The Architectural Ecologies Lab is partnering with the Exploratorium and the San Francisco Urban Film Festival for the March 9 event “After Dark: Integrating Ecologies,” part of the Exploratorium’s weekly series of Thursday night programming.

This event, part of the Academic Alliance between CCA & Autodesk Technology Center, brings together designers, researchers, and industry professionals to investigate the potential of biomaterials to reduce embodied carbon in building components.

As part of the Fall 2022 ‘Materialities of Care’ studio led by Adam Marcus, Cade Hayes and Jesús Robles of the award-winning Tucson architectural practice of DUST will give a guest lecture on their innovative work with rammed earth construction.

As part of the Fall 2022 ‘Ecological Tectonics’ seminar led by Adam Marcus, Jonathan A. Scelsa of op.AL and Pratt Institute will give a guest lecture on his innovative work with 3d printed ceramics.

As part of the Fall 2022 ‘Ecological Tectonics’ seminar led by Adam Marcus, Alexander (Sandy) Curth of the Design and Computation Group at MIT’s Department of Architecture will give a guest lecture on his innovative work with 3d printed natural materials.

As part of the Fall 2022 ‘Materialities of Care’ studio led by Adam Marcus, Lola Ben-Alon of Columbia GSAPP’s Natural Materials Lab will give a guest lecture on her innovative research into earthen construction techniques.

Please join us on Thursday, April 14, for a talk by multidisciplinary artist and author Jenny Odell, keynote for the 2022 Ecopoesis gathering. The Ecopoesis Project is a multi-year sequence of collaborative think-tanks exploring front-line concerns around ecology, climate, and spatial expression. As our everyday lives are increasingly suffused by the impacts of climate change and climate chaos, The Ecopoesis Project explores the language, syntax, diction, form, media, and representations of ecological uncertainty. Odell will deliver a public keynote talk reflecting on these themes as well as the outputs of the 2022 Ecopoesis workshop, an interdisciplinary gathering taking place the weekend before.

As part of the Spring 2022 ‘Ecological Tectonics’ seminar led by Adam Marcus and Alex Schofield, Edouard Cabay of IAAC Barcelona will give a guest lecture on his innovative work with 3d-printed earthen structures.

As part of the Spring 2022 ‘Ecological Tectonics’ seminar led by Adam Marcus and Alex Schofield, Joshua Stein will give a talk on his research designing and fabricating modular systems of architectural ceramics. Stein is founder of Radical Craft and Professor and Interim Chair of Sustainable Practices at Woodbury University.

As part of the Spring 2022 ‘Ecological Tectonics’ seminar led by Adam Marcus and Alex Schofield, Shelby Doyle of Iowa State University will give a guest lecture on her innovative research with 3d-printed ceramics. Doyle is an Associate Professor of Architecture and Stan G. Thurston Professor of Design Build at the Iowa State University College of Design, co-founder of the ISU Computation & Construction Lab (CCL), and director of the ISU Architectural Robotics Lab (ARL).

As part of the Spring 2022 ‘Ecological Tectonics’ seminar led by Adam Marcus and Alex Schofield, Nathan Lynch, chair of Ceramics and Glass at CCA, will give a guest lecture on his work designing and fabricating ceramic habitat modules for seabirds.

As part of the Fall 2021 ‘Materialities of Care’ studio led by Adam Marcus, Ariane Lourie Harrison of Harrison Atelier will give a guest lecture on her work designing for multi-species clients, including the recent Pollinators Pavilion in New York’s Hudson Valley.

As part of the Fall 2021 ‘Materialities of Care’ studio led by Adam Marcus, Gena Wirth of SCAPE Landscape Architecture will give a guest lecture on her work designing for multi-species clients, including the Living Breakwaters project for Staten Island in New York.

As part of the Fall 2021 ‘Materialities of Care’ studio led by Adam Marcus, Joyce Hwang of Ants of the Prairie will give a guest lecture on her work designing for multi-species clients, including the recent project To Middle Species, With Love in Columbus, Indiana.

On Friday, April 16, at 12pm PST, CCA Architecture and Autodesk Technology Centers will co-present a panel discussion, “The Future of Learning: Industry and Academia Convergence,” to launch the new Academic Alliance.

How do the voices of children, youth, and community members shape our neighborhoods?

Join us and participate in a discussion with a panel of community engagement practitioners to delve into San Francisco Planning’s approach to engagement, detail how we’ve adapted our engagement during Stay at Home Order, and share our successes engaging with children and youth in partnership with Y-PLAN.

CCA Architectural students will share projects from the fall semester Buoyant Ecologies: Urban Ecotones at Islais Creek Studio and suggest scalable approaches to piloting a community demonstration project in Bayview Hunters Point with Malcom X Academy 4th grade students.

Fourth grade scholars from Malcolm X Academy will be in dialogue with students from the CCA Architectural Ecologies Lab discussing the challenges, opportunities and hopes for their friends and families in the Bayview neighborhood surrounding Islais Creek.

Please join us for the opening of the virtual exhibition of work produced in the fall 2020 studio Buoyant Ecologies: Urban Ecotones at Islais Creek and the 4th grade class from Malcom X Academy in Bayview.

Please join us on Saturday, April 25, for a keynote talk by Prof. Joanna Zylinska, concluding the 2020 gathering of The Ecopoesis Project, a multi-year sequence of collaborative think-tanks exploring front-line concerns around ecology, climate, and spatial expression.

Please join us for a presentation of the Architectural Ecologies Lab’s Fall 2019 Buoyant Ecologies Maldives studio design proposals and directions for future pilot projects. CCA students and faculty will present current research into floating communities and ecological systems.

Please join us for the final presentations by students in the fall 2019 Constructed Ecologies research seminar at Autodesk’s Pier 9 Technology Center, Friday December 13, from 9:30-11am.

Please join us for the final presentations by students in the 2019 Buoyant Ecologies Blueprint integrated architecture studio at California College of the Arts, Saturday December 6, from 10am-5pm.

Witness history being made in the San Francisco Bay! Come celebrate the launch of the Buoyant Ecologies Float Lab, a cutting-edge prototype for climate adaptation research that creates habitats for diverse sea animals in the middle of San Francisco Bay! The Center for Impact and Architectural Ecologies Lab at California College of the Arts are hosting a public launch celebration at Oakland’s Middle Harbor Shoreline Park, on Saturday, September 21st. The event will feature a community hot dog picnic, a marching band, DIY kite-making and coloring, and remarks by Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, project supporters, and stakeholders. All are invited!

Join AEL Professors Margaret Ikeda, Evan Jones, and Leslie Carol Roberts with Dr. John Oliver from Moss Landing Marine Laboratories for a lecture at Maldives National University on the work of the Architectural Ecologies Lab. During their research trip to the Maldives, the team will present the Buoyant Ecologies and Ecopoesis research projects.

CCA B.Arch alumnus Leif Estrada will present his research that spans fields of architecture, landscape architecture, urbanism, and technology. Estrada will present his project “Towards Sentience: Attuning the Los Angeles River’s Fluvial Morphology,” thesis research completed at Harvard Graduate School of Design. The project leverages advanced workflows of computation, ecological simulation, and real-time sensing in the design of a robotic machine that continually attunes the L.A. River.