Fariba Tehrani Lecture | Catie Newell: Architecture and Loss

Catie Newell develops material and optical assemblies that amplify our connection to a living and spinning earth. As the founding principal of the architecture and research practice Alibi Studio and an Associate Professor of Architecture at University of Michigan’s Taubman College, Newell's research and creative practice has been widely recognized for exploring design construction and materiality in relationship to location and geography. The work ranges in scale from buildings to products and explores the world most deeply with material systems and optical captures. Alibi Studio deploys material explorations, illumination and darkness, and novel modes of occupation, all created through rigorous prototyping and custom fabrication tools. The process of fabrication is a vital act in the work, often amplifying material effects and situational influences, intertwining the processes of making and design across the entire project. Her work has been shown in secret venues in Detroit, in the Arsenale of the Venice Biennale, in night-sensitive museum solo shows, and in the landscape of rural Michigan. Newell is a Lucas Fellow, a Kresge Artist Fellow, a WOJR/Civitella Fellow, and a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome.

Newell will share a series of architectural and design works that reinterpret existing spaces through intricate material changes and the focused presence of light and darkness.