Stuckeman Architecture Department Welcomes Three New Faculty Members

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Stuckeman School’s Department of Architecture in the College of Arts and Architecture at Penn State will welcome three new faculty members this summer: Teisha Bradley, lecturer in the Department of Architecture and Environmental Design at Morgan State University; José Ibarra, assistant professor of architecture at the University of Colorado; and Delphine Lewandowski, lecturer at Nantes and Paris-Val-de-Seine Schools of Architecture.

“We’re thrilled to welcome three new hires whose expertise not only advances the field of architecture but also expands our capacity for interdisciplinary collaboration within and beyond the school,” said Chingwen Cheng, Stuckeman School director. “Their diverse perspectives and approaches to design will foster richer dialogue, open up new ways of thinking, drive innovative research and pedagogy, and create space for embracing worldviews to deepen our impact in communities and the environment.”

Teisha Bradley

Bradley’s research explores spatial storytelling and maps the lived experiences of Black bodies within the built environment, particularly through the lens of the African diaspora.

Bradley serves on the executive board of the National Organization of Minority Architects Baltimore chapter as its parliamentarian and was recently published by the National Conference for the Beginning Design Student, where she highlighted the role of architecture as a storytelling tool and emphasized the importance of identity-centered education and discourse.

Bradley holds a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from Morgan State and a Master of Architecture from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), where she also earned a certificate in collegiate teaching in art and design. While at RISD, she served as a teaching fellow, leading advanced design studios and thesis courses.

Professionally, she has worked with Architecture Resources Cambridge in Boston and Salazara Design Firm in Portland, Oregon. She currently consults with Fielding International, an architecture firm that brings educators and architects together to design innovative K-12 learning environments around the world.

Through her work in practice, research and teaching, Bradley remains dedicated to inclusive design and the empowerment of underrepresented communities through architecture. She will join the architecture department on Aug. 1 as an assistant teaching professor of architecture.

“Teisha Bradley brings a powerful blend of design talent and social consciousness to our department, enriching our community with a deep commitment to equity, representation and inclusive design,” said Frank Jacobus, architecture department head and professor. “She will offer our students a vital perspective on how architecture can shape more just and responsive environments.”

José Ibarra

Ibarra is a Venezuelan designer, researcher and educator whose interdisciplinary work explores the intersection of architecture and environmental uncertainty. He is the director of Studio José Ibarra and co-founder of House Operations and the Agency for Work and Play.

Ibarra’s research centers on architecture’s capacity to “meaningfully engage with crisis, whether social, ecological or planetary.” Through design, curation, writing and teaching, he develops multifocal approaches that reframe architecture as a responsive and relational practice amid social unrest, environmental degradation and climate crisis.

Ibarra’s recent projects include “Werewolf: The Architecture of Lunacy, Shapeshifting, and Material Metamorphosis,” published by AR+D in 2022 and co-edited with Caroline O’Donnell; “Table Manners,” a series of performative, academically grounded events that bring people together in unexpected ways; and Casa Libertad, a private residence in Tecate, Mexico.

An assistant professor of architecture at the University of Colorado Denver since 2022, Ibarra previously taught at the University of Virginia and served as Urban Edge Fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He has also taught at Cornell University and practiced architecture at firms including Barkow Leibinger, CODA and Studio Eber.

His teaching has earned numerous accolades, including the 2022 Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA)/American Institute of Architecture Students New Faculty Teaching Award, the 2024 ACSA/American Institute of Architects Housing Design Education Award and the 2025 Tulane Honorable Achievement for Interdisciplinary Climate Change Curriculum in Architecture. His design and scholarly work have been recognized and published internationally, including with a Graham Foundation grant for his collaborative project with Liz Gálvez titled “Latinx Coalition Chats.”

Ibarra will begin his work at Penn State on Aug. 1 as an assistant professor of architecture.

“We are thrilled to welcome José Ibarra to the Penn State Department of Architecture. His innovative work at the intersection of design and environmental uncertainty will profoundly enrich our academic and creative community,” Jacobus said. “His interdisciplinary approach to architecture — as a responsive practice in the face of ecological and social crises — will inspire our students and faculty alike to think more critically and expansively about the role of architecture in a rapidly changing world.”

Delphine Lewandowski

Lewandowski is a licensed architect, researcher and lecturer currently based in Paris. She explores the relationships between nature and architecture through a multidisciplinary practice that integrates ecological sciences and environmental ethics. Her objective is to develop architectural responses — both technical and theoretical — to the ongoing biodiversity and climate crises.

Lewandowski completed her doctoral studies at the Paris-Malaquais School of Architecture–PSL and the French National Museum of Natural History, in collaboration with the Paris-based firm ChartierDalix, where she reimagined the wall as “a living, autonomous habitat that hosts biodiversity.” Her contributions have earned several awards, including the International Prize for Ph.D. Dissertation on Cities from the French government.

Her teaching focuses on integrating non-humans into architectural design, advocating for alternative perspectives and an ethics of care in architecture.

Lewandowski has collaborated with various architecture practices and is regularly invited as a guest lecturer and critic at prestigious institutions including the Royal Danish Academy, KU Leuven and École Spéciale d’Architecture.

She will join Penn State as an assistant professor of architecture, effective July 1.

“We are excited to welcome Delphine Lewandowski to our department, where her groundbreaking work at the intersection of ecological science and architectural design will deepen our engagement with pressing environmental challenges,” Jacobus said. “Her research on architecture as a living habitat offers a compelling bridge to our school’s landscape architecture department, opening new opportunities for collaboration around biodiversity, environmental ethics and the integration of non-human life into the built environment.”

New Book by Stuckeman Architecture Professor Reexamines Le Corbusier’s Theories

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Mehrdad Hadighi, professor of architecture and Stuckeman School Professor of Advanced Studies in the College of Arts and Architecture at Penn State, explores one of famed architect Charles-Édouard Jeanneret’s buildings in his newly published book about the architect known professionally as Le Corbusier.

“Le Corbusier’s Ahmedabad Millowners’ Association Building: Between the Beautiful and the Sublime,” published by Birkhäuser, examines how the renowned architect’s theoretical concepts — particularly those articulated in the book “Towards a New Architecture” — are embodied in the design of the Millowners’ Association Building in Ahmedabad, India.

“Le Corbusier is undoubtedly one of the most influential architects of the 20th century; not only for his buildings but also for his writings,” Hadighi said.

The book juxtaposes Le Corbusier’s written theories with his built ones, situating his ideas within a theoretical framework. Central to Hadighi’s analysis is Le Corbusier’s engagement with the aesthetic concepts of the beautiful and the sublime.

Hadighi also explores the influence of key cultural and literary figures, such as French poet Paul Valéry, English art historian John Ruskin and German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, on Le Corbusier’s thinking. In addition, the book delves into the late architect’s hallmark design elements such as the “promenade architecturale,” which refers to the intended journey or sequence of experiences a person has as they move through a building or architectural space, and the strategic use of “brise-soleils,” an architectural feature or system designed to block or redirect sunlight, typically for the purpose of reducing heat gain in buildings, in shaping spatial experience.

“[Le Corbusier’s] buildings put forth architectural agendas with immense clarity,” Hadighi said. “His writings, however, often present proclamations — offering little in the way of contextualizing his architectural theories within the broader history of architectural discourse, or in relation to his own work.”

“LC150+,” an exhibit celebrating Le Corbusier’s work that Hadighi helped organize, is open in the Stuckeman Family Building Rouse Gallery through May 18.