The Design Curriculum Analysis program is a new and critical component of Undergraduate Architecture’s Assessment procedures. Beginning in the 2024-2025 academic year, four external critics, each selected based on the alignment between their expertise and the topic of the academic year they serve, are invited to the department to review the curriculum through one semester of one year’s design studio. The role of the “Eminent Analyst” is to observe and contribute to the studio’s culture of critique through a series of focused commitments throughout the semester. They participate in the studio’s midterm, final, and other notable reviews, and also provide a presentation to the school on a topic specific to the studio. At the end of the semester, the Undergraduate Architecture’s Assessment Officer sends a questionnaire to the Analyst for their response. Upon completion, the analyst, the studio’s coordinator, and the department chairperson meet to discuss the Analyst’s experience and provide recommendations for refinement moving forward.
This inaugural year has been a success, and we are glad we were able to welcome and work with the following cohort of Eminent Analysts:
2024-2025 Analysts Cohort
Fall Semester: First Year Analyst, Nate Hume
Nate Hume is a Brooklyn-based architect and principal of Hume Architecture. His work and writings have been published in journals and periodicals, including Project, Log, Posit, TARP, Paprika, and The New York Times. Hume has exhibited in shows at The Druker Gallery, the A+D Museum, Yale Architecture Gallery, One Night Stand, and the New York Center for Architecture. He was the creator and editor of Suckerpunch, a website exploring the work of contemporary architects and artists.
Fall Semester: Second Year Analyst, Paul Preissner
Paul Preissner runs Paul Preissner Architects in Oak Park, Illinois. He was the commissioner and co-curator of the United States pavilion at the 17th International Architecture Exhibition – la Biennale di Venezia. He is the author of Kind of Boring: Canonical Work and Other Visible Things Meant to Be Viewed as Architecture (Actar, 2021) and co-editor of American Framing: The Same Something for Everyone (Park, 2023).
Spring Semester: Third Year Analyst, Hana Kassem
Hana Kassem, Principal at KPF, applies a human-centric design approach anchored in equity. With a focus on sustainability, resiliency, and wellness, she examines how our actions affect the environment and how our built environment impacts us. Hana teaches at Parsons, serves on the Van Alen Institute and the AIANY Board of Trustees, and is the Founding Chair of the AIANY annual Leaning Out | Women in Architecture panel. She is co-editor of Architect d.b.a|On Re-defining the Roles of the Architect Today.
Spring Semester: Degree Project Analyst, Michael Young
Michael Young is an Associate Professor and Coordinator of Graduate Studies at The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture at the Cooper Union. He is the author of The Estranged Object (Graham Foundation 2015) and Reality Modeled After Images (Routledge 2022). His practice Young & Ayata has received the Progressive Architecture award, the Design Vanguard Award, the Young Architects Prize, the AIANY Honor Award, a first-place prize for the design of the Bauhaus Museum in Dessau, Germany, and a first-place prize for the New Agricultural Management Institute, Gyeongsangbuk-do, South Korea. Michael was the recipient of the 2019-20 Rome Prize from the American Academy of Rome.