Graduate Viewbook 2008-2009 - The New School

parsons 

the new school 

for design 

GRADUATE PROGRAMS 2008-2009

Found objects collected in Parsons studios (material 

samples, tools, reference documents, process artifacts) 

and samples of student and faculty work. STILL FRAME 

(front cover, center): Faculty member Brian McGrath 

and Mark Watkins, from urban-interface, Manhattan 

Timeformations, exploded still-frame from interactive 

web-site created for the Skyscraper Museum, 2000. 

INTERIOR IMAGE (back cover, lower right): Amanda Toles 

and Martina Sencakova, 25 E.13th Street, digital rendering, 

2008. Collage by mgmt. design. 

parsons 

the new school 

for design 

GRADUATE PROGRAMS 2008-2009

4 Welcome to Parsons 

16 Academic Resources 

19 Student Services 

20 Exhibitions and Public Programs 

25 Programs of Study 

26 Architecture 

40 Design and Technology 

52 Fine Arts 

64 History of Decorative Arts and Design 

76 Interior Design 

86 Lighting Design 

98 Photography 

110 Institutional Information 

111 Visit 

112 Apply

why parsons the new school for design? 

parsons, a pioneer in art and design education for more than a century, is a diverse 

community of independent thinkers motivated by the prospect of challenging 

conventions and finding solutions to complex problems. 

although our graduate programs offer advanced training in specialized courses 

of study, none of our programs exists in isolation. our student-centered curriculum 

allows for both focused and interdisciplinary paths of study. students from all 

backgrounds collaborate on projects, influence one another’s work, and interact in 

every aspect of academic and campus life. they work both in teams and on their 

own to master concepts, technologies, and research methods that cut across a wide 

array of fields. By synthesizing theory with craft and combining art and design studies 

with instruction in liberal arts and business, parsons prepares its students to shape 

scholarship in their fields and make art and design that matters. 

our faculty of notable artists, design practitioners, critics, historians, writers, and 

scholars exemplifies an extraordinary breadth of vision. they challenge convention 

by encouraging experimentation, nurturing alternative worldviews, and 

joining theory with practice in sophisticated and innovative ways. working closely 

with the faculty, graduate students develop technologies and refine research 

methodologies, making design relevant to a wide range of social, cultural, and 

economic systems. 

even as parsons gives students the tools to achieve professional success, the 

school also prepares them to think outside current paradigms. students learn to 

anticipate and set trends, not follow them, and discover how design can inform and 

improve people’s lives in direct and fundamental ways. students arrive here with 

diverse interests, perspectives, experiences, and backgrounds; they graduate with 

a commitment to creatively and critically addressing the complexities of life in the 

21st century. 

learn more at www.newschool.edu/parsons. 

4 PARSONS THE NEW SCHOOL FOR DESIGN 

newschool.edu/parsons 

FINE ARTS R 

INTERIOR 

DESIGN 

ARCHITEC ECTURE 

LIGHT TING 

DESIGN DE 

PARSONS 

THE NEW SCHOOL 

FOR DESIGN 

PHOTOGRAPHY 

DESIGN AND 

TECHNOLOGY 

T 

HISTORY OF 

DECCORATIVE 

ARTS 

ANND 

DESIGN

parsons in the new school 

a long history of radical pedagogy 

as a division of the new school, parsons builds on the university’s legacy of 

progressive ideals, scholarship, and pedagogy. the new school provides the ideal 

learning environment for those interested in connecting art and design practice 

with social responsibility and a commitment to sustainability. it offers degree and 

nondegree programs in the social sciences, the liberal arts, management and urban 

policy, and the performing arts. parsons students are encouraged to take courses in 

and collaborate with students from other schools within the university. 

parsons’ tradition of supporting radical thinking in the art academy goes back to 

1896, when painter william Merritt chase founded the school to promote freer forms 

of individual expression. in 1904, frank alvah parsons joined chase, and under his 

leadership, the school introduced design into its curriculum. By emphasizing the 

democratizing potential of design and making it available on a broad scale, parsons 

has had a profound impact on american life. 

as parsons was becoming a revolutionary force in art and design education, another 

school was launched in the name of social dissent and democracy. established in 1919, 

the new school was conceived as a place where intellectuals could freely exchange 

ideas. the next decades saw both schools become closer aligned in mission. as the 

new school established a reputation for addressing major cultural and political issues, 

parsons became involved in urban design projects such as hospitals and public housing. 

in 1970, parsons became part of the new school, which today is a university of eight 

likeminded schools. some of the earliest university-level courses on race and black 

culture, urban studies, film history, women’s studies, and photography and the first 

college programs in fashion design, interior design, and advertising were offered at 

the new school and parsons respectively. our shared history has been a continuous 

narrative of transformation, pioneering education, and civic engagement. 

notaBle parsons aluMni 

Peter de Sève illustrator 

Victoria Hagan interior designer 

Edward Hopper painter 

Donna Karan fashion designer 

Barbara Kruger artist and 

graphic designer 

Alex Lee product designer and 

president of OXO 

6 PARSONS THE NEW SCHOOL FOR DESIGN 


Steven Meisel photographer 

Paul Rand graphic designer 

Narciso Rodriguez fashion designer 

Joel Schumacher filmmaker 

Brian Tolle artist 


FOR DRAMA 


FOR JAZZ AND 

CONTEMPORARY MUSIC 

MANNES COLLEGE 


FOR MUSIC 


EUGENE LANG COLLEGE 


FOR LIBERAL ARTS 


FOR 

SOCIAL RESEARCH 

PARSONS 


FOR 

GENERAL STUDIES 

MILANO 


FOR MANAGEMENT 

AND URBAN POLICY

parsons in new york 

your caMpus is new york city, the world capital of art, culture, Business, fashion, and 

intellectual inQuiry. 

a parsons education isn’t just a series of isolated classes—it’s a fully immersive 

learning experience in which the city itself serves as an urban design laboratory. 

our distinguished faculty is a team of accomplished artists, designers, architects, 

photographers, and critics that could have been assembled only in a design capital 

like new york. outside the classroom, students have access to unparalleled internship 

opportunities and industry partnerships, which open up many possibilities for 

entrepreneurship and professional success. 

situated in the heart of Manhattan, the greenwich Village campus is a major cultural 

destination in its own right, a venue for exhibitions, performances, and lectures by 

some of the world’s most celebrated artists and thinkers. in addition to enjoying all 

the resources on campus, students have access to the galleries, showrooms, and 

events of new york city, the nexus of the international art and design worlds. in every 

respect, parsons gives students the opportunity to excel at the center of it all. 

applicants are encouraged to visit. learn about tours, information sessions, graduate 

open studios, and more at www.newschool.edu/parsons/visit. 

8 

PARSONS THE NEW SCHOOL FOR DESIGN 


AMERICAN MUSEUM OF 

NATURAL HISTORY 

LINCOLN CENTER 

BROADWAY 

CENTRAL PARK 

NEW YORK CITY 

GARMENT DISTRICT 

CHELSEA GALLERIES 

TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL 

COOPER-HEWITT, 

NATIONAL DESIGN MUSEUM 

THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART 

THE GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM 

THE WHITNEY MUSEUM 

MoMA 

PARSONS 

SOHO 

FINANCIAL DISTRICT 

THE PUBLIC THEATER 

THE NEW MUSEUM 

LOWER EAST SIDE

K 

BEIJING 

parsons in the world 

Based in new york; actiVe across the gloBe 

at parsons, we believe that designers have the means and a responsibility to bring 

about positive change in the world. our students develop art and design solutions 

to meet the needs of diverse communities on the local and the global scale. they 

connect their creative practice with engaged citizenship, bringing social and 

environmental consciousness to the works they create. they work in a learning 

environment where cross-cultural perspectives are valued and nurtured and where 

awareness of economic and social systems is understood as essential in the context 

of globalization. our graduate programs are infused with the progressive spirit that 

animates parsons and the new school as a whole. 

an international outlook has always been a key ingredient of parsons’ success. in 

1920, parsons became the first art and design school in the united states to establish 

a campus abroad. today, more than 30% of our students are international—a 

testament to our global reputation. while benefiting from the constant influx of 

international perspectives in new york, many parsons students expand their horizons 

by conducting TOKYO fieldwork abroad and by partnering with global organizations through 

sponsored projects built into the curriculum. 

parsons collaborates with more than 50 corporate and nonprofit organizations, such 

as care, target, the open society institute, kiehl’s, chanel, fossil, and the sierra club. 

we maintain those partnerships, and attract new ones, thanks to the exceptional 

work of our students. our partners benefit from fresh ideas and cutting-edge design 

skills; our students gain professional exposure, build their portfolios, and enjoy 

networking opportunities. 

10 

MELBOURNE 



SYDNEY 

PARSONS 

GUATEMALA 

ALTOS DE CHAVON 

COLOGNE 

LONDON 

KASSEL 

PARIS 

STOCKHOLM 

VILINUS 

WARSAW 

ROME/PRATO/ 

FLORENCE/MILAN 

GABORONE 

JOHANNESBURG 

LILONGWE

welcome

a Message from the dean 

there has never been a more auspicious time to study art and design. the 

proliferation of communication systems and technologies is opening up new 

markets and presenting unprecedented opportunities for innovation. simultaneously, 

the increasingly complex issues that society must address, issues of 

globalization and environmental sustainability, for example, have had a profound 

impact on how we think about the purpose and value of design. these 

transforming conditions require transformative responses. 

as a prospective student, you are considering parsons the new school for 

design at one of the most dynamic and exciting periods of the school’s long 

and accomplished history. we have retooled our programs, creating a flexible 

cross-disciplinary curriculum, in order to educate a new generation of creative 

leaders who are attuned to the realities of the modern world. as part of the 

new school, a growing urban university with strengths in liberal arts and social 

sciences, public policy, and performing arts, parsons is forging new paths of 

study that apply design to the study of broad social, economic, and cultural 

forces. with access to a wider knowledge base, our students graduate with 

the ability to excel in both traditional and emergent art and design fields. 

all this adds up to a spectrum of career possibilities more relevant and more 

professionally and personally rewarding than ever. parsons students are 

making positive changes in the world by doing what they do best. they are 

proving themselves as articulate leaders who can work nimbly across a variety 

of disciplines, with diverse communities, and in constantly changing conditions. 

i have never been prouder of the talents and convictions i encounter daily in 

our community at parsons. 

tim Marshall, dean

academic resources 

program advisors are a primary resource for information, including program 

requirements, academic progress, and school policies. advisors also refer students 

to university facilities and services in addition to those offered by specific academic 

programs. parsons and the new school offer students resources that provide optimal 

conditions for learning. 

technology 

– students have access to more than 1,000 

computer workstations on campus; the 

print output center, which offers high-quality 

color printing; and specialized labs with 

professional video, modeling, animation, 

and recording facilities. 

– special classrooms support multimedia, 

web design, and desktop publishing. 

– free wireless internet is available 

across campus. 

– audiovisual equipment is available for loan. 

exhiBition and studio facilities 

– the sheila c. Johnson design center is a 

new campus center for parsons that combines 

spaces for learning and public programs with 

galleries at the busy intersection of fifth avenue 

and 13th street. 

– students have access to extensive studio 

facilities and professionally staffed fabrication, 

model, and print shops, including metalworking, 

jewelry, and woodworking facilities. 

16 STUDENT LIFE 


liBraries 

– at the donghia Materials library, students 

can review and check out the newest, most 

advanced materials. 

– the gimbel art and design library houses more 

than 50,000 new and rare books, 350 periodical 

titles, 70,000 slides, and 45,000 picture files, 

including mounted plates, slide collections, and 

a digital image collection with online access. 

– the kellen archive is an extensive collection 

of materials relating to the history of art and 

design, with a focus on parsons’ role in the 

development of design and design education. 

– the new school’s fogelman library specializes 

in the social sciences and humanities. 

– parsons students have access to the facilities 

of the research library association of south 

Manhattan, also known as the consortium. it 

consists of research libraries at the new school, 

new york university, cooper union, cardozo 

law school, the new york academy of art, and 

the new-york historical society. the combined 

libraries hold more than three million volumes 

and 25,000 journals. 

student life

FINE ART LECTURE SERIES FLYER 

Interact with the prominent 

artists and designers who 

are your guest lecturers and 

visiting critics. 

INTERNSHIP PLACEMENT 

Build your resume 

working directly with 

designers and clients. 

INVITATION TO 

EXHIBITION OPENING 

Exhibit your work at 

high-profile venues. 

MEETING WITH NEW YORK CITY 

COUNCIL ON THE ENVIRONMENT 

Gain valuable industry experience 

working on sponsored projects with 

local companies and organizations. 

STUDENT RUN NEWSPAPER 

Participate in extra-curricular 

activities like media and 

journalism projects. 

student services 

a professional and helpful staff is available to meet a range of needs, including health 

care and housing. Visit www.newschool.edu/studentservices for more information. 

housing 

the new school offers a number of housing 

options for graduate students. the university 

housing office can provide information about 

housing on and off campus. 

health serVices 

student health services offers students medical 

care, counseling and psychological services, 

preventive education, and a low-cost health 

insurance plan. 

student deVelopMent and actiVities 

at any given time, students at the university are 

involved in a variety of activities, ranging from 

publications to clubs to athletics to political 

activism. Many extracurricular organizations are 

student run. 

disaBility serVices 

parsons and the new school are committed to 

ensuring that students with special needs have 

full access to academic and programmatic 

services. students are encouraged to meet with 

the office of student disability services to discuss 

their needs. the office also offers information 

on a variety of disability-related issues and on 

internal and external resources. 

international student serVices 

this school is authorized under federal law to 

enroll non-immigrant-alien students. international 

student services serves the special needs 

of international students and helps create a 

supportive environment for living and studying, 

encouraging them to participate actively in 

classes, extracurricular activities, and life 

in new york city. trained international education 

specialists provide support throughout the 

u.s. visa application process and offer legal 

status advisement. 

intercultural support 

the office of intercultural support works with 

students of diverse backgrounds to build 

community at the new school. the office 

sponsors events and workshops to promote 

intercultural awareness. 

STUDENT LIFE 


19

exhibitions 

parsons is a leading venue for contemporary art and design. exhibitions relating to 

coursework enhance students’ critical, theoretical, and historical understanding of 

art and design. 

galleries are scheduled year-round with exhibitions of work by outside artists and 

designers, parsons faculty, and parsons students. our exhibitions program supports 

our mission by focusing on innovation, interdisciplinary design, social responsibility, 

and technology. parsons has two main street-level museum-quality exhibition 

spaces totaling more than 6,000 square feet: the kellen gallery and the arnold and 

sheila aronson galleries. exhibitions may be curated by university staff and faculty, 

or they may be traveling shows. as a venue to showcase student work, the galleries 

enable students to obtain construction, installation, and presentation experience in 

a high-profile exhibition setting. every spring, parsons departments exhibit the work 

of their graduating students. 

20 STUDENT LIFE STUDENT LIFE 

21 


newschool.edu/parsons

lectures, events, and public programs 

parsons and the new school have historically been centers for innovative think- 

ing and artistic experimentation. the tradition continues today, with prominent 

intellectuals, designers, artists, business leaders, and policy makers regularly visiting 

the campus to lecture and take part in panels and conferences. Many new 

york based artists welcome studio visits from our students. other university events 

include regular concerts, dance performances, plays, film screenings, and literary 

readings. Most events are free or discounted for students. for more information, visit 

www.newschool.edu/eventlist. 

soMe recent guest lecturers and Visiting artists 

Lorna Simpson artist and photographer 

Frank Gehry architect 

Kiki Smith artist 

Marc Jacobs fashion designer 

Chuck Close painter 

Roselee Goldberg performance art curator and critic 

Marilyn Minter painter 

Bruce Mau graphic designer 

Michael Graves architect and product designer 

Donna Karan fashion designer 

Robert Massin graphic artist 

Phoebe Washburn installation artist 

Fatimah Tuggar artist 

John Maeda graphic designer and computer scientist 

Ed Koren illustrator 

Ed Sorel illustrator 

Ken Johnson critic 

Lynne Cook curator 

Katha Pollitt poet and columnist for The Nation 

Bruce Nussbaum Businessweek editor 

Zach Feuer gallery owner 

Becky Smith gallery owner 

Hans-Ulrich Obrist curator 

Nancy Princenthal critic 

22 STUDENT LIFE 


prograMs

REFERENCE TEXTS 

FOR AN URBAN 

STUDIES COURSE AT 


Choose your liberal 

studies electives 

from some of the 

most interesting 

and innovative 

courses offered at 

any university. 

SKYPE CHAT WITH A PROFESSOR IN ANOTHER COUNTRY 

Parsons is a global institution; our faculty and 

students come from all over the world and all kinds 

of backgrounds. 

SEMINAR READER 

FROM GLOBAL 

ISSUES IN DESIGN 

Art and Design Studies 

courses give you 

the knowledge to 

understand your own 

work in a historical/ 

intellectual context. 

TRANSCRIPT FROM 

SUSTAINABLE 

FASHION ROUNDTABLE 

People at Parsons 

connect design 

decisions with larger 

social, economic, 

and cultural issues, 

like sustainability. 

graduate degree programs 

Master of architecture 

Master of architecture/Master of fine arts in lighting design (dual degree) 

Master of fine arts in design and technology 

Master of fine arts in fine arts 

Master of arts in the history of decorative arts and design 

Master of fine arts in interior design (new york state approval pending) 

Master of fine arts in lighting design 

Master of fine arts in photography 

parsons offers graduate programs in several disciplines for qualified designers who 

wish to pursue high-level studio work and research. while the school offers specialized 

courses of study, none of the programs exists in isolation. cross-disciplinary, flexible 

curricula and collaborations with students at other divisions of the new school provide 

students with strong foundations on which to become active and informed citizens 

and successful artists, designers, and scholars. By offering hybrid and flexible paths, 

parsons affords students more opportunities to define their education and makes it 

possible for them to be pioneers in emerging fields. 

PROGRAMS: OVERVIEW 25 


architecture 

the Master of architecture program (accredited by the national 

architecture accrediting Board) trains architects to deal with critical 

issues involving the built and natural environment. the rigorous 

curriculum applies design, history, theory, sustainability, and 

technology to investigate 

—the integration of design and material construction 

—the ecology of technological and natural systems 

—the capacity of architecture to shape social interaction 

in space 

—the relationship between space, the body, and 

sensory perception 

—the use of digital technologies and new media in design 

using new york city as a laboratory, students explore 

contemporary architectural ideas and practices, particularly the 

creative role played by architects in translating the ordinary and 

the everyday into extraordinary works of architectural invention. 

students can supplement their studies with offerings from other 

programs at parsons—particularly interior design, lighting design, 

and product design—and other divisions of the new school. 

one of the architecture program’s highlights is the design 

workshop, a unique “design-build” offered in the spring semester 

of the second year. in the design workshop, students learn 

about materiality, detail, and form and space making in relation 

to social practice. over a six-month period, students explore the 

architectural design process by working together on a single 

project from concept through construction. 

the program’s small size (72 students) and atelier atmosphere 

support an intimate community. students work closely with the faculty 

of 40 distinguished professional architects, historians, and critical 

theorists drawn from new york’s international design community. 

facilities and resources 

Students work in a large open-studio 

loft where they develop projects in 

consultation with faculty and peers. The 

5,000-square-foot space is supported 

by wireless technology, allowing direct 

access to printing and plotting in the 

adjacent 25-station computer laboratories. 

A curated materials library and 

a staffed fabrication shop with digital 

and traditional equipment are located 

next to the studio. Use of the Fine Arts 

department’s nearby fabrication shops 

is encouraged and promotes valuable 

exchanges with students in other 

disciplines. 

26 ARCHITECTURE ARCHITECTURE 

27 



students interested in both architecture and lighting design 

can earn a unique dual degree. the March/Mfald is a 142credit 

program that prepares students for extraordinary career 

opportunities in these expanding and overlapping fields. 

for complete curriculum, faculty, and course information, visit 

www.newschool.edu/parsons and go to degree programs: 

graduate, architecture. 

curriculuM 

the Master of architecture curriculum integrates design, theory, 

technology, and practice. the design studio, the core of the 

curriculum, uses new york city and its environs as a context for 

exploring the natural and social ecologies that make up the 

contemporary city. the studio sequence challenges students to 

respond to the formal and cultural demands imposed by uses, site, 

context, structure, construction, and program. interdisciplinary 

electives in history, theory, and technology highlight architecture’s 

pivotal role in shaping culture. 

first year design studio i introduces fundamental architectural 

issues—form, program, site, materials, and structure—through 

projects that emphasize the inventive and conceptual dimensions 

of architectural design and research. design studio ii addresses 

the role of architecture in constructing social relations by asking 

students to reconsider one of the most familiar architectural 

spaces—the home. in representation and spatial reasoning, 

students explore techniques of architectural representation 

and develop the ability to think, draw, and analyze architecture 

critically, using both analog and digital technologies. 

students complement their studio work with issues and practices 

of architecture, Modern and postmodern architecture, or imagining 

new york. these and other elective courses are cross-listed with the 

Mfa in lighting design, facilitating exchange between disciplines. 

students take construction technology i in the fall and the 

environmental theory course nature in environment in the spring. 

second year in design studio iii, students execute designs for 

modestly scaled buildings in relation to their physical settings. 

calling into question the traditional opposition between nature 

and culture, this studio invites students to explore the complex 

relationship between design, technology, and sustainability. in the 

second year, students also take a yearlong course on structural 

statics and materials. 

lectures, syMposia, 

and exhiBitions 

Every semester, the department sponsors 

a rich array of public events, including a 

series in which groups of students meet 

with world-class designers, typically at 

the site of an ongoing project. Recent 

guest lecturers and critics have included 

Julie Bargmann D.I.R.T. Studio 

Petra Blaisse interior designer 

James Carpenter 

James Carpenter Design 

Lise Ann Couture and Hani Rashid 

Asymptote 

Dennis Crompton Archigram 

Diller + Scofidio and Renfro 

architects 

Blakrishna Doshi architect 

Winka Dubbledam Architectonics 

Peter Eisenman 

Eisenman Architects 

Ken Frampton Columbia University 

Richard Gluckman 

Gluckman Mayner Architects 

Charles Gwathmey 

Gwathmey Siegel & Associates 

Thomas Herzog Herzog + Partner 

Sheila Kennedy 

Kennedy Violich Architects 

Sulan Kolatan 

Kolatan/MacDonald Studio 

Jamie Lerner 

International Union of Architects 

Bruce Mau graphic designer 

William McDonough 

McDonough Architects 

Guy Nordenson Engineer 

Enrique Norten TEN Arquitectos 

Lyn Rice Lyn Rice Architects 

Michael Sorkin architect 

Susan S. Szenasy 

Metropolis Magazine 

Rafael Viñoly architect 

Marion Weiss and Michael 

Manfredi architects 

Tod Williams and Billie Tsien 

architects 

Adam Yarinsky 

Architecture Research Office 

in the fall, students take theory of architectural form, which 

introduces contemporary theories of architecture with emphasis 

on post-1968 developments in architectural thought and criticism. 

students have three options for design studio iV, which they take 

in the spring: they can take the gravity studio, co-taught by an 

architect and an engineer; the daylighting studio, part of the 

lighting design curriculum; or the design workshop, which offers 

a rare opportunity to collaborate on a real project from schematic 

design through construction. taken in conjunction with construction 

technology ii, the design workshop focuses on how materials 

and construction shape our cultural and tactile understanding 

of space. 

third year in design studio V, a prominent practicing architect 

leads a thematic urban and architectural design studio related 

to his or her professional interests. students also participate in 

research seminar: cities and details and theory of urban form, 

which focuses on contemporary and historical urban design. 

in design studio Vi, taken in the final semester, students execute 

an independent thesis in a supervised studio devoted to 

investigating a specific program and a new york city site. each 

student designs a complex multifunctional urban building. students 

also take professional practice, which prepares them for entry into 

the professional world. 

two study options 

accredited by the new york state Board of regents and the 

national architectural accrediting Board (naaB), parsons offers 

two professional degree options in architecture. 

first professional degree students with a Bfa or Ba degree 

pursue a three-year (106 credits) course of study leading to a 

first professional degree. at least one college-level course in 

calculus, one in physics, and one in the history of architecture 

are prerequisites. students without a design background are 

also required to take the parsons summer intensive studio or 

an equivalent course elsewhere. for more information, visit 

www.newschool.edu/parsons and go to summer programs. 

postprofessional degree students who already hold a Barch first 

professional degree or a foreign equivalent typically enroll in 

the one-and-a-half-year postprofessional degree program (54 

credits), a flexible course of study that allows students to customdesign 

a program to suit their academic interests. this course 

of study begins in the spring and continues for three semesters, 

allowing students to take advantage of the design workshop and, 

if they wish, to spend a summer working in new york city between 

years of study. 


29 



electiVes 

Architecture students take two electives 

from the Architecture, Interior Design, 

and Lighting Design curriculum to 

enrich their field of study. 

They choose two additional electives 

from other Parsons or university graduate 

curricula. 

naaB stateMent 

In the United States, most state registration 

boards require a degree from an 

accredited professional degree program 

as a prerequisite for licensure. The NAAB, 

the sole agency authorized to accredit 

U.S. professional degree programs in 

architecture, recognizes two types of 

degrees: the Bachelor of Architecture and 

the Master of Architecture. A program 

may be granted a five-year, three-year, or 

two-year term of accreditation. Master’s 

degree programs may consist of a preprofessional 

undergraduate degree and 

a professional graduate degree, which, 

when earned sequentially, make up an 

accredited professional education. The 

preprofessional degree is not, by itself, 

recognized as an accredited degree. 

adMission inforMation 

Admission to the program is handled 

directly by the School of the Constructed 

Environments (product, lighting, 

architecture, and interior design). Email 

aidladmission@newschool.edu for 

information. Applicants are encouraged 

to visit and to attend final reviews in 

mid-December and early May. Call 

212.229.8955 to make arrangements.

case study: MargaretVille design workshop 

for 50 years, the Margaretville pavilion in upstate new york has 

been a vital community symbol and gathering place, hosting 

festivals and other community events. recently, after serious 

flooding rendered the structure unstable, parsons students in the 

design workshop were mobilized to design and construct a new 

5,000-square-foot pavilion. the structure they built (see below) has 

since become an iconic centerpiece of the town’s revitalization. 

other recent design workshop projects include a convertible art 

space for the lower Manhattan cultural council; a lobby and 

gallery renovation for common ground, a nonprofit housing and 

community development group; a prototype field house for the 

new york public school system; and infowash, a laundromat-cuminformation 

center in delisle, Mississippi, that offers assistance to 

hurricane katrina survivors. 

30 ARCHITECTURE 


Leah King 

Student 

architecture

Along with her classmates in the Design Workshop at Parsons, Leah King 

brought the Margaretville Pavilion—a 5,000-square-foot community 

center with an outdoor pavilion, an enclosed kitchen, a deck, and a 

tower—to life. Leah explains that the “design-build” program is one of 

the reasons she chose to study at Parsons and is her favorite aspect of the 

architecture curriculum overall. 

Through her coursework at Parsons, Leah was introduced to the 

concept of sustainable design, which became a major component of 

her master’s thesis. “I explored smart materials and new technologies 

as a way to improve the efficiency of space, light, air, water usage, and 

heating in housing units. I focused on Harlem, an area undergoing 

transition and gentrification. There, I found a way to modify the 

traditional brownstone with a skin structure that allows for these 

physical and environmental changes while accommodating the 

changing social trends of the neighborhood.” 

According to Leah, New York City provides the perfect setting for the 

study of architecture. She says, “Classes take advantage of the diversity 

and significance of New York architecture. We took all kinds of field 

trips and walking tours; we even took a ferry tour of the Gowanus Canal, 

something most people never do!” 

left Maiko Shimizu, 33rd St. Care House, 

multi-generational housing complex, 

architectural model 

right top Gregga Kailin, MRFex, material 

recovery facility, Hudson River Park Pier 40, 

NYC, architectural model 

right bottom Perla Kristinsdottir, 125th St. 

Transit Hub, large urban public subway station, 

NYC, digital rendering 

ARCHITECTURE 

33 


Danny Wong, Airport Extension, an 

experiment in branding an enclosure 

system, JFK Airport terminal 8 & 9, 

NYC, architectural model 

left top Jessica Birnbaum, Yankee Baseball 

Stadium, large urban sports arena, architectural 

model 

left bottom Douglas Segulja & Ian Mueller, 

NYU Residence Hall, faculty/student housing 

complex, architectural model 

right Megan Hurley and Hrolfur Cela, 

NYU Residence Hall, faculty/student housing 

complex, mixed media rendering 

34 ARCHITECTURE ARCHITECTURE 35 



architecture faculty 

KENT KLEINMAN dean, School of Constructed Environments. 

Scholarly focus: 20th-century European modernism. Books: 

Villa Müller: A Work of Adolf Loos; Rudolf Arnheim: Revealing Vision; 

Mies van der Rohe: The Krefeld Villas. Awards: Mellon Foundation’s 

Senior Public Goods Fellowship, Visiting Scholarship at the 

Canadian Center for Architecture, three Graham Foundation 

grants, two Architect’s Journal Ten Best Book awards. MArch, 

University of California, Berkeley. 

JOANNA MERWOOD director of academic affairs, School 

of Constructed Environments. Architectural historian. 

Published: “Western Architecture: The Inland Architect, 

Race, Class and Architectural Identity,” “Chicago Is History,” 

“The Mechanization of Cladding: The Reliance Building and 

Narratives of Modern Architecture.” BArch, Victoria University 

of Wellington; MArch, McGill; MA and PhD, Princeton. 

DAVID LEVEN director, MArch program; partner, Leven Betts. 

Awards: Architectural Record’s Design Vanguard, Architype 

Review, IES Lumen, four AIA NYC Awards, I.D. Annual Design 

Review, Architectural League of NY’s Young Architects 

Forum. Lectures and exhibitions: Architectural League of NY, 

Deutsches Architekturmuseum, Syracuse University, Center 

for Architecture, University of Kansas, Chicago Institute of Art. 

Published: Architectural Record, Young Americans, Ultimate New York 

Design, New Minimalist House, Dwell. BA, Colgate; MArch, Yale; 

coursework, Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies. 

KIMBERLY ACKERT principal, Ackert Architects. Awards: 

Mercedes T. Bass Rome Prize in Architecture. Published: 40 Under 

40, New York Times Magazine, Green Architecture USA, Interiors, 

Architectural Review, Architecture Australia, House & Garden. 

Projects: Monier Design Commission, Villa Almonte Sea 

Ranch, Faith Assembly Church. BArch, California Polytechnic 

State University. 

MATTHEW BAIRD principal, Matthew Baird Design. 

Publications: GA Houses, New York Times, New York magazine. 

Projects: Museum of American Folk Art (with Tod Williams Billie 

Tsien Architects). BA, Princeton; MArch, Columbia. 

SUNIL BALD partner, studioSUMO. Awards: Young Architects, 

ACSA, Fulbright, AIA. Published: Architecture, Architectural Record, 

Frame, GA Houses, Wallpaper, Domus, Oculus. Lectures and exhibitions: 

Project Row Houses, Houston; GA Gallery, Tokyo; Young 

Architects Forum at the National Building Museum, Washington, 

D.C.; Urban Center, New York; University of Texas, Austin; Cornell. 

BA, University of California at Santa Cruz; MArch, Columbia. 

STELLA BETTS partner, Leven Betts Studio. Awards: AIA 

Design Award (2003 and 2004), I.D. Annual Design Review, 

Metropolis Next Generation Prize, Architectural League Young 

Architects, IES Lumen Award. Published: Dwell, Architectural 

Record, I.D., Surface, Interior Design, House & Garden. Lectures and 

exhibitions: Architectural League, Center for Architecture, BAC, 

MacDowell Colony, Colgate University. BA, Connecticut College; 

MArch, Harvard. 

LAURA BRIGGS director of the BFA program; partner, 

BriggsKnowles Architecture+Design. Projects include speculative 

work on the city and research into the integration of 

photovoltaic and interactive energy technologies into building 

surfaces. Published in: A+D, Metropolis, New York Times, Dwell, 

Dwell-TV, Domus. Lectures and exhibitions: Cornell, Columbia, 

RISD, University of Michigan, Kent State, International Solar 

Energy Society, American Solar Energy Society, Storefront for 

Architecture, Van Alen Institute. BFA and BArch, RISD; 

MArch, Columbia. 

ERIC BUNGE principal, nARCHITECTS. Awards: Architectural 

League Emerging Voices, Canadian Rome Prize, Architectural 

Record Design Vanguard, MoMA/P.S.1. Young Architects, NYFA 

grant. Published in: New York Times, Earth Buildings, City Limits: 

Young Architects 3, Metropolis, Architectural Record, L’architecture 

d’aujourd’hui. Exhibitions: Economy of the Earth, ArchiLab, 

Orléans, France; New Hotels for Global Nomads, Cooper-Hewitt, 

National Design Museum. BArch, McGill; MArch, Harvard. 

DILIP DA CUNHA principal, Mathur/da Cunha, a landscape, 

planning, and architecture firm. Research focus: landscape as a 

shifting, culturally layered condition. Awards: Young Architects 

Award. Books: Mississippi Floods: Designing a Shifting Landscape; 

Deccan Traverses: The Making of Bangalore’s Terrain. BArch, 

Bangalore University; MHousing, SPA, New Delhi; MCP, MIT; PhD, 


NATALIE FIzER principal, Fizer/Forley Design. Exhibitions: 

Artificial Memory, a survey history of memory devices; The 

Democratic Monument in America 1900-2000, a traveling exhibit 

on the monuments and trails of the 20th-century American landscape; 

Opening the Oval, a timeline history of the interior of the 

White House. Grants: New York State Council on the Arts, NYFA. 

Published: Interior Design, New York Times, Paper, New York magazine. 

BA, Rutgers; BArch, Cooper Union; MArch, Princeton. 

CARLO FRUGIUELE partner, Urban Office Architecture. Awards: 

Europan 7 First Prize, Robbins Elementary School Competition, 

Villafranca New School First Prize, Town Hall of Ornago First 

Prize. Published: Europan 7, Architectural Record, l’Arca. Lectures: 

NJIT, Anahuac Universidad, Europan 7. BArch, Politecnico di 

Milano; MDes, Columbia. 

JEAN GARDNER activist, writer, architecture, and landscape 

historian; consultant on sustainable design issues; founding member, 

Environment ’90, Earth Environmental Group. Co-author: 

Cinemetrics: Architecture Drawing Today. Author: Urban Wilderness: 

Nature in New York City. Teaching experience: Columbia, Pratt, and 

Cornell. BA, Smith College; MA, Columbia. 

JAMES GARRISON principal, Garrison Siegel Architects, a firm 

with an emphasis on high performance and sustainable designs. 

Awards: Chicago Athenaeum American Architecture Award, 

GSA Citation for Design Excellence, AIA/NYS Honor Award, AIA/ 

NYC Building Award. Published: Architecture, Architectural Record, 

Contract, Oculus, Real Estate Weekly. BArch, Syracuse. 

DOUGLAS GAUTHIER principal, Gauthier Architects. 

Awards: MoMA Home Delivery exhibition, Architecture League 

Young Architects, Fulbright Scholarship, Graham Foundation 

grant. Published: New York Times, Wallpaper, Metropolis. 


ED KELLER designer, writer, multimedia artist; co-founder, a/ 

Um Studio; partner, Atelier Chronotope. Projects range from 

residential projects to competitions, new media installations, 

and screenplays. Awards: National Award, Celebration of Cities, 

first prize for A House for Andrei Tarkovski. Published: ANY, AD, 

Architecture, Wired, Metropolis, Assemblage, Progressive Architecture. 

Lectures: Harvard, Pratt, Princeton, Columbia University GSAP. 

BA, Simon’s Rock; MArch, Columbia. 

JAMES KOSTER principal, James Koster Architects. Awards: 

Chase Competition Development Corporation Award, NY State 

Preservation League Award, Kelly Grant Illuminating Engineers 

Society. BA, University of Pennsylvania; MArch, Princeton. 

DAVID J. LEWIS partner, Lewis.Tsurumaki.Lewis. Projects 

focus on the inventive possibilities of architecture through an 

examination of the conventional and overlooked. Published: 

Architecture, Architectural Record, Architectural Review, Frame, I.D., 

Interiors, Metropolis, New York Times. Awards: U.S. representation 

at Venice Architecture Biennale, Architectural League of New 

York Emerging Voices, Architectural Record vanguard. Lectures 

and exhibitions: SF MoMA, Van Alen Institute, UVA, Sci-Arc, 

University of California. BA, Carleton College; MA, Cornell; 

MArch, Princeton. 

HARRIET MARKIS PE partner, Dunne & Markis Consulting 

Structural Engineers, structural engineer on projects ranging 

from new construction to existing structures to restoration 

work on landmark buildings. Affiliations: ASCE, SeoNY. BSCE, 

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. MEng, Cornell. 

JONATHAN MARVEL principal, Rogers/Marvel Architects. 

Projects: Governors Island park and public space, NY Stock 

Exchange streetscape, urban plaza for 55 Water Street, Battery 

Park streetscapes, Higgins Hall at Pratt Institute, Studio Museum 

in Harlem. Awards: AIA NY Chapter Medal of Honor, Municipal 

Arts Society, Boston Society of Architects, Architectural League 

of NY Emerging Voices, Interiors Design Award. Published: 

Architectural Record, New York Times, Interior Design, Metropolis, I.D., 

ANY, A+U, Quaderns. BA, Dartmouth; MArch, Harvard. 

MICHAEL MCGOUGH vice president, Laszlo Bodak Engineer, PC; 

managing director, LBE International, Ltd.; registered professional 

engineer in the state of New York; certified expert witness in 

forensic engineering. Affiliations: American Society of Mechanical 

Engineers; American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air 

Conditioning Engineers; National Fire Protection Association. 

BSME, Columbia. 

BRIAN MCGRATH principal, Urban-Interface, LLC, a consulting 

practice with expertise in architecture, ecology, and media. 

Projects focus on the use of digital technologies to provide 

urban design models that engage local participants in flexible 

approaches to urban densification and revitalization. Co-author: 

Cinemetrics: Architectural Drawing Today. Author: Transparent Cities, 

Conflict in Rome and New York. BArch, Syracuse; MArch, Princeton; 

coursework, Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies. 

LUC NADAL architect and scholar. Awards: Buell Writing Prize, 

Barclay Bibbs Jones nomination, Lavoisier and Monbusho scholarships. 

Published: Les lumières de la ville, L’architecture d’aujourd’hui, 

Arch + Zeitschrift. Diploma, Architecte DPLG, La Villette School of 

Architecture, France; MPhil, PhD, Columbia. 

GREG OTTO structural engineer; senior engineer, Buro Happold 

Consulting Engineers. Projects: Los Angeles Natural History 

Museum (Steven Holl Architects); Genzyme Headquarters, 

Cambridge (Behnisch, Behnisch Partners); Trettin Residence, 

Aspen (SHoP–Sharples Holden Pasquarelli). Kansas State 

University, Cooper Union, and MIT. 


37 



MITCHELL B. OWEN partner, Consolidated Design Studios 

Ltd., specializing in high-end residential and retail design. 

Research focus: intersection of politics and design in World 

War II-era California Modern architecture; the crossing of 

political issues with architectural design and urban history. 

Awards: DDI Magazine’s top 50 retail firms. BS, Georgia Institute 

of Technology; MArch, MA Architectural History, Theory, and 

Criticism, Princeton. 

DAVID PISCUSKAS partner, 1100 Architect. Awards: New York 

City and NYS chapters of the AIA design awards for renovation 

of the Little Red School House and Elizabeth Irwin High School; 

MoMA Design stores; Irish Hunger Memorial in Battery Park City. 

BA, Brown, RISD; MArch, University of California, Los Angeles. 

DEREK PORTER director, MFA Lighting Design; principal, 

Derek Porter Studio. Awards: Architectural Lighting magazine, 

International Association of Lighting Designers, Illuminating 

Engineering Society of North America. Affiliations: member of the 

American Institute of Architects, IALD, IESNA, and Light 

Fair International. BFA, Environmental Design, Kansas City 

Art Institute. 

GUNDULA PROKSCH principal, TAAN (transatlantic architectural 

network). Research emphasizes the transformation of 

urban landscapes. Awards: DAAD fellow, Studienstiftung fellow. 

Published: Werk, Bauen+Wohnen, ETH Zurich, Baunetz. Dipl. Ing. 

Architektin, TU Braunschweig; MArch, Cornell. 

MARK RAKATANSKY principal, Mark Rakatansky Studio. 

Awards: Emerging Voices, I.D., National Competition for Street 

Trees, 100 Annual, PRINT Digital Design, Progressive Architecture. 

Published: ANY, A+U, Assemblage, Camerawork, Columbia Document, 

Competitions, Harvard Architecture Review, Journal of Philosophy 

and Visual Arts. BA, University of California, Santa Cruz; MArch, 


JUERGEN RIEHM partner, 1100 Architect. Awards: New York 

City and NYS chapters of the AIA design awards for renovation 

of the Little Red School House and Elizabeth Irwin High School; 

MoMA Design stores; Irish Hunger Memorial in Battery Park 

City. Diploma in Architecture, Fachhochschule Rheinland-Pfalz; 

Stadelschule, Academy of Fine Arts, Frankfurt A.M. 

ROBERT ROGERS principal, Rogers/Marvel Architects. 

Projects: Governors Island park and public space, NY Stock 

Exchange streetscape, urban plaza for 55 Water Street, Battery 

Park streetscapes, Higgins Hall at Pratt Institute, Studio Museum 

in Harlem. Awards: Erie Street Plaza International Design 

Competition finalist, AIA National Honor Awards, Architectural 

League of NY Emerging Voices, Interiors Design Award. Published: 

Architectural Record, New York Times, Interior Design, Metropolis. BA, 

BArch, Rice University; MDes, Harvard. 

CHRIS SHARPLES principal, SHoP (Sharples Holden 

Pasquarelli), a practice encompassing architecture, fine arts, 

structural engineering, finance, and business management. 

Awards: Wired Rave Award; National Design Award finalist, 

Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum; Architectural 

League of New York Emerging Voices; Progressive Architecture 

Citation; MoMA/P.S. 1 Summer Installation. Published: Versioning, 

Architecture, Architectural Record, New York Times, Oculus, Interior 

Design. BFA, Dickenson College; MArch, Columbia. 

WILLIAM SHARPLES principal, SHoP (Sharples Holden 

Pasquarelli; see above). BAE, Pennsylvania State University; 


HENRY SMITH-MILLER partner, Smith-Miller+Hawkinson 

Architects. Awards: Progressive Architecture Design Award for 

Strategic Open Space, AIA NY Chapter Design Award, National 

Academy of Design award for the NY Public Library Project, 

Fulbright Scholar. Published: ANY, Architecture, Architectural 

Record, Casabella, Global Architecture, Dwell, I.D., Interiors, Interior 

Design, Metropolis, New York Times. Lectures and exhibitions: 

MoMA, SF MOMA, FRAC, Van Alen Institute, Architectural 

League of NY. BA, Princeton; MArch incomplete, Yale; MArch, 

University of Pennsylvania. 

CALVIN TSAO partner, Tsao & McKown. Awards: Metropolitan 

Home’s Design 100, Interior Design Hall of Fame, Fashion Group 

International Star Honoree, Noyes Visiting Critic Harvard. 

Published: Architecture, I.D., Interior Design, New York Times, Vanity 

Fair. BA, University of California, Berkeley; MArch, Harvard. 

TIMOTHY VENTIMIGLIA architect, museum and exhibit 

designer; associate and project director, Ralph Appelbaum 

Associates. Awards: Society for Environmental and Graphic 

Design top honor, Industrial Design Excellence Award, silver 

winner; Communication Arts Award. Projects: University of Arizona 

Science Center, Grand Tetons National Park Visitor Center, 

Anchorage Museum of History and Art. BArch, MArch, Cornell. 

PERRY WINSTON senior architect, Pratt Planning and 

Architectural Collaborative, working on affordable housing 

and community development; maker of the documentary film 

Bordersville, which aired on PBS; frequent contributor, Design Book 

Review. BA, Harvard; MArch, Rice. 


39 



design and technology 

the design and technology program responds to the social and 

cultural dimensions of technological change. students learn 

firsthand what to expect in the wired 21st-century world as they 

explore connections between networks, interactions, games, products, 

and stories. this program of study examines the implications 

of emerging technology for both the practice and the process of 

design, drawing from the past and looking to the future. 

students are exposed to a variety of perspectives while they 

develop their own points of view. they become aware of and 

address social and ethical issues that arise from technology’s 

proliferation throughout society as they work to define their own 

vision and practice within one or more domains. 

the curriculum links visual, interactive, and narrative concerns with 

the practices of programming and computation. students explore 

the social, economic, political, cultural, environmental, historical, 

ergonomic, and psychological impact of design and technology. 

they conceive and create dynamic systems on a human scale. this 

broad approach is a hallmark of the program and prepares students 

for research and professional work in many design contexts. 

the program challenges students to master constantly changing 

technology, on the principle that people work most creatively 

when they have a solid understanding of the tools they are using. 

students are also encouraged to develop close associations and 

working relationships with one another. the collaborations fostered 

often last long after graduation. 


newschool.edu/parsons and go to degree programs: design and 

technology, graduate. 


Beyond computer labs and classrooms 

lies the greatest resource available to our 

students: New York City. In addition to 

using city streets and wireless networks 

as laboratories for experimentation, 

students take field trips to Times Square, 

Lower Manhattan, and Central Park to 

find inspiration and observe the nuances 

of designed living. They collaborate 

with urban arts organizations like 

Eyebeam, Creative Time, the Kitchen, 

and the New Museum. Students learn 

to see New York City as a dynamic 

system that shapes the way they learn, 

play, innovate, and explore. 

The facilities at Parsons are state-ofthe-art. 

The Arnhold Hall Multimedia 

Laboratory occupies 40,000 square 

feet on four floors with 600 networked 

workstations. More than 30 servers 

support work ranging from traditional 

print output to online projects using 

webcasting and secure transaction 

technology. Specialty work—audio/ 

video production, MIDI, recording, and 

physical computing installation—takes 

place in the Design and Technology Lab. 

Portable digital still, video, and audio 

production equipment is available. 

Digital projectors, surround sound, and 

active whiteboards feed into equipment 

racks for media presentations of all kinds. 

40 DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY 

41 



aluMni 

design and technology graduates work in a wide variety of 

art and design practices. they hold directing, producing, and 

design positions in broadcast design and animation at MtV, 

nickelodeon, curious pictures, and r/ga. a recent graduate in 

time-based media was the technical director on shrek 2 for 

pdi/dreamworks. in game design, alumni hold lead designer 

positions at electronic arts and gamelab; others have started 

indie game development firms, for example large animal games. 

design and technology trained interaction designers can be 

found at aol, frog design, pentagram, and apple. in the arts, our 

alumni have won awards at ars electronica and worked with the 

sponsorship of arts organizations like eyebeam and creative time. 

parsons graduates include professors at the university of wisconsin, 

the university of Massachusetts, and texas a&M university. 

the student experience 

the process of responding to the implications of emerging 

technology through design is the essence of the student 

experience in design and technology. design serves more than 

a visual function: it is a means for producing culture, developing 

communities, organizing knowledge, creating entrepreneurial 

structures, and awakening social consciousness. situated 

amid new york city’s vibrant art and design scene, the program 

encourages students to take their work to the streets and engage 

individuals and communities. from bicycles that create wi-fi 

hotspots to walking tours mediated through pdas and cell phones 

to animations projected onto buildings, our students’ work is 

a living, breathing part of our city. whether in the commercial 

realm, academia, or the fine arts, parsons graduates offer not 

just in-depth knowledge of technology but the creativity and 

intellectual awareness to shape the future. 

students enter the graduate program from many professional and 

educational backgrounds, including interactive design, architecture, 

fine arts, film and media studies, graphic design, new media 

art, computer science, and the social sciences. their geographical 

roots are equally diverse: current students come from Japan, 

Malaysia, Brazil, switzerland, canada, and iceland, as well as the 

united states. 

curriculuM 

the Mfa is a two-year, full-time, 64-credit program. students can 

take a general curriculum or specialize. while the curriculum is 

studio based, critical thinking and the study of design process and 

methods are central to the program. the combination of creating, 

thinking, and writing is central to the design and technology 

experience. the program’s open, flexible structure, gives students 

adVancing the field: 

syMposia 

As part of its efforts to advance the field, 

the program has organized a number 

of important symposia. “DeathMatch 

in the Stacks” marked the 2005 launch 

of The Game Design Reader, written 

by Katie Salen and faculty member 

Eric Zimmerman. This event brought 

together a number of game industry 

luminaries:designers Warren Robinett 

(Atari), Greg Costikyan (Manifesto 

Games), and Ken Birdwell (Valve); 

play theorists Brian Sutton-Smith, 

Linda Hughes, and Gary Alan Fine; 

and new media producers Ze Frank 

and Counts Media. Previous symposia 

include “Excavating the Archive: New 

Technologies of Memory” and “Re:Play: 

Game Design + Game Culture.” 

areas of focus 

Through their studio work, students 

address cultural sensibilities in the 

context of technologically mediated 

experiences. A set of core topics frame 

these inquiries. 

Interactivity 

Students explore interactivity within 

digital and analog settings, including 

games, websites, smart products, and 

wearable interfaces. 

Narrative 

Students explore narrative possibilities 

within time-based media, including animation, 

broadcast design, documentary 

film and video. 

Computation 

Students explore the expressive possibilities 

of code, including animation, 

performance, narrative, and online 

experiences. 

a great deal of freedom in choosing areas of research to pursue. 

individual and collaborative studio projects are designed to 

demonstrate aesthetic and intellectual refinement as well as 

technical mastery. students produce a master’s thesis in the 

second year of study, which culminates in an exhibition at the 

parsons galleries. 

parsons’ ongoing relationships with corporate, governmental, 

educational, and nonprofit organizations ensure a technically 

current and socially relevant working environment. industry and 

institutional partners include aiga, apple, atari, cooper-hewitt/ 

smithsonian, creative time, curious pictures, estée lauder, 

eyebeam, fossil, gamelab, human rights watch, Microsoft, 

MtV, nasa, the new Museum, the open society institute, r/ga, 

samsung, siemens, sensable technologies, unesco, unicef, 

Vespa, and the whitney Museum of art. 

students can take advantage of the university setting—enlisting 

directors or actors from the new school for drama to work on a 

digital film, for example, or collaborating with creative writing 

students. they can take elective courses in usability, international 

affairs, sustainability and urban ecology, and psychology, to 

name a few of the possibilities. 

MaJor studio 

central to the program is the Major studio, devoted to the conceptual 

and creative process in design, in which each student develops his 

or her own body of work. 

Major studio: interface in this studio, students are introduced to the 

process of creating work within a design and technology context. 

it should be seen as the interface for Mfa design and technology’s 

core topics—narrative, computation, and interactivity—as well as 

for the areas on which the program focuses—design, technology, 

and society. 

Major studio: interaction students design “screen-based” 

experiences or new ways of enabling people to interact with the 

physical world. 

Major studio: narrative this course focuses on new narrative 

possibilities within time-based media, including animation, 

cinematic space, documentary film and video, broadcast 

graphics, movie titles, information broadcast, and internet video. 

Major studio: computation students explore the use of digital 

code-driven systems to create new forms of design. 


43 



electiVes 

Academic electives focus on the 

theories, methodologies, and 

development processes required by 

contemporary design and technology 

projects. Students can choose 

from a set of Design and Technology 

electives and many other courses 

at Parsons and other divisions of 

The New School. The following is a 

sample of departmental electives. 

Multi-Channel Interaction Design 

is about developing prototypes for 

integrated interactive experiences. 

Emphasis is on strategic thinking, 

user research, concept design to build 

and test a piece that works simultaneously 

in three media environments. 

Vision and Sound with Max/MSP/ 

Jitter introduces MIDI communication, 

interface design, installation 

and performance strategies, digital 

sound synthesis, and structure and 

programming of Quicktime and 

OpenGL. 

Social Fashioning and Emerging 

Networks examines network communications 

infrastructures and 

radical reconceptualizations of public 

space focusing on clothing, accessories, 

and handheld objects as conduits 

through which identity, agency, 

and social relation are expressed. 

Visual Storytelling explores not only 

techniques (storyboards, animatics 

and Board-O-Matics, comics) but also 

the meaning and structure underlying 

time-based media. Students learn 

how to articulate story ideas clearly 

in order to communicate effectively 

through any medium.

collaBoration studio 

collaboration studios are courses that team students with industry 

partners to undertake real-world projects. Many are crossdisciplinary 

and dedicated to applied design research areas at 

the new school. past partners include curious pictures, the open 

society studio, scholastic, human rights watch, franklin furnace, 

the new Museum, unicef, the port authority of new york and new 

Jersey, and the american symphony orchestra league. Media 

range from mobile wireless applications, games, digital film, animation, 

websites, cd dVds and kiosks to experimental installations. 

described below are examples of recent collaboration studios. 

scholastic learning lab is sponsored by the lab for informal 

learning, a research and ideation group at scholastic. students 

create a design brief and conceptual prototype for one of two 

concepts aimed at children between 6 and 12 years old: the energy 

game and Monster Quest. the energy game is a multiplayer, webdelivered, 

turn-based strategy game that exposes elementary 

and middle school students to energy policy politics and science. 

Monster Quest is a user-generated content website for children 

focused on avatar creation and social networks. 

internet famous is dedicated to spreading work on the internet, 

getting hits, and attracting web media attention. custom tracking 

software, currently in development at the eyebeam openlab, is 

released in beta form to students. sites like digg, del.icio.us, alexa, 

youtube, and technorati are mined for data to deliver a single 

bulk index of internet fame. students study successful contagious 

media projects to increase their chances of making work spread 

contagiously. grades are awarded algorithmically on the basis of 

web popularity. 

Jazz and animation gives students the opportunity to work with 

illustrators, communication designers, and musicians to create both 

live and recorded animation to accompany the music of contributing 

jazz composers and performers. students work with a variety of 

analog and digital technologies, ranging from Max Msp and Jitter 

to drawn cel animation and lighting and staging effects. 

supernormal futures students work with graduate architecture students 

to envision future scenarios that challenge our sense of what 

“normal” will be. extrapolating from existing technologies, students 

model and prototype critical responses to the present by designing 

scenarios of and objects from the future. 

44 DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY 


More electiVes 

Physical Computing connects the 

physical and the digital, investigating 

physicality and interface with respect 

to the computer and exploring related 

analog and digital technology. 

Geek Graffiti Graffiti, street-art, guerrilla 

marketing, and other technologybased 

urban projects are explored in 

collaboration with the Wooster 

Collective, an arts group in New York. 

Narrative and Dynamic Systems looks 

closely at the mechanics of storytelling 

within interactive fictions, exploring 

connections between technology and 

narrative experience. 

Game Design is an introduction to 

games as formal, social, and cultural 

systems, emphasizing rapid prototyping 

and play-testing of game concepts 

and introducing game analysis and 

production. 

Mike Edwards 

Student 

design and technology

“I saw the master’s thesis show at Parsons, and I was so impressed with 

the projects. They were really, really cool. I had to go there; I knew it 

was perfect for me,” says Mike Edwards. A year later, he enrolled in the 

Design and Technology program. 

Mike’s own thesis is as impressive as the ones that inspired him to 

come to Parsons. After receiving a grant from the Open Society Institute, 

Mike traveled to Malawi and worked as a technologist with a small 

health-care advocacy organization. For his thesis project, developed in 

collaboration with the Malawian organization Baobab Health Partnership, 

Mike created tools that digitally measure children’s arms to determine 

whether they are malnourished and store the records electronically. 

Since returning from Malawi, Mike has been focusing on education. At 

PETLab (Prototyping, Evaluating, Teaching and Learning Laboratory), the 

first public-interest game design and research laboratory for interactive 

media, he worked with a team to develop a game that teaches players about 

sustainable architecture and construction. The game has been presented 

to industry professionals. 

For Mike, one of the best features of Parsons is “the kind of people 

who come to school here. They have a diverse range of life experiences, 

talents, and interests, but they are all really smart people. It creates a 

really productive mix of thoughts and designs, which is good for 

‘strange’ kinds of creativity, ranging from very technical to very artistic.” 

Mike has accepted an offer to teach at Parsons. 

case study: petlaB 

design and technology students engage the community with 

their explorations. symposia, game jams, simulations, and mobile 

technology events hosted by the program encourage experimental 

learning, provide a place to prototype methods, and connect 

students with scholars and designers in digital media, education, 

and social research. 

the program recently announced the launch of petlab, the first 

public-interest game design and research laboratory for interactive 

media. the sustainability game open house (see below) was 

developed through petlab and presented at the philip Johnson 

glass house. in collaboration with the nonprofit organization 

games for change, petlab will work with Microsoft’s xbox development 

platform and MtV’s think.MtV.com youth-focused activist 

community to develop learning tools and games that explore social 

issues. petlab was made possible by a $450,000 grant from the 

John d. and catherine t. Macarthur foundation. 

DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY 

47 


left top Leanne Wagner and Matt 

Bethencourt, Nohaüs FoodBox, open drop 

boxes enabling distribution of leftover food 

to homeless people; locations accessible 

via cell phones and an online database 

at foodbox-ny.org. Interface Major 

Studio Project 

left bottom Travis Chan, Elizabeth Foley, 

Paul Imperio, Kimba Kerner, Sangmin 

Lee, Rami Son, Scrubby Invasion, 2D, 3D 

Animation and Motion Graphics. Advanced 

Broadcast Design Studio project 

above Arava Sheleff, Heroes, tactical media 

docu-comic. MFA thesis Project 

left Myeong Jae Lee, Chang Jeong, Nohaüs 

Design-Cardboard Chair, DIY found cardboard 

and gaffer tape chair design for the homeless. 

Interface Major Studio Project 

right Catherine Garnier, Table for Two, 

interactive narrative installation. 

MFA thesis project 


49 



design and technology faculty 

SVEN TRAVIS chair. new media artist; experimental software 

developer. Founder of several commercial enterprises including 

The Fred Group (randomly generated textile design) and 

Crazy Baldhead (randomly generated bald people). Recent 

work: Groupmeter (with Cornell University), YACHT CLUB 

(with Tsinghua University in Beijing), and Embedded Control. 

Expertise: network design, physical computing, photography, 

interactive media. Interests: mobile media, data collection, 

interactive media, web research, machinima, Green Bay Packers. 

ANEzKA SEBEK director of the graduate program; writer, 

director, and visual effects and computer animation producer 

for projects combining live action with digital effects. Projects: 

television, advertising, music videos, short films, documentaries, 

and feature films for HBO, Curious Pictures, and 

R/Greenberg Associates. Expertise: animation, character design, 

narrative, documentary. Interests: feminism, queer/environmental 

activism, screenwriting, time-based media, digital 

puppetry, motion capture, live action, sociology, urban studies, 

media theory, visual effects. PhD candidate in Sociology and 

Media Studies, The New School for Social Research. 

ANDY BICHLBAUM (Jacques Servin). Founder of the Yes Men, 

a group of professional troublemakers whose ultimate goal is to 

help design a better world—they sneak into corporate conferences 

to report unflattering stories. He is currently working on 

a feature film about the Yes Men’s latest adventures. Expertise: 

filmmaking, narrative, media activism, culture-jamming. 

TED BYFIELD co-moderator of “nettime” mailing list; coeditor 

of README! (Autonomedia, 1999) and NKPVI (MGLC, 

2001). Clients: BBC, The Kitchen, KPN, Open Society Institute, 

Cambridge University Press, Ford Foundation, Random House, 

Scribners/Macmillan. Published: Cook Report, First Monday, 

Frieze, Le Monde Diplomatique, Movement Research, Mute, and 

Stanford Humanities Review. Expertise: cybernetics, net.art, 

cultural history, tactical media. Interests: anomalies, archives, 

behavior, choreography, cryptography, DIY, ecology, economy, 

hacking, intellectual property, P2P, performance, policy, 

politics, privacy, propaganda, protocols, punk, radio, robots, 

satellites, systems, typography. 

DAVID CARROLL multimedia director at Second Thought 

(www.secondthought.com), an interactive boutique supplying 

creativity and interactive products to media clients including 

CNN, PBS, ESPN, AETN, AOL, and Nintendo. Expertise: interactive 

and game design, mobile media, object-oriented programming. 

Interests: informatics, prototyping, social media, 

alternate reality gaming, locative media, responsive interfaces, 

computer vision, multi-touch, democracy, data visualization, 

media law, open source, economics, politics, electronic music. 

MELANIE CREAN artist. Former director of production at 

Eyebeam, a cooperative studio that supports the creation of 

socially based media. Previously, she worked at the MTV Digital 

Television Lab and produced documentaries on the trafficking 

of women and the spread of HIV/AIDS along trucking routes in 

South Asia. Expertise: time-based media, public art, installation, 

documentary. Interests: conceptual art, experimental 

sound and video, film, animation, media theory, memory, 

perception, vision. BA in semiotics and film production, Brown 

University; MFA in computer art, School of Visual Arts. 

ANTHONY DEEN design director at TPG Architecture. 

Previously, Deen was senior associate at Rockwell Group, VP 

of Design for Miller Zell, and VP of Retail Design and Brand 

Development for Virgin Megastores NA, where he designed the 

next-generation store and created Virgin’s award-winning instore 

interactive system. 

ANDREA DEzSO artist, award-winning graphic designer and 

typographer, illustrator, and writer with extensive experience 

working with nonprofits, cultural institutions, and businesses. 

Expertise: public art, illustration, artists’ books, typography. 

Interests: outsider and visionary art, folklore, feminism, 

subversive craft, personal narrative, Eastern Europe, space-race 

propaganda, post-Communist nostalgia, shadows, stop-action 

animation, puppetry, dioramas, alternative comix, visual explanations, 

science. 

NICHOLAS FORTUGNO was inducted into role-playing life 

at the age of five and has been an avid consumer and producer 

of role-playing, live-action, and game culture ever since. He 

recently co-founded the gaming company Rebel Monkey. 

YURY GITMAN designer, inventor, and artist. Exhibited at 

the Biennale of Electronic Arts in Perth, the Isle de France in 

Paris, Ars Electronics in Austria, and Eyebeam in New York. 

By employing a network of “wireless bicycle hotspots,” he was 

one of the first to use the Internet from inside the NY subway. 

Projects with NYCWireless, the LMCC, and the Downtown 

Alliance to promote open Internet policy and New Media Art 

practice. Awards: 2003 Ars Electronica Golden Nica for Net 

Vision, Europe’s highest honor for electronic arts. 

JOSHUA GOLDBERG artist and programmer with an interest 

in multimedia sampling and live video performance. Goldberg’s 

work departs from the tradition of coherent narrative, using 

improvisation to create dynamic, abstract collages of the flotsam 

and jetsam of the media sphere. 

JESSICA IRISH inter-media artist whose work queries the 

relationships between technology, the built environment, and 

ideology. Her work has been exhibited exclusively internationally. 

and featured in Art Forum, Metropolis, RES, and Artweek. 

She was among the first digital artists to receive support from 

Creative Capital Foundation and the California Arts Council. 

CHRISTOPHER KIRWAN principal of Urban Technologies. 

Expertise: information architecture and data visualization. 

BArch, BFA, Rhode Island School of Design; coursework, MIT 

Center for Advanced Visual Studies. 

COLLEEN MACKLIN digital artist, interaction designer, 

director of PETLab. Previously worked in New York and 

Southeast Asia to generate multisensory environments ranging 

from DJ parties to minimalist visual installations. Clients: 

Citibank, Credit Suisse First Boston, France Telecom, Moët, 

the New Museum, and Thompson/PDR. Expertise: games/ 

interaction, mobile media, ethnography, international affairs. 

Interests: activism, publics, prototyping, happenings, disruptive 

technologies, participatory design, programming, open 

source, modding and hacking, culture jamming, conceptual 

art, electronic music, Southeast Asia. 

KATHERINE MORIWAKI artist and researcher investigating 

clothing and accessories as a conduit for creating network 

relationships in public space. Her work has appeared in IEEE 

Spectrum and festivals and conferences internationally. 

She received the 2004 Araneum Prize from the Spanish 

Ministry for Science and Technology and Fundación ARCO. 

Master’s degree from ITP at NYU; doctoral candidate at 

Trinity College, Dublin. 

STEPHANIE OWENS artist, freelance designer, and cofounder 

and CCO of Oddcast. Previously Owens was the lead 

designer and associate creative director for Reset, where 

she completed works for HBO, New Line Cinema, Fine Line 

Cinema, October Films, Time Warner, Bad Boy Records, 

Interscope Records, Nine Inch Nails, Kenneth Cole Reaction, 

Buffalo Jeans, and Witness. 

SCOTT PATERSON architect and Internet artist currently in 

practice as a freelance information architect and interaction 

designer. An active member of the Internet art community, 

including Rhizome.org and Mindspace.net, he has had work 

exhibited in Mexico City, Florence, New York, and the Banff 

Centre for the Arts. 

MICHIE PAGULAYAN graphic designer. Expertise: interaction 

design, project management, advertising. MFA, Parsons; 

BFA, University of the Philippines. 

CHRIS ROMERO artist, architect, and design partner at 

Oscillation Digital Design Studio, an inter disciplinary design 

and technology company with offices in New York and San 

Francisco. With longtime partners Brian Kralyevich and Brian 

O’Driscoll, he has worked toward a new visualization of the 

interfaces between humans and computers. 

KATIE SALEN game and interactive designer, animator, 

co-author of Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals and The 

Game Design Reader. Previously worked as a consultant for 

Microsoft, Mememe Productions, gameLab; curator of gamerelated 

shows with Walker Art Center, Lincoln Center, and 

Cinematexas. Expertise: game design, interactive design, new 

media art. Interests: learning, social networks, mods, pedagogy, 

culture, machinima, design writing, youth culture, play. 

SABINE SEYMOUR founder of Moondial Inc., an international 

network of designers, architects, and researchers. 

Moondial’s research focuses on creating a pervasive user 

experience based on the convergence of fashion, wearable 

and wireless technologies, product design, and architecture, 

particularly in extreme sports and fashion. 

MARKO TANDEFELT interface and concept designer with a 

music technology and 3D/VR background. Marko visualized 

the new R142 subway cars in 3D for New York City’s MTA and 

Antennadesign and has been curator and technology advisor 

of F2F: New Media Art from Finland. Expertise: music, audiovisual 

interactive instrument design, physical computing art 

for public spaces. 

MICHAEL WALDRON environmental graphic and corporate 

identity designer; currently creative director of Nailgun. He 

joined News-Channel6, a CBS affiliate, as a graphic designer in 

1995 and became the youngest art director in the history of the 

news company. 

ERIC zIMMERMAN started his career roping friends and 

family into play-testing his game experiments. He has spent 

the last ten years in the game industry. He is the CEO and cofounder 

of gameLab and co-author of Rules of Play: Game Design 

Fundamentals (MIT Press). Before founding gameLab with 

Peter Lee, Eric collaborated with Word.com on the underground 

online hit SiSSYFiGHT 2000 (www.sissyfight.com). 




51

fine arts 

the fine arts Mfa program trains students to develop their work 

from concept to realization and to launch careers as professional 

artists. students explore the evolving role of the artist in today’s art 

world as it is transformed by the influence of popular culture, an 

engagement with social and environmental issues, and the development 

and use of new technologies. 

in this two-year program, students develop the formal, intellectual, 

and conceptual foundations of their work. frequent individual 

studio visits with faculty members in the new york art community 

help students refine their practice and have played an important 

role in preparing parsons alumni for major group shows, such 

as the whitney Biennial, solo shows in galleries worldwide, and 

teaching positions. 

the fine arts program is aesthetically and conceptually open 

to all disciplines. here the traditional wall between painting and 

sculpture has been broken down. while students committed to 

traditional studio practices in painting and sculpture develop their 

work in an atmosphere of rigorous formal training and intellectual 

engagement, the doors are open for artists interested in time-based 

media, performance, installation, and public art. our interdisciplinary 

curriculum, faculty, and facilities provide opportunities for such 

exploration while exposing students to the history, theories, and 

philosophies that have shaped the contemporary art world. 

parsons is located within walking distance of chelsea, soho, and 

midtown galleries and museums, offering students the benefit 

of constant and direct contact with new york city’s unparalleled 

artistic community. 


newschool.edu/parsons and go to degree programs: fine arts, 

graduate. 

awards and scholarships 

In 2008, the prestigious Joan Mitchell 

Foundation awarded Parsons graduate 

Cecile Chong a $15,000 grant. The foundation 

awards 15 grants annually to 

MFA painters and sculptors from across 

the country who produce work of exceptional 

artistic quality. Candidates are 

nominated by members of the academic 

art community. 

The Fine Arts program also receives 

grants and awards, which are used for 

scholarships. The Jacques and Natasha 

Gelman Trust recently awarded Fine 

Arts a $90,000 grant to be used for an 

MFA scholarship, including all tuition 

expenses for two years and a living 

stipend. 

52 FINE ARTS FINE ARTS 

53 



case study: pulse and kitchen exhiBitions 

throughout the year, fine arts students exhibit their work in high- 

profile venues. in March, an installation of work was presented at 

the pulse contemporary art fair at pier 40 (see below) in new york. 

working with curator Jeffrey walkowiak, the students created a 

space for reading, discussion, and contemplation. the installation 

attracted national press attention and provided a unique opportunity 

to show the international art world a cross-section of the work 

produced by graduate students at parsons. graduating seniors 

exhibited their work at the kitchen, a nonprofit experimental art 

and performance space in chelsea. through the innovative course 

theory, practice, and career, Mfa students played an active role in 

organizing that exhibition: securing the exhibition space, developing 

the catalog, and helping conduct marketing and promotion. 

curriculuM 

the master of fine arts curriculum requires 64 credits of full-time 

study: 52 credits of studio (graduate fine arts and graduate seminar), 

and 12 credits of critical studies. students work independently 

in their own studios and have weekly one-on-one conferences 

with the faculty. supplemental instruction in speaking and writing 

is designed to improve students’ ability to discuss their work. 

lectures, workshops, and studio visits with visiting artists, curators, 

and gallery directors enable students to reach beyond the school 

environs to engage the new york city art world. 

graduate fine arts this studio course offers the experience of working 

in a community of faculty and peers who inspire, challenge, 

and support one another. Meeting for six hours a week, the course 

is structured around group and individual meetings with faculty 

members, who set rigorous standards of achievement and help the 

students develop cohesive expression and skills. 

students work with five core faculty members in succession. firstyear 

students work with all five faculty members; second-year 

students choose two faculty members and work with each one for 

two five-week periods. open sign-up periods and group critiques 

occur between rotations. each week within the rotations, one to 

one and a half hours of group discussion are held. students spend 

the rest of the time working in studios while faculty members make 

one-on-one studio rounds. 

student work is analyzed in cultural and historical context. in individual 

and group critiques, studio visits, and discussions, students 

and faculty strive to identify the values and ideas expressed and 

implied by the artwork. students visit galleries and artists’ studios 

to compare their own work to a challenging and fluid contemporary 

art market. Visiting faculty members meet regularly with students to 

give continuity to critical analysis. students design their own work 

processes as a means of establishing the discipline that allows for 

and sustains lifelong work and growth as an artist. 

theory, practice, and career all second-year graduate students 

must take this course, designed to help them enter the art world 

as self-managing artists. this course, developed in cooperation 

with the new york foundation for the arts and funded by the emily 

tremaine foundation, helps students developing skills that will 

enable them to make confident and informed career choices while 

continuing to make art. 

graduate seminar the first-year graduate seminar exposes 

students to significant discourses in 20th- and 21st-century art, 

including modernism, postmodernism, feminism, colonialism, and 

The Visiting Artist and Fine Arts Lecture 

Series allow students to engage in critical 

dialogue with some of the world’s most 

distinguished and groundbreaking artists, 

critics, and scholars. Many visiting 

artists and critics conduct individual 

studio visits with students. 

Visiting artists 2007–08 

Nayland Blake 

Phong Bui 

Ernesto Caivano 

Sammy Cucher 

David Dorsky 

David Ebony 

Jane Fine 

Katherine Gilmore 

Judy Glazman 

Sofia Hernandez 

Nina Katchadourian 

Melissa Meyer 

Christian Rattemeyer 

Taryn Simon 

Stephanie Theodore 

Christian Viveros-Faune 

Barry Winiker 

Jordan Wolfson 


55 



acial representation; commodity culture, including ideas about 

collecting; and technology and the digital revolution. all these 

topics are explored in writing assignments and class discussion as 

well as readings, video and film viewing, and art exhibitions. the 

seminar work is interspersed with studio visits. in addition to short 

writing assignments that accompany readings, each student is 

responsible for a major research paper. 

the second-year graduate seminar is thesis driven. weekly and 

bimonthly writing assignments break down the subjects required for 

the thesis into smaller elements. drawing assignments, individual 

studio visits, and slide lectures on student work augment written 

assignments and promote class discussion. 

at the end of the second year, students present a body of work 

completed in the program and a written thesis for the final 

Master’s review. selected artwork is exhibited in the annual Mfa 

thesis exhibition during the spring semester. 

56 FINE ARTS 


fine arts lecture series 

2007–08 

Joe Andoe 

Jules de Balincourt 

Robert Boyd 

David Ellis 

Stephen Ellis 

Zach Feuer 

Eleanor Heartney 

Ken Johnson 

Justine Kurland 

Fabian Marcaccio 

Carlo McCormick 

Marilyn Minter 

Thomas Nozkowski 

Helaine Posner 

Nancy Princenthal 

Frances Richard 

Jonathan Schipper 

Sue Scott 

Brian Sholis 

Lorna Simpson 

Becky Smith 

Kiki Smith 

Roberta Smith 

Sarah Sze 

Anthony Aziz 

Director 

mfa fine arts

As a graduate student in the early 1990s—a time when the Internet and 

other technologies were becoming available in households nationwide— 

Anthony Aziz decided that he “had a responsibility as an artist to make 

sense of what has become known as a huge paradigm shift.” Since then, 

Aziz has used photography, video, and sculpture to “address the impact 

of technology on our lives, our bodies, and our imaginations.” His work 

has been exhibited at prestigious venues around the world. 

As director of the MFA Fine Arts program, Aziz urges his students to 

question what art means today. “People have acquired a greater appreciation 

of and interest in visual culture, which gives it greater value. Being 

in a community such as the one at Parsons allows students to make sense 

of the essential characteristics of art. It allows them to become leaders 

and to push the definition of art beyond its current borders.” Aziz credits 

the MFA Fine Arts faculty with the ability to both nurture and challenge 

students, allowing them to flourish as artists, often in unexpected ways. 

Michael Caines, untitled, ink, acrylic, pastel 

on paper, measurements unknown 

FINE ARTS 

59 


top left Misael Nuñez, American Flag, 

screen printing on found materials 

38 x 78 x 19.5 inches 

bottom left Cynthia Hsieh, untitled, 

pencil on paper, 17 x 14 inches 

top right Cecile Chong, Between us, 

encaustic on wood panel 23 x 28 inches 

bottom right Nicole Carlson, untitled, 

oil on canvas 43 x 30 inches 

left Brandon Nastanski, untitled, mixed media 

installation 

right Cecile Chong, Dance For Me, encaustic on 

wood 16 x 33 inches 




61

fine arts faculty 

COCO FUSCO chair. Performance and multi-media artist, 

writer, and curator whose work explores paradigms 

in culture, race, gender, social behaviors, war, and politics. 

Solo exhibitions: Whitney Biennial; Sydney Biennale; 

Johannesburg Biennial; London’s Institute of Contemporary 

Art; Brooklyn Academy of Music; Smithsonian Institution; 

London International Theatre Festival; Transmediale, Berlin; 

VideoBrasil, São Paulo. Author: A Field Guide for Female 

Interrogators, English is Broken Here: Notes on Cultural Fusion in the 

Americas, and The Bodies That Were Not Ours and Other Writings. 

MA, Stanford University; PhD, Middlesex University. 

ANTHONY AzIz director of the MFA program. Artist and 

photographer specializing in digital imaging, sculpture, video, 

and architectural installations; collaborator in the team of Aziz + 

Cucher. Exhibitions: New Museum of Contemporary Art; Cooper- 

Hewitt National Design Museum; Venice Biennale; ICP; SF MoMA; 

Reina Sofia Center for Contemporary Art, Madrid; National Gallery 

of Berlin; National Gallery of Australia. Grants and awards: Pollock 

Krasner Award, NEA, NYFA. Published: New York Times, Village 

Voice, Art in America, ArtForum, ArtNews, FlashArt, Frieze, Parkett. 

MFA, San Francisco Art Institute. 

JACKIE BROOKNER environmental artist and writer who collaborates 

with ecologists and earth scientists on water remediation 

and public art projects. Current projects: Dresden, Germany; 

West Palm Beach; San Jose, CA, Cincinnati and Toledo, OH. Solo 

exhibitions: Native Tongues; Of Earth and Cotton. Exhibitions: 

Miró Foundation, Barcelona; Pamela Auchincloss Gallery, NY. 

Grants and awards: NYFA, NEA, Nancy Gray Foundation for Art in 

the Environment, Trust for Mutual Understanding. Guest editor of 

Art Journal issue “Art and Ecology.” MA and ABD, Harvard. 

TOM BUTTER artist interested in the profound incompatibilities 

of the everyday. Butter’s sculptural practice uses seemingly 

disparate materials as visual metaphors for this otherwise elusive 

fact of life; monotypes and paintings articulate this conceptual 

foundation through the formal concerns of two-dimensions. 

Published: Artforum, Art in America, ArtNews, New York Times. 

Exhibitions: Jaffe-Fried & Strauss Galleries; Curt Marcus Gallery, 

NY; Nina Freudenheim Gallery, Buffalo. Teaching: Harvard, 

RISD, Yale, Tyler School of Art. Awards: NYFA grant. Collections: 

Albright Knox Gallery; Walker Art Center; Metropolitan Museum 

of Art. MFA, Washington University. 

GLENN GOLDBERG painter. His process involves adding 

meticulous, tiny, luminous brushstrokes, which are mosaic-like in 

their ability to convey both microscopic beauty and an overarching, 

harmonious whole, to depict subjects like flowers, birds, and 

other wildlife. Solo exhibitions: Willard Gallery, NY; Greenberg 

Gallery, St. Louis; Barbara Krakow Gallery, Boston; Galerie 

Albrecht, Munich. Group exhibitions: Castelli, Harvard, Jeffrey 

Hoffeld Gallery, NY. Collections: Museum of Contemporary Art, 

LA; National Gallery of Art; Brooklyn Museum of Art; National 

Academy of Arts and Letters; Metropolitan Museum of Art. Grants 

and awards: NEA; Edward Albee, Guggenheim, and Margaret Hall 

Silva Foundations; Heilman Artist. MFA, Queens College. 

NINA KATCHADOURIAN artist working with video, photography, 

sound, installation, and language; viewing program 

curator at the Drawing Center. Solo exhibitions: Sara Meltzer 

Gallery, NY; Tang Museum, Saratoga Springs; SculptureCenter, 

NY; Turku Museum of Art, Finland; Catharine Clark Gallery, 

San Francisco; Public Art Fund, NY. Upcoming: CERCA Series, 

San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art. Represented by Sara 

Meltzer Gallery NY and Catharine Clark Gallery, BA, Brown; MFA, 

University of California at San Diego. 

LENORE MALEN writer and multidisciplinary artist. She works 

with photography, video and audio installation, live performance, 

and books, creating imaginative scenarios involving historical 

fiction. Solo exhibitions: Apexart; Participant, Inc. Location One; 

Slought Foundation; Skidmore College; Cue Foundation; Art in 

General. Group exhibitions: France.fiction, Paris; Akademie der 

Kunste, Berlin; Zentrum for Medienkunst, Karlsruhe. Member: 

Art Critics Association. Formerly executive editor, Art Journal. 

Publications: The New Society for Universal Harmony, Opportunity 

Knocks, Magnetic Map. Featured: New York Times, Art on Paper, Art in 

America. MA, University of Pennsylvania. 

DONALD PORCARO sculptor who uses industrial media— 

mostly concrete, metal, and paint—to create whimsical Dadaist 

forms. He culls ideas from disparate worlds, ranging from Bosch 

to Guston to Japanese Anime, playing with notions of hybrid 

identity through the formal investigation of colorful three 

dimensions. Solo exhibitions: Kouros Gallery, NY; Lowe Gallery, 

LA; Allyn Gallup Gallery, Sarasota. Large-scale outdoor installations: 

Socrates Sculpture Park, Ward’s Island, and South Beach 

Sculpture Garden, NY. Participated in Whitney Biennial “Peace 

Tower.” Grants and awards: NYFA; Distinguished Teaching Award 

from The New School. MFA, Columbia University. 

MIRA SCHOR painter and writer. Areas of interest include the 

gendered production of art history, the analysis and praxis of 

painting in postmodern culture, political and conceptual concerns 

with the materiality of expression, and the intersection of written 

language with the body politic. Co-editor: M/E/A/N/I/N/G: An 

Anthology of Artists’ Writings, Theory, and Criticism. Author: Wet: On 

Painting, Feminism, and Art Culture. Solo exhibitions: Edward Thorp 

Gallery, Armand Hammer Museum, Horodner Romley Gallery. 

Group exhibitions: Marianne Boesky Gallery, P.S. 1, Santa Monica 

Museum, Neuberger Museum, Aldrich Museum. Grants and 

awards: NEA, Marie Walsh Sharpe, Guggenheim, Pollock-Krasner, 

Rockefeller. MFA, California Institute of the Arts. 

JEAN SHIN sculptor and video and installation artist. Projects 

navigate the boundary between abstraction and representation, 

considering both formal issues and cultural investigations. Solo 

exhibitions: MoMA, NY; New Museum of Contemporary Art, 

NY; Smithsonian Institution; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; 

Brooklyn Museum; Cincinnati Center for Contemporary Art; 

Galerie Eric Dupont, Paris. Grants and awards: New York 

Foundation for the Arts Fellowship, Pollock-Krasner Foundation 

Grant, Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Biennial Art Award. 

Published: New York Times, Frieze Art, Flash Art, Tema Celeste, Art 

in America, Artnews. BFA, MS, Pratt Institute. 

BRIAN TOLLE sculptor and installation artist. Projects 

emphasize a formal and iconographic dialogue with history 

and context, drawing from the scale and experience of their 

surroundings, provoking a re-reading by cross-wiring reality 

and fiction. Architecture, site, and technology are recurring 

themes. Exhibitions: Whitney Biennial; Liverpool Biennial; 

Queens Museum of Art; SMAK Museum, Belgium. Permanent 

public works in NY and Seattle. Grants and awards: GSA commission, 

Irish American Historical Society, Louis Comfort Tiffany 

Foundation. BFA, Parsons; MFA, Yale. 


63 



history of decoratiVe arts 

and design 

this prestigious program is offered jointly with the cooper-hewitt, 

national design Museum, and leads to a Master of arts in the 

history of decorative arts and design. graduates go on to careers 

as historians, curators, and scholars in museums, universities, 

historic houses, publishing, auction houses, and galleries. the 

curriculum focuses on european and american decorative arts 

and design from the renaissance to the present, with courses on 

ceramics, costume, furniture, glass, graphic design, metalwork, 

textiles, and works on paper. the training goes beyond connoisseurship 

to address a wide range of issues, including social, economic, 

and cultural history and critical theory. 

attending graduate school in a professional setting helps students 

make the transition from academic training to a career. students 

can work in cooper-hewitt’s curatorial departments and gain 

teaching experience through assistantships in undergraduate 

programs at parsons. 

as the home of some of the world’s most important collections of 

design and decorative arts as well as a central marketplace for 

these works, new york is an ideal location for study in this field. 

students in the program are encouraged to attend museum exhibitions 

and presale shows and often have opportunities to meet with 

museum curators, auction house specialists, and collectors of the 

decorative arts. the program draws its faculty from the cooperhewitt, 

national design Museum and affiliated institutions in new 

york city, including leading scholars of art and design history and 

curators of some of the most important collections of decorative 

arts in the world. 


newschool.edu/parsons and go to degree programs: history of 

decorative arts and design. 

the partnership with 

cooper-hewitt 

The unique character of the program 

is defined by its physical location in 

the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design 

Museum, the only museum in the United 

States devoted exclusively to historical 

and contemporary design. Courses 

emphasize object-based teaching, drawing 

on the museum’s collections. The 

curriculum covers subjects ranging from 

connoisseurship to the social meanings 

of design to aesthetic theory. Students 

can supplement their object-based 

studies with courses in other Parsons 

graduate programs. 

64 HISTORY OF DECORATIVE ARTS AND DESIGN HISTORY OF DECORATIVE ARTS AND DESIGN 

65 



curriculuM 

the Ma in the history of decorative arts and design is awarded upon 

completion of 48 credits and a master’s examination or thesis. the 

program is two to three years of full-time study or four years of parttime 

study. required courses are proseminar, survey of decorative 

arts i and ii, and an elective in either museology or art theory. 

students declare major and minor areas of concentration for the 

Ma examination at the completion of 24 credits or, with a 3.5 minimum 

grade point average, may petition to write a master’s thesis. 

conteMporary design studies 

a special sequence in contemporary design studies is offered 

as part of the curriculum, exploring themes in design and visual, 

material, and popular culture, with a focus on the post-world 

war ii period. courses cover topics in environmental, industrial, 

graphic, fashion, and product design; the culture of consumption; 

design criticism, and object theory. students are introduced to 

critical models of analysis integrating art, design, and decorative 

arts history with design theory and to other scholarly disciplines 

including anthropology, archaeology, cultural history, film studies, 

philosophy, and sociology. emerging issues, such as sustainability 

and digital technology, are emphasized. the curriculum is enriched 

by its connection to the contemporary design exhibitions of the 

cooper-hewitt, national design Museum. 

reQuired courses 

classes are held at the cooper-hewitt, national design Museum 

unless otherwise noted. 

proseminar equips students with the skills required for scholarship 

in the history of decorative arts. class discussions introduce 

a range of methodologies and critical approaches. exercises train 

students in essential tasks such as conducting formal analyses, 

writing catalog entries, and making visual presentations. this 

writing-intensive course stresses the mechanics of expository 

writing through projects that require students to conduct research. 

each student selects one work from the cooper-hewitt collection 

to study throughout the semester. 

survey of decorative arts i provides an overview of european 

decorative arts from the 15th through the 18th century, focusing on 

italy, france, and england. discussions address the style, function, 

and meaning of the decorative arts in both daily and ceremonial 

life. drawing on interdisciplinary readings, the course considers 

objects and ornament within their cultural, political, and social 

contexts. as the semester progresses, students explore how the 

transmission of style, the migration of craftsmen, and the availability 

of new materials and techniques gave rise to an international 

vocabulary of design. 

To see full course descriptions, visit 

www.newschool.edu/parsons, choose 

History of Decorative Arts from the Areas of 

Study section, and then choose Courses. 

selected theory and 

MuseuM studies courses 

Decorative Arts Theory offers a historiography 

of art theory, with special 

attention given to decorative arts. 

Historic Houses highlights the way 

interpretation of decorative arts displayed 

in a museum differs from interpretation 

of decorative arts in the context 

of a historic house museum. 

Museology addresses the questions: 

How are museums rethinking their interpretation 

of decorative arts? What makes 

a decorative arts exhibition compelling? 

What are some of the recent innovations 

in the field? 

Advanced Curatorial Seminar introduces 

students to standard practices 

associated with the acquisition, information 

management, and exhibition of 

objects in a museum context. 

Seminar on the History of Collecting 

surveys the history of collecting, from 

the private study and princely Kunstkammer 

to the modern museum. 

Colloquium on Design Criticism 

introduces students to the complexity of 

the notion of design criticism and helps 

them develop their own critical voice 

through a series of writing assignments. 

selected Media-Based 

surVeys 

Survey of Ceramics introduces the 

technology of ceramics and the history 

of Asian ceramics, German porcelain, 

Chinese export porcelain, French porcelain, 

English pottery and porcelain, and 

American ceramics. 

Survey of Costume: 1700–1860 analyzes 

dress as a form of personal expression 

shaped by societal conventions, artistic 

trends, and established notions of body 

and gender. 

Survey of Glass focuses on Western 

glass-making methods, production, 

and design, from the ancient period to 

the 19th century, including the major 

techniques and designers. 

survey of decorative arts ii examines the decorative arts from the 

19th century to the present. sessions on the 19th century consider 

neoclassicism, revival styles, the aesthetic movement, the arts and 

crafts movement, and art nouveau within the broader history of the 

period. individual craftsmen, firms, and important stylemakers and 

commentators on the decorative arts are discussed, as is the effect 

of industrialization on design and objects. in the 20th and 21st 

centuries, the course addresses modernism and industrial design. 

topics include the wiener werkstätte, Bauhaus, art moderne, 

“good design,” and postmodernism. 

language reQuireMent 

all graduate students are required to pass a proficiency exam in a 

foreign language. the selection of a language must be approved 

in advance by the program director. exams are given and graded 

every term. students can audit foreign-language courses at the 

new school for general studies. 

independent study 

students may independently pursue a specific interest under the 

supervision of a faculty member or museum curator. students may 

take up to two independent studies. 

internships 

those who want more professional and practical experience can 

intern at an institution or business. students taking an internship 

for credit must work a minimum of 120 hours per semester and keep 

a log of their activities. the internship supervisor assigns projects 

that give the student training and hands-on experience in the area 

of the supervisor’s expertise. 

consortiuM courses 

with the permission of the program director and depending on 

availability, students may take graduate courses at the Bard 

graduate center, city university of new york, columbia university, 

fashion institute of technology, and new york university. 

new school courses 

students may register for approved graduate courses in other 

programs at parsons, Milano the new school for Management and 

urban policy, and other divisions of the new school. 

liBrary consortiuM 

in addition to the resources of the south Manhattan research 

libraries association (see academic resources), graduate students 

in the this program have privileged evening and weekend 

access to the cooper-hewitt library. 

Survey of Jewelry showcases the way 

people across cultures and throughout 

history have chosen to adorn themselves 

with jewelry. 

Survey of Silver looks at the significant 

role silver has played in the decorative 

and fine arts since ancient times. 

Survey of Textiles makes full use of 

the Cooper-Hewitt’s extensive textile 

collection to introduce students to textile 

creation and use through history. 

selected seMinars: 

renaissance through 

early Modern (1500–1800) 

Intimate Objects: The Gift in 

Renaissance Europe explores gift 

giving in the complex social spheres of 

Renaissance Europe and its effects on the 

production, valuing, and interpretation 

of objects. 

The Arts and Living in Britain in the 

Long 18th Century 1660–1820 looks at 

cultural and historical influences on taste 

and social habits during the period. 

Royal Furnishings of Versailles focuses 

on the furniture and interior design of 

the 17th and 18th centuries, a time when 

the palace at Versailles exemplified royal 

extravagance. 

French Ceramics focuses on the production 

of porcelain at the major French 

manufactories of the 18th century. 

The Grand Tour examines the patrons, 

artists, and events, such as the discovery 

of Herculaneum and Pompeii, that led to 

the grand tour’s widespread influence on 

the arts of England. 

Visualizing Revolution explores the 

way works of visual and material culture 

help to shape, reflect, and commemorate 

the revolutions that roiled France and 

the United States at the end of the 18th 

century. 

selected seMinars: 

1800–present 

Nineteenth-Century British and 

American Silver: From Craft to 

Industry explores the significant transformations 

in the style, production, and 

distribution of precious-metal objects in 

both Britain and the United States. 




67

suMMer prograMs in europe 

the program offers two-week intensive summer courses in Berlin, 

london, paris, and rome. led by renowned specialists in the 

field, the summer courses abroad concentrate on the furnishings, 

objects, and interiors of important public and private collections, 

as well as gardens and landscapes. 

graduate student asseMBly 

the graduate student assembly is an organization through which 

students can organize symposia, field trips, professional roundtables 

and other special events. the gsa also acts as a liaison 

between students and the academic program, the museum, 

and alumni. 

annual graduate student syMposiuM on the history of 

decoratiVe arts and design 

held at the cooper-hewitt, national design Museum, this daylong 

student symposium brings together scholars and students of decorative 

arts and design from around the world. selected graduate 

students present papers. 

the symposium commences with a keynote address in memory of 

the late catherine hoover Voorsanger, a distinguished scholar, 

curator, and faculty member of the parsons graduate program. 

recent keynote speakers include cheryl Buckley, kenneth t. 

Jackson, ivan gaskell, and neil harris. 

teaching assistantships 

students can apply for a teaching assistantship in a parsons 

undergraduate program. under the supervision of a faculty 

member, students teach recitation sections of a lecture class in 

exchange for partial tuition remission. second-year students can 

serve as discussion leaders for recitation sections of survey of 

decorative arts i and ii in the Mfa program. 

graduate teaching fellows independently teach a section of a 

required undergraduate course in art and design studies. teaching 

fellows are selected on the basis of academic distinction and 

receive an honorarium. 

Master’s curatorial fellowship 

Master’s fellows work one day per week in a curatorial department 

of the cooper-hewitt, national design Museum in exchange for 

partial tuition remission. these one-year appointments involve 

students in all aspects of curatorial work, gallery lectures, and 

exhibition research. fellows are selected on the basis of academic 

distinction, and the positions are renewable for a second year, 

provided a minimum 3.5 grade point average is maintained. 

68 HISTORY OF DECORATIVE ARTS AND DESIGN 


The Design of Modern Life: 

Transformations of the Interior 1851– 

1966 investigates the history of modern 

design through notions of domesticity 

and the architecture of the interior. 

Designing American Lifestyles 

1876–1976 examines key American architecture 

and design movements that were 

shaped into compelling “lifestyles” by 

the design community as well as media 

figures and tastemakers. 

Turn-of-the-Century American 

Material and Visual Culture assesses 

late-19th- and early-20th-century 

American material and visual culture by 

examining painting, design, architecture, 

cartoons, photography, sculpture, 

and other visual and material forms. 

World’s Fairs: Art, Design, and the 

World of Tomorrow examines the history 

of European and American world’s 

fairs as a way of understanding how 

cultural aspirations were represented and 

how the exhibitions affected the culture. 

Graphic Design: Art Nouveau to 

the Present explores the history of 

20th-century graphic design beginning 

with works from the art nouveau period 

and concluding with the recent digital 

revolution. 

Fashioning the Postmodern Era 

focuses on the postmodern era in 

Western fashion, considering trends of 

destruction and morbidity, historical 

reappropriation, and nostalgic revival in 

fashion. 

Design, Nature, and the Environment 

explores evolving ideas about design and 

nature with an emphasis on built form in 

the 20th century. 

Twentieth-Century American Popular 

Culture examines the intersection of the 

popular and the material in 20th-century 

America and asks: what is popular 

culture, and what does it reveal about life 

during the 20th century? 

Advertising in America analyzes 

advertising in relation to the evolution 

of American commercial life and society 

from the late 19th century to the present. 

Laura Auricchio 

Faculty 

history of decorative arts 

and design

Laura Auricchio’s students view, analyze, and explore the historical 

significance of intriguing artifacts—wallpaper created as propaganda 

during the French Revolution, the lace bed curtains made for Napoleon’s 

first wife, Empress Josephine—as they participate in Parsons’ Decorative 

Arts program, located at Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum. 

Auricchio has worked at several of the world’s most renowned 

museums, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum, 

the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the New-York Historical Society. 

She enthusiastically shares her experience and expertise with the 

students in her classes and those she advises. 

When Auricchio is not teaching, she can often be found researching 

and writing. She recently completed a book for the J. Paul Getty Museum 

titled A Woman Artist of the French Revolution: Adélaïde Labille-Guiard 

(1749–1803). She is now conducting research for a biography of the 

Marquis de Lafayette, highlighting the role of visual and material culture 

in shaping his starkly divergent reputations in the United States and 

in France. 

left Octagonal mount in the style of 

Wedgwood. Probably France, late 19th Century. 

Porcelain. Cooper-Hewitt, National Design 

Museum, Smithsonian Institution. Gift of 

Eleanor and Sarah Hewitt, 1925-2-26 a/d. 

right El Dorado, designed by Eugène 

Ehrmann, Georges Zipélius, and Joseph Fuchs. 

Manufactured by Zuber & Cie, 1849. Block 

printed on continuous paper. Cooper-Hewitt, 

National Design Museum, Smithsonian 

Institution. Gift of Dr. and Mrs. William Collis, 

1975-77-10. Photo: Ken Pelka. 

HISTORY OF DECORATIVE ARTS AND DESIGN 

71 


top left Card file, Rolodex 

Open Rotary File. Manufactured 

by Rolodex USA, first produced 

1950. Metal, plastic, rubber, paper. 

Cooper-Hewitt, National Design 

Museum, Smithsonian Institution. 

Gift of Rolodex Corporation, 1996- 

14-2. Photo: Dave King. 

top right Chaise, in the style 

of John Henry Belter. U.S.A., 

1840-1850. Rosewood veneer, oak 

(frame), velvet upholstery. Cooper- 

Hewitt, National Design Museum, 

Smithsonian Institution. Gift of 

Mrs. Edwin Gould, 1937-4-1. 

lower left Extrusions, designed 

by Alexander Hayden Girard, 

1962. Printed cotton. Cooper- 

Hewitt, National Design Museum, 

Smithsonian Institution. Gift of 

Alexander H. Girard, 1969-165-123. 

lower right Tsuba (sword 

guard), Japan, 1596-1614. Iron. 

Cooper-Hewitt, National Design 

Museum, Smithsonian Institution. 

Bequest of George Cameron Stone, 

1936-4-42. 

Brisé (folding) fan from Vienna World 

Exposition. Austria, 1873. Wood, printed paper. 

Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, 

Smithsonian Institution. Gift of Mrs. James O. 

Green, 1920-10-2. Photo: Matt Flynn. 


73 



history of decorative arts and design faculty 

SARAH E. LAWRENCE director. Areas of interest include art 

theory and Renaissance art. Publications : Piranesi as Designer 

(2007), Jacopo Strada (2007). Exhibitions: Piranesi as Designer 

(2007-08), Crafting a Jewish Style: The Art of Bezalel, 1906–1996 

(1998–99). PhD, Columbia. 

ETHAN ROBEY associate director. Specialist in American and 

European 19th- and 20th-century visual culture. Publications 

include contributions to Distinction and Identity: Bourgeois 

Culture in Nineteenth-Century America (forthcoming), Design 

Dictionary: Perspectives on Design Terminology (2008), and 

Philadelphia’s Cultural Landscape: The Sartain Family Legacy (2000). 

PhD, Columbia. 

DONALD ALBRECHT curator, Museum of the City of New 

York. Specialist in 20th-century American material culture. 

Exhibitions: National Design Triennial (2003), Russel Wright: 

Creating American Lifestyle (2001), On the Job: Design and the 

American Office (2001), Glass + Glamour: Steuben’s Modern 

Moment (2003). Publications include Russel Wright: Creating 

American Lifestyle and articles in Interiors, Architectural Digest, 

Architectural Record. BArch, Illinois Institute of Technology. 

ERIC ANDERSON specialist in 19th-century German architecture 

and theory of design. Exhibitions include Garden 

Communities in Queens, 1909-1949 (2005). PhD, Columbia. 

LAURA AURICCHIO Art and Design Studies faculty, Parsons. 

Areas of interest include 18th-century French women artists, 

gender studies and contemporary visual culture. Publications 

include A Woman Artist of the French Revolution: Adelaide Labille- 

Guiard (2008); articles in Art Journal, Eighteenth-Century Studies, 

and Genders; and art criticism in Art on Paper, Art Papers, and Time 

Out New York. PhD, Columbia. 

DAVID BRODY Art and Design Studies faculty, Parsons. 

Specialist in material culture, visual culture, and design studies. 

Publications include Design Studies: A Reader (2009); Visualizing 

Empire: Orientalism and American Imperialism in the Philippines 

(forthcoming), and articles in Prospects: An Annual of American 

Cultural Studies, Journal of Asian American Studies, American 

Quarterly. PhD, Boston University. 

SUSAN BROWN assistant curator of textiles, Cooper-Hewitt, 

National Design Museum. Specialist in textile history. 

Publications include contributions to Extreme Textiles: Designing 

for High Performance (2005), and articles in National Design Journal 

and Hali. MA, Fashion Institute of Technology. 

HAzEL CLARK chair of Art and Design Studies department, 

Parsons. Areas of interest include the history, theory, and 

culture of design, fashion, and textiles. Publications include 

Design Studies: A Reader (2009); Old Clothes New Looks: Second 

Hand Fashion (2005), and articles in Design Issues, Design, and 

Management Journal. Contributing editor to Design Philosophy 

Papers. PhD, Brighton University. 

MARILYN COHEN specialist in popular culture. Exhibitions 

include Reginald Marsh’s New York (1983). Publishd papers: 

“Furnishing I Love Lucy,” “The Material Culture of Toy Story,” 

and “The World’s Fair in the Movie Meet Me in St. Louis.” PhD, 

Institute of Fine Arts. 

ELIzABETH DE ROSA director, American Friends of 

Attingham. Areas of interest include art nouveau and American 

and European art glass. Exhibitions include Tiffany: Behind the 

Glass (2000), and History’s Mysteries (1998). PhD, Columbia. 

CLIVE DILNOT Art and Design Studies faculty, Parsons. Areas 

of interest include design theory, history of art, and social 

philosophy. Publications include Ethics? Design? (2005) and 

articles in Design Issues, I.D., and Kunst & Museumjournaal. MA 

Leeds University. 

TRACY EHRLICH specialist in architecture and landscape 

design of early modern Italy. Publications include Landscape 

and Identity in Early Modern Rome: Villa Culture at Frascati in the 

Borghese Era (2002); Villas and Gardens In Early Modern Italy and 

France (2001); and articles in Die Gartenkunst, Landscape and the 

Journal Of Garden History. contributor to the Dumbaton Oaks 

Colloquium on the History of Landscape Architecture (2005) PhD, 

Columbia. 

BARRY R. HARWOOD curator of decorative arts, Brooklyn 

Museum. Exhibitions include the Furniture of George 

Hunzinger: Invention and Innovation in Nineteenth-Century 

America (1997) and Tiffany Glass and Lamps at the Brooklyn 

Museum (1991). Publications include The Furniture of George 

Hunzinger (1997), and articles in The Magazine Antiques and 

Studies in the Decorative Arts. PhD, Princeton. 

KRISTIN HERRON director of the museum program, New York 

State Council on the Arts. Specialist in historic house museums. 

Publications include “The Modern Gothic Furniture of Pottier 

& Stymus” in The Magazine Antiques. MA, Winterthur Program; 

MFA, University of North Carolina at Greensboro. 

ULRICH LEBEN associate curator of furniture, The Rothschild 

Collection, Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire, Great Britain. 

Specializes in French and German decorative arts. Publications: 

monograph on Bernard Molitor (1755–1833) and works on French 

and German decorative arts. Exhibitions: Jean Jacques Bachelier 

(1724–1806), Musée Lambinet, Versailles; and Charles Honoré 

Lannuier (1779–1816), Metropolitan Museum of Art. PhD, 

Universität Bonn. 

SARAH A. LICHTMAN Art and Design Studies faculty, Parsons. 

Areas of interest include interiors, feminist design history, 

and 20th-century design. Publications include Interior Design 

in the Twentieth Century: Europe and the USA (forthcoming), and 

articles in Studies in the Decorative Arts and the Journal of Design 

History. PhD candidate, Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the 

Decorative Arts. 

MARY CHEEK MILLS Curator, Corning Museum of Glass. 

Specialist in American glass history. Publications include 

“The Cooperative Venture of Union Glass Works, Kensington, 

Pennsylvania, 1826–42,” Journal of Glass Studies (1992). MA, 

Winterthur program in Early American Culture. 

TESSA MURDOCH deputy keeper of Sculpture, Metalwork, 

Ceramics and Glass, Victoria and Albert Museum. Specialist in 

Metalwork and 17th- and 18th-century English silver. Curator 

of numerous exhibitions. Publications include Huguenot 

Goldsmiths in Northern Europe and North America (2008) and Noble 

Households: 18th-Century Inventories of Great English Houses (2006). 

PhD, University of London. 

ANNE-MARIE QUETTE conférencière of the Musées Nationaux 

de France and Musée des Arts Decoratifs in Paris. Specialist in 

French furniture. Publications include Le Mobilier Français: 

Louis XIII, Louis XIV (1996), and Le Mobilier Français: Art Nouveau 

1900 (1995). 

KRISTEL SMENTEK Mellon Curatorial Fellow, the Frick 

Collection. Specialist on 18th-century French art and decorative 

arts. Publications include Rococo Exotic: French Mounted 

Porcelains and the Allure of the East (2007) and contributions to 

À l’origine de livre d’art, Les recueils d’estampes comme entreprise 

éditoriale en Europe (forthcoming), and French Genre Painting in 

the Eighteenth Century (2007). PhD, University of Delaware. 

DENNY STONE collections manager of European sculpture and 

decorative arts, Metropolitan Museum of Art. Curated numerous 

exhibitions including Elegant Fantasy: The Jewelry of Arline 

Fisch (2003). MA, Fashion Institute of Technology. 

SEAN SAWYER architectural historian. Former executive 

director of the Wyckoff Farmhouse Museum. Publications 

include articles in the Journal of the Society of Architectural 

Historians and Architectural History and contributions to 

Architecture and Pictures from Antiquity to the Enlightenment (2002) 

and The Houses of Parliament: History, Art, Architecture (2000). 

PhD, Columbia. 

DEBORAH D. WATERS deputy director of collections and 

exhibitions, Museum of the City of New York. Publications 

include Elegant Plate: Three Centuries of Precious Metals in New York 

City (2000), Plain and Ornamental: Delaware Furniture, 1740–1890 

(1984), and contributions to Art and the Empire City (2000). PhD, 

University of Delaware. 

JOHN WILTON-ELY professor emeritus, University of Hull. 

Scholar of 18th-century art, architecture, and decorative arts. 

Publications include Piranesi: The Complete Etchings (1994), 

Piranesi as Architect and Designer (1993), The Art and Mind of 

Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1988), and articles on Beckford, 

Hawksmoor, Wren. MA, Cambridge University; Courtauld 

Institute of Art, London University. 

DIANE C. WRIGHT curatorial intern, Yale University Art 

Gallery. Specialist in the history of glass. Publications include 

articles in Decorative Arts Society Newsletter. MA, Parsons/ 

Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum. 

KAREN zUKOWSKI former curator, Olana State Historic Site. 

Specialist in 19th-century American decorative and fine arts, 

and interior design. Publications include Creating the Artful 

Home: The Aesthetic Movement (2006) and contributions to 

Frederic Church’s Olana: Architecture and Landscape as Art (2001). 

PhD, City University of New York. 


75 



interior design 

today’s interior designers face unprecedented challenges. they 

are expected to incorporate sustainable design practices and 

enhanced building performance into their work. they need to stay 

abreast of new developments in technology and materials. they 

must meet a variety of new client needs as a result of social change 

and shifts in demographics. 

parsons’ new Mfa in interior design program* is poised to meet 

these challenges and play a leading role in addressing the interior 

design issues of the 21st century. the course of study emphasizes 

the history and theory of interiors; technology, fabrication, 

and sustainability; and interior design as a social practice. the 

program also offers instruction on materials and related issues, 

including sustainable practices, fabrication processes, and digital 

technologies. graduates are trained to become outstanding 

professionals and teachers of the next generation of practitioners. 

the only graduate program of its kind in the united states today, 

the Mfa in interior design offers instruction of unparalleled depth. 

the practice of interior design intersects with architecture, product 

design, and engineering. the parsons program is integrated with 

graduate programs in lighting design and architecture. 

parsons expects this new program to receive quick accreditation 

from the council of interior design accreditation, which is fast 

becoming the benchmark by which interior design programs are 

recognized by educators and students and for state approvals 

for licensure. 

for more information, visit newschool.edu/parsons. 

*new york state approval pending 


Students work in an open, 5,000-squarefoot 

studio space across two floors in a 

loft building. The space is shared with 

graduate students in Architecture and 

Lighting Design, a setup that encourages 

dialogue across disciplines. In the studio, 

students are given dedicated work spaces 

from which wireless technology is accessible. 

An adjacent computer lab gives 

students access to software programs 

specific to the profession, along with 

large format plotters and printers. A 

lighting lab and staffed fabrication shop 

with digital and traditional equipment 

are also located next to the studio, and 

use of the nearby metal fabrication shops 

in the Fine Arts Department is encouraged. 

The Donghia Materials Library, 

generously donated by the late interior 

designer Angelo Donhia, is curated to 

reflect sustainable and emerging materials 

and is an important resource for core 

courses. Coursework is also supported 

by the research libraries consortium 

(see Academic Resources, page 16). 

76 INTERIOR DESIGN INTERIOR DESIGN 

77 



case study: after taste 

“aftertaste” is a yearly symposium dedicated to the critical study 

of the interior. it offers an expansive view of the field, highlighting 

emerging areas of research, identifying allied practices that influence 

interior design, and making public its rich and underexplored 

territory. the series signals a move away from the popular image of 

interior design as a limited field of taste making and expands the 

scope of the discipline to include emerging issues. each symposium 

is thematically structured to address topics relevant to the 

enrichment of interior design. recent themes include “pedagogical 

Models,” “theoretical paradigms,” “alternative sites of practice,” 

“representing the interior,” the “narrative life of things,” and the 

“intellectual history of taste.” 

recent aftertaste 

participants 

Constance Adams interior designer for 

NASA’s International Space Lab 

Jay Bernstein historian and philosopher 

Petra Blaisse interior and textile 

designer of the Amsterdam-based firm 

Inside/Outside 

Andrew Blauvelt design director and 

curator at Walker Art Center 

James Casebere photographer 

Beatriz Colomina historian of postwar 

domesticity 

Jamie Drake Drake Design Associates 

Kitty Hawks Kitty Hawks Incorporated 

Julie Lasky editor-in-chief, 

I.D. magazine 

Emmanuelle Linard trend forecaster at 

Li Edelkoort Inc. 

Julieanna Preston co-author of Intimus: 

An Interior Design Theory Reader 

The Quay Brothers London-based film 

and set designers 

Penny Sparke cirector of London’s 

Centre for the Modern Interior 

Susan Szenasy chief editor of Metropolis 

magazine 

Anthony Vidler theorist and historian 

of the domestic realm 

Mark Wigley theorist of early modern 

interiors 

Susan Yelavich author of Contemporary 

World Interiors 

curriculuM 

the two-year program is a 60-credit-hour, full-time professional 

graduate degree based on a studio-centered curriculum. design 

studios provide the foundation for each semester, complemented 

by core subjects designed to redefine the field. additional courses 

in methods of representation encourage interdisciplinary dialogue 

with graduate students in lighting design and architecture. two 

departmental electives allow for further individual choice of study. 

the last semester culminates in a thesis project. 

first year: fall 

design studio i introduces fundamental interior design issues 

including form, space, threshold, light, color, and scale through 

a series of design and analytical projects that emphasize the 

inventive and conceptual dimension of design. the course also 

contributes to the formation of a shared project-based vocabulary 

for interior designers by incorporating the analysis of canonical 

precedents into the design work. 

interior design survey focuses on the development of interior 

styles as an expression of cultural, material, political, and 

aesthetic conditions from the 17th century to the present. it 

explores the evolution of interior design as a discrete field of 

practice and its recent emergence as an academic discipline 

and certified profession. 

environmental technology explores the science and technology 

for measuring and maintaining comfort conditions and ecological 

balance within buildings, with emphasis on high-performance 

sustainable design and systems integration. supervised 

construction site visits provide case studies that demonstrate the 

practical application of theoretical concepts. 

representation and spatial reasoning explores techniques of 

architectural representation in order to develop students’ abilities 

to think, draw, and analyze architecture and interior spaces. the 

course is a critical exploration of the conventions of architectural 

drawing plans: section, elevation, 1-, 2-, and 3-point perspective, 

axonometry, parallel line projection, shadow projection, oblique 

projection, and descriptive geometry. 

first year: spring 

design studio ii builds upon studio 1, adding the application and 

integration of materials and building systems and sustainable 

technologies as design parameters. equal emphasis is placed 

on of macroenvironments and microenvironments within the 

interior and on the use of metrics in assessing the performance of 

projected design proposals. 


79 



electiVes 

Elective courses enrich the field of 

study by crossing the disciplines in 

Interior Design, Lighting Design, and 

Architecture. They enable students to 

address a range of issues and build on 

individual interests that typically include 

history and theory, digital representation 

and fabrication, furniture making, 

interior lighting, and environmentally 

sustainable practices.

theory of the interior investigates the theoretical foundations 

of the practice of interior design. themes include taste, comfort, 

fashion, lifestyle and the everyday documents. sources 

used include films, television shows, shelter magazines, and 

advertisements as well as more traditional cultural documents. 

Materials and performance explores materials and their properties, 

including color, reflection, finish, environmental impact, and 

performance. in the course, students produce full-scale detailed 

mock-ups using nondigital means of production. 

forms of programming addresses the factors involved in 

programming spaces. contemporary models are used to explore 

client and user relationships, critical and analytical thinking, 

human behavior, research, and systems and methods of 

communication. 

second year: fall 

design studio iii is a comprehensive design studio in which 

students creatively synthesize site and program analysis, building 

technologies and systems, and aesthetic and material intentions 

into a detailed design proposal. 

fabrication and processes develops skills for understanding, 

forming, and articulating a design problem and its solution, 

specifically in regards to the manufactured components of an 

architectural interior. 

thesis preparation is a research seminar in which students develop 

a written and graphic proposal for a capstone studio project. each 

student conducts in-depth self-guided research and develops a 

critical and theoretically informed position on a topic issue in the 

field of interior design. 

second year: spring 

thesis studio is the capstone studio course, in which the student 

conducts research in a selected aspect of the interior design field. 

projects must demonstrate rigorous analytic thinking as well as 

coherent development and design resolution. with the consent of 

the respective thesis committees, students may collaborate on a 

project with colleagues in architecture or lighting design. 

professional practice provides an overview of the legal, ethical 

and economic aspects of the practice of architecture and interior 

design. students critique contemporary models of practice and 

study the role of economics, contracts, liability, licensure, and 

standards of practice in shaping the contemporary interior design 

and architectural professions. 

80 INTERIOR DESIGN 


preparation for adMission 

Admissions to the MFA in Interior Design 

are managed directly by the School of 

Constructed Environments. 

Email aidladmission@newschool.edu 

for information about applying. 

Applicants must have an undergraduate 

degree before entering the program. 

Persons with other than a design-based 

degree are encouraged to apply but may 

be required to take the Parsons summer 

program in Architecture to establish 

design and drawing foundations prior to 

starting graduate work. 

Visit Parsons, tour the studios, and meet 

the faculty and students. Arrangements 

for Interior Design tours can be made by 

calling 212.229.8955 or emailing 

aidladmission@newschool.edu. 

Lois Weinthal 

Director 

mfa in interior design

The director of the new MFA in Interior Design, Lois Weinthal is working 

with her colleagues at Parsons to shape the program. Weinthal says, “The 

new MFA program is exciting because it recognizes that people are doing 

inventive things in interiors and it relies heavily on an interdisciplinary 

approach. In other words, it relates other creative fields like textile 

design and material fabrication to interior design. We are working with 

the best people in the field to develop courses unlike any others.” 

Approaching a subject from new and unique angles is one of the 

things that Weinthal does best. In her own research, she analyzes interiors 

as layers, beginning with the human body and moving outward to 

clothing, furniture, textiles, rooms, architecture, and even streetscapes. 

Weinthal says, “Beginning a new MFA program at Parsons is particularly 

exciting because the school is home to some of the most renowned 

trendsetters and fashion forecasters in the world. We can tap into the 

experience and expertise of instructors throughout the university, which 

will enhance the interdisciplinary approach that the study of interior 

design demands.” 

Closet #1, Parsons’ Kitchen (1994), designed 

by faculty member Allan Wexler as part of his 

renowned “Closet Architecture” series, serves 

as a bar and meeting place for public events 

in the department’s public gallery space. 

INTERIOR DESIGN 

83 


top left Melanie Ide (faculty member), 

Ralph Abbelbaum Associates, Hall of 

Biodiversity, American Museum of Natural 

History. Photo: AMNH and Peter Mauss/Esto 

bottom left Alfred Zollinger (faculty 

member), Matter Practice, Ecotopia 

Installation 

right Lois Weinthal (faculty member), 

Felt Plug Chair 

interior design faculty 

KENT KLEINMAN dean of the School of Constructed 

Environments. Scholarly focus: 20th century European modernism. 

Books: Villa Müller: A Work of Adolf Loos, Rudolf Arnheim: 

Revealing Vision, and Mies van der Rohe: The Krefeld Villas. Awards: 

Mellon Foundation’s Senior Public Goods Fellowship at the 

University of Michigan, Visiting Scholarship at the Canadian 

Center for Architecture in Montreal, three Graham Foundation 

grants, two Architect’s Journal Ten Best Book awards. BA and 

MArch, University of California, Berkeley. 

JOANNA MERWOOD director of academic affairs, School 

of Constructed Environments. Architectural historian. 

Published: “Western Architecture: The Inland Architect, 

Race, Class and Architectural Identity,” “Chicago Is History,” 

“The Mechanization of Cladding: The Reliance Building and 

Narratives of Modern Architecture.” BArch, Victoria University 

of Wellington; MArch, McGill; MA and PhD, Princeton. 

LOIS WEINTHAL director of Interior Design programs and 

co-organizer of the AfterTaste symposia and publication series. 

Principal of Weinthal Works, a design practice that draws relationships 

between architecture, interiors, clothing and objects. 

Awards: Graham Foundation grant, Fulbright Award, DAAD 

Award for residency that led to the international exhibit Berlin: 

A Renovation of Postcards. Curated exhibitions: Architecture 

Inside/Out, Center for Architecture in NY (2007). BArch and 

BFA, RISD; MArch, Cranbrook Academy of Art . 

KATHERINE CHIA architect, principal of Desai/Chia 

Architecture. Portfolio includes residential, retail, and 

commercial projects as well as commissions for furniture 

and product design. Awards: American Architecture award, 

several American Institute of Architects Design awards, 

Residential Architect Design award, New York magazine’s Best 

of New York. Exhibited: Center for Architecture, NYC; Herman 

Miller showrooms, NYC and LA. Published: New York Times, 

New York Observer, Architectural Record, Interior Design, Elle Japan, 

New York Magazine, Architect’s Newspaper. BA, Amherst College; 

MArch, MIT. 

MARY DELANEY PENICK began her design career in 1981 at 

Skidmore Owings and Merrill with primary responsibility for 

colors, materials, and finishes for architecture and interior 

design projects, many of which were featured in Progressive 

Architecture , Interior Design, and House & Garden. In 1999, she 

joined Peter Marino Architect where she worked until starting 

her own firm, Mary Delaney Interior Design, in 2001. Her practice 

focuses on high end residential interiors; recent projects in 

New York City and Palm Beach. BFA, Pratt Institute. 

MELANIE IDE project director, Ralph Applebaum Associates. 

Projects: Bishop Museum, Hawaii; strategic plan, Dallas 

Museum of Natural History; design competition, World Trade 

Center Memorial; the Clinton Presidential Library and Museum; 

and the American Museum of Natural History. She has designed 

exhibits for the New York Public Library, Whitney Museum 

of American Art, Japanese American National Museum. 

Published: Architectural Record, Business Week, Interiors, I.D., and 

Communication Arts. BA in Architecture, University of California 

at Berkeley. 

IOANNA THEOCHAROPOULOU architect and architectural 

historian. Scholarly focus: history and theory of interiors; 

sustainable design; urbanization in the developing world. 

Published: Negotiating Domesticity: Spatial Production of Gender in 

Modern Architecture; Paradigmata, 9th International Architectural 

Exhibition, Venice Biennale; Landscapes of Development: The 

Impact of Modernization on the Physical Environment of the Eastern 

Mediterranean. AA Diploma, Architectural Association, London; 

MSAAD, MPhil in Architecture, and PhD, Columbia. 

TIM VENTIMIGLIA architect and museum and exhibit designer. 

Design studio director and associate, Ralph Appelbaum 

Associates. Awards: Industrial Designers of America award, 

Top Honor Award, Society of Environmental and Graphic 

Design. Lectures and Exhibitions: Cornell University; Haus der 

Architektur, Graz, Austria; Cornell Studio, Berlin. BArch and 

MArch, Cornell. 

ALLAN WEXLER architect, designer and fine artist. Research 

focus: objects, buildings, and environments that blur the 

borders between architecture and sculpture and isolate, elevate, 

or monumentalize daily rituals like dining, sleeping, and bathing. 

Represented by the Ronald Feldman Gallery. Exhibitions: 

Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Atlanta College of Art, 

SF MoMA, Contemporary Art Center. Books: Custom Built: A 

Twenty-Year Survey of Work; GG Portfolio Allan Wexler. BArch and 

BFA, RISD; MArch, Pratt Institute. 

PETER WHEELWRIGHT associate professor of architecture; 

principal, PMW Architects. Published: Progressive Architecture, 

Architecture, Metropolitan Home, Metropolis, New York Times, 

Ottagono, Architectural Record, Journal of Architectural Education, 

ACSA Journal. BA,Trinity College; MArch, Princeton. 

ALFRED zOLLINGER co-principal, Matter Practice, an architecture 

and exhibition design firm. Precision machinist and 

fabrication specialist. Research focus: the process of making as 

a mode of critical inquiry. Projects: National Building Museum; 

Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum; and International 

Center of Photography. BArch, RISD; MArch, Cranbrook 

Academy of Art. 


85 



lighting design 

lighting has been an important part of design education at parsons 

since the school launched the first graduate program in architectural 

lighting design in the early 1970s. today, it is the only graduate 

lighting program that emphasizes design and social practice. 

working in collaboration with interior design and architecture 

students, lighting design students learn to envision architectural 

space and exterior environments in light. they are trained to see 

light as the medium through which visual information is registered, 

activities are conducted, and social interactions take place. the 

program is distinguished by its faculty and by its emphasis on 

sustainable practices and the aesthetic, physiological, and psychological 

aspects of lighting design. 

the four-semester Mfald program enrolls students from all over the 

world. new york, home to the largest lighting design community in 

the world, offers students a laboratory of light, rich with examples to 

study and emulate. assisted by a faculty drawn from the city’s pool 

of professionals, lighting students have abundant opportunities to 

intern and interact with leading global practitioners. 

graduates go on to careers as architectural lighting designers in 

private practice, lighting specialists in architecture and interior design 

firms, theatrical and exhibition lighting specialists, and research 

professionals in equipment design and manufacturing enterprises. 

students interested in combining graduate studies in lighting 

design and architecture can earn a unique dual degree: 

the March/Mfald combines the naaB-accredited Master of 

architecture with the master’s degree in lighting design. this 

142-credit program prepares students for a wide range of career 

opportunities in this expanding field. for complete curriculum, 

faculty, and course information, visit newschool.edu/parsons and 

go to degree programs: lighting design. 

a|l light & architecture 

design awards BanQuet 

taBle (opposite) 

Graduate students from Parsons took 

part in a two-week design/build 

charrette, in which they created a table 

for the annual A|L Light & Architecture 

Design Awards Roundtable dinner. 

This collaboration between Architectural 

Lighting magazine and the Lighting 

Design program brought students and 

design professionals together. 

Each place setting was equipped with 

springs that were activated when 

tableware was placed on top, causing 

the setting to light up. A graphic created 

from a photometric chart of T5 lamps 

was etched into the table’s surface. 

86 LIGHTING DESIGN LIGHTING DESIGN 

87 



curriculuM 

the two-year, full-time Master of fine arts in lighting design is 

a 64-credit curriculum. fifty-two credits are in lighting-specific 

subjects, including four 6-credit lighting design studios. this 

design studio sequence is complemented by technology courses 

and classes in the cultural, historical, and perceptual aspects of 

lighting design, including 9 elective credits. 


the studio experience, in which students learn to envision form and 

space in light, is the core of the curriculum. its goal is to integrate 

each student’s background with the curriculum through projects 

guided and evaluated by working professionals. the studios move 

from the theoretical expression of light through research, study, and 

design toward professional application in the built environment. 

studio i addresses abstract projects that explore fundamental 

design components: light, color, form, space, plane, rhythm, 

balance, and texture. this study begins in two dimensions, 

proceeding through three dimensions to full-scale environmental 

study. in the context of this initial investigation of light as a design 

medium, students discover various means of representation, 

including photography, hand and computer rendering, and 

computer simulation in three dimensions. 

studio ii focuses on the massing and orientation of architectural 

form and fenestration to integrate daylight in interior spaces. 

electric lighting is addressed as a complement to sunlight. 

particular attention is given to the relationship between diurnal 

and nocturnal light and to qualitative aspects of habitation and 

functional use in social space. 

studio iii proceeds to the comprehensive development of 

architectural lighting design through projects addressing client 

needs, programs, technical lighting, and control requirements 

for specified applications. students explore larger and more 

challenging architectural spaces and exterior areas with a focus 

on the urban. they employ a variety of techniques, including 

computer visualizations, physical models, and full-scale mock-ups. 

designs are developed with illuminance calculations, construction 

documentation, and presentation drawings. 

thesis studio (studio iV) completes the studio experience. it is 

supported by a thesis seminar, in which students learn research 

methodologies directed toward a written thesis. a range of typological 

projects are presented from which students can develop design 

research. individual projects are fully developed in the final studio, 

including all associated research, documentation, drawing, and 

developmental models. this allows students to experience a project 


Lighting Design students work in an 

open studio alongside graduate Architecture 

and Interior Design students. A 

lighting resource library and a lighting 

laboratory are adjacent to the studio. 

Students have access to all department 

resources, including a fabrication shop 

and the Donghia Materials Library 

and Study Center. Use of the Fine Arts 

metalworking shop one floor up and the 

nearby Resource Center is encouraged 

and promotes exchanges with other 

MFA students. The studio is equipped 

with wireless digital technology, and 

students have access to computer labs 

on both of the department’s floors and to 

the university’s nearby computer center. 

Participation in the department’s lecture 

series and exhibitions promotes interaction 

among students in Lighting Design, 

Architecture, and Interior Design. 

All students are required to have a laptop 

computer. The department provides 

hardware specifications and software 

(updated annually). There is a university 

purchasing program to help students 

who need to purchase a laptop before 

beginning classes. 

from start to finish, mentored by instructors and guest critics. 

students who wish can collaborate with architecture or interior 

design students and faculty on a final project. 

principles of light surveys topics that influence lighting design 

decisions, including properties of materials as they relate to light, 

codes, the use of catalogs, documentation, and health effects of 

light. this class also introduces technical and practical aspects 

of lighting design, including the physics of light, lamp technology, 

application of photometric data, optics, and calculations. 

architectural history is a core course shared with graduate 

architecture students. students enroll in either Modern and 

postmodern architecture or issues and practices of Modern 

architecture, depending on their previous education. the former is a 

survey of movements and theories in architecture, landscape, and 

urban design. in the latter, students apply a case-study methodology. 

light, perception, and culture i discusses how lighting design is 

influenced by the human perceptual system and the culture of the 

time. the need to control the quality and quantity of light has profoundly 

affected the organization of architecture and public space. 

students develop an understanding of how human beings react 

to and interact within light by exploring contemporary theories of 

perceptual, somatic, and aesthetic responses to light. 

daylight and sustainability, a companion lecture course to studio 

ii, trains designers to observe, analyze, describe, manipulate, and 

evaluate daylight and its effect on interior spaces. topics include 

solar motion and prediction methods, calculations, the interaction 

of day lighting with building orientation, interior finishes, window 

configuration, control devices, and interior and exterior shading. 

students are introduced to the impact of lighting strategies on 

energy consumption, which is central to the practice of sustainable 

architecture. 

critical light: twentieth-century theory explores a range of 

approaches and methodologies that have driven architectural and 

design theory from the late 19th century through the 21st century. in 

particular, this seminar considers the role of light as a protagonist in 

many influential design theories and related discourses. 

luminaire and systems technology explores material and fabrication 

aspects of the equipment used in lighting interior and exterior 

spaces. Major topics include electrical theory and practice, codes, 

control systems, energy management, and ballast technology. 

the course also covers thermal issues, including luminaire performance, 

regulatory requirements, overall building performance, 

and systems integration. 


89 



electiVes 

Electives are offered to students across 

disciplines in Interior Design, Lighting 

Design, and Architecture to enrich 

their field of study. Optional electives 

supplement historical, technical, or 

digital knowledge. Independent study 

options allow students to explore topics 

of particular interest. The following 

electives are drawn from the MFA 

Lighting Design program. 

Light: A Design History provides a 

premodern and modern survey focusing 

on the impact of light on people’s 

lives and on their relationship to the 

built environment. Particular attention 

is given to the evolution of aesthetic, 

religious, philosophical, and psychological 

theories of light over time and within 

diverse cultures. Study of the development 

of electric lighting and its global 

effect on social practice, economics, 

leisure activity, and design serves as a 

basis for students to speculate on future 

possibilities. 

Landscape and Urban Light, taught 

by a landscape lighting designer and a 

landscape architect, is a survey of the 

history and theory of public urban and 

landscape space with an emphasis on the 

role of lighting. Issues explored include 

cultural landscapes, landscape perception, 

sustainability, and methodologies 

for studying urban space. 

Designing the Nighttime 

Environment is taught by an urban 

designer and a lighting designer. The 

nighttime environment is explored 

through film, literature, fine arts, 

theater, and other modes of cultural 

expression. In addition, mapping 

research into the technical constraints in 

urban lighting offers a broader cultural 

understanding of the shape of New York 

City as defined by light.

luminaire design, a companion studio to luminaire and systems 

technology, explores the design of fixtures, including aesthetic 

and technical forms, as well as the influences of fabrication and 

mass production on both decorative and utilitarian luminaires. 

full-scale model building and functional mock-ups are used for 

study and for presentation. 

light, perception, and culture ii covers subjective and objective 

responses to light, the psychological aspects of lighting design, 

and the impact of energy ethics on lighting decisions. architectural 

photography is used to develop students’ ability to observe light. 

study of light in performance (in its theatrical and postmodern 

expressions) helps students understand evolving cultural 

perspectives and contemporary representations of identity and 

social practice. 

professional practice, the final lecture course of the curriculum, 

explores business and professional aspects of the lighting design 

field, including ethics, project management, business structures for 

design offices, legal issues, contracts, fees, codes, specifications, 

and construction administration protocols. 

preparation for adMission 

admissions to the Mfa in lighting design are managed directly by 

the school of constructed environments. for information about 

applying, email aidladmission@newschool.edu. 

all applicants must have an undergraduate or graduate degree, 

preferably in one of the following design-based disciplines: 

architecture, environmental design, interior design, engineering, 

product design, fine arts, or theater arts. applicants with 

undergraduate degrees in other fields may be accepted 

conditionally with the requirement that they successfully complete 

the parsons summer program in architecture before beginning 

graduate courses. 

90 LIGHTING DESIGN 


More electiVes 

Light as Art leaves behind quantifiable 

applications of lighting systems and 

numerical calculations to investigate 

formal and philosophical notions of light 

as a medium of poetic and artistic expression. 

Students experiment with light 

sources, technologies, refractive materials, 

and electrical devices to explore 

aspects of space, scale, time, and rhythm. 

Studies include tabletop assemblies, 

exercises in drawing abstraction, evaluation 

of musical structures, and full-scale 

architectural installations. 

Lighting Principles in Architecture 

and Interior Design introduces lighting 

history, lamp source technologies, luminaire 

optics, calculations, and design 

applications. Students analyze a site in 

New York City and propose a lighting 

design based on technical, programmatic, 

and aesthetic needs. 

Glenn Fujimura 

Dual-Degree Student 

lighting design and 

architecture

A dual master’s degree candidate in Lighting Design and Architecture, 

Glenn Fujimura is particularly interested in the relationship between 

light and sustainable design. Derek Porter, director of the Lighting Design 

program, played an important role in Glenn’s decision to attend The 

New School. Glenn says, “Derek believes, as I do, that the best approach 

to lighting is as a design process that merits intellectual and aesthetic 

examination rather than simply as a technical field of study.” 

Glenn’s design for the renovation of a library in Harlem addresses the 

interplay between light and heat by including suggestions for diffusing 

and absorbing daylight to reduce its high energy loads. In addition 

to enjoying opportunities to apply what he is learning, Glenn says, he 

benefits from the expertise and experience of his instructors. “The staff 

and faculty in the Lighting Design program are amazing. You can’t beat 

the people. These are award-winning designers at the forefront of the 

industry, and yet they are deeply committed to their students.” 

Although Glenn spends much of his time in the library, lab, and 

studio, whenever possible he takes advantage of the free admission to 

the Museum of Modern Art available to all New School students. 

top Phan Dung, New Image of the City: 

Luminous Lite, Thesis Studio 

bottom left Merve Sila Karakaya, 

The Dual Role of Architecture and Lighting 

in the Creation of Fantastic Settings 

bottom right Tanakorn Meennuch, 

Reexamining Union Square, Thesis Studio 

LIGHTING DESIGN 

93 


top left Erin Devries, Daylight and 

Interior Space, Thesis Studio 

bottom left Evgenia Kremezi, Scholars 

Library, Studio II 

right Megan Casey, Emerging Illuminance: 

Recontextualizing Light Energy Impacts in the 

21st Century, Thesis Studio 

Graduate students design/build project A/L 

Design Awards banquet table 


95 



lighting design faculty 

KENT KLEINMAN dean of the School of Constructed 

Environments. Scholarly focus: 20th Century European modernism. 

Books: Villa Müller: A Work of Adolf Loos, Rudolf Arnheim: 

Revealing Vision, and Mies van der Rohe: The Krefeld Villas. Awards: 

Mellon Foundation’s Senior Public Goods Fellowship at the 

University of Michigan, Visiting Scholarship at the Canadian 

Center for Architecture in Montreal, three Graham Foundation 

grants, two Architect’s Journal Ten Best Book awards. BA and 

MArch, University of California at Berkeley. 

DEREK PORTER director of Lighting Design. Principal, Derek 

Porter Studio. Projects: lighting design for self-storage facility 

FLEX systems; Liberty Bridge, Greenville; Union Station, Kansas 

City. Awards: Architectural Lighting, International Association 

of Lighting Designers, IESNA. Member: AIA, IALD, IESNA, 

Light Fair International. BFA, Environmental Design, Kansas City 

Art Institute. 

KIMBERLY ACKERT architect; principal, Ackert Architects. 

Awards: Mercedes T. Bass Rome Prize. Published: 40 Under 40, New 

York Times Magazine, Green Architecture USA, Interiors, Architectural 

Review, Architecture Australia, House & Garden. Ackert has worked 

for Skidmore, Owings and Merrill and Richard Meier and Partners. 

BArch, California Polytechnic State University. 

CRAIG A. BERNECKER founder and director of the Lighting 

Education Institute. Former director of the Lighting program, 

Department of Architectural Engineering, Pennsylvania State 

University. Former president and board member, IESNA; board 

member, International Commission on Illumination; former 

board member, Lighting Research Institute. Published: Lighting 

Design+Application, Lighting Research and Technology, Journal of the 

Illuminating Engineering Society, IESNA Lighting Education series. 

Published extensively on psychological aspects of lighting. PhD 

in Psychology, MS in Architectural Engineering, Pennsylvania 


JIM CONTI lighting designer. Awards: IESNY Lumen, Nuckolls 

Fund for Lighting Education, Linked by Light. Projects and clients: 

Steelcase, Alliance for Downtown NY, Brooks Brothers, New 

World Foundation, New Balance. Published: Radical Landscapes, 

Artforms, LD+A, Interiors, Architectural Record, Architectural 

Review, New York Times. Associate member, IALD, IESNA. MFA, 

Ohio State University. 

JESSICA CORR founding member of Collaborative , an interdisciplinary 

design group. Projects and exhibits: Exquisite Cannibals, 

Massachusetts College of Art; Double Exposure, multi media set 

design for the Alvin Ailey Dance Co.; R & D consultant for new 

materials, Prada; Cooper-Hewitt National Design Triennial; Ten 

Avant-Garde Industrial Designers Exhibition. Published: Dish, I.D., 

Interni, Frame, Interiors, Elle Décor, Graphis. BFA, Parsons. 

JEAN GARDNER activist, writer, architecture, and landscape 

historian; consultant on sustainable design issues. Founding 

member, Environment ’90, Earth Environmental Group. Coauthor: 

Cinemetrics: Architecture Drawing Today. Author: Urban 

Wilderness: Nature in New York City. Has also taught at Columbia, 

Pratt, and Cornell. BA, Smith; MA, Columbia University. 

STEPHEN HORNER IESNA, LC. Senior designer, Tillet Lighting 

Design Inc. Projects: Linked Hybrid, Beijing; Juilliard School 

and Alice Tully Hall renovation, NYC; Lincoln Center South 

Campus masterplan, NYC. Awards: Jonas Bellovin Award for 

Academic Achievement, Nuckolls Fund for Education. BA, Sussex 

University; MFA, Parsons. 

NELSON JENKINS LEED, LC, RA. Founder, Lumen Architecture, 

PLLC. Member: AIA, IESNA, and Designers Lighting Forum executive 

board. Teaches professional continuing education, graduate, 

and undergraduate courses. BFA, BArch, RISD. 

PAMELA KLADzYK architectural historian and artist. Research 

focuses on the visual language of material culture, Native 

American contributions to contemporary design, and revivals 

and hybrids of sustainable housing. Published: “Native American 

Women Designers,” in Pat Kirkham, Women Designers in the USA, 

1900–2000: Diversity and Difference. Exhibitions: New York Design 

Center; A.I.R. Gallery, NY. BFA, University of Michigan; MFA, 

Eastern Michigan University; PhD, Catholic University, Lublin. 

MARGARET MAILE architectural and lighting design historian. 

Scholarly focus is on the performance and promotion of modern 

architecture, the experience of modernity, and mass culture. 

Awards: Bernard and Irene Schwartz Foundation, Richard 

Kelly grant, Clive Wainwright thesis award, Edward Lee Cave 

Foundation. Publications: “Illuminating the Glass Box,” in JSAH, 

“The Seagram Building” in PLD; and articles in Architectural 

Lighting magazine. MA, PhD candidate, in Lighting Design 

History, Bard Graduate Center. 

JOANNA MERWOOD director of academic affairs, School of 

Constructed Environments; architectural historian. Published: 

“Western Architecture: The Inland Architect, Race, Class and 

Architectural Identity,” “Chicago Is History,” “The Mechanization 

of Cladding: The Reliance Building and Narratives of Modern 

Architecture.” Awards: Dissertation colloquium speaker, Temple 

Hoyne Buell Center; Howard Crosby Butler Summer Traveling 

Fellowship, Princeton. BArch, Victoria University of Wellington; 

MArch, McGill; MA and PhD, Princeton. 

CAROLINE RAzOOK designer, Rogers Marvel Architects. 

Current projects: Theory headquarters and showrooms. Member, 

Architectural League of New York. Published photographs: 

Modulus 25, Industrial Intersections, Virginia, 1999; Design 

Build Project, Brooklyn, 2003. Eileen Gray Thesis Prize, 2004. 

Instructor, Summer Intensive Studios in Architecture, Parsons, 

2004. BS Arch, University of Virginia; MArch with concentration 

in Lighting Design, Parsons. 

NATHALIE ROzOT multidisciplinary planning and design 

consultant on large-scale projects in lighting design, exhibit 

design, architecture, landscape architecture, and urban planning. 

Projects: L’Observatoire International; Miami International 

Airport; TKOTL residential complex, Hong Kong; Bayou River 

revitalization, Houston. Exhibited: Paris, Rome, New York, 

and Osaka. 

LENI SCHWENDINGER principal, Leni Schwendinger Light 

Projects Ltd. Clients: state and municipal agencies, architectural 

and engineering firms, museums, and events planners. Projects: 

Chroma Streams; Tide and Traffic, a site-specific integrated light 

installation in Glasgow; and the Coney Island Parachute Jump. 

Certificate, London Film School. 

AMY SHARP artist, producer. Projects: National Flag of 

Mourning, Reel President, Hope Project, Mary Ellen Strom and 

Ann Carlson’s Geyser Land, and International Film Seminar’s 

Digital Flaherty seminar. BFA, Aquinas College; MFA, School of 

the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and Tufts University. 

JOEL SIEGEL IES, AMA, lighting engineer; Vice President of 

marketing and sales, Edison Price Lighting, Inc. Has also taught 

at City College of New York and the Mechanical Institute of New 

York. Published: Lighting Design Association Journal. Holds several 

patents for lighting products. BS, City University of New York; BA, 

City College of New York. 

DAVID SINGER principal, Arc Light Design. Published projects: 

Harley-Davidson Café, NY; Zen Palate, NY; Hyatt Regency, Osaka; 

Bar Bat, Hong Kong. Lumen Award of Merit with Distinction 

for Civic Service, Central Wing School of Architecture lighting 

design, Pratt University (Steven Holl, architect). BA, MArch, 

Washington University. 

MATTHEW TANTERI IALD; principal and lighting designer, 

Tanteri + Associates. Awards: Lumen Award for Chanel Ginza, 

Tokyo; IALD Lighting Design Award for Luminous Arc (with 

James Carpenter and Richard Kress). Projects: U.S. retail stores of 

Issey Miyake, Versace, Chanel. BA, Cooper Union; MFA, Parsons. 

THOMAS THOMPSON IALD; principal, Thompson + Sears, LLC, 

architectural lighting firm with more than 600 completed projects 

throughout the United States, Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and 

South America. Projects: Samsung Roding Pavilion and historic 

preservation of the Hoboken train station’s main waiting room. 

BAE, Pennsylvania State University. 

LINNAEA TILLETT IALD; principal, Tillett Lighting Design. 

Specializes in security and perceptions of safety in settings that 

serve multiple needs and diverse users. Projects: collaborations 

with Olin Partnership, Maya Lin Studio, Cooper Robertson, 

Quennell Rothschild; award-winning public art with Kiki Smith 

and Lebbeus Woods. PhD, Environmental Psychology, City 

University of New York. 

ATTILA UYSAL IALD; principal, Susan Brady Lighting Design. 

Projects include hospitals, airports, transportation facilities, 

corporate interiors, retail stores and showrooms, façade lighting, 

private residences, and restaurants. Recipient of the Turkish 

Republic Ministry of Education’s scholarship for industrial 

design studies in the United States. BArch, Middle East Technical 

University, Ankara, Turkey; MA, Industrial Design, Pratt Institute. 

ALEXA GRIFFITH design historian specializing in the history 

and theory of the modern domestic interior. Grants: Graham 

Foundation; NYSCA; Craft, Creativity, and Design Grant; Society 

for the Preservation of American Modernists. Published: Journal 

of Design History, Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Timeline of Art 

History, I.D., Dwell. BA, Smith College; MA, Bard Graduate Center 

for Studies in the Decorative Arts. 

JAMES YORGEY LC; technical applications manager, Lutron 

Electronics Company. Member, IEEE; IESNA (former chairman of 

the Energy Management Committee); ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 

90.1 Project Committee for Energy Efficient Design of New 

Buildings, ASHRAE/IES Standard 100P Project Committee, for 

Energy Conservation in Existing Buildings. BS, Pennsylvania 





97

photography 

the graduate photography program functions as a 21st-century 

studio and think tank. students are encouraged to develop their 

individual vision in a collaborative, interdisciplinary environment 

and to explore related technologies, focusing on the relationship 

between concept and production. a rigorous critique process and 

regular meetings with faculty, professional artists, and visiting 

critics help students develop individual points of view and situate 

themselves and their work within larger historical, theoretical, and 

contemporary visual contexts. 

the goal of the 26-month program is to educate students about the 

evolving creative role of the photographer, particularly in relation 

to emerging imaging technologies and new media. this curriculum 

gives students a foundation in both the developing language of 

photography and the technology driving it. graduates are prepared 

to define the creative role of photography within contemporary 

culture, whether as scholars or practicing artists. 

the parsons photography program is distinguished by the diversity 

of its participants and of the perspectives and styles they bring to 

their work. Most applicants accepted to the program have undergraduate 

or graduate degrees in photography, video, or related 

media. those with degrees in an unrelated discipline should have 

considerable experience working in the field. 


www.newschool.edu/parsons and go to degree programs: 

photography, graduate. 

recent Visiting artists 

Max Becker and Andrea Robbins 

Slater Bradley 

Daniel Conogar 

Sarah Charlesworth 

Tim Davis 

Shannon Ebner 

Anna Gaskell 

Anthony Goicolea 

Neil Goldberg 

Dan Graham 

Matthew Higgs 

Simen Johan 

Glen Luchford 

Jessica Craig Martin 

Carolee Schneemann 

Gary Scheider 

Collier Schorr 

Laura Simmons 

Zoe Strauss 

Javier Tellez 

Catherine Wagner 

Lawrence Weiner 

Charlie White 

Right Jeremy Dyer, untitled, 

digital fiber print 

98 PHOTOGRAPHY PHOTOGRAPHY 

99 



curriculuM 

departing from the traditional semester format, the 64-credit 

program combines technical and academic studies with studio 

work. the program begins with an eight-week intensive summer 

session in residence at parsons, the first of three. fall and spring 

semesters complement the intensive summer sessions, with 

students engaged in independent study under the supervision of 

a faculty member. during the fall and spring semesters, students 

also fulfill course requirements, either in residence or via the 

latest distributed-learning technologies. each fall and spring 

semester culminates in a five-day intensive residency in January 

and June respectively. 


graduate studio: students explore personal direction under the 

supervision of a faculty advisor. students meet twice a week with 

the advisor and attend regular critiques with their peers. the 

graduate advisory committee assesses each student’s progress 

at the end of each semester. 

graduate seminar i–iii uses the artistic and intellectual resources 

of the city to explore contemporary issues in art and photography. 

some semesters focus on a specific topic. in others, students meet 

with visiting professionals who critique their work and introduce 

critical and theoretical topics for discussion and research. 

students’ interactions with these visiting professionals exposes 

them to diverse viewpoints and provides networking opportunities. 

independent studio i–iV continues the personal studio work 

initiated in graduate studio. students maintain regular contact 

with their advisor through the online cyber-community conference. 

each semester’s independent studio work culminates in a 

weeklong residency in January or June, during which group and 

individual critiques are conducted and the graduate advisory 

committee assesses students’ work. 

wired studio is a skills acquisition course that introduces participants 

to new photographic technologies and working methods. this 

course explores the expanding capabilities and possibilities of 

image-making tools for all areas, ranging from alternative processes 

to the purely digital environment. 

thesis and exhibition prepares students for the thesis exhibition. 

working closely with their advisors and graduate committee, students 

compose a written statement about their exhibits and complete an 

oral examination with the graduate advisory committee. 

100 PHOTOGRAPHY 


electiVe courses 

History of Representation explores 

historical trends in pictorial representation 

and representational media to 

shed light on contemporary practices. 

Through readings, discussion, and 

research, students explore historical 

cultural standards that have defined fact, 

reality, and truth. Students examine the 

role of the photograph in contemporary 

culture and identify cultural standards in 

a postphotographic digital world. 

Art Since Lunch: A Postmodern 

Debate on What Is the Next “Ism” 

Unlike traditional art history classes, 

which focus on the past, this course is 

aimed at predicting and shaping the 

future. Students critically analyze the 

current debate about photography and 

the images being produced at the dawn 

of the 21st century and examine the role 

of technology in photographic production 

and dissemination and the way that 

affects the global visual marketplace. 

Intellectual Property in the Digital 

Age explores this rapidly changing field 

through readings, lectures, and panel 

discussions. Students examine current 

copyright, trademark, and art laws as 

they relate to photography. 

Foucault’s Pendulum investigates 

aspects of contemporary photographic 

practice and theory. Students examine 

the relationship between theory and 

praxis and, more specifically, the way 

practitioners use theory in making their 

work. We read and discuss writings by 

both practitioners and theoreticians 

as a response to and indicator of visual 

theory. Emphasis is placed on applying 

this knowledge to individual practice 

within the context of contemporary art 

and photographic discourse. 

George Pitts 

Chair 

photography

George Pitts is an award-winning photography director, painter, and 

essayist and a renowned teacher whose work spans the fine art, commercial, 

and fashion worlds. Pitts has been a Parsons faculty member since 

1998 and will become chair of the Photography Department this year. 

In addition to teaching at Parsons, Pitts has held a number of 

prominent positions, including director of photography at Vibe magazine, 

where he received three National Magazine Award nominations 

for Best Photography. Of his work at Vibe he says, “It was an important 

job because it brought unprecedented visibility to my contributions as a 

photo editor. We endeavored to bring sophisticated and authentic visual 

approaches to the documentation of African-American culture that 

would also have broad appeal for all Americans and readers throughout 

the world.” 

Whether teaching, photo editing, writing, or making images, Pitts 

consistently demonstrates a keen aesthetic sense and the ability to work 

graciously with people of all backgrounds. As the incoming chair, Pitts 

will uphold the high standards of the department. 

open studios 

open studios take place three times a year and are an excellent 

opportunity for students to introduce their work to public. they 

provide a space for dialogue with working artists, gallerists, 

curators, and industry professionals from new york city, and are 

often accompanied by individual and group critiques with visiting 

artists and scholars. students also present regular exhibitions in 

the student-run three gallery and have the opportunity to exhibit 

a thesis project. 

top Ana da Cavalli, Untitled, c-print 

PHOTOGRAPHY 103 


Sean Simpson, American Gothic #3, 

pigment on canvas 

104 


top left Patti Hallock, Pool Table, 

digital c-print 

bottom left Jeremy Dyer, untitled, 

digital fiber print 

top right Kara Healey, untitled, 

gelatin silver print 

bottom right Haley Samuleson, Levitation, 

digital c-print 

PHOTOGRAPHY PHOTOGRAPHY 

105 


photography faculty 

GEORGE PITTS chair. Fine art photographer, painter, and 

writer. Former director of photography at LIFE and Vibe 

magazines. Writing and art: Partisan Review, Paris Review, S, Big, 

One World, Vibe, aRude, Juxtapose, Next Level: a critical review of 

Photography. Photographs: New York Times Magazine, Werk, New 

York Magazine, Clam, Premiere, Spin, Talk, Raygun, Paper, Nerve, 

Manhattan File, Voidek, Gotham, Vice, E Design, Graphis Photo 

Annual 2000, American Photography (Vols. 16, 18, 19) Masterminds 

of Mode, Nerve: The New Nude (Chronicle), and The New Erotic 

Photography (Taschen). 

JAMES L. RAMER director of the graduate program. 

Photographer and installation artist. Exhibitions: David Lusk 

Gallery, Tennessee; Contemporary Museum, Maryland; Rupert 

Goldsworthy Gallery, New York; Old Dominion University, 

Virginia; Southern Illinois University. Collections: Assisi 

Foundation, Promus Corporation, Schering-Plough Inc. MFA, 

Memphis College of Art. 

ANTHONY AzIz artist and photographer specializing in digital 

imaging, sculpture, video and architectural installations; 

collaborator on the team of Aziz + Cucher. Exhibitions and collections: 

New Museum of Contemporary Art; Cooper-Hewitt, 

National Design Museum; Venice Biennale; ICP; SF MoMA; Reina 

Sofia Center for Contemporary Art; LA County Museum of Art; 

National Gallery of Berlin; National Gallery of Australia. Awards: 

Pollock Krasner Award, NEA, NYFA. Featured: New York Times, 

Village Voice, Art in America, ArtForum, ArtNews, FlashArt, Frieze, 

Parkett. MFA, San Francisco Art Institute. 

MARTHA BURGESS photographer, installation and new 

media artist. Exhibited: Rice University Gallery, Houston; 

Gary Tatintsian Gallery, NY; Riva Gallery, NY; Contemporary 

Museum, Baltimore; PS1, NY; University of Connecticut Center 

for Visual Art and Culture; FotoFest, Houston. Fellowships: 

Guggenheim; Jerome Foundation; NYFA; Epson Corporation; 

Scitex Corporation; Ford Foundation; Macdowell Colony; PS1; 

Fannie B. Pardee Prize, Yale. Clients: Tibet House; Merrill Lynch 

Video Network; Skidmore Owings & Merrill Architects; NNY; 

Sony Audio; IBM; American Express, Eisenman Architects. 

MFA, Yale. 

SAMMY CUCHER photographer specializing in digitally based 

images; collaborator on the team Aziz + Cucher. Exhibitions and 

collections: New Museum of Contemporary Art; Cooper-Hewitt, 

National Design Museum; Venice Biennale; Biennale de Lyon, 

ICP; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Reina Sofia Center 

for Contemporary Art; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; 

National Gallery of Berlin; National Gallery of Australia. MFA, 

San Francisco Art Institute. 

SIMONE DOUGLAS artist working in photography, video 

and installation. Solo exhibitions: Photographers Gallery 

and Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London; National Art Gallery 

of Poland; HUG Gallery for International Photography, 

Amsterdam; IDG, First Draft Gallery, and 4A Gallery, Sydney. 

Collections and group exhibitions: Victoria and Albert Museum, 

London; Museum of Contemporary Art, Australian Centre for 

Photography, and NSW Art Gallery, Sydney; National Gallery of 

Victoria, Melbourne; CAFA, Beijing. BA, Sydney College of the 

Arts, University of Sydney; MFA and Grad. Dipl. in Professional 

Art Studies, University of New South Wales. 

KEITH A. ELLENBOGEN photographer, videographer, and 

digital artist specializing in underwater marine life, nature, and 

the environment with emphasis on streaming media. Awards: 

American Society Media Photographers Best of 2007; Fulbright 

Fellowship. Projects and clients: Expedition New England 

Aquarium, Fiji, a PSA campaign about coral reefs for Philippe 

Cousteau; and EarthEcho International. MFA in Design and 

Technology, Parsons. 

CRAIG KALPAKJIAN fine artist. Solo exhibitions: Andrea 

Rosen Gallery, NY; Galerie Edward Mitterrand, Geneva; 

M-Projects, Paris; Robert Miller Gallery, NY. Group exhibitions: 

Sculpture Center, NY; Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin; Whitney 

Museum, NY; SF MoMA; Delfina Gallery, London. Collections: 

Centre Pompidou; Metropolitan Museum of Art; New Museum 

of Contemporary Art; SF MoMA. Publications: Digital Art; 

Architecture; New York Times Magazine; Financial Times; Frieze; 

Village Voice; Tate, The Art Magazine; Time Out New York. BA, 

University of Pennsylvania. 

CHARLES LABELLE artist investigating the intersection of 

place and subjectivity using a variety of media—photography, 

video, drawing, and sculpture—as well as action-based and 

site-specific works. Exhibitions: Para/Site Central, Hong Kong; 

Anna Kustera, Neuberger Museum, and Artist’s Space, NY; 

San Francisco Art Institute; Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago. 

Publications: Time Out Chicago, Artforum, Art Papers, Art Review, 

New York Times. BA, UCLA; graduate study, UCLA Film School. 

MIRANDA LICHTENSTEIN fine artist, photographer. Solo 

exhibitions: UCLA Hammer Museum and Mary Goldman 

Gallery, LA; Whitney Museum at Philip Morris, Elizabeth 

Dee Gallery, and Leslie Tonkonow, NY; Gallery Min Min, 

Tokyo. Group exhibitions: Creative Time and New Museum 

of Contemporary Art, NY; Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 

SF; Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami; Staedhaus Ulm, 

Germany. Collections: Guggenheim Museum; Hirshhorn 

Museum; New Museum of Contemporary Art; Madison Museum 

of Contemporary Art; Neuberger Museum of Art. MFA, 

California Institute of the Arts. 

STACY MILLER artist and educator with management experience 

in education, teacher training, museum education, and 

art research. Previously director of research and professional 

development at the College Art Association. Co-founder of 

the Heritage School, an alternative public arts and technology 

high school in NYC. Doctoral candidate, Columbia; Master of 

Museum Leadership, Bank Street College of Education; BFA, 

Massachusetts College of Art. 

CARLOS MOTTA editor of artwurl.org editor; photographer 

and video installation artist. His work uses strategies from 

documentary filmmaking and sociology to engage political 

events and suggest alternative ways to write and read their 

histories. Solo exhibitions: Art in General (upcoming), LMCC 

and Winkleman Gallery, NY; Konsthall C, Stockholm; rum46, 

Denmark; Kevin Bruk Gallery, Miami; La Alianza Francesa, 

Colombia. Group exhibitions: Artists Space, CCS Bard Hessel 

Museum of Art, and El Museo, NY; Fries Museum, Holland; 

Palazzo delle Papesse, Italy; Musee de Elysee, Switzerland; 

TEOR/eTica, Costa Rica. MFA, Bard College; Whitney 

Independent Study. 

ARTHUR OU photographer, multimedia artist. Solo exhibitions: 

Hudson Franklin, NYC; IT Park Gallery, Taipei; Taipei Fine Arts 

Museum. Group exhibitions in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, 

London, Vancouver, Dresden and Beijing. Publications: Blind Spot, 

Art on Paper, Art in America. BFA, Parsons; MFA, Yale School of Art; 

also studied civil engineering, University of California at Irvine. 

CAY SOPHIE RABINOWITz senior editor of Parkett. 

Contributing writer: Afterall, Art Papers, Boiler, Self Service. 

Author of catalog texts on Monica Bonvicini, Sabine Hornig, 

Rita McBride, Thomas Schutte. Research areas: rhetoric and 

aesthetics, Dada in Berlin, ethnography, propaganda. Has also 

taught at Emory University, and California Institute of the Arts. 

CHRISTIAN RATTEMEYER associate curator, Department of 

Drawings, Museum of Modern Art. Previously curator at Artists 

Space, communication editor for Documenta 11 in Kassel, 

Germany, and founder and co-director of OSMOS, an independent 

project space in Berlin. Regular contributor to Parkett, 

Texte zur Kunst, Artforum, and Art Papers. Curated Film and 

Architecture festivals in Berlin, Los Angeles, London, and New 

York. MA, Free University of Berlin; PhD (ABD), Columbia. 

TYPE A the collaboration of ADAM AMES (BA, UPenn; 

MFA, SVA) and ANDREW BORDWIN (BA, NYU). This team’s 

video, installation, photography, sculpture, and drawing deal 

with issues of masculinity, competition and collaboration in 

contemporary society. Exhibitions: Luckman Fine Art Complex, 

California State University; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Art 

in General, NYC; Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover; 

Indianapolis Museum of Art; List Visual Arts Center at MIT; 

Centrum Beeldende Kunst, Rotterdam; Centro de la Imagen, 

Mexico City; Contemporary Art Center, New Orleans; Institute 

of Contemporary Art, Palm Beach; and UCLA Hammer 

Museum, LA. 

106 PHOTOGRAPHY PHOTOGRAPHY 

107 




Parsons prepares students to be independent thinkers who 

creatively and critically address the complex human conditions 

of 21st century culture. We are creating a diverse learning 

environment for developing intelligent and reflective practices 

through studio-based research and critical scholarship in order to 

make meaningful and sustainable contributions to contemporary 

global societies. As a division of The New School, Parsons builds 

on the university’s legacy of progressive ideals, scholarship, and 

educational methods. Our faculty challenges convention through 

a setting and philosophy that encourages formal experimentation, 

nurtures alternative world-views, and cultivates forwardthinking 

leaders and creative professionals in a world increasingly 

influenced by art and design. 

The New School was founded in 1919 a “center for discussion, 

instruction, and counseling for mature men and women.” It is 

today a thriving urban university offering undergraduate and 

graduate degrees in the liberal arts and social sciences, design, 

and the performing arts. The New School is a privately supported 

university chartered by the Board of Regents of the State of New 

York. Its degree and certificate programs are approved by the 

state’s Division of Veterans Affairs. 

The New School is fully accredited by the Commission on Higher 

Education of the Middle States Association of Colleges and 

Schools. Parsons The New School for Design is also accredited by 

the National Association of Schools of Art and Design, and the 

graduate programs in architecture by the National Architectural 

Accrediting Board. 

FACTS ABOUT PARSONS 

—Founded in 1896 by New York City artist William Merritt Chase 

and associates. 

—Named in 1936 for longtime president Frank Alvah Parsons, 

who devoted his life to integrating visual art and industrial 

design. 

—Became a division of The New School in 1970. Located in 

Greenwich Village, New York City. 

—Current enrollments: Parsons enrolls nearly 4,000 students in 

its undergraduate and undergraduate degree programs. The New 

School as a whole enrolls nearly 10,000 matriculated students. 

— The Parsons faculty includes 127 full-time and 1,056 part-time 

members respectively. The majority of faculty members are working 

professional artists and designers. 

DEGREE PROGRAMS 

Parsons offers the following degree programs: 

Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in: Architectural Design, 

Communication Design, Design and Technology, Fashion Design, 

Fine Arts, Illustration, Integrated Design, Interior Design, 

Photography, and Product Design. (There is a five-year BA/BFA 

dual degree program in each of these areas of study; speak to an 

admission counselor about the dual degree program.) 

Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) in Design and 

Management. 

Bachelor of Science (BS) in Environmental Studies.* 

Associate in Applied Science (AAS) in: Fashion Marketing, 

Fashion Studies, Graphic Design, and Interior Design. 

Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in: Design and Technology, Lighting 

Design, Interior Design,* Fine Arts, and Photography. 

Master of Architecture (MArch). 

Master of Arts (MA) in History of Decorative Arts and Design. 

Master of Architecture/Master of Fine Arts in Lighting Design 

(MArch/MFA). 

OTHER ACADEMIC PROGRAMS 

Parsons offers a variety of programs for non-matriculated 

students of all ages: Summer Intensive Studies (Pre-college 

and college-level) in New York City and Paris; Continuing 

Education (certificate programs and general art and design 

education for adults); Parsons Pre-College Academy (certificate 

programs and general art and design education for young people, 

grades 4–12). Visit the website at www.newschool.edu/parsons 

for more information. 

* New York State approval pending. 

INSTITUTIONAL INFORMATION 

The New School is committed to creating and maintaining 

an environment of diversity and tolerance in all areas of 

employment, education, and access to its educational, artistic, 

and cultural programs and activities. The New School does 

not discriminate on the basis of age, race, color, sex, sexual 

orientation, religion, mental or physical disability, national, 

or ethnic origin, or citizenship, marital, or veteran status. 

The New School provides the following institutional information 

on the university website www.newschool.edu: Family 

Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA); financial assistance 

information (federal, state, local, private, and institutional needbased 

and non-need-based assistance programs, Title IV, FFEL, 

Direct Loan deferments); institutional information (fees, refund 

policies, withdrawing from school, academic information, disability 

services for students); completion/graduation rates and 

transfer-out rates (graduation rate of degree-seeking students, 

transfer-out rates of degree-seeking students). To request copies 

of any of these reports, please contact the appropriate office listed 

on the website. 

STUDENT FINANCIAL SERVICES 

Parsons provides a comprehensive program of financial aid 

services for graduate students, including significant institutional 

scholarship support based on merit and need. The New School 

also participates in federal and state aid programs, including the 

Federal Pell Grant, Equal Opportunity Grant, and Federal Family 

Educational Loan programs. 

All applicants for admission should apply for financial aid 

if they feel they have a need for it. For information about 

scholarships, loans, on-campus employment, and more, visit 

www.newschool.edu/studentservices/financialaid. 

A monthly payment plan allows tuition payments to be spread 

throughout the school year. 

Estimated Academic Year Expenses 2008–09* 

Graduate Tuition ...................................................................$34,560 

University Services Fee ................................................................ 200 

Divisional Fee ................................................................................ 80 

Health Services Fee** ................................................................... 420 

Health Insurance Fee** ...............................................................1,617 

Room and Board*** .................................................................. 12,455 

Books and Supplies*** ............................................................... 2,170 

Personal Expenses*** .................................................................1,640 

Transportation .............................................................................725 

Total ...................................................................................... $53,867 

* Except the graduate Photography program. 

**All full-time matriculated students are automatically charged a 

Student Health Insurance Fee and a Student Health Services Fee. 

Students covered by other insurance can decline these services by 

submitting a waiver form. 

***Actual costs may vary widely for individuals. 

VISIT US, TALK TO US 

There is no better way to learn about Parsons and to get answers 

to your questions than to visit and see for yourself. The office of 

admission schedules various information sessions and workshops 

throughout the year, and Parsons representatives travel to 

other cities in the USA and other countries to meet prospective 

students and discuss our programs of study, costs and financial 

aid opportunities, and career directions. 

grad expo at the new school 

Saturday, November 1, 2008 10:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m. 

Tishman Auditorium, 66 West 12th Street 

New York City 

graduate open studios at parsons 

Thursday, December 4, 2008 6:00–9:00 p.m. 


Master of Architecture 

25 East 13th Street, 2nd floor 

MFA Design and Technology 

2 West 13th Street, 10th floor 

MFA Fine Arts 

25 East 13th Street, 5th floor 

MFA Interior Design and Lighting Design 

25 East 13th Street, 3rd floor 

MFA Photography 

66 Fifth Avenue, 5th floor 

MA History of Decorative Arts and Design 

Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum 

2 East 91st Street 

6:00–8:00 p.m. 

graduate portfolio days 

Eastern Graduate Portfolio Day 

Saturday, September 27, 2008 12:00–4:00 p.m. 

The Art Directors Club 

106 West 29th Street 


Western Graduate Portfolio Day 

Saturday, October 11, 2008 12:00–4:00 p.m. 

California College of the Arts 

1111 Eighth Street 

San Francisco 

Central Graduate Portfolio Day 

Sunday, November 2, 2008 12:00–4:00 p.m. 

School of the Art Institute of Chicago 

Sage Studios for Fashion Design 

36 South Wabash Avenue 

Chicago 

Visit the website or use the contact information on the back page 

for more information. 

110 INFORMATION 

INFORMATION 111 



APPLY 

To apply for admission to a graduate program at Parsons, go 

to www.newschool.edu/parsons/apply and use the online 

application form. Applications must be submitted online only. 

Found objects collected in Parsons studios (material 

samples, deadlines: tools, February reference 1 documents, process artifacts) 

and Applicants samples for of Architecture, student and Fine faculty Arts, work. and Photography STILL FRAME must 

(front cover, center): Faculty member Brian McGrath 

submit a complete application packet by February 1. 

and Mark Watkins, from urban-interface, Manhattan 

Timeformations, Design and Technology, exploded Interior still-frame Design, Lighting from interactive Design, and 

web-site 

History of 

created 

Decorative 

for 

Arts 

the 

and 

Skyscraper 

Design accept 

Museum, 

applications 

2000. 

on a 

INTERIOR IMAGE (back cover, lower right): Amanda Toles 

rolling basis, but applicants who wish to be considered for a 

and Martina Sencakova, 25 E.13th Street, digital rendering, 

Dean’s Scholarship must submit a complete application packet 

2008. Collage by mgmt. design. 

by February 1. 

AdMISSION INquIRIES 

For graduate programs in Fine Arts, Photography, Design and 

Technology, and History of Decorative Arts and Design, contact 

Parsons The New School for Design 

Graduate Admissions 

65 Fifth Avenue, 1st floor 

New York, NY 10003 

Telephone 212.229.8989 or 

877.528.3321 (toll-free in the United States) 

Email parsadm@newschool.edu 

For graduate programs in Architecture, Lighting Design, and 

Interior Design, contact 

Parsons The New School for Design 

Graduate Admissions 

School of Constructed Environments 

66 Fifth Avenue 

New York, NY 10011 

Telephone 212.229.8955 

Email aidladmission@newschool.edu 

INTERNATIONAL STudENTS 

This school is authorized under Federal law to enroll 

non-immigrant alien students. Students whose native language 

is not English are must submit acceptable minimum scores 

on the TOEFL. Documentation necessary to obtain a visa 

to enter the United States will be provided after a student has 

been accepted into a degree program. 

APPLY 


The information published here represents the plans of The New School at the 

time of publication. The university reserves the right to change without notice 

any matter contained in this publication, including but not limited to tuition, 

fees, policies, degree programs, names of programs, course offerings, academic 

activities, academic requirements, facilities, faculty, and administrators. 

Payment of tuition or attendance at any classes shall constitute a student’s 

acceptance of the administration’s rights as set forth above. 

Published 2008 by Parsons The New School for Design 

Produced by Communications and External Affairs, The New School 

Design: mgmt.design 

Photography: Portraits by Matthew Septimus; cover and 

section dividers by Matthew Sussman; photographs of student 

work by Caitlin Benedetto, Jeff Brown, John Roach. 

10%

www.newschool.edu/parsons

Graduate Viewbook 2008-2009 - The New School

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