Students in Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s School of Architecture are helping to restore ecology along the shoreline of Randall’s Island in New York City through a unique studio project to create ecological installations designed to cultivate habitat conditions for native species while providing erosion protection.

The Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) has been awarded $1.125 million from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for a three-year research effort to improve the visibility, efficiency, and reliability of air traffic and navigation in the United States.

The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute School of Architecture has announced the lineup for its fall 2022 lecture series. The talks expose Rensselaer students to a diverse group of renowned architects from around the world who will speak about the current state of the field of architecture. The school’s Bachelor of Architecture program was ranked 14th in the nation in the DesignIntelligence survey of the “Most Admired Architecture Schools.”

Yael Erel, assistant professor in the School of Architecture at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, is participating in WAITING ROOM/Immersive Art for Wellbeing, an exhibition by six artists who use light, shadow, and movement to create immersive experiences. The show is hosted by HOT•BED, a gallery and creative lifestyle space in Philadelphia that unites art, horticulture, and design.

Isabel Vineyard and Yishu Yu were recently awarded prizes in the 2022 Lyceum Fellowship Competition. 

Anthony Titus, an associate professor in the School of Architecture at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, is the recipient of a 2022 Arts and Letters Award in Architecture from the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Akila Udage, a doctoral candidate at the Lighting Research Center (LRC) in the School of Architecture at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has been recognized by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) with an Honorable Mention in the 2022 Solid-State Lighting Workshop student poster competition for his research into the use of 3D printing to integrate electromagnetic elements into lighting systems.

Evan Douglis, dean of the School of Architecture at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, recently announced the publication of influx vol. 2, a book highlighting an extensive range of pedagogical and research innovations developed by architecture faculty and students during the years 2012-2019.

Friendship Cabins, an architectural research project from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute using environmentally friendly, next-generation interlocking plastic bottles to create sustainable outdoor dining structures, received an inaugural Alfresco Award from Alfresco NYC – a coalition of community organizations that supports the Open Restaurants program in New York City.  

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, restaurants throughout New York City and elsewhere use bespoke outdoor structures to offer safer dining experiences for their customers. However, many of these installations do not adequately protect servers, physically separate diners, provide thermal comfort, or easily disassemble if street maintenance is needed.