Sat Apr 11th, 4pm @ Greene Gallery:

“WITCH[CRAFT]”_

On Saturday, April 11th, 2015, the Rensselaer Positions Series will host “Witch[craft],” with Evan Douglis, Dean of the School of Architecture and principle of Evan Douglis Studio. The presentation will be followed by a round-table discussion among all in attendance.

“Witch[craft]” poses the following questions:

In an era of digital dexterity, how does one pursue a project of authenticity? How does one manage increased complexity in order to obtain differentiation with a higher degree of intelligence? How should one interpret the value of analog vs. digital crafts at the turn of the century? How does one pursue a project of infinite variation? When does fiction and reality become inseparable? And the purpose of a bottom-up and top-down approach is? How can ornament be reinterpreted in our contemporary world? What is the promise of mass-customization? What do you mean by ‘digital alchemy’? Where does language end and architecture begin?

About the Participants

Evan Douglis is the principal of Evan Douglis Studio LLC and Dean of the School of Architecture at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Prior to his appointment as Dean, Douglis served as chair of the undergraduate architecture program at Pratt Institute, an associate professor and the director of the architecture galleries at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University, and a professor at The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture at the Cooper Union. His firm’s unique cutting edge research into computer-aided digital design and fabrication technology as applied to a range of diverse gallery installations, product designs, commercial and residential projects, urban redevelopment schemes and prefabricated modular building components has elicited international acclaim.

Recognized for his innovative approach to design Douglisʼ awards include: a NYFA fellowship, a Design Vanguard profile by Architectural Record, an I.D. Magazine Honorable Mention, a FEIDAD Design Merit Award, two finalist nominations for the North American James Beard Foundation Restaurant Design Awards, a selected fellow in the EKWC European Ceramic Work Centreʼs Brick Project Residency Program, an ACADIA Award for Emerging Digital Practice, a Presidential Citation from The Cooper Union and more recently, an AIA/LA Peopleʼs Restaurant Choice Award.

Douglis received his Bachelor of Architecture degree from The Cooper Union and his Master of Architecture degree from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University.