school of architecture 35
Florencia Pita
Visiting fA culty
Dipl. Arch., Universidad Nacional de Rosario-Argentina;
M.S. Advanced Architectural Design, Columbia
University.
David Ruy
AssociAte Professor
B.A., St. John’s College; M. Arch., Columbia University;
director, Ruy Klein, an award-winning design office
in New York City; firm’s work has been extensively
published and exhibited and the firm is recognized
as one of the leading speculative practices in
architecture today; Ruy has previously held positions at
Columbia, Princeton, and was the director of research
of The Nonlinear Systems Organization (NSO), a
transdisciplinary research organization, at the University
of Pennsylvania; his research examines design topics at
the intersection of architecture, nature, and technology;
the work of his practice has recently been exhibited at
The Museum of Modern Art, the Rhode Island School of
Design, and at Artists Space, New York City.
Richard Scherr
director, fA cilities PlAnning
B. Arch., Cornell University; M.S. Architecture, Columbia
University; published in the Journal of Architectural
Education; Architectural Record; Progressive
Architecture; Journal of the American Planning
Association; Competitions; Places Magazine; Space;
Octagon Architecture; Indian Architect and Builder; and
Asian Thought and Society; author of The Grid: Form
and Process in Architectural Design; finalist, Oklahoma
City Bombing Memorial Competition; Eidlitz Traveling
Fellowship; registered architect in New York and Texas.
Erich Schonenberger
Visiting instructor
B. Environ. Design, Technical School of Novia Scotia;
M.S. Advanced Architecture and Design, Columbia
University; co-founded (with Ferda Kolatan) su11
architecture+design in New York City in 1999; received
the Swiss National Culture Award for Art and Design
and the ICFF Editors Award for Best New Designer;
2006 finalist for the prestigious Chernikhov Price; 2007
chosen finalist for the MoMA/PS1 YAP competition.
Paul Segal
Adjunct Professor
B.A., Princeton University; M.F.A., Princeton University;
founding partner of the internationally published
firm, Paul Segal Associates Architects, LLP, who were
recipients of 17 AIA Awards for Design Excellence;
past president of the AIA/NYC and of the Center for
Architecture Foundation; author of the textbook,
Professional Practice: A Guide to Turning Designs into
Buildings (W.W. Norton, 2006); also an adjunct professor
and director of practice at Columbia’s Graduate School
of Architecture; holds an NCARB certificate and is a
licensed architect in seven states.Benjamin Shepherd
Adjunct AssociAte Professor
B.S.C., Environmental Science, Northland College;
M.A., Environmental Management, Yale School of
Forestry; LEED-accredited professional and planning
practice leader at international environmental design
consultant firm Atelier Ten, with extensive experience
with urban ecology, renewable energy systems, and
green development assessments; has managed
the development of sustainability guidelines for a
wide range of master plans on a multitude of sectors
including commercial, university, government, and
transportation; he also teaches core courses on
environmental design and building services at Yale
School of Architecture..Daniel Sherer
Adjunct AssistAnt Professor
B.A. Renaissance Studies, Yale University; Ph.D. History
of Art and Architecture, Harvard University;
historian and critic whose research delves into Italian
Renaissance and Baroque architecture from 1400 to
1750; urban history from Antiquity to the Baroque;
modernist receptions of the classical tradition; and
historiography, theory, and criticism of architecture
(with emphases on Tafuri, the School of Venice, and
Colin Rowe); has taught at the Columbia Graduate
School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation;
the Harvard GSD, University of Toronto, and the Rice
University School of Architecture, among others.Maria Sieira
Adjunct instructor
B.A., Yale University; M. Arch., University of Pennsylvania;
coordinates the GAUD Housing Studio: Live, Work, Play
and the History/Theory sequence; teaches architecture
design studios that focus on green urban projects as
well as seminars on film and on installation art; founded
Xoguete Architecture in 2007; registered architect in
New York; has worked on the Cidade da Cultura in
Santiago de Compostela, Spain, while at Eisenman
Architects in New York and on the Philadelphia Airport
while at DPK&A in Philadelphia.Henry Smith-Miller
Adjunct Professor
B.A., Princeton University; M. Arch, University of
Pennsylvania; former Fulbright scholar in architecture
in Rome, Italy; received the Brunner Award and the
New York Chapter Gold Medal for Excellence in
Design with his partner, Laurie Hawkinson; significant
projects include the Corning Museum of Glass and the
North Carolina Museum of Art Outdoor Cinema and
Amphitheater and Master Plan; recently completed
projects include the Land Ports of Entry at Champlain
and Massena, New York, and a mid-rise, multi-unit
condominium complex in Manhattan; currently the
design architect for the new River Building for the
Hospital for Special Surgery and the Bond Hotel tower,
both in New York City.Roland Snooks
Adjunct AssistAnt Professor
B. Arch., RMIT University; B. App.Sci.Environ.Design,
University of Canberra; M.S. Advanced Architecture
and Design, Columbia University; a design director of
Kokkugia, he has previously directed design studios
and seminars at UCLA, SCI-Arc, Pratt Institute, RMIT
University, and the Victorian College of the Arts; his
current teaching and research interests focus on
emergent design processes involving genetic and
agent-based techniques; his ongoing design research
into emergent design processes has developed
behavioral animation techniques for the generation of
architectural form; design experience includes working
in the offices of Reiser + Umemoto; Kovac Architecture;
Minifie Nixon; and Ashton Raggatt McDougall.