Gideon Fink Shapiro, Postdoctoral Associate

Gideon earned a Ph.D. in Architecture (history and theory) from the University of Pennsylvania School of Design, where his dissertation research traced the confluence of garden art and urban planning in the public parks of Paris. His writing has appeared in the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Architect, Domus, the Guggenheim Blog, Next City, and The Architect’s Newspaper, among other publications. He edited the English-language catalogue of the 2015 Urbanism and Architecture Bi-City Biennale (UABB) of Shenzhen and Hong Kong, and has served as an instructor at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Gideon has assisted the curator Aaron Betsky and worked for the architectural design firm of Gabellini Sheppard Associates. He has collaborated with several artists and composers to realize site-specific public art projects.

Gideon's project at the DHLab, “Gathering a Building,” seeks to visualize the multi-dimensional context of architectural design and construction. It takes as a case study the two new residential colleges currently under construction on the campus of Yale University, scheduled to open in Fall 2016. The project uses archival and original data to expand notions of “site” and “building,” beyond their conventional definitions, in the form of a web exhibit. One section will outline a brief history of the site through layered maps and narrative. A second section will address the materiality of the new building by tracing a sample selection of building materials through the supply chain, enfolding a wider geography. A third section will consider human and social aspects, and a fourth will suggest how the architectural design relates to traditions of collegiate architecture.