*This is a three-part course. Attendees must purchase the entirety of the course to attend the sessions.*
Words support the built environment in ways that buildings often cannot: Used effectively, they can articulate the reasons behind design decisions, define project visions and goals, explain team qualifications, and illuminate details that inform press coverage, awards, lectures, books, and other public-facing materials. When a reader cannot experience a building first-hand, words can step in to convey what it feels like to be there. Taken together, the language architects use to describe their practice shapes how people experience and understand not only their work, but the built environment more broadly. This three-part course will explore different types of writing that architects and designers regularly encounter. Led by Tiffany Jow, editor-in-chief of the design journal Untapped, each session will focus on a specific format and feature a special guest who is an expert in that format, so as to give an additional perspective on the subject. Sessions will also include in-class exercises, peer reviewing, group discussions, and optional homework for personalized feedback.
COURSE OUTLINE
SESSION 1 – Pitches: What Editors Want, with Special Guest William Hanley
Tuesday, October 6, 2026, 6:00–8:00pm ET
Focused on the “why”, this session will consider the core ingredients of successful press outreach, how to develop materials for doing so, and cultivating the right media connections. We’ll also discuss how to navigate an evolving media landscape and alternative ways of getting your story told.
SESSION 2 – Mission and Voice: Convey Your Character, with Special Guests John Gendall and Andrew Huff
Tuesday, October 13, 2026, 6:00–8:00pm ET
Focused on the “who”, this session will help you to determine what your practice sounds like in writing, identify its distinguishing characteristics, and articulate what you want to say. We will also explore and practice applying these skills to bios, about and mission statements, award submissions, and social media, and talk about dos and don’ts of each. Our special guest will also lead a special section on press releases and pitches.
SESSION 3 – Project Descriptions: How to Tell a Compelling Story, with Special Guest Jarrett Fuller
Tuesday, October 20, 2026, 6:00–8:00pm ET
Focused on the “what”, this session will unpack the process of writing about work you have done, are going to do, or would like to do. We’ll also discuss strategies for making these descriptions strong, and tips for doing so, and assess examples.
Speakers:
Jarrett Fuller, Graphic Designer, Educator, Host, Scratching the Surface
John Gendall, Co-Founder, Chapter PR
William Hanley, Editor-in-Chief, Dwell
Andrew Huff, Co-Founder, Chapter PR
Tiffany Jow, Editor-in-Chief, Untapped
About the Speakers:
Jarrett Fuller is a designer, writer, educator, editor and podcaster. He is an assistant professor and director of undergraduate programs in Graphic & Experience Design at North Carolina State University, director of the design studio twenty-six, and host of Scratching the Surface. He’s edited or co-edited four books, and his writing has appeared in Fast Company, The Architect’s Newspaper, Eye Magazine, Design Observer. His work has won awards from Communication Arts and The Type Directors Club. He was previously an editor at Eye On Design and a designer at Facebook, Warby Parker, and The Whitney Museum of American Art.
John Gendall is a New York-based writer specializing in architecture, landscape architecture, and cities. He works with a range of publications, including The New York Times, Architectural Digest, Dwell, newyorker.com, Monocle, and Artforum. He is the author of Rocky Mountain Modern and a contributing author to The Phaidon Atlas of 21st Century World Architecture. He is the co-founder of Chapter, an award-winning editorial and communications agency specializing in architecture, landscape architecture, and design. He serves as co-chair of the AIANY Marketing and Communications Committee. Gendall has taught at Harvard Graduate School of Design, Pratt Institute, and Parsons The New School for Design. He studied architectural history at Harvard Graduate School of Design, where he earned a Masters in Design Studies with Distinction.
William Hanley is Dwell’s editor-in-chief, previously executive editor at Surface, senior editor at Architectural Record, news editor at ArtNews, and staff writer at Rhizome, among other roles. He covers architecture, design, art, and urbanism. He loves a concrete sofa with a fun throw pillow.
Andrew Huff has been working for a decade in the fields of art, architecture, design, and technology, both as a consultant and in-house director of communications, strategy, and content generation. Huff has worked at some of the worlds most prominent galleries in press, marketing, sales, and artist management roles. As a manager for an international PR firm and a boutique arts and culture agency, he worked with a range of galleries, museums, architecture firms, biennials, art fairs, and creative agencies, directing day-to-day client relations and overall communications strategies. He has successfully implemented numerous press campaigns for international galleries, museums, architects, and artists, and has strong relationships with editors, journalists, and freelancers from a variety of important publications. Huff graduated with Distinction from Duke University with degrees in Visual & Media Studies and Art History.
Tiffany Jow is the editor-in-chief of the New York–based design journal Untapped, which she conceptualized and launched in February 2023. Prior to that, she was marketing director at Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, where she contributed to the winning proposal for Chicago’s Obama Presidential Center. She wrote for Surface magazine for more than a decade, starting in 2006, holding staff positions as features director and design editor and spearheading print, digital, and video for its custom content arm, Surface Studios. She later served as executive editor of the podcast Time Sensitive. She has also worked in the research department at the Victoria and Albert Museum, on the 2011 exhibition Postmodernism: Style and Subversion 1970–1990, curated by Glenn Adamson and Jane Pavitt. Passionate about conveying creativity’s relevance to a wide audience, Jow regularly organizes and leads public conversations throughout the United States and beyond, speaking with people such as Andrea Trimarchi and Simone Ferrisen of Formafantsma, Torkwase Dyson, Wendy Maruyama, Misha Kahn, Sarah Oppenheimer, Deyan Sudjic, and Ivy Ross, among others. The programming she curates for Untapped—with entities including the Los Angeles gallery Marta; the New York galleries Friedman Benda, A83, and Superhouse; the Brooklyn bookstore Head Hi; Vitra; the National Academy of Design; the Venice Architecture Biennale; and Rockwell Group—often includes site-specific performance as a means to viscerally connect viewers to an event’s ideas. Dedicated to supporting the next generation of design writers, Jow has been a guest lecturer and critic at New York University, Pratt Institute, and the School of Visual Arts.
If you register for a virtual ticket, you will receive an email with a Zoom link to access the program.
AIA New York; Untapped
