Design x Technology Lecture: Paul Lewis

Join Lawrence Technological University’s College of Architecture and Design on Tuesday, October 10th at 12:30pm ET for another innovative Fall 2023 Lunch and Learn lecture with .

This lecture is free and open to the public. As part of CoAD’s Design x Technology Lecture Series, guests may watch online or on campus. Register for the location/viewing details.

Based on LTL Architects’ recently published book Manual of Biogenic House Sections, this lecture presents a visually compelling argument for rethinking the material basis of architecture in a time of environmental crisis. Asserting that the most viable means to radically reduce embodied carbon in new buildings is to use plant and earth-based materials, the lecture and book demonstrates how this approach can catalyze new types of houses that reduce or sequester carbon, engage regenerative life cycles, and create healthier spaces for living. Interlaced into the talk are reuse and biogenic projects designed by LTL Architects. In particular, the lecture will explicate five small LTL designed houses that use biogenic material assemblies as a catalyst for building form, domestic organization, and spatial seduction. These projects demonstrate our optimism about architecture’s agency when embracing biogenic materials in the move towards a regenerative future.

What you can expect to learn:

1. How biogenic materials can be a new model for 21st century building practices in a time of climate crises and the need to radically reduce carbon emission in the built environment.
2. The primary biogenic materials for buildings, identifying their limits and benefits while also giving visual examples of those materials in case studies.
3. The lecture will present the unique architectural potential of plant-based materials, moving beyond mere material replacement in conventional construction.”

CEU: This lecture equals 1 credit. To prepare for any potential audit, we suggest you register for this lecture and hold onto your confirmation. Upon verification of attendance, CoAD will supply a certificate of completion. When you request a certificate, you must send us your lecture confirmation so keep that information handy.

About Paul Lewis, FAIA

Paul Lewis, FAIA, is a Principal at LTL Architects based in New York City. He is Professor at Princeton University School of Architecture. LTL is focused on plant-based building materials and the creative repurposing of buildings, and they have completed academic, cultural and institutional adaptive reuse projects throughout the United States. LTL are the 2019 NY State AIA firm of the year, have received a National Design Award, and have been inducted into the ID Hall of Fame. LTL Architects are the authors of Intensities (2013), Opportunistic Architecture (2008) and Situation Normal….Pamphlet Architecture #21 (1998). Their 2016 book entitled Manual of Section has been translated into seven languages, and their follow-up book Manual of Biogenic House Sections, revealing the architectural potentials of plant and earth-based materials, was release at the end of 2022. Paul is the past President of the Architectural League of New York and a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome. He received a BA from Wesleyan University and a M.Arch from Princeton University.