David Benjamin

THE LIVING / Columbia University GSAPP

David Benjamin is Founding Principal of The Living and Associate Professor at Columbia GSAPP. His work combines research and practice, with a focus on an expanded and actionable framework of environmental sustainability. Recent projects include the Airbus NIS Engine Factory (a low-carbon lighthouse project for the future of manufacturing), the Princeton University Embodied Computation Lab (a new building for research on robotics and digital twins), and Hy-Fi (a branching tower for the Museum of Modern Art and MoMA PS1 made of a new type of biodegradable brick).

Scott Cohen

New Lab

Scott Cohen is cofounder of New Lab and curator of its specialized community. Cohen is a versatile artist and entrepreneur with a vast appetite to learn about new technologies and build bridges where none existed.  He has particular interest in people working across disciplines that are leveraging technology and design to solve complex problems.  His career has spanned many disciplines including work in the photographic arts, theater direction and a narrative feature film shot in Antarctica that won a FIPRESCI Grand Jury Award for Best New American Cinema.

Justin Green

BIG REUSE

Justin Green is the Founder and Executive Director of Big Reuse and Big Initiatives, a non-profit social enterprise (formerly “Build It Green”).  Big Reuse runs two building material reuse centers that divert over 2000 tons of building material and a community compost program in conjunction with New York City Department of Sanitation. Justin also developed and directed NYC Cool Roofs, coating over 1 million sq.ft of NYC buildings with reflective coating. Previously, he also worked on the creation of a statewide loan fund for the installation of energy efficiency measures, managed construction crews, and monitored loans to non-profit housing developers. Justin received his BA with a double major in Economics and Community Development from Oberlin College.

Jeffrey Montes

BLUE ORIGIN

Jeffrey Montes is a Space Architect whose work has been awarded by NASA and exhibited globally. He has authored technical concepts for mixed-use space stations, 3D-printed surface habitats, lunar landing pads, surface mining robots, and orbital science platforms. Jeffrey holds two degrees in architecture, is an Open Lunar Foundation fellow and works at Blue Origin as Senior Space Architect. Inside Blue Origin, Jeffrey leads the Design Studio, a multidisciplinary family influencing Blue’s human spacecraft product line through architecting and detailed design. He spends his days working with engineers and business leaders on novel space destinations.

Kevin Slavin

Poppy

Kevin Slavin is a designer, entrepreneur and executive at the intersections of science and culture. He is a pioneer in several fields around real-world locations, from location-based games to urban metagenomics to indoor microbial sensing. He co-founded Area/Code, which was acquired in 2011, founded and ran a research group at the MIT Media Lab (funded in part by the Mori Building Corporation) and was the Chief Technology and Science Officer for The Shed in NYC’s Hudson Yards. Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, he has advised and led teams at startups focused on indoor biosafety.

Christopher Hawthorne

Yale School of Architecture

Christopher Hawthorne is a writer, critic, educator, and filmmaker. This fall he begins an appointment as Senior Critic at the Yale School of Architecture. Previously he was Chief Design Officer for the city of Los Angeles, a position appointed by Mayor Eric Garcetti, and architecture critic for the Los Angeles Times. He has taught at the University of Southern California, Occidental College, U.C. Berkeley, Columbia University, and the Southern California Institute of Architecture. He wrote and directed the documentary “That Far Corner: Frank Lloyd Wright in Los Angeles,” for which he received an L.A.-area Emmy Award.