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Gjergji Shkurti

Assistant Professor Adjunct

Gjergji Shkurti is an architect who works as a Virtual Design Construction Engineer and is a founding partner of Figure Ground. Fostering a background in architecture, design technology, fabrication, and literature; he wields an uncanny ability to liaison the poetics and magic of design, the automation of technology, the tectonics of construction, and functionality of fabrication. His background includes design and consulting for New York firms such as Brand Bureau, HOK, SOM, Perkins Eastman, WATG, Robert Stern Architects, REX, and The Switzer Group. While at the forefront of technology and construction with Reis Contracting, he designs architectural spaces and furniture at Figure Ground. Gjergji holds a Bachelor of Architecture from The Cooper Union. He is a Certified Revit trainer and Design Technology speaker. He holds certificates in Tableau and Data Analytics from the NYU Tandon School, and Artificial Intelligence from MIT. He is the author of On the Rocks (Montez Press, 2016).

Shkurti's CV is available here. 

  • Founded by inventor, industrialist and philanthropist Peter Cooper in 1859, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art offers education in art, architecture and engineering, as well as courses in the humanities and social sciences.

  • “My feelings, my desires, my hopes, embrace humanity throughout the world,” Peter Cooper proclaimed in a speech in 1853. He looked forward to a time when, “knowledge shall cover the earth as waters cover the great deep.”

  • From its beginnings, Cooper Union was a unique institution, dedicated to founder Peter Cooper's proposition that education is the key not only to personal prosperity but to civic virtue and harmony.

  • Peter Cooper wanted his graduates to acquire the technical mastery and entrepreneurial skills, enrich their intellects and spark their creativity, and develop a sense of social justice that would translate into action.