From Paper to Presentation

Undergraduate students in the School of Architecture and Design have been hard at work designing and building more than 40 physical models in support of an exhibition by Teaching Assistant Professor of Architecture Evan Shieh, M. AUD. The display, “Autonomous Urbanism: The Exhibition,” is based on Shieh’s recently published book monograph of the same name, Autonomous Urbanism: Towards a New Transitopia.

On February 7, the students’ efforts that began in summer 2024 will come to fruition on the Long Island campus in the Education Hall gallery, when Shieh’s exhibit opens to the public during the School of Architecture’s spring lectures and events series. In addition to the dozens of 3-D printed and laser-cut models, the students built wall panels, signage, and podiums, all from scratch.

Exploring how driverless vehicles will change the future built environment of our cities, the exhibition illustrates this spatial transformation of cities in four scales—from transportation network changes and mobility infrastructure like streets and highways to city blocks and car-centric architecture like parking garages and drive-through restaurants.

Juan Ramirez, an architecture student, took on multiple responsibilities throughout his involvement in the exhibition’s development. In the initial phases, he worked on 3-D modeling and designing streetscape elements. Later, he took the lead on the storytelling walls and curated layout options for the elements he extracted from Shieh’s book. For two weeks, he assisted in the exhibition’s physical construction.

“I’ve gained hands-on experience with framing and construction, which was something new to me,” says Ramirez, who cites his work on the exhibit as a practical learning experience. “Developing the wall graphics helped expand my understanding of visualization, presentation, and production.”

Architecture student Elise Park was heavily involved, taking part in laser cutting and material sourcing—for nearly a month, she worked on constructing, gluing, and assembling the final models. She also cut vinyl, assisted in construction, and created floor plan layouts to arrange the exhibition space.

“I learned and have developed so many skills as we worked to bring this exhibition to life,” says Park, who credits Shieh with motivating her to push past her limits as a designer. “Though it was intense, I would not have traded this experience for anything.”

Broken down into two parts, the first portion of the showcase explores the potential future impacts that self-driving vehicles will have on the design of cities. Throughout the exhibition room are typological models of varying scale, and transportation network drawings line the wall. Along the adjacent wall, the second part of the exhibition features illustrations visualizing the day-in-the-life experiences of moving around in a future city through the narrative format of an architectural graphic novel.

Together, the exhibition’s parts act as a toolkit for urban designers, architecture students, and the public, who may soon encounter autonomous vehicles in New York. It challenges viewers to consider how design actions and behavioral choices can shape urban space and the experiences they create. Paired with the book, which is also on display, the exhibition aims to promote the design of our cities for humans and pedestrians first as these driverless futures unfold.

“Book-writing is often a solo endeavor. However, with an exhibition, I loved being able to co-design with the students, bouncing design ideas back and forth, getting their feedback, and discussing their own ideas and inspirations for the project,” Shieh says of the exhibition development. “It was exciting to see, bit by bit, our hard work manifest into physical forms that one can interact with and walk through in the gallery space.”

Students involved in the exhibition’s design and construction include Sharon Cunningham, Kendal Eastwood, Carolina Flores-Iglesias, Emily Galofaro, Yedeida Kariyev, Lily Kljyan, Natalia Orellana, Elise Park, Juan Ramirez, Melanny Rodriguez, and Kaleigh Trentadue, as well as Parsons School of Design’s Yiki Dingmeng Liu.

“Autonomous Urbanism: The Exhibition” will launch with a lecture and reception on February 7 and will be open for viewing through April 18. The exhibition is funded and supported by School of Architecture and Design Dean Maria Perbellini, M.Arch., the Lectures and Events Committee, and Committee Chair and Assistant Professor of Architecture Athina Papadopoulou, Ph.D.

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