A loop of environmental crises. A conversation with Winka Dubbeldam

Abstract

Winka Dubbeldam's career is undoubtedly impressive, both professionally and academically. A founding partner of Archi-Tectonics NYC, her firm has distinguished itself through its international focus and the diversity of scales of its work. The firm has built on four continents, and in this sense, Winka is a 21st-century professional, aware that her field of action extends across the globe.

In the academic sphere, she served as chair of the Department of Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania School of Design [2013–23], where she taught alongside figures such as David Leatherbarrow, Thom Mayne, Ali Rahim, and Marion Weiss, among others. She promoted the creation of an advanced Robotics Lab and currently directs the Advanced Research Institute (ARI). Other renowned architects practiced and taught in Philadelphia, home to the institution, with Louis I. Kahn and Eero Saarinen among the most prominent.

From this vantage point, the conversation turns to the present and future of architecture and its teaching, with a special emphasis on the impact of new technologies.