懂色帝

Undergraduate students in the School of Architecture and Design have been hard at work designing and building more than 40 physical models in support of an exhibition by Teaching Assistant Professor of Architecture Evan Shieh, M. AUD. The display, 鈥淎utonomous Urbanism: The Exhibition,鈥� is based on Shieh鈥檚 recently published book monograph of the same name, Autonomous Urbanism: Towards a New Transitopia.

On February 7, the students鈥� efforts that began in summer 2024 will come to fruition on the Long Island campus in the Education Hall gallery, when Shieh鈥檚 exhibit opens to the public during the School of Architecture鈥檚 spring lectures and events series. In addition to the dozens of 3-D printed and laser-cut models, the students built wall panels, signage, and podiums, all from scratch.

Exploring how driverless vehicles will change the future built environment of our cities, the exhibition illustrates this spatial transformation of cities in four scales鈥攆rom transportation network changes and mobility infrastructure like streets and highways to city blocks and car-centric architecture like parking garages and drive-through restaurants.

Juan Ramirez, an architecture student, took on multiple responsibilities throughout his involvement in the exhibition鈥檚 development. In the initial phases, he worked on 3-D modeling and designing streetscape elements. Later, he took the lead on the storytelling walls and curated layout options for the elements he extracted from Shieh鈥檚 book. For two weeks, he assisted in the exhibition鈥檚 physical construction.

鈥淚鈥檝e gained hands-on experience with framing and construction, which was something new to me,鈥� says Ramirez, who cites his work on the exhibit as a practical learning experience. 鈥淒eveloping the wall graphics helped expand my understanding of visualization, presentation, and production.鈥�

Architecture student Elise Park was heavily involved, taking part in laser cutting and material sourcing鈥攆or nearly a month, she worked on constructing, gluing, and assembling the final models. She also cut vinyl, assisted in construction, and created floor plan layouts to arrange the exhibition space.

鈥淚 learned and have developed so many skills as we worked to bring this exhibition to life,鈥� says Park, who credits Shieh with motivating her to push past her limits as a designer. 鈥淭hough it was intense, I would not have traded this experience for anything.鈥�

Broken down into two parts, the first portion of the showcase explores the potential future impacts that self-driving vehicles will have on the design of cities. Throughout the exhibition room are typological models of varying scale, and transportation network drawings line the wall. Along the adjacent wall, the second part of the exhibition features illustrations visualizing the day-in-the-life experiences of moving around in a future city through the narrative format of an architectural graphic novel.

Together, the exhibition鈥檚 parts act as a toolkit for urban designers, architecture students, and the public, who may soon encounter autonomous vehicles in New York. It challenges viewers to consider how design actions and behavioral choices can shape urban space and the experiences they create. Paired with the book, which is also on display, the exhibition aims to promote the design of our cities for humans and pedestrians first as these driverless futures unfold.

鈥淏ook-writing is often a solo endeavor. However, with an exhibition, I loved being able to co-design with the students, bouncing design ideas back and forth, getting their feedback, and discussing their own ideas and inspirations for the project,鈥� Shieh says of the exhibition development. 鈥淚t was exciting to see, bit by bit, our hard work manifest into physical forms that one can interact with and walk through in the gallery space.鈥�

Students involved in the exhibition鈥檚 design and construction include Sharon Cunningham, Kendal Eastwood, Carolina Flores-Iglesias, Emily Galofaro, Yedeida Kariyev, Lily Kljyan, Natalia Orellana, Elise Park, Juan Ramirez, Melanny Rodriguez, and Kaleigh Trentadue, as well as Parsons School of Design’s Yiki Dingmeng Liu.

鈥�Autonomous Urbanism: The Exhibition鈥� will launch with a lecture and reception on February 7 and will be open for viewing through April 18. The exhibition is funded and supported by School of Architecture and Design Dean Maria Perbellini, M.Arch., the Lectures and Events Committee, and Committee Chair and Assistant Professor of Architecture Athina Papadopoulou, Ph.D.

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