Book Talk – Verify in Field: Projects and Conversations with Höweler + Yoon

Join us for a talk by Eric Höweler, J. Meejin Yoon, and Thomas de Monchaux for a discussion on Höweler + Yoon's latest book, Verify in Field: Projects and Conversations with Höweler + Yoon (Park Books, 2022).

Verify in Field derives its title from a notational convention on architectural drawings to indicate that the information is subject to unknown conditions in the field. The book highlights verification as an integral part of the design process and demonstrates it as a productive tool to test ideas and act on the world. Verify in Field features recent work by Höweler + Yoon, including such projects as the Memorial to Enslaved Laborers at the University of Virginia, a floating outdoor classroom in Philadelphia, the MIT Museum, and a pedestrian bridge in Shanghai’s Expo Park. A series of essays by Eric Höweler and J. Meejin Yoon on topics that include means and methods, the public realm, energy and environments, the construction detail, and social media examine pressing questions in the discipline of architecture as they relate to verification, uncertainty, and design agency. These themes are echoed in conversations with collaborators, historians, and theorists including Adam Greenfield, Nader Tehrani, Kate Orff, Daniel Barber, and Ana Miljacki.

Speaker:
Thomas de Monchaux, Professor of Architecture, Columbia GSAPP
Eric Höweler, FAIA, LEED AP, Co-founder, Höweler + Yoon; Associate Professor in Architecture, Harvard Graduate School of Design
J. Meejin Yoon, AIA, FAAR, Co-founder, Höweler + Yoon; Dean of Cornell University’s College of Architecture, Art, and Planning

About the Speakers:
Thomas de Monchaux is an adjunct assistant professor of architecture at Columbia University GSAPP. His writing about design has appeared in The New York Times and The New Yorker, as well as in such journals as Log and n+1, where he is an architecture critic. Thomas has been a guest editor of the SOM Journal, a recipient of Graham Foundation and other awards, a past Bellazoug Memorial lecturer at Yale; and was the inaugural recipient of the Winterhouse Award for Design Writing and Criticism.

Eric Höweler is an architect, designer, and educator. He is an Associate Professor in Architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and is a co-founder of Höweler + Yoon. Höweler has authored two monographs with Höweler + Yoon co-founder J. Meejin Yoon and has published essays and articles in Log, Perspecta, Archis, The Architect’s Newspaper, Architectural Record, and Praxis. Höweler’s design work and research focuses on building technology integration and material systems. His projects range from cultural buildings and mixed-use residential buildings to public spaces and interactive environments.

J. Meejin Yoon is currently the Gale and Ira Drukier Dean of Cornell University’s College of Architecture, Art, and Planning, and was previously Professor and Head of the Department of Architecture at MIT where she began teaching in 2001. Yoon is a co-founding partner of Höweler + Yoon. Her work investigates the intersections between architecture, technology, and public space. An architect, designer, and educator, Yoon is committed to advancing pedagogy, research, and practice to expand new knowledge and imaginaries across fields and disciplines.

This event is offered in person; COVID-19 vaccinations and face masks are strongly encouraged for all visitors. Read our full Health and Safety Protocol here.