2020 Course Development Prize in Architecture, Climate Change, and Society

Columbia University’s Temple Hoyne Buell Center for the Study of American Architecture and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) announce the winners of the 2020 Course Development Prize in Architecture, Climate Change, and Society. These innovative courses will be taught at a wide variety of architecture schools in the coming years.

The urgency of climate change seems to demand a singular focus that is antithetical to humanities-based critical inquiry or longer-term creative and technical endeavors. These courses seek the kind of realism that redefines problems and leaves room for the imagination. They include methods and themes that innovate within their institutional settings—asking hard questions of students equal to the hard questions being asked of society as it grapples with the causes and effects of climate change.

Five courses were selected by the jury and each course winner will receive a USD 10,000 prize and support to lead their course at their host institution within the next two years. The five winning course proposals will be presented at the ACSA 108th Annual Meeting in San Diego, CA March 12-14, 2020.

The winners are: 

Adaptation to Sea Level Rise
Mason Andrews, Hampton University

Public Issues, Climate Justice, and Architecture
Bradford Grant, Howard University

Unthinking Oil: Public Architecture and the Post-Carbon Imaginary
Gabriel Fuentes, Daniela Shebitz, and Julia Nevarez, Kean University

Design Based on Estimating Ripple Effects of Carbon Footprint
Jeanne Homer, Khaled Mansy, John Phillips, and Tom Spector, Oklahoma State University

"Exist, Flourish, Evolve" — Territorial Care and the Upper Misi-ziibi
Gabriel Cuéllar, University of Minnesota​


In addition, three course proposals are receiving an Honorable Mention:

Changing Minds for a Changing Climate
Sara Stevens, Adam Rysanek, and Kees Lokman, University of British Columbia

Architecture and Environmental Orientalism in the Arab World
Faysal Tabbarah, American University of Sharjah

A Global Warming History of Architecture Since 1800
Hans Ibelings, University of Toronto


The winners were selected by members of the Buell Center’s Advisory Board.

Review the full course proposals online - HERE. 

About the Temple Hoyne Buell Center for the Study of American Architecture
Columbia University's Temple Hoyne Buell Center for the Study of American Architecture was founded in 1982. Its mission is to advance the interdisciplinary study of American architecture, urbanism, and landscape. A separately endowed entity within the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, it sponsors research projects, workshops, public programs, publications, and awards.

The Center’s current project, “Power: Infrastructure in America,” which is framing its support for the Course Development Prize, challenges participants to think about how infrastructure relates to life across a series of intersecting concerns, including democratic governance and climate justice. For more information, visit power.buellcenter.columbia.edu.

About ACSA
The mission of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture is to lead architectural education and research. Founded in 1912 by 10 charter members, ACSA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit association of over 200 member schools in several categories. These include full membership for all accredited programs in the United States and government-sanctioned schools in Canada, candidate membership for schools seeking accreditation, and affiliate membership for schools for two-year and international programs. Through these schools, over 5,000 architecture faculty are represented.

ACSA seeks to empower faculty and schools to educate increasingly diverse students, expand disciplinary impacts, and create knowledge for the advancement of architecture. For more information, visit www.acsa-arch.org. 

Media Contact:
Amanda Gann
agann@acsa-arch.org