David Costanza
David Costanza is the principal of David Costanza Studio (DCS), a design-build practice based in Ithaca, New York. Costanza is also an assistant professor at Cornell University AAP and director of the Building Construction Lab (BCL). Through practice, research, and teaching, his work questions the linearity of design processes, defining new terrains for architectural interventions across scales while establishing a dialogue between representation, computational design tools, digital manufacturing, building science, building materials, construction, labor, and the environment.
Currently, he is working on a book project with Routledge publishers titled "Curious Constructions: Around Materials, Labor, and the Environment," a deep-energy low-carbon reconstruction in Ithaca, New York. He is also conducting material research on the reuse and recycling of plastic as a building construction material. Costanza earned his Master of Architecture with a concentration in Computation and a Master of Science in Architecture Building Technology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Academic Research/Specialty Areas
- Adaptive reuse
- Architectural design
- Architectural practice
- Architectural representation
- Architectural technology
- Digital media
- Drawing
- Housing
- Installation art
- Public art
- Structures in architecture
- Sustainability
- Visual representation
Related Links
Related News
- Cornell AAP Alumni, Faculty, and Students Answer 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale's Call to Rethink the Built Environment in an Era of Climate Challenge
- Winners of The 2025 Architectural League Prize Engage With "Plot," Whether as "Land, Drawing, or Scheme"
- AAP Faculty David Costanza Named 2024–25 Rome Prize Winner
- ACM Symposium on Computational Fabrication
- BTES 2023 Emerging Faculty Award Winners Announced
Classes (Selected)
- ARCH 5111 MArch Core Design Studio I
- ARCH 2102/503 Design IV
- ARCH 2614/5614 Building Technology I
- ARCH 4101/4102/5101/5115/506 Design VII: Vertical Option Studio — Building Construction Studio
- ARCH 1502 Media of Representation 2
Awards, Grants, and Fellowships (Selected)
- Architectural League Prize for Young Architects + Designers, 2025
- Rome Prize in Architecture from the American Academy in Rome, 2024–25
- Emerging Faculty Award from the Building Technology Educators' Society (BTES), 2023
- Rotch Traveling Scholarship, 2020
- QuarraMatter Fellowship, 2018
Exhibitions and Presentations (Selected)
- Under Construction, League Prize Exhibition, online, 2025.
- Fragments of a Practice: 8X Projects, 4X Films, 2X Tables, exhibition at the American Academy in Rome, Italy, 2025.
- From Waste to Resource, Venice Biennale, Italy, 2025.
Publications (Selected)
- Costanza, David. “Closed Loop: Design and Fabrication of a Circular Workflow for Robotically 3D Printing Recycled Plastic Architectural and Structural Components.” Paper presented at the ICSA International Conference on Structures and Architecture, Antwerp, Belgium, July 8–11, 2025.
- Costanza, David. “Design Methodologies for decarbonization.” Paper presented at the ACSA/AIA Intersections Research Conference: Material Economies, Amherst, MA, October 19–21, 2023.
- Costanza, David. “Curious Constructions: Around Materials, Labor, And the Environment.” Paper presented at the ICSA International Conference on Structures and Architecture, Aalborg, Denmark, July 6–8, 2022.
