Archinect - News

MoMA PS1 Director Kate Fowle resigns after just three years in the role

2022-06-14T17:13:00-04:00

Kate Fowle, who became director of MoMA PS1 in 2019 and barely had the chance to lead the museum as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, abruptly announced on Friday that she was stepping down as of July 15 from the museum in Long Island City, Queens.

“This has been an extraordinary opportunity to lead MoMA PS1 over the last (nearly) three years and to work with all of you alongside our Board, patrons, and funders,” Fowle said in an email to museum staff according to The New York Times. “I want you to know that I have deep respect and admiration for you all, and that I am incredibly proud of all the work we have achieved together.”

Fowle hasn’t provided any reasoning behind her departure, however, an unnamed source told The New York Times that she had expressed difficulty managing her job during a meeting with MoMA PS1’s chair Sarah Arison and MoMA’s director Glenn D. Lowry.

While a lot of Fowle’s time has been spent mitigating the challenges brought by the pandemic throughout her brief tenure as director, there seemed to be a lot of optimism over her progressive vision for the museum. Shortly after her appointment in 2019, MoMA PS1 started a program called “Homeroom”, an exhibition space curated by community groups. Fowle also...

11 featured director-level job opportunities at firms and schools of architecture

2021-08-05T08:15:00-04:00

Now more than ever, the industry needs strong leaders to guide firms and academic institutions towards success. While it takes a team to accomplish projects and goals, directors lead offices, navigate teams, and may even act as "buffers between design teams and the higher-level leadership of an organization."

As a trusted source in the architecture community, our industry-leading job board has connected job seekers with firms for many years. Archinect highlights eleven directorial positions currently open at firms and universities for this week's curated jobs roundup.

Firm Directorial Positions

Betterment office. Image courtesy of Milo Kleinberg Design Associates (MKDA)

Milo Kleinberg Design Associates (MKDA) seeks a Technical Director
Location: Miami, FL

Description: The Miami office of MKDA is seeking a Technical Director. The Technical Director leads the office as an expert in technologies and systems that improve the quality, cost-effectiveness, and performance of our projects. ...

Carson Chan appointed as the first director of MoMA's Emilio Ambasz Institute

2021-06-11T16:19:00-04:00

The Museum of Modern Art has appointed curator, writer, and educator, Carson Chan, as the first director of the museum’s Emilio Ambasz Institute for the Joint Study of the Built and the Natural Environment. He will also serve as a curator in the museum’s Department of Architecture and Design, where he will lead initiatives focused on ecology and sustainability in collaboration with all six departments at MoMA.

As the director of the Ambasz Institute, Chan will develop a “robust and diverse” roster of exhibitions, paired with digital and onsite programs that address the interconnectedness of architecture and ecology. He will begin his new role later this summer and will organize and present a major exhibition focused on the emergence of ecological thinking in architecture, scheduled for 2023.

“I look forward to challenging MoMA’s current and future audiences with new ways to define architecture in the midst of our ecological crisis,” said Carson Chan. “My vision for the Ambasz Inst...

Francisco Javier Rodríguez-Suárez announced as University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's School of Architecture Director

2019-11-01T21:04:00-04:00

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's School of Architecture today announced Francisco Javier Rodríguez-Suárez, FAIA as its next Director. Said to be joining the university in January 2020, Rodríguez-Suárez currently serves as the ACSA Distinguished Professor of Architecture at the University of Puerto Rico. He also served as the Dean from 2007 to 2016.

With his experience as a practicing architect, academic, writer, and leader in the architecture profession, he has played a pivotal role in leading the School of Architecture at the University of Puerto Rico and its prominence amongst the Caribbean and Ilbero-Americas.

Rodríguez-Suárez studied at Georgia Tech, the Université de Paris, and Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design. At the GSD is where he earned a Master of Architecture with Distinction and American Institute of Architects (AIA) School Medal. He was also recently awarded recognition as an AIA Fellow in 2019 as well as a Distinguished Professor of the ...

Kate Fowle announced as new Director of MoMA PS1

2019-06-26T14:43:00-04:00

Assuming her new role as Director of MoMA PS1 in September, Fowle will use her previous experience as Chief Curator at Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in Moscow and director of the Independent Curators International (ICI) to lead the institution. Her global curatorial expertise and directorial experience will allow her to continue with the museum's mission.

Since its founding in 1976, MoMA PS1 has grown to become the largest site for contemporary art in the nation and is considered to be one of the largest in the world. Upon receiving the news of her appointment, Fowle shared in MoMA's press release, "It's an honor to take the helm of MoMA PS1 at this juncture in its rich history, I look forward to working with the team and board to create a generative environment where our outlook is transformed through artists and their perspectives on the world."

Image © MoMA

Before her career as an accomplished curator, writer, and museum director, Fowle grew up in the U.K. and is a trained ar...

Andrés Jaque appointed as Columbia GSAPP's new Director of Advanced Architectural Design Program

2018-05-23T14:11:00-04:00

Columbia GSAPP Dean Amale Andraos announced today that Andrés Jaque will be the new director of the school's Master of Science in Advanced Architectural Design program, effective June 1, 2018. As founder of the Office for Political of Innovation and a teacher of advanced design studios at GSAPP since 2013, Jaque will succeed Associate Professor Enrique Walker, who has directed the program since 2008.

The three-semester Advanced Architectural Design program is for outstanding students who already have a bachelor's or M.Arch degree, and is best known for offering students a framework through which they can explore professional and academic concerns. In directing the program, Jaque aims to further develop architecture's role as a critical practice that is based on constructive debate of ideas and innovative experimentation.

“More than ever, architecture is now a key player in the challenges the world faces. The AAD program occupies a unique position from which the relevance of architec...

Three candidates shortlisted in AA School of Architecture's search for its new director

2018-02-15T18:55:00-05:00

The last few months have been full of uncertainty for the prestigious AA School of Architecture, which currently does not have a permanent director (Samantha Hardingham has been interim director since Brett Steele left the position in 2016). In the school's ongoing search for a new leader, they recently revealed a shortlist of three finalist candidates. They are:

Pippo Ciorra, Senior Curator of MAXXI Architettura in Rome, architect, critic, and professor
Eva Franch i Gilabert, Chief Curator & Executive Director of Storefront for Art & Architecture in New York, architect, curator, and educator
Robert Mull, Head of Architecture and Design at the University of Brighton, architect, educator, urbanist, and activist

After receiving 73 responses to their call for applications, the AA selected 26 candidates for their initial list, which was then narrowed down to 15 candidates for the first round of interviews. The first round of interviews included individuals from Australia, North and South A...

Laurentian University welcomes first Indigenous director of a Canadian architecture school

2018-01-11T13:51:00-05:00

Laurentian University is pleased to welcome Dr. David Fortin as the next Director of the McEwen School of Architecture (MSoA). Dr. Fortin, a faculty member at the MSoA, assumed his new duties at the beginning of January, 2018, taking over from the school’s Founding Director, Dr. Terrance Galvin, who successfully led the creation and development of the MSoA since its inauguration in 2012.

The statement by Laurentian University's McEwen School of Architecture points out that Dr. Fortin is a member of the Métis Nation of Ontario, making him the first Indigenous director of a Canadian architecture school: "Dr. Fortin currently focuses on Indigenous design in contemporary architecture and is co-curator for a team of Indigenous architects (UNCEDED) representing Canada at the world-renowned 2018 Venice Biennale competition in Italy."

A+D Museum appoints Dora Epstein Jones as new Executive Director

2016-06-30T17:34:00-04:00

A little over one year since relocating to Downtown LA's Arts District, big changes continue to occur at the A+D Museum. Yesterday, the Museum announced Dora Epstein Jones as their new Executive Director, succeeding Tibbie Dunbar, who officially resigned from the position on February 1. Dunbar served as director for a nearly 12-year tenure that included notable exhibitions like “Never Built: Los Angeles”.

As only the A+D's second executive director, Epstein Jones will work to carry out the Museum's mission of being “locally focused and globally relevant”. Before joining the A+D, she served as Coordinator of History and Theory and then Coordinator of General Studies at SCI-Arc for 15 years. Widely known as a generous supporter of architects and designers, Epstein Jones has several written publications, lectures, symposia, and exhibitions all dedicated to “the public display of architecture and design across a spectrum of concerns, from aesthetic to social.” She also received a Ph.D. ...

Bêka & Lemoine's cinematic canon acquired by MoMA

2016-04-20T14:08:00-04:00

The way a building is envisioned to interact with people versus the way it actually does can be dramatically different, which is why the 16 films of Ila Bêka and Louise Lemoine are both aesthetically stunning and humanistically delightful. MoMA has acquired the pair's entire collection of work, from their first film, "Koolhaas Houselife" to their latest, ""The ∞ happiness."

Beka & Lemoine has filmed the work of a variety of well-known architects, from Bjarke Ingels to Frank Gehry to Renzo Piano. Here a few stills from "Living Architectures" and "Spiriti":

And here's the trailer for "The ∞ happiness":

Serpentine Galleries appoints Yana Peel as new CEO

2016-04-13T15:32:00-04:00

Hong Kong-based philanthropist and entrepreneur Yana Peel has been appointed chief executive of the Serpentine Galleries in London. The [Serpentine's] trustees took the unusual decision to choose a fellow trustee to fill the new post. Julia Peyton-Jones, who put the institution on the international map, is stepping down as co-director this month after 25 years at the helm. Peel will work in partnership with Hans Ulrich Obrist...[who] takes on the new role of artistic director.

"whether you can institutionalize a kind of anti-institutional message, we will see": Eric Owen Moss reflects on 14 years as SCI-Arc's director

2015-09-14T18:54:00-04:00

One of the things that we learned about SCI-Arc was that at the level of ideas, of thinking, of adventure, of imagination, of discovery ... they need accoutrements. They need support, they need tools to be realized in the world. [...] So we looked at the situation in terms of ideas — design ideas, imaginative students, creative faculty — and we had to give them the tools to implement, meaning to draw, to model what they wanted, and to make that information then available on the outside.

Eric Owen Moss is being succeeded by Hernan Diaz Alonso, who began serving as Director of SCI-Arc earlier this summer. You can find out more about Diaz Alonso's role in our Deans List feature.

Winifred E. Newman selected to head UA Fay Jones School's Department of Architecture

2015-04-27T12:22:00-04:00

Winifred E. Newman will be the next head of the Department of Architecture for the Fay Jones School of Architecture at the University of Arkansas, effective July 1. Newman is an associate professor, director of advanced studies and director of the I-CAVE Lab for Applied Visualization in the College of Architecture + the Arts at Florida International University.

Kate Orff to emphasize "climate dynamics" as new Director of Columbia GSAPP's Urban Design Program

2015-04-06T15:24:00-04:00

SCAPE founder and Columbia GSAPP Associate Professor Katherine Orff will succeed leading urban housing authority Professor Richard Plunz as the new GSAPP Director of the Urban Design Program starting this June. As a longtime GSAPP and Urban Design Program faculty member and landscape architect, Orff is best known for her eco-sensitive and resilient approach in her projects that integrate urban design, landscape design, and architecture.

Strongly reflecting SCAPE's design philosophy, Orff plans to expand the Program with an emphasis on interdisciplinary research and engagement in dealing with timely issues of climate change and social topics. "My goal is to magnify the social and humanitarian ethos that the Program is well known for, and bring it together with themes of infrastructure, urbanism and climate dynamics," Orff said in a statement.

Evidently, Orff's work throughout her time in Columbia is heavy in collaboration. In the past, she has led various multi-disciplinary collaborat...

Mark Boyer selected to head LSU School of Landscape Architecture

2015-03-30T17:29:00-04:00

Mark E. Boyer, professor and head of the Department of Landscape Architecture in the Fay Jones School of Architecture, plans to leave the University of Arkansas this summer after 17 years to become the director of the Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture at Louisiana State University. [...] Pending approval from the LSU System Board of Supervisors, Boyer will assume directorship of the school effective July 2015.

Hernan Diaz Alonso to follow Eric Owen Moss as Director of SCI-Arc, + Deans List sneak peek

2014-09-17T21:05:00-04:00

I am pleased that the SCI-Arc Board of Trustees at its quarterly meeting [on Wednesday, September 10] approved the contract with Hernan Diaz Alonso as the next Director of SCI-Arc. Hernan will assume this role beginning September 2015.

Hernan Diaz Alonso's appointment had been percolating since the beginning of the summer, when SCI-Arc's search committee first recommended him for the position after also considering professor Wes Jones. Diaz Alonso will take up the directorship at a pivotal point in SCI-Arc's history in relation to the city of Los Angeles, succeeding Eric Owen Moss' thirteen-year service which solidified the school's position in the now rapidly-developing Arts District of downtown LA.

Aside from serving academic and administrative roles at SCI-Arc since 2001, Diaz Alonso is also principal of LA-based Xefirotarch, a multidisciplinary practice that won MoMA PS1's Young Architects Program in 2005. He will also serve as Yale University's Eero Saarinen Professor of Architectural Design in Spring 2015.

Before Diaz Alonso's role was made public, we spoke with him for our Deans List series, focusing on his plans for managing SCI-Arc's evolution in the midst of a rapidly changing Los Angeles. Here are a few t...