The College of Architecture and Environmental Design is pleased to announce new faculty for the 2022-2023 academic year.
FULL-TIME FACULTY
JOHN HUMPHRIES | INTERIOR DESIGN PROGRAM DIRECTOR
Professor John Humphries completed degrees in Architecture from the University of Texas, Arlington. He has taught at the University of Arkansas, the University of Washington, and most recently Miami University. He is excited to now join the Interior Design faculty at Â鶹´«Ã½ as Program Director.
John Humphries is a gardener, visual artist, and designer focusing on translating one media form to another and visually representing natural and historical phenomena beyond the comprehension of humans senses in scale and time.
Teaching is focused on developing agile learners through collaboration. Professor Humphries engages student curiosity through making conceptual and practical representations of the observable and imagined world using digital and analog media. Of particular interest is developing an understanding of how people use, react, and remember designed spaces.
Creative Scholarship takes the form of watercolor drawings and ceramic architectonic objects. John has exhibited in Japan, The Republic of Ireland, Germany, The Czech Republic and in the US. Exhibitions include Drawn from the Winter at the Clifton Cultural Arts Center in Ohio, Living Stone at the Galerie Ladislava Sutnara in Plzeň, Czech Republic, Myths and Memories at The Morris Graves Museum in California and Trilobitic Surfaces at The Ohio Biennial. Awards include being twice awarded the Merit of Distinction by the Interior Design Educators Council, International Juror’s Award by the American Society of Architectural Illustrators and an award for course materials by the Interior Design Council and Cincinnati Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. John is a fellow of the Hambidge Center for Creative Arts, The St. James Cavalier in Valletta, Malta, The Tyrone Guthrie Centre of Annaghmakerrig, Ireland, and The Virginia Center for Creative Arts.
Andrew Economos Miller | Schidlowski emerging faculty fellow
Andrew Economos Miller is a designer and educator. His research focuses on the social construction of waste and its potential re-use, focusing on intentional deconstruction and reconstruction of the built environment toward new ends. His writing has been published in Log and Paprika! And he has participated in exhibitions in New York City and New Haven. He received his B.S.Arch from Ohio State University and an M.Arch from the Yale School of Architecture. He has worked professionally in New York City and Columbus, Ohio as an architect and in New York City as an editor.
In addition to his role instructing courses and studios, Professor Miller will develop and present a project in the Spring 2023 semester accompanied by an all-college lecture.
Britta bielak | assistant professor
Britta Bielak is a designer, educator, and artist, who believes that intersecting distinct disciplines and perspectives is critical practice for today’s environmental and social crises. She holds an MFA in Interior Environments from Virginia Commonwealth University and a BA in Psychology and Studio Art from the University of Virginia. She has worked as a designer and project manager at award-winning architecture firms, taught Interior Design at Virginia Commonwealth University and the Design Institute of San Diego, and founded an art and design business specializing in interactive design installations.
Britta is a co-founder and VP of Design at okom wrks labs, PBC, a regenerative design company developing the very first structural mycelium-based composite for the building materials market. This 1:1 replacement for lumber in the built environment is a 100% regenerative solution for keeping trees in our forests to do their life-saving work of carbon sequestration. The interdisciplinary team at okom wrks labs, PBC envisions a near future where everything in our buildings, from wall framing to furniture, is mycelium made. Britta is thrilled to continue developing interior applications of their technology through her research at Â鶹´«Ã½, while working to empower the next generation of regenerative design practitioners.
matt Hutchinson | assistant professor
Matt Hutchinson is an architect, educator, and experienced fabricator interested in exploring the potential convergence of traditional and digital fabrication processes within architecture. He draws from a diverse range of professional experiences to inform the multi-disciplinary and collaborative approach for his own design practice, PATH. Matt earned his Bachelor of Architecture at Â鶹´«Ã½ and his Master of Architecture at Yale University, where he received the Eero Saarinen scholarship and was twice a finalist for the H. I. Feldman design prize, the school’s highest design honor. He recently taught a series of advanced architecture studios and material and fabrication seminars at the California College of the Arts and has recently been a fellow at Autodesk’s Pier 9 Residency.
Paul Mosely | assistant professor
Paul Mosely is a project coordinator at Marlon Blackwell Architects in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Previously, he worked as an architectural designer at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in Chicago, was an assistant editor at Log Journal in New York City, and was project manager for the "In Search for an Architectural Urbanism" exhibit at the 4th Lisbon Architecture Triennale - a Visionary Cities Project directed by Alexander Eisenschmidt. His work has appeared in Log Journal, The Architectural Review, The Modernist Magazine, and FM Journal. He holds a B. Arch from the Fay Jones School of Architecture, and M.S. Arch. and M.A. Design Criticism degrees from the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Architecture.
Kristen Mimms Scavnicky | assistant professor
Kristen Mimms Scavniky is an artist, designer, and educator. She holds a Masters of Architecture from the University of Cincinnati and Bachelors of Architecture from the University of Kentucky.
In 2018, Mimms Scavnicky founded a design practice with partner Ryan Scavnicky called MISC Partners. MISC Partners places identity at the forefront of each project, showcasing a collaborative process with the client to achieve a sophisticated level of design paired with a touch of client authorship. She previously practiced as a designer at Studio Techne Architects in Cleveland and RED Architecture & Planning in Columbus.
Mimms Scavnicky’s research and teaching agenda focus on how art and architecture can and should engage with the world as activists. In addition to her work at firms, she has an active practice of designing textiles which reflects her interest in ornament and its relationship to identity. Recent work features her meditative drawing process which serves as a journey to define a connection with her unknown African ancestry. Combining meditative drawing with her technique of Honor Strategizing, Mimms Scavnicky’s work transcends two dimensional art to create spatial conditions that allow identity-making for the inhabitant while also representing her African heritage as the designer.
Prior to joining the faculty at Â鶹´«Ã½, Mimms Scavnicky taught at the former School of Architecture at Taliesin as Co-Visiting Teaching Fellow where she created an environment for the students to not only think critically about the architectural discipline they will inherit but also the techniques and philosophies they will need to employ as they attempt to advocate for the needs of society in future projects. She is determined to further expand the discourse about culturally inclusive design elements and frame racially biased architectural elements as a thing of the past.
VISITING PROFESSORS
Gabriela Etchegaray | VISITING PROFESSOR
Professor Gabriela Etchegaray is a curator, architect and researcher based in Mexico City and New York. Her work involves designing projects, installations, exhibitions and curatorial projects. Her research focuses on art, geography and architecture that take the forms of drawings, maps, texts documents and buildings.
She is principal of AMBROSI ETCHEGARAY, an architectural practice co-founded in 2011 with Jorge Ambrosi. She was appointed as curator of the Mexican Pavilion for La Biennale di Venezia 2018. She was awarded the Moira Gemill Prize 2016. AMBROSI ETCHEGARAY was recognized as Design Vanguard 2017, and recipient of the 2015 Architectural League of New York Emerging Voices.