Chris Perry
Chris Perry is Associate Professor and Associate Dean for Graduate Education at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s School of Architecture where he oversees the school’s professional and research graduate programs and is Co-Director of the Master of Science in Architecture program.
He received a Master of Architecture from Columbia University, for which he also received an Honor Award for Excellence in Design, and a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy from Colgate University where he was set designer for the student-led Kinetic Theatre Company. Prior to becoming a full-time faculty member at Rensselaer, Chris was a Presidential Fellow in MIT’s doctoral program in architectural history, theory, and criticism.
Prior to Rensselaer, Chris was the Louis I. Kahn Visiting Assistant Professor at Yale University’s School of Architecture, an endowed professorship, and prior to that appointment he held an endowed professorship at Rice University’s School of Architecture. He has also taught at Columbia University, the University of Pennsylvania, Cornell University, the University of Toronto, RMIT in Melbourne, Pratt Institute, Barnard College, and Parsons School of Design.
Chris is co-recipient of the Architectural League of New York’s Young Architects Award, co-editor of AD: Collective Intelligence in Design published by Wiley-Academy, co-chair of the ACADIA (Association for Computer-Aided Design in Architecture) 2015 Annual Conference, as well as co-editor of its proceedings, and a former member of its Board of Directors.
Prior to co-founding pneumastudio with Cathryn in 2011, Chris was co-principal of the design practice servo, which he co-founded in 1999. Group exhibitions featuring servo’s work include the Venice Architecture Biennale, Centre Pompidou, SFMoMA, Wexner Center for the Arts, and the Cooper-Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum. The group’s work has been featured in a number of books by MIT Press, Princeton Architectural Press, Thames & Hudson, Rizzoli, and Phaidon, including a monograph edited by Chris and titled servo: networks and environments published by DAMDI Publishers in Korea. servo’s work is part of the private collections of SFMoMA and the Frac Centre in Orleans, France and was featured in Architectural Record’s annual Vanguard issue.
Following graduate school at Columbia and prior to co-founding servo, Chris worked for Stan Allen for two years as a project designer and was involved with a wide variety of projects ranging from commissions and competitions to publications, including Allen’s book Points + Lines: Diagrams and Projects for the City published by Princeton Architectural Press.
Cathryn Dwyre
Cathryn Dwyre is Adjunct Associate Professor at Pratt Institute’s School of Architecture where she teaches in the Master of Landscape Architecture and Bachelor of Architecture programs and is a member of the interdisciplinary research group Inclusive Ecologies, which brings together faculty from various schools and departments to develop projects and grant proposals that explore the intersection of landscape, ecology, and public space. Additionally, Cathryn is a faculty member at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s School of Architecture where she teaches an elective history, theory, and criticism seminar.
She received a Master of Landscape Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy and geology from Colgate University where she was director of the Creative Arts House.
Cathryn previously served as managing editor of ViaBooks and its volume Dirt published by MIT Press and is currently a member of the Board of Directors of Basilica Arts, a non-profit multidisciplinary arts center in Hudson, New York, where she sits on several committees and has been active in various initiatives, including the development of a new green energy grid for the Basilica campus. Cathryn is also a member of the Board of Directors of imby, a local social network and virtual community serving the Hudson Valley.
Cathryn provides consulting services to startup teams and has served as a Responsible Leader (an invited position) of the BMW Foundation since 2001. Prior to her design and academic career, she spent over ten years in leadership of technology startup companies. Most recently, Cathryn was the V.P. of Corporate Development of GridApp Systems, where she also served as the Secretary to the Board of Directors and member of the Compensation Committee. She was charged with operational and corporate development strategy, as well as recruitment to build the company to forty employees, including a nine-person team in India. GridApp had over three million in sales in 2007, and the business grew by 20% in 2008 and 2009. The company was purchased by BMC Software in 2010. Prior to GridApp Systems, Cathryn was a key member of management in the startup Register.com.
Earlier in her career, Cathryn bought and sold rare books at Ursus Rare Books and also worked for the USGS (United States Geological Survey) doing field data collection for structural geologic mappings of the North Cascades in Washington.