particularly in this region.
How would you describe your teaching philosophy?
Undoubtedly developed during my time working at SCAPE Landscape Architecture, my teaching philosophy relies on ecology in the broadest sense of the word—the study of relationships between things: organisms, people, and the environment—to help students move away from solutionist thinking about design problems and toward consideration for new, potential relationships that might unfold over time. This teaching approach positions students as the agents of systemic change—rather than designers of static objects—and teaches them to anticipate various potential outcomes from the processes their design work sets in motion.
What is your prior education and teaching history?
I received my Bachelor of Science in Agriculture from Cornell University and then my Master of Landscape Architecture from the University of Virginia (UVA). This trajectory and the amazing mentorship I received at both institutions have really shaped my research focus on climate adaptation and working landscapes. I taught the NASEM design research studio and an elective seminar on geospatial visualization and mapping at Tulane last year but have also taught urban design studios at Columbia University GSAPP and landscape studios and digital media courses at UVA.
What distinguished Tulane (and particularly the School of Architecture) from other schools as you were making the decision to join the faculty?
As I mentioned, it’s a unique opportunity to join the School of Architecture and participate in the formation of a brand-new department and program. Rather than joining a program with a distinct identity and history, it’s exciting to be able to work together with people I’ve known and respected for many years (I had Margarita as a professor in grad school, and I worked with Wes at his firm in 2016!) to craft a Landscape Architecture and Engineering graduate program that is truly unique and tailored to the unique contexts of Gulf Coast landscapes.
What is something you hope to achieve while at Tulane?
In addition to the new position, I was very recently awarded a Bywater Fellowship – the first fellow from the School of Architecture! – and I’m very excited to use this opportunity to strengthen the relationship between the School of Architecture and Bywater. The Bywater Institute’s goal to prioritize collaboration between humans and the environment is so closely aligned with our aspirations for the landscape architecture department, and I hope to establish some cross-disciplinary research collaborations that really speak to these shared interests.
Can you tell us about a project or research you are currently pursuing?
Margarita and I will continue to collaborate on the NASEM Gulf Climate Futures Research, including our second year of the pilot design research studio this Fall. We have several publications coming out this year related to both the studio and the research on regenerative future scenarios for the Gulf region, including an internal book publication and website we’ll be debuting this year. We’re also looking forward to creating more synergies with other NASEM Gulf Research Program projects happening across the University and collaborating with the other 4 universities across the region who have also received this grant. I can send you our most recent presentation about the work if you’d like.
Do you feel that New Orleans is a unique place to be teaching landscape architecture? If so, why?
I’ve been living in New Orleans on and off for 8 years, and what keeps drawing me back is the constant source of inspiration that comes from working within such dynamic landscapes and of course, the people in this city who are so passionate about this place.
New Orleans is also a place with unique challenges that can, at times make the city feel like a “canary in a coal mine.” So much of what we experience here from a climate perspective – extreme urban heat island effect, increased frequency of storms – are early indicators of the potential impacts that a changing climate will have in other places across the world. Exposing students firsthand to the complexity of these challenges and encouraging them to think innovatively about how we should live, design and dream in a place like New Orleans is critical to educating the next generation of designers.
What excites you most about joining the faculty/accepting the POP position at Tulane’s School of Architecture?
The timing of my appointment is what excites me most about accepting the POP position at Tulane’s School of Architecture. The school is at a pivotal moment in its history. Between Richardson Memorial Hall’s restoration and renovation, the new programs being added, and the current ones being expanded, I feel as though there is so much potential for positive growth and change. I am also thrilled to be joining a team of professionals who are dedicated to a common mission and consistently strive towards excellence in their work and teaching.
How would you describe your teaching philosophy?
My teaching philosophy is focused on interactive learning and creating a safe environment for my students to explore relative interests with support and guidance. Historic Preservation is a dynamic and broad career path with many options of study. Through exposure to tangible case studies and research methodologies, I hope to distill the essence of what makes the field so rich and worthy of focus. I also strive to learn along with my students, and from them, by viewing them as colleagues and active partners in the process of education. One of the greatest benefits of teaching is that you can become a lifelong learner yourself through interactions with students and the individuals and communities that you partner with.
What is your prior education and teaching history?
My undergraduate degree is in Crafts with a concentration in Fibers & Material Studies from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. After working as a practicing artist, I obtained my Master of Fine Art from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. Upon graduating, I returned to Philadelphia, where I taught within the Fibers & Material Studies program of Tyler School of Art at Temple University. I later relocated to New Orleans, where I pursued and was awarded a Master of Preservation Studies degree from Tulane School of Architecture. Prior to taking on this current role at TuSA I was an adjunct, teaching one to two courses per semester within the Historic Preservation program.
What distinguished Tulane (and particularly the School of Architecture) from other schools as you were making the decision to join the faculty?
As an alumna, I have a long-standing relationship with the School of Architecture and am well aware of its commitment to solution-based approaches to architectural education that have a real-world impact and to social and environmental justice concerns. I am also a proud New Orleanian, by choice, not birth, and am dedicated to actively trying to keep this wonderful place afloat for as long as it will allow. By accepting this position, I can better serve my local community in proactively protecting the historic built environment and exposing systematic issues that have long laid dormant. This place-based approach is something that, for me, would not carry the same passion anywhere else.
What do you hope to achieve while at Tulane?
While at Tulane, I hope to take advantage of the many opportunities for collaboration across programs and disciplines. Part of that will be staying informed on the work being done by the many centers and institutes affiliated with the university. Another aspect will be proactively building relationships with other departments. There is so much cross-over between the field of Historic Preservation and the research being done by not only Humanities disciplines but also by Law, Social Sciences, Engineering, and International Studies. Being part of a large and dynamic research-focused university allows for truly groundbreaking partnerships, and I am very much looking forward to exploring that.
Can you tell us about a project or research you are currently pursuing?
Since 2020, I have been managing a project to digitally map the thirteen cemeteries operated by New Orleans Catholic Cemeteries. In working with several partners within Tulane University utilizing ArcGIS software in the field, we have successfully documented nearly six of the thirteen. Dr. Laura Kelley’s “Irish in New Orleans” course through the Tulane Center for Public Service has been instrumental in helping to complete the documentation of the St. Patrick Cemeteries, and interns and practicum students from the Historic Preservation program of Tulane School of Architecture have led the work on two others. All the recorded data will ultimately be published online and made available to the public through the website of New Orleans Catholic Cemeteries. This information will allow the user to locate a specific tomb within any given cemetery through their digital device and will provide a host of genealogical information as well.
Do you feel that New Orleans is a unique place to be teaching Historic Preservation? If so, why?
New Orleans is an innately unique place to be teaching Historic Preservation. It is often referred to as the northernmost Caribbean city and carries with it a host of cultural and architectural influences from France, Spain, and West Africa. It is also heavily impacted by climate change, and its built environment has always been in a precarious relationship with its natural landscape and the Gulf of Mexico. With this convergence of cultural influence and climate concerns comes a unique laboratory in which to study and practice Historic Preservation. We are able to meet the challenges of the field head-on and devise practical solutions that can benefit inhabitants of the city now and well into the future.
What excites you most about joining the faculty at Tulane’s School of Architecture?
While my role on the faculty has certainly changed and expanded, I’m not joining the faculty now. I’ve been teaching real estate development in the Tulane School of Architecture since 2008, mostly as an adjunct. I was the first person to teach real estate several years before there was a sustainable real estate development program. What excites me the most now is the chance to lean into the collective legacy of the last 15 years of real estate development education at Tulane. We have a few hundred alumni spread throughout the country doing exciting work. We have a new group of graduate and undergraduate students each academic year who are looking to real estate not just as a career but as a means for creating positive change in the world. What a privilege and what a blessing to be part of this.
How would you describe your teaching philosophy?
I believe that students need to learn by doing but also with the space and support to be wrong in an environment where you don’t pay a price for your mistakes. When you go into real estate development, especially entrepreneurial development, mistakes can mean financial ruin and bankruptcy. By creating an environment where students get to learn the ropes without actually being financially responsible for the outcomes, where faculty can share approaches and strategies that worked as well as approaches and strategies that were complete failures, that is the real magic of this program. Helping people avoid the pitfalls that will sink their companies and learn from the hard-earned mistakes we have made is rewarding and very appreciated.
What is your prior education and teaching history?
I finished an AB with Honors in Cross-cultural studies at Davidson College (and simultaneously completed the requirements for a BS in Physics – though Davidson didn’t offer dual degrees at the time) and went to work after graduation for a small housing non-profit in town, the Davidson Housing Coalition. It was there that I fell in love with real estate development and its power to change the trajectory of places. I stayed for almost 3 years before pursuing a dual Master's program in City Planning and Real Estate Development at MIT’s School of Architecture and Planning. In what was supposed to be my final year at MIT, I received a National Science Foundation Research Fellowship and decided to stay on for a PhD. In the midst of that effort, Katrina hit, and my dissertation chair, J. Phillip Thompson, introduced me to Len Riggio, the Chairman of Barnes and Noble, who asked me to move to New Orleans for 6 months and help set up Project Home Again so that he and his wife could support the recovery of New Orleans. In month 5, I walked into Vaughan’s one night, met my wife, and never left. Ultimately, we helped Project Home Again build 171 houses and give them away to families who lost their homes after the levee failures. The involvement with Project Home Again also supported the launch of Green Coast Enterprises, which turned 16 this last April and is thriving under the leadership of Jackie Dadakis, who also happens to be on the Sustainable Real Estate Development faculty. Several years after starting my company and teaching at Tulane, my wife and I decided that I had to finish my dissertation before my daughter was born (we also had an infant son) or I would let it go. I worked over 200 consecutive days – weekdays at Green Coast and weekends on the dissertation, and I got a draft out to my committee just after my daughter was born (5 weeks early). My dissertation defense was actually done via Skype from a room at Tulane. And I’ve continued teaching here every year since.
What distinguished Tulane (and particularly the School of Architecture) from other schools as you were making the decision to join the faculty?
This is my home. I have been teaching as part of this faculty for 15 years. I was one of the founding faculty in the program that I teach in. I wasn’t thinking about teaching at Tulane or teaching somewhere else. I started teaching here as a young man. I hope to stop teaching here as a very old one many decades from now. In between, I hope to continue to meet and know the students turned professionals who are transforming this industry both locally and nationally. In the end, I hope to have left at least a small indelible mark on the way they think about this important work of creating the places and spaces where we all carry out our lives.
What's something you hope to achieve while at Tulane?
I hope to expand our efforts in real estate development education to include more community and executive education. I believe that the opportunity to most substantially grow our influence and program revenue is by making the teaching and learning we do more accessible to people who don’t have the opportunity to spend a year and tens of thousands of dollars in residence at Tulane. I want to restructure the delivery of parts of our real estate development curriculum and make it accessible to professionals working in communities across the country who need to build real estate development skills to address the problems and challenges that they find in their neighborhoods. This doesn’t replace the core group of graduate and undergraduate students who do matriculate full-time in our programs but supplements that effort with one that is more accessible to a broader range of students.
Can you tell us about a project or research you are currently pursuing?
I am building (along with my faculty colleague, Daniela Rivero-Bryant) a first-of-its-kind fintech business, Reimagine Development Partners (Reimagine). Reimagine works to expand access to historic tax credit investing. In short, we work with US-based taxpayers and real estate developers to help them understand how the historic tax credit can be used to rebuild communities and how those same taxpayers can invest in real estate projects using money they were already going to pay in federal income taxes. You can check out what we’re doing at www.reimaginedp.com.
Do you feel that New Orleans is a unique place to be teaching real estate development? If so, why?
New Orleans is a central player in the most prescient challenges of our time. We are on the front lines of climate change, living in a City that is defined and threatened by water. Changes in sea level will show up at our doorstep first, and the increased intensity of everything from rain storms to heat waves to hurricanes threatens our well-being from day to day and season to season. Beyond this, we have deep scars around race and access to opportunity. Finding ways to rebuild communities marked by racism and neglect without furthering inequality will be fundamental to addressing America’s original sin, and New Orleans, on its best days, is at the forefront of that too. I can think of no more interesting place to practice a mission-driven approach to real estate development and real estate finance.
Learn more about Tulane School of Architecture, its degrees, and programming, and request for more info here.
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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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