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Lecture Title: American Curves: Nature, Race and the Origins of the Modern Highway

Description: "We tend to associate the emergence of the American expressway with the Eisenhower era and the Interstate highway program. But the origins of the modern motor road date back much further, to a series of parkways built in Westchester County, New York in the 1920s. The first of these, the Bronx River Parkway, was begun not as a road but as an effort to restore a terribly polluted waterway, led by one of the most problematic figures in American environmental history, Madison Grant. This talk will explore the roots of the modern American highway, examine the individuals who brought it into being and unpack the design ideals that helped shape an infrastructure that would change the world."

Born and raised in Brooklyn, Thomas J. Campanella is a historian of city planning and the urban built environment. He teaches and writes about the culture-space nexus in a variety of contexts, seeking to explain the manifold agents, actors, and forces that have shaped urban landscapes around the world. Though primarily an Americanist, he has also studied and written about the extraordinary growth of Chinese cities in the post-Mao era. Campanella has received Guggenheim and Fulbright fellowships, and is a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome and the James Marston Fitch Foundation. His books include The Concrete Dragon: China's Urban Revolution and What It Means for the World (2008), and Republic of Shade: New England and the American Elm (2003), winner of the Spiro Kostof Award from the Society of Architectural Historians. He has held visiting appointments at Columbia, Harvard GSD, Nanjing University, and the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Campanella holds a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1999), a M.L.A. from Cornell (1991), and a B.S. from SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (1986).

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Lecture Title: Data, Performance and the Mainstream

Description: This lecture will explore the concept of "Data-Driven Design" and the opportunities to create value in architecture. Using a combination of real-world case studies and expe

rimental prototypes, Nate will demonstrate uses of data for guiding design decisions, communicating insight to clients, and creating opportunities for innovation in the building industry.

Nate Miller is the founder and CEO of PROVING GROUND. Nate has developed trusted relationships with some of the most reputable organizations in the building industry to create strategies, workflows, and tools for enabling a data-driven business process. Nate strives to help his clients discover meaningful, ethical, and practical uses of new technology to support business growth the creation of better built environments.

Lecture Title: Scaling Passive House: Combining Lean Construction and Integrated Project Delivery to Create the Cost Effective High Performance Urban Housing

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Description: The world’s largest passive house project is underway in Kansas City, saving more than 90% in energy usage. Fundrise is changing the way real estate is funded, allowing anyone with $1000 to invest. Affordable housing is going green, while a new generation of developers is pursuing triple-bottom line results. This lecture will explore the working edge of mission-led real estate development and the expanding opportunities for social impact from the building to the city scale.

Jonathan is responsible for strategy, corporate vision and capital structure. He holds a degree in architecture from Cornell University and a masters degree in real estate development from Columbia University. Over the past 15 years, he has successfully helped design and market more than $6 billion in commercial real estate, including more than 40 continuing care retirement communities, 2,500 apartment units, and more than two dozen large scale mixed-use urban infill developments.

Lecture Title: The Search for Efficient Beauty