Master of Architecture, Columbia University; Bachelor of Arts, St. John’s College

Joshua Draper is a Lecturer at the Center for Architecture, Science and Ecology (CASE) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) where he teaches classes in sustainable materials and architectural research methods. Joshua pursues an interdisciplinary pedagogy with his students working in alliance with other courses at CASE and allied disciplines at the Institute ranging from civil engineering and material science to acoustics and biochemistry.

Joshua has lead award winning installations and exhibitions with students at CASE including “Agricultural Waste Modular Building Integrated Systems (AMBIS)” supported by the Rotch Foundation and NYSERDA in 2015-16, the exhibitions “CHUNKS” and “Bottle Transitional Shelter (BoTS)” for NYC x WEEK in 2018-19 and “Friendship Cabins”, an active outdoor dining installation which received awards and press from Architizer, Fast Company and The New York Times in 2021. His students were instrumental to the Grand Prize win in the 2022 Radical Innovation Awards for “AERA”, a hotel that produces its own fresh air through active biofiltration, developed in collaboration with OBMI Inc, a leading hospitality design firm and CASE sponsor. Most recently, Joshua led a CASE student team to redesign a NYCHA Community Center in Williamsburg, Brooklyn in an innovative community-centered design process. A build out of the design is scheduled for Fall 2024.

His research interest is in the use of waste resources for a more circular and sustainable built environment. His publications have focused on building integrated agriculture and bioremediation, semantic frameworks to assess the impact of bioremediation on executive function and waste-based bio-composites. His current work focuses on replacing fossil fuel-based plastics with bioplastics and biocomposites derived from used coffee grounds.

Joshua’s design awards include First Prize in the 2017 City of Dreams Pavilion for his “Cast & Place” proposal for Governor’s Island using a circular economy of waste materials for design and fabrication. In 2018, he received an Honorable Mention for “Flutter”, an installation on Google’s campus employing reclaimed metal piping, anemometers, and lighting to visualize wind dynamics. He won a “Percent for Art” first prize in Philadelphia for “Urban Topiary” that explored concepts of urban wildness in a digitally fabricated living fence.

Joshua has taught and lectured at Columbia, Pratt, and Temple Universities.