Curated by Jesse LeCavalier and Florian Idenburg, ar·ti·fi·ci·al·i·ty explores how “the artificial” shapes craft and the built environment.

The Gensler Family AAP NYC Center’s Spring lecture series, entitled ar·ti·fi·ci·al·i·ty, brings together speakers who help us explore ideas of construction, environment, craft, and of each other. While debates on AI predominantly focus on metaphors related to cognition and "intelligence“—learning, prediction, generation, etc. — less attention is given to the assumptions on what is artificial (and therefore, what is “natural”). These talks explore these assumptions and how they shape our approach to the built environment.

Curated by Cornall AAP faculty Jesse Le Cavalier (Associate Prof. and Dir. MS. Advanced Urban Design) and Florian Idenburg (Prof. of the Practice, principal Solid Objectives), the Spring lecture series takes place in the Gensler Family AAP NYC Center’s new permanent home, on the 4th floor of the Tata Innovation Center (Cornell Tech campus, Roosevelt Island).

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About the Speaker

Farzin Lotfi-Jam

Farzin Lotfi-Jam is an Assistant Professor of Architecture at Cornell University, where he directs the Realtime Urbanism Lab. The lab focuses on the use of spatial media and technologies in urban research, particularly the impact of digitalization and real-time data on urban environments. He also leads Farzin Farzin, a design studio operating at the intersection of architecture, computation, and media. His work is held in the collections of the Centre Pompidou and the Sharjah Art Foundation. He received the 2022 Architecture League of New York Prize and has recently been supported by the Alexander S. Onassis Foundation and the Graham Foundation. His publications include the co-authored book Modern Management Methods: Architecture, Historical Value, and the Electromagnetic Image (Columbia Books on Architecture and the City, 2019). His current book project, Realtime: Computing Southwest Asian and North American Urbanism, 1858-Now, traces how realtime technologies — from colonial telegraphs to digital twins — have operated as tools of imperial control, shaping urban life.

Jesse LeCavalier

Jesse LeCavalier uses the tools of urban design and architecture to research, theorize, and speculate about infrastructure and logistics. He is the author of The Rule of Logistics: Walmart and the Architecture of Fulfillment (University of Minnesota Press, 2016), and his design work has been recognized by the Sudbury 2050 urban design competition, the MoMA PS1 Young Architects Program, the Oslo Triennale, and the Seoul Biennale. LeCavalier was the Daniel Rose Visiting Assistant Professor at the Yale School of Architecture (2017–19) and the 2010–11 Sanders Fellow at the University of Michigan. His work has appeared in Cabinet, Public Culture, Places, Art Papers, and Harvard Design Magazine. His essay “The Restlessness of Objects” received a 2013 Core77 Design Award.

Time: 7:00 pm EST

Free!

Registration