Yanni Alexander Loukissas
 Doctor of Philosophy in Design and Computation (2008)
Master of Science in Architecture Studies (2003)

Archived Website (2001-2008)
Computation Group
Department of Architecture
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
77 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, Massachusetts
02139 USA

Contact
yanni at mit dot edu
or yal1 at cornell dot edu

 

Bio

My work integrates a range of disciplinary perspectives on design: architectural, technological, and sociocultural. Currently, I am teaching design studio and theory in the Cornell University Department of Architecture. As of 2008, this website will no longer be updated. See my Cornell profile or my personal website for information on my current work.

I completed my PhD in Design and Computation at MIT in 2008. While at MIT, I was a Presidential Fellow, a National Science Foundation pre-doctoral fellow, a member of the Initiative on Technology and Self, and a research assistant at the Media Lab's Center for Bits and Atoms. I also hold a Master of Science in Design and Computation from MIT and a Bachelor of Architecture from Cornell University.

(2008) PhD Dissertation: Conceptions of Design in a Culture of Simulation
Committee: William Porter, Sherry Turkle, William Mitchell, Edith Ackermann. This work tracks the parallel development of information technologies for simulation and conceptions of knowledge, form, experience and identity among designers. Arup, the global design and business consultancy, is my primary source of case studies. By examining new conceptions of design as well as the technologies that support these conceptions, I believe that we can begin to identify what "design" means in a culture of simulation and grasp more fully the contingent meaning of design across cultures. Contact me for a full copy. Proposal 2006 (download pdf)

Recent Activities

Visiting Lecturer (present) Department of Architecture
Cornell University

PhD Candidate (2003 - 2008)
Design and Computation
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, MA

Designer (2006 - 2008)
Small Design Firm
Cambridge, MA

Visiting Scholar (Lent/Easter 2007)
Churchill College
University of Cambridge
Cambridge (UK)

Papers and Presentations
   
(2007) Building Simulation through
a Socio-technical Lens
Presented at the Society for Social Studies of
Science (4S) Annual Conference		 (2008 In Press) Keepers of the Geometry
in Simulation and its Discontents, Sherry Turkle (editor),
MIT Press
(2007) Performance Discourse at Arup
Presented at the Department of Architecture
Manchester University (UK)		 (2007) The Culture of Simulation in Building Design
Presented at the Martin Center, Cambridge University (UK)
(2006) PhD Qualifying Exams
Design Representations (William Porter)
Design Professions (William Mitchell)
Cultures of Simulation (Sherry Turkle)
 (2005) Information Technologies and Professional Identity: A Comparative Study of the Effects of Virtuality
NSF Predoctoral Fellowship, Sherry Turkle (p.i.)
(2004 Unpublished)
The Cultural History of the Digital Fabrication Lab

(2005) User Representations in 3D
Geometric Modeling
Presented at the Society for Social Studies of
Science (4S) Annual Conference
(2004) Designing Bodies, Modeling Users
3D Computer Modeling in Architectural Education.
Presented at the Society for Social Studies of
Science (4S) / EASST Annual Conference
 (2004 Unpublished) The Obstacles to Ethnographic Research in Commercial Cultures of Production
(2004) Practices of Learning:
Adopting New Media in Architectural Offices
Presented at the Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart		 (2004 Unpublished) Heterostructure
An essay about the discontinuous information infrastructure of the building industry
(2003) Rulebuilding: Fabricating Designs from
End-User Programs
Master of Science Thesis. Advisors: William Porter, Larry Sass. Funded by the Center for Bits and Atoms (download pdf)

(2004) A Generative Approach to Modeling Architectural Designs Using a 3-D Printer
with Professor Larry Sass. Presented at ACADIA "Fabrication" Conference (download pdf)
   
Design and Research
   

(2008) Surface Cities
A research initiative at Cornell, which focuses on new ways of understanding buildings and cities through the use of information technologies. Co-directed with John Zissovici.

Scripting

(2002-present) Scripting Workshops
Tutorials on automating Rhino using VBScript. Held in Cambridge, MA., London, UK., and Buffalo, NY.

(2006 - present) Interaction Design
Consulting for Small Design

House for an Ecologist

(2006) House for an Ecologist
No thing is off the grid. Ecological systems form webs of interdependent organisms and interactions best understood in the context of the whole. with N. Gayeski and R. Macgregor

Design Tooling

(2004) Design Tooling
The design tooling web is a repository of knowledge about computation for designers. Collaboration with Stelios Dritsas and Axel Kilian.
Link

(2004) BU Bio Project
Awareness campaign concerning Boston University plans to build a chemical weapons research lab in South Boston.

Under Construction

(2003) Master of Science Thesis
Rulebuilding: Fabricating Designs from End-User Programs. Advisors: William Porter, Larry Sass. Funded by the Center for Bits and Atoms. Animation. Image 1


(2004) Red Neck(lace)
A wearable light sensor to be strapped on the back of the neck. Tracks sun-exposure. Image Image 1

 

Concept Car

(2003) Concept Car
Media Lab, GM, Gehry Collaboration. Re-invents the car as a designed object and redefines the user's relationship to the car and to the city.
Gifs 1 2 Quicktime 3

Sage and Coombe

(2004) www.sageandcoombe.com
Web site for Sage and Coombe Architects.

Evolving Moths

(2003) Evolving Moths
A Simple Genetic Algorithm

Coat

(2002) Psychoanalytic Coat
This worn but comforting jacket
may help you resolve conflicts which are the result of repressed instinctual forces. (download pdf)

Fabrication

(2002) Digital Fabrication Projects
Various

Racing Game

(2002) Miniature Racing Game
Possibly the smallest car racing game ever made! Quicktime 1

Pool House

(2001) Pool House
Schematic design, with Sage and Coombe Architects, for a freestanding house with indoor pool. Images 1 2

40 Pools

(1998) 40 Pools / Pier 40
A community pool for Lower Manhattan and other harebrained competitions done with Sage and Coombe Architects.

Pool House

(1998) Pop-Up Book
Image 1

Pool House

(1999) Competition Entries
with Eisenman Architects
Cultural Center in Santiago Competition, West Side Competition

Utica A-Z

(1999) Utica A-Z
My undergraduate thesis at Cornell University. A tangible database for a city. Images 1 2 3 4

Sketches

Travel Sketches
Studies from Rome, Florence, Paris, Athens, Prague, etc. Images 1

Dome

(1998) Millennium Dome
A design response to the y2k structure by Richard Rogers. Image 1

Bowling Alley / Night Club

(1998) Bowling Alley / Night Club
A mixed-use project for New York City. Images 1 2 3