What an incredible year! I’m especially grateful for the research support from The Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts for my project “Racializing Risk: A History of Ladera Housing Cooperative.” The pleasure of discovery in archival work has been immensely rewarding. Thank you too everyone who has given me invaluable suggestions and advice: Christina Crawford, Jesus Hernandez, Todd Michney, and Thomas Storrs. #GrahamFoundation #GrahamFunded #GrahamGrantee
Graham Foundation Award
Thrilled to have been awarded a 2021 Research & Development grant from the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts to examine Ladera, a 1940s interracial housing cooperative in Portola, California and the role that federal lending practices played in maintaining racially segregated suburbs. http://www.grahamfoundation.org/grantees/6200-racializing-risk-the-history-of-ladera-housing-cooperative
Thanks to the Chicago based Graham Foundation, which supports the development of diverse ideas about architecture and its role in the arts, culture and society through competitive project-based grants to individuals and organizations. #GrahamFoundation #GrahamFunded #GrahamGrantee
The Changing Suburbs
“The Changing Role of the Suburbs: Inclusive Multi-Generational Living” is the topic of a design forum to be held on Thursday January 21 at 5:30pm via Zoom. Susanne Stadler, architect, Getty Fellow and advocate for imaginative and human centered design solutions will be hosting the event. If interested in joining the discussion, please register: https://www.classy.org/event/at-home-on-air-1-21-21-the-changing-role-of-suburbs/e320845
Hope to see you there!
Hold that date
On January 21, 2021, I will be interviewed by architect and theorist Susi Stadler on the future of urbanism. Details to follow!
MArch Review
On Tuesday December 8, SUNY Buffalo is hosting their end-of-semester Master of Architecture design reviews. I’m excited that I will be serving as a juror for Soham Meta’s “Mumbai 2035.” Soham is working under the direction of former Harvard GSD lecturer Erkin Özay and he has been researching Mumbai’s urban infrastructural planning. He will be presenting his socio-historical analysis and preliminary design proposals via zoom at 11:00am EST.
Architecture Review University at Buffalo
I’ve been invited to particpate as a critic in the School of Architecture Graduate Midterm Reviews next week. Soham Meta, who is working under the direction of former Harvard GSD lecturer Erkin Özay will be presenting his urban design concepts for Mumbai’s transit infrastructure on October 6th, 2020.
Architecture & Culture Journal
The editor of “Architecture and Culture Journal” Sergio Figueiredo, wrote: “T. F. Tierney’s contribution to this issue provides a uniquely comprehensive discussion of the possibilities and transformations fostered by the collection of data through the mass deployment of such smart systems across urban fabrics. Using Stack Theory, Tierney questions the transformation of personal and environmental data into an economic resource and what comes with it.” https://doi.org/10.1080/20507828.2019.1631062
UPCOMING CONFERENCE PRESENTATION
The Architecture Department at University of California Berkeley will be hosting a conference this spring on THE CONSTRUCTED ENVIRONMENT May 13-14, 2020. Professor Rene Davids, principal of Davids Kilroy Architecture, is chairing the conference. I will be presenting a paper on “Projections: The Internet Archive of Canada.” More news to follow!
ACADIA CONFERENCE 2019
Save the date! Mark your calendars for October 24-26th 2019. University of Texas Austin is hosting the annual ACADIA [Association of Computer Aided Design in Architecture] Conference “Autonomy & Ubiquity.” Kory Bieg has organized a superb conference with keynotes by Thom Mayne, Jacob, and Ben Van Berkel. For more information — http://2019.acadia.org/
LECTURE at IIT Chicago
April 4th, 2019 I was invited to speak at Illinois Institute of Technology’s architecture department on Smart Cities and Intelligent Infrastructure. The lecture was well attended and we had a thoughtful and lively discussion afterward. There is so much more research to be done in this important area.
Ricker Report Interviews Tierney
I’m interviewed by architect Nico Hsu in the March/April Issue of “The Ricker Report” where we discuss my teaching and research on Smart Cities and other non-human agents. #IntelligentInfrastructure #InternetArchive https://issuu.com/ricker_report_uiuc/docs/ricker_report_march_2019?e=35359903/6835796
Architecture_MPS Journal
Architecture_Media Politics Society Journal [UCL Press] has published my paper, Toronto’s Smart City: Everyday Life or Google Life?, edited by Graham Cairns of Columbia University. The discussion focuses on the City of Toronto’s recent award to Sidewalk Lab [nee Google] for design services, which has sparked a heated controversy among urban planners and citizens alike. Toronto’s decision not only signals a different model of professional practice, but it also represents a conceptual shift away from citizen toward urban consumer. By engaging a private technology company, one that passively captures data on its customers and then re-sales that data to third parties, Toronto’s smart city points to a significant change in the understanding and practice of contemporary urban planning and design.
https://www.scienceopen.com/search#collection/1c432377-f544-4e21-86ad-b208632f2cf8
Architecture_MPS is a peer-reviewed open access journal that aims to address the growing interest in the social and political interpretation of the built environment from a multi-disciplinary perspective. It publishes high-profile academics and emerging voices, including notable international figures such as Noam Chomsky and Kenneth Frampton. By linking its publications with a range of research programs and conferences, the journal further raises awareness of the social importance of architecture.
Read more about AMPS (Architecture_Media_Politics_Society) by visiting http://architecturemps.com
Smartness: Between Discourse and Practice
Hope to see you at the 15th Architectural Humanities Research Association [AHRA] International Conference! I will be presenting my smart cities research in Tomorrow's City Today: Palimpsest of the Future at “Smartness: Between Discourse & Practice” during November 15-17, 2018. The conference is hosted by the Department of the Built Environment, TU Eindhoven, Netherlands. Dan Hill from ARUP is one of the keynote speakers, in addition to urban planner and social geographer, Stephen Graham. https://www.smartness-discoursepractice.org/
Parametric Workshop at SOM BlackBox Chicago
A big thank you to Kyle Vansice and the rest of the BlackBox crew at SOM for hosting a parametric workshop for my graduate design students. Their mid-review is coming up — and with Blackbox’s coaching, the students were able to develop their projects further by coding in grasshopper. Thanks too to Blake, Jessie, Yang, Anthony - you’re the greatest!
MADRID: ACSA/COAM "New Instrumentalities" Conference
El Colegio Oficial de Arquitectos de Madrid (COAM) hosted this year's international ACSA Conference with keynotes by Juan Herreros, estudio Herreros + Momoyo Kaijima, Atelier Bow-Wow. Shawn Rickenbacker of City College New York was our illustrious panel moderator. It was an extra perk that the World Cup was going on at the same time as the conference - nothing like watching Spain vs. Portugal in a Madrid bar. Conference publication to be released in September 2018 - look for my paper on Toronto's Smarter City.
SECOND PRINTING FOR INTELLIGENT INFRASTRUCTURE
Can hardly believe it! It has been only a year since "Intelligent Infrastructure: Zipcars, Invisible Networks and Urban Transformation" was released -- and now UVa Press is publishing a 2nd edition. Special thanks to contributors Mitchell Schwarzer, Jordan Geiger, Bjarke Ingels (BIG), Carlo Ratti (MIT), @MitchellJoachim, Urban Think Tank, Frederic Stout, Chamee Yang, in addition to @de_monchaux @ken_goldberg @SPUR_Urbanist @Bldrsbooksource & to all of you amazing readers!
Blog Launch
Designers who explore the subject of utopia have had to contend directly with the ideological forces of politics, technology, and economics. Such speculations have catalyzed discourse and design throughout most of the twentieth century. Now my UIUC smart cities seminar has entered into the discussion with a blog: "How to Hack Utopia: Speculative interventions for the urban planet" Check us out - https://modernutopias.wordpress.com/
Mediatheque
Whether we want it or not [wink] -- Spring is coming! Next week, at UIUC we are holding our design mid-reviews. Please join us and see the incredible work! My students are designing a mediatheque in the West Loop Chicago; this architectural intervention redefines information access for the 21st century. In addition to their formal studies, the students completed a UX survey which contributed to their conceptual explorations.
Tierney's MAKER/THINKER Exhibition opens in the West Gallery
Professor Tierney’s MAKER/THINKER: Chicago Biennial Exhibition features parametric explorations on the future of museum design as 8 variations on a theme. Starting with the premise that the definition of art has shifted from “artifact” to “experience,” for example, Olifar Eliason’s “Weather” exhibition at the Tate Modern, this studio posed the question, what would an experience-based museum look like? By applying design fiction as a narrative device, this studio integrated theory, practice, and digital form-making as a means to reflect on the future of architectural production.
Much thanks and appreciation goes to our design reviewers for their comments and suggestions: Studio Gang, Carol Ross Barney, Perkins & Will, Jeff Poss, FAIA, SOM Research Group, Smith + Gill Architects, and Stewart Hicks, Design w/Co.
Alvin Huang, SDA, speaks at UIUC School of Architecture
Award winning architect Alvin Huang lectured on "Technology/Technique/Techne" on January 29 -- our lecture hall was filled to capacity. Earlier we went to the Erlanger House in Urbana, a mid-century modern masterpiece designed by Jack Baker in 1964. Alvin was named Time Magazine's Inventor of the Year, and designer of Volvo Car's energy generating pavilion. The question remains, will Alvin become our next Plym Professor?