Through a survey of twenty-one architectural projects completed in the twenty-first century, this book documents an in-depth investigation of architectural technologies and their application in practice by leading contemporary architects. These twenty-one architects work at the frontiers of design, production and construction technologies. Structured by a classification of six themes through which all twenty-one projects are cross sectioned, with the lens of the building envelope. This book is a unique document, comprising original graphic analysis and professional photographs of the 21 projects, and a transcribed interview with each architect. Ultimately, this survey raises questions about the nature design- and practice-based applied research in architecture, and how students, and both young and seasoned architects, can learn from the innovative contemporary architecture and their architects. The interviews were conducted online and were broadcast as part of the public program of lectures and events at the School of Architecture and Design (SoAD) at New York Institute of Technology (NYIT). The analysis of the projects was carried out by students in a Master of Architecture graduate seminar course, ARCH 791 Beyond the Envelope: Pioneering Technology in Architecture, taught by Professor Tom Verebes in 2021, 2022, and 2023.
Tom Verebes Tom Verebes is a Tenured Professor in the School of Architecture and Design at NYIT. He is also the Director of OCEAN CN, based in New York. Verebes co-founded the distributed network practice, OCEAN, in London 1995, and he has since directed OCEAN offices in London, Hong Kong, Beijing and New York. Among past academic roles, Verebes has served as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at NYIT (2018-2020); Founding Provost of Turenscape Academy in Beijing and Xixinan, Anhui Province, China (2016-2018); Associate Dean for Teaching & Learning (2011-2014), and Associate Professor of Architecture at The University of Hong Kong (2009-2016). He was co-Director Design Research Lab at the Architectural Association (AA) in London, where he taught as Course Master from 1996 to 2009. He has held the position of Guest Professor at Akademie der Buildenden Künste ABK Stuttgart (2004-2006), and has held the positions of Visiting Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), Syracuse University, RMIT, Singapore University of Technology & Design (SUTD) and The University of Tokyo. Among over 150 publications of authored books, chapters, articles and project features, including over 240 citations, Verebes' recent publications include Shanghai Ten Folio (ORO, AA Publications, 2017), his guest-editing Tom Verebes, PhD Professor, School of Architecture and Design, New York Institute of Technology Director, OCEAN CN, New York of an issue of AD, titled Mass Customised Cities, (Wiley, 2015), and books, including Masterplanning the Adaptive City: Computational Urbanism in the Twenty-first Century (Routledge, 2013), New Computational Paradigms in Architecture (Tsinghua University Press, 2012), and DRL X: A Design Research Compendium (AA Publications, 2008). Verebes is currently guest-editing an issue of Journal of Chinese Architecture and Urbanism, titled, Chinese Cities of Tomorrow: Computing and Prototyping Intelligent Forms of Future Urbanism. Co-authored with Stefan Al, The Urbanism Reader: Design, Culture, Technology, and the Future of Cities will be published by Bloomsbury Publishers in 2024. In addition, Verebes has published numerous book chapters, and articles in issues of Architectural Design AD, Architectural Review, RIBA Journal, 306090 Books, Urban China, Urban Flux, Archicreation, and World Architecture. Verebes' work has been featured in over 50 exhibitions in venues worldwide, including the Venice Biennale, Beijing Biennale, Hong Kong-Shenzhen Bi-City Biennale, Seoul Biennale, Seville Biennale, Zoomorphic (Victoria & Albert Museum, London), Latent Utopias (Graz, Austria), Experimental Architecture (FRAC Collection, Centre Pompidou, Paris; Orléans), Archilab (Orléans), and Artists Space (New York). Verebes has lectured extensively in Asia, Europe, North America, Africa, and the Middle East.
