x-change book launch “2024–25: market x-change”

Carnegie Mellon Architecture (CM—A) is proud to announce the launch of x-change, our annual publication showcasing work from first-year students to PhD candidates. Inaugurated in 2017 as EX-CHANGE, the publication has since evolved into x-change to more pointedly reflect its role as a platform for critical discourse and reflection.

The book was designed by Studio Elana Schlenker and Jordi Ng, and co-edited by Tuliza Sindi and Meredith Marsh. The exhibition of work from the publication, Cabinets of Curiosities, was on view in the College of Fine Arts Great Hall from August 25 to September 5, 2025, and was designed by Jared Abraham and Heather Bizon.

Each year, the publication looks critically at the ideas, methods and pedagogical frameworks that shape CM—A’s programs, to position student work within broader disciplinary conversations around architectural research and practice.

The publication becomes a platform for articulating the range of questions that CM—A is both framing and engaging with, as it captures its sociocultural climate while acting as a record of the depth and breadth of student work produced each year.

2024–25 theme: “market x-change”
This year’s theme, “market x-change,” invites us to reflect on what we, as a school, offer as contributions to the intellectual and speculative economies that shape the discipline. It asks us to consider the values we circulate, the ideas we trade, and the forms of knowledge we put forward for exchange, both within the academy and the profession. The seemingly stable market of ideas that has shaped the modern world is, in fact, more alive than ever, and filled with ideas and futures that remain contested, unresolved, rife with contradiction, and brimming with possibility. With this comes the opportunity to offer new ways of seeing, framing and acting. Some propositions may anchor and shape the evolving field, while others may fall away, but the act of putting them forward, and of entering the conversation, is itself vital. The 2024–25 course offerings, and the work generated, stake their place in that exchange, offering up their claims with clarity, care, and a call for slow and deep engagement.

The 2025 x-change book is available in both print and digital editions. To request a printed copy, please complete this form. The book is available free of charge, while copies last.

2025 x-change book team: “2024–25: market x-change”
Cover and Book Design: Studio Elana Schlenker, Jordi Ng / Co-Editors: Tuliza Sindi, Meredith Marsh / Copy Editor: Meredith Marsh / Student Team: Narayan Ashanahalli, Jason Asiedu, Trijya Bhardwaj, Pausha Bovornthamajak, Melika Davarkhah, Lilianne Kouyaté, Keng Pu (Paul) Li, Ananya Shrimali, Aakash Vipparla / Staff Acknowledgements: Alycia Barney, Christi Danner, David Koltas.

Publication of this book has been generously aided by the EX-CHANGE Fund. Carnegie Mellon Architecture gratefully acknowledges Mark Ferguson (CFA’78) and Natalie Jacobs (CFA’79), and Desmone (Gold Sponsorship), for their generous sponsorship of this publication. Additional thanks to our individual donors who supported this publication.