Fall 2025 Programs

The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture of The Cooper Union is pleased to announce its fall 2025 lecture series. The focus this semester is on attending to what is built, what is imagined, and what it means for the world we share. With an emphasis on conversation, we ask: What is our agency as architects and designers? This lecture series is presented in collaboration with The Diane Lewis Student Lecture Series, whose mission this year is to honor the ongoing interest in inviting architects whose work represents alternative practices.  

New York-based architect Annabelle Selldorf will share insights from her recently completed transformation of the historic Frick Collection, exploring the architect's role in working with cultural institutions. From Buenos Aires, Sebastian Adamo of Adamo-Faiden will present the firm's ambitious multi-family housing work in conversation with Sebastian Mendez of New York developer Tankhouse. Artist Mary Miss will connect her early landscape and installation projects to her current work on public space and the city, joined by Bryony Roberts of WIP Collaborative, whose practice has been rethinking urban public spaces. José Aragüez will present his new book on the productive relationship between structural and spatial innovation through three architects and engineers practicing between the 1950s and early 2000s. Malkit Shoshan will discuss her work in conflict and post-conflict areas promoting spatial justice. Bill Baker, the SOM structural engineer behind the Burj Khalifa, will explore structural innovation from one of the few offices that still handles this work in-house. Peggy Deamer will share her experience founding The Architecture Lobby and its advocacy for architectural design and labor. The Cooper Union's Julian Palacio will present his work on the current Eladio Dieste exhibition, and OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen will discuss their new monograph Four Five Six with a83 gallery founders Clara Syme and Owen Nichols. Mariana Mogilevich, editor-in-chief of Urban Omnibus, will discuss her work on public space and urban environments. 

The lecture series is made possible with the generous support of the YC Foundation, the Ornamental Metal Institute of New York, the Steel Institute of New York, Elise Jaffe and Jeffrey Brown, and the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation.

September 11–October 3: John Hejduk: Three Projects
Exhibition 

September 26: Annabelle Selldorf in Conversation with Nader Tehrani
Benjamin Menschel Distinguished Lecture

October 14: Adamo-Faiden and Tankhouse in Conversation 
Ornamental Metal Institute of New York Lecture

October 14–November 6:  Archigram: Making a Facsimile
Exhibition  

October 21: Mary Miss and Bryony Roberts in Conversation
Visiting Lecture 

October 28: Plug in, Fold Over, Pop Up: Publishing as Architecture 
Exhibition Conversation with Diana Darling, Thomas Evans, Evangelos Kotsioris, Julia Ma, and Miko McGinty  

November 4: Jose Aragüez: Dispositional Intelligence
Book Talk  

November 6: Malkit Shoshan: Ecologies of Care — Designing Within Conflict
The Diane Lewis Student Lecture Series 

November 11: William Baker Lecture and Conversation with Thorsten Helbig
YC Foundation Lecture 

November 11–30:  Eladio Dieste's Material Tour de Force
Exhibition  

November 13:  Peggy Deamer 
The Diane Lewis Student Lecture Series 

November 18: Julian Palacio
Exhibition Lecture   

November 20: OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen: Four Five Six
Steel Institute of New York Lecture 

November 25: Mariana Mogilevich 
The Diane Lewis Student Lecture Series 

Events will be held in person at The Cooper Union with the option to stream online. To attend The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture's Fall 2025 Lectures and Events in-person or via Zoom attendees must register in advance. Please visit The Cooper Union website or join the School of Architecture’s Newsletter for updates and more details. For more news and events, please join our various Cooper Union programs’ newsletters.