For more than two decades Jeffrey Kipnis’s work has shaped the thinking, imagination and creative work of architects and critics. From seminal studies of the work of such key practitioners as Philip Johnson, Peter Eisenman, Rem Koolhaas and Daniel Libeskind, to theoretical reflections on the intellectual, cultural and political role of contemporary architecture in such essays as Toward a New Architecture, Twisting the Separatrix and Political Space I, to his award-winning film on the work of Frank Gehry, to exhibitions on architectural drawing and design, Kipnis has brought a restless, generous and provocative originality to bear on the issues that have defined contemporary architecture.

Ingeborg Rocker is an Associate Professor of Architecture since July 2011, prior Rocker has been Assistant Professor of Architecture at the GSD since 2005. She teaches in the core architecture studio sequence, is the coordinator of the 2nd semester March 1 core Studios, and coordinates the GSDigital workshops. Furthermore she gives courses and seminars on contemporary architectural theory and manufacturing techniques. Rocker received the Diploma in Architecture (summa cum laude) from the Rheinisch-Westfaellische Technische Hochschule Aachen, the MS in Advanced Architectural Design (with distinction) from Columbia University, and a PhD and Master of Arts from Princeton University. She has taught at Princeton and at the University of Pennsylvania and she was a visiting scholar at the Humbold University in Berlin (2001-2002).

Kathryn Gustafson brings over 25 years of distinguished practice to Gustafson Guthrie Nichol. Her award-winning work includes a widely known series of projects in France, and recently acclaimed projects have ranged throughout Europe, North America, and the Middle East. Kathryn’s design work has been predominantly civic, institutional, and corporate. Projects have ranged in scale from a tenth of an acre to 150 acres, including parks, gardens, and community spaces. Two partner offices, Gustafson Guthrie Nichol in Seattle and Gustafson Porter in London, continue to evolve the design approach of Gustafson’s work into new contexts of time, culture, and nature. Kathryn Gustafson is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architecture and a medalist of the French Academy of Architecture. She is the recipient of the ASLA Design Medal, the Chrysler Design Award and London’s Jane Drew Prize.

Mark Burry is Professor of Innovation (Spatial Information Architecture) and Director of Spatial Information Architecture Laboratory (SIAL) at RMIT University. The laboratory focuses on collocated design research and undergraduate and postgraduate teaching with associated advanced computer applications and the rapid prototyping of ideas.  SIAL has a design-practice emphasis and acts as a creative think-tank accessible to both local and international practices. Mark is also Founding Director of RMIT’s Design Research Institute which brings together researchers from a range of design disciplines and harnesses their collective expertise to address major social and environmental dilemmas.He is Executive Architect and Researcher to the Temple Sagrada Família in Barcelona and was granted the title Il.lustrisim Senyor by the Reial Acadèmia Catalana de Belles Arts de Sant Jordi in recognition of his contribution. Mark currently holds or has recently held various senior positions at academic institutions in Australia, New Zealand and Europe, including Velux Visiting Professor at CITA, Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen, Denmark, is a member of the Advisory Board of Gehry Technologies in Los Angeles and was a member of the Australian Research Council College of Experts 2003 – 2007. In 2006 Mark was awarded the Australian Research Council’s most prestigious funding award, a ‘Federation Fellowship’ for five years.

Anthony Vidler, a historian and critic of architecture, is Dean and Professor of the Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture of The Cooper Union.  Trained in architecture at Cambridge University in England, with a PhD in history and theory from TU Delft, Vidler was a member of the faculty of the Princeton University School of Architecture from 1965 to 1993, serving as the Chair of the Ph.D. Committee, and Director of the Program in European Cultural Studies. In 1993 he took up a position as Chair of the Department of Art History at UCLA, before coming to The Cooper Union in 2001. He has curated several exhibitions, most recently, Notes from the Archive: James Frazer Stirling, Architect and Teacher, at the Yale British Art Center, Yale University, The Tate Britain, the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, and the Canadian Centre for Architecture. His publications include The Writing of the Walls: Architectural Theory in the Late Enlightenment (Princeton Architectural Press, 1987); Claude-Nicolas Ledoux (MIT Press, 1990);The Architectural Uncanny (MIT Press, 1992); Warped Space (MIT Press, 2000); Histories of the Immediate Present (MIT Press, 2008), James Frazer Stirling: Notes from the Archive (Yale University Press, 2010) and Scenes of the Street and Other Essays (Monacelli Press, 2011). He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and received the Architecture Award for 2011 from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

George Baird, Intl. Assoc. AIA, an architectural educator known for his intellectual depth and breadth as much as for his commitment to socially engaged architecture, is the recipient of the 2012 AIA/ACSA Topaz Medallion for Excellence in Architectural Education. Long recognized for his association with the University of Toronto’s architecture school, Baird also is one of Canada’s most celebrated practicing architects. The Topaz Medallion honors an individual who has been intensely involved in architecture education for a decade or more. Baird is often credited with having helped a new generation of architects find a place at the intersection of architectural form and urban function. He did this by engaging disciplines beyond architecture and fearlessly exploring the political implications of city-making to articulate architects’ social responsibilities. Baird’s deep influence is evident in cities such as Toronto and Vancouver, but also through his prolific writing career and the many students inspired by his example who have gone on to teach and practice.