Department of Architecture

Left: "Swaying Udders" by Christopher Yi, (M.Arch. '20); Top Right: "CREOLE: A Spatial Language of Cultural Preservation, Transition, and Production" by Cornelius Tulloch (B.Arch. '21); Bottom Right: "Loop Column" by Justin Foo (B.Arch. '18) and Xinyu Yi (M.Arch '16).
Architecture at Cornell's College of Architecture, Art, and Planning (AAP) is about creative and critical design practices that make lasting impact — balancing rigorous research and scholarship, responsibility for our natural and built environments, and reimagining the world at every scale to build a just and sustainable future for all.
At Cornell Architecture we see design as a process of creative experimentation and iterative analysis, ensuring non-judgmental, holistic, and open-ended inquiry enabled by independent, critical thinking and bold thought leadership. Our undergraduate and graduate programs are designed to support interdisciplinary collaboration and provide an integrated foundation in global history, theory, structures, environmental systems, building technologies, visual representation, ensuring that our students are equipped with actionable knowledge and the agency to enact change.
Highlights
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Register Now for Architecture Summer Programs
Cornell's renowned architecture program for high school students pairs studio design with history and theory courses for a comprehensive curriculum that encourages critical thinking and creative explorations of visual representation and the art of making with tools at the leading edge of design practice today.
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Fellowships and Funding Opportunities
View a selection of externally and internally sponsored fellowships available to undergraduate and graduate students in architecture.
Videos
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From Ordinary to Extraordinary
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L.P. Kwee Studios at Milstein Hall
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A Different Way of Thinking
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Unbuild Better: a Collegetown Case Study in Deconstruction
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Cornell Atkinson Awards Catalyze Solutions in Food, Climate, Clean Energy
Architecture faculty Felix Heisel, director of the Circular Construction Lab and Faculty Fellow with the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability, was recently announced as a 2025 recipient of the Academic Venture Fund at Cornell Atkinson.
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Cornell AAP Alumni, Faculty, and Students Answer 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale's Call to Rethink the Built Environment in an Era of Climate Challenge
The international exhibition, curated by Carlo Ratti and featuring more than 750 participants drawn from a wide range of expertise, invites cross-disciplinary conversation and experimentation.
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Carlo Ratti & Höweler + Yoon Urge Global Climate Dialogue
Designboom: Unveiled at the main exhibition of the 19th Venice Architecture Biennale, AquaPraça will ultimately travel to COP30 in Belém, Brazil, where it will remain as a public plaza demonstrating relationships between built and natural environments.
Wednesday, May 28, 2025 -
Akima Brackeen and Cory Henry Among the 2025–26 Rome Prize Winners
The Architect's Newspaper: Cory Henry (M.Arch. '12) was named a Rome Prize winner in architecture. The award supports innovative and cross-disciplinary work in the arts and humanities by artists and scholars who represent the highest standards of excellence.
Friday, April 25, 2025 -
A Stunning New Pool in Central Park Helps Heal Old Wounds
The New York Times: Susan T. Rodriguez's ('81, B.Arch. '82) architecture firm collaborated on the design for the $160 million Davis Center, a landmark renovation and upgrade of recreational space and waterways at Central Park's north end.
Thursday, April 24, 2025 -
Cornell Researchers Are Developing Flexible "Sun-Tracking" Material
Dezeen: A team of Cornell researchers led by Professor of Architecture and Design Tech Chair Jenny Sabin is developing a flexible solar material called HelioSkin that is integrated with sun-tracking capabilities similar to the biomechanics of sunflowers.
Friday, April 11, 2025
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Scalable Building Reconstruction and Window Detection for Urban Building Energy Modelling Applications
Architecture faculty member Timur Dogan's copublished article in the Journal of Building Performance Simulation advances a system for optimizing imagery from textured mesh models for more detailed, urban-scale analysis.
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Adaptive Recycled Plastic Architecture: Vacuum-Sealed Chainmail Structures Through Computational Design
Assistant Professor of Architecture Farzin Lotfi-Jam and alum Yi Xu (M.Arch. '24) coauthored this paper that explores the untapped potential of recycled plastics as a primary construction material.
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Building Feminism: The 1976 International Congress of Women Architects in Iran
Architecture faculty Esra Akcan and Pamela Karimi coauthored this article on the role of women in architecture as discussed by women architects from all over the world at the 1976 meeting of the International Congress of Women Architects in Iran.
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Student Showcase: Architecture Futures
View a showcase of student work from Hanna Tulis's ARCH 5201 course.
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AAP Summer Exhibition 2025
Visit AAP this summer for a cross-departmental exhibition featuring student work from the 2024–25 academic year that showcases the college's creative and critical practices.
Resources and Publications
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Architecture Studio Spaces
Learn more about the cutting-edge facilities that house our department of architecture design studios.
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Architecture Faculty Labs
Peruse our many faculty-led labs that advance research and push boundaries toward a more resilient, sustainable, and just world.
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PLATE Publication
Explore PLATE, a digital publication of architecture student work and essays edited by Professor of Architecture Andrea Simitch and Visiting Critic Dillon Pranger (M.Arch. '15).