This event will be conducted in-person and through Zoom.

For Zoom attendance, please register here.

The presentation will start by discussing the foundation of architectural ground as a condition of limitation. This by looking at its past and future from the context of contemporary global circumstances. In particular, current and coming forces of change will be discussed, as will a special consideration of what kind of knowledge is needed to understand them. Following this, the  implications of coming change for architecture will be acknowledge, including how the ground of architecture is going to be transformed. Against the backdrop of this general framing, the question of the nature and plural future of architecture in the USA will be considered – this in relation to the new practice, the challenges it poses, and what choices the young architect needs to consider.

This event includes an intermission break to gather questions for further discussion followed by 30 minutes of Q&A. The issues raised by the presentation will be workshopped the following week.

Tony Fry has a BA (Hons) Design, MA and PhD (Cultural Studies). Tony is a Tasmanian based designer, cultural theorist, educator and writer. He is the principal of The Studio at the Edge of the World (Launceston), Adjunct Professor, Architecture and Design, University of Tasmania, and Visiting Professor, the University of Ibagué, Colombia. Tony has led/worked on projects in Australia, the Americas, Asia, the Middle East and Europe and has won a number of national and international design awards in the area of urban design. As Professor of Design at Griffith University, Brisbane Tony led a post-conflict material culture recovery research project in Timor-Leste (2008-2012). Since 2015 Tony has  worked on post-conflict community and design projects in Colombia. He has curated numerous exhibitions and produced major multi-media events. As an author he written over twenty books. His most recent are: Unstaging War, Confronting Conflict and Peace (2019); Defuturing, A New Design Philosophy (2021-reprint of 1999 book): A New Political Imagination: Making the Case with Madina Tlostanova (2021); and Writing Design Fiction: Relocation a City in Crisis (2022/pb 2023).

The in-person lecture is open to Cooper Union students, faculty, and staff only. This event is accessible to the public through Zoom only.