SPRING 2025 - ADVANCED STUDIO II: PORTMAN PRIZE STUDIO
PORTMAN VISITING CRITIC: Thomas Phifer
INSTRUCTORS: Brian Bell (Studio Coordinator), Mark Cottle, John Peponis, Kim Steiner, and Katherine Wright
STUDIO OVERVIEW
“We turn to Ernst Cassirer’s persuasive argument, 'side by side with logical or scientific language, there is a language of poetic imagination.' This studio leans into this assertion. An appreciation of the poetics of light comes from a deep examination of the science behind it. The science of light is the precise study and understanding of the movement of the sun in the sky. The earth’s axis of orientation towards the sun, as well as its cyclic movement around it, are what animate our experience of it. These truths make it both a temporal and a spatial phenomenon. Its presence changes as much from minute to minute, hour to hour, day to day, season to season as it does from one place to another. When speaking of natural light in a scientific sense, we talk of time of day and month, solstice and equinox as well as characteristics of the sun’s path in the sky like azimuth and altitude and climate to fully understand the lighting conditions and the atmosphere of a particular place. With this deep understanding of the science of light we have a foundation from which we can frame the design process. Architecture is a technology that we can tune so that the space can resonate more precisely with our bodies’ circadian rhythms and the natural world around us.”
Thomas Phifer, 2025 Portman Critic
PORTMAN VISITING CRITIC
In order to enrich and accelerate the process of the integrated building design studio, the semester is guided by a Portman Visiting Critic. Each year, a distinguished practicing architect / educator is invited to participate during the full arc of the semester’s work, establishing a research agenda, giving a lecture prior to the start of the semester, visiting multiple times during the semester, convening specialists to supplement the educational dialogue, and guiding the full student cohort through the process of the work. This year’s Portman Prize Critic is Thomas Phifer.
Principal and founder of Thomas Phifer and Partners in New York City, NY, Thomas Phifer is recognized for refined compositions, rich materiality, masterful use of natural light, and thoughtful integration with the landscape. These principles shine through in various design typologies taken on by the firm, including cultural and educational facilities, federal buildings, residences and commercial structures, gaining recognition with over thirty honors and awards from the American Institute of Architects.
Thomas Phifer has taught at Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, Cooper Union, University of Southern California, University of Texas, University of Pennsylvania, Cornell University College of Architecture, Art, and Planning, and Yale University. He was was elected as a lifetime member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, gave the 2016 keynote lecture at the Royal Institute of British Architects in London, and was awarded the National Design Award in Architectural Design from the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum.