David Benjamin
Founding Principal of The Living and Associate Professor at Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation
David Benjamin (‘05 M.Arch) is Founding Principal of The Living and Associate Professor at Columbia GSAPP. Focusing on the intersection of biology, computation, and design, Benjamin has articulated three frameworks for harnessing living organisms for architecture: bio-processing, bio-sensing, and bio-manufacturing.
The Living has won many design prizes, including the Emerging Voices Award from the Architectural League, the New Practices Award from the American Institute of Architects New York Chapter, the Young Architects Program Award from the Museum of Modern Art and MoMA PS1, and a Holcim Sustainability Award. Recent projects include the Princeton Architecture Laboratory (a new building for research on next-generation design and construction technologies), Pier 35 EcoPark (a 200-foot-long floating pier in the East River that changes color according to water quality), and Hy-Fi (a branching tower for the Museum of Modern Art and MoMA PS1 made of a new type of biodegradable brick).
Judge’s selections
New Academy Prize
CircÛbi
ETH Zurich, Chair of Circular Engineering for Architecture and ETH Zurich, Chair of Architectural Behaviorology
The New Academy Prize recognizes this project for its new way of teaching and learning as part of a novel paradigm of materials and architecture. The project itself is collaborative and multi-disciplinary, like education should be. The project also offers inspiring thinking and design, beyond the typical ideas about a circular economy. With its emphasis on design, construction, and deconstruction, the project is well-positioned within other efforts in this sub-field and other expert guidance. Along with a bold vision, the project engages experts and students, and it includes hands-on building experience. It also touches on the role that digital tools may play in managing the complexity inherent in circularity. The sophistication of this approach revolves around its belief that in order for circularity to scale up and achieve its fullest impact, a new generation of professionals must internalize the new principals and techniques through first-hand experience.
Guiding Light Prize
LightEd
LightEd
This project guides us like a North Star or a lantern. With inspiring vision and clever execution, the project starts with electronic waste and plastic waste, then transforms the waste into solar LED lighting. It is a model for making something useful out of limited resources. In addition, the project engages the topic of scaling up and making a broad impact. Noting that over 600 million people in Africa lack electricity and use harmful alternatives, inventor Stanley Chidubem Anigbogu has created a product with the potential to transform many lives. The project also involves an amazing personal story and an educational component to amplify not only the product but the approach to sustainability and transformation.
Carbon-free Farm Prize
Creating a sustainable future by developing earth friendly Kuroge Wagyu “decarbonized beef” and Mathane-Fermentation Biogas power generation from organic waste.
YAEYAMA RETTO CARBON FREE FARM LLC
Like gluten-free food, a carbon-free farm involves subtle changes that create a huge impact. This project involves decarbonizing beef through seaweed-based foods that serve to reduce methane emitted by cows. It also involves energy and fertilizer produced from methane and organic waste. And it incorporates composting and aquaculture. More broadly, the project inspires us by expanding the boundaries of design. It aims design intelligence at dynamic systems rather than static objects. And along the way, it encompasses everyday living and connects the personal and the collective with an exciting new direction for society.
Hydrogen Economy Prize
All Waste into Renewable Energy [ZERO WASTE PROJECT BIOTECHWORKS-H2]
BIOTECHWORKS-H2, Inc.
Like the Glucose Economy articulated by former U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu, the Hydrogen Economy helps us imagine a society based not on polluting and limited resources like petroleum, but instead on clean and renewable resources like plant sugars and hydrogen. This project admirably takes on greenwashing in the fashion industry, and targets components of the waste stream that are difficult to recycle. This is crucial because the circular economy will require the recirculation of not just easy-to-reuse components, but also difficult-to-reuse components. In addition, the project involves advanced scientific research as well as industrialized processing. The result is the conversion of organic waste into clean hydrogen that can provide abundant energy. There is clearly the potential to scale up and have a very big impact on global waste and carbon emissions. And more fundamentally, the project aims to transform our collective understanding of what is possible, as it fosters “both environmental recovery and a shared sense of wonder.”
Walk a Mile Prize
Thaely
Thaely Pvt Ltd
This project is clear and compelling as well as beautiful and practical. It involves a new type of shoe made by hand from a small number of plastic bags and plastic bottles. It takes on the immense global topics of waste and plastics with local action and care and design. The product is impressive, and the approach to labor and consumption is equally profound. An old Native American proverb states, "You can't really understand another person's experience until you've walked a mile in their shoes." Like the proverb, this project encourages us to stop and reflect and observe, and then consider a whole new way of doing things—including sourcing materials, manufacturing, branding, packaging, selling, buying, wearing, and living.