RPI architecture students showcased at historic site
TROY, N.Y. » Ten students from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s (RPI) School of Architecture are having their projects showcased in a popup exhibition at the Thomas Cole National Historic Site and a related book.
The Thomas Cole National Historic Site is a museum in Catskill that includes the historic home and studio buildings of the artist and early environmentalist Thomas Cole (1801-1848), who founded the influential art movement known today as the Hudson River School of American Landscape painting.
Cole’s art and writings explore humans’ relationship with landscape. He was also an architect and designed several buildings, including the 1846 New Studio and the Ohio State Capital. The idea of a new building for the cultural institution offered a framework for the students to consider the complexities of landscapes and nature as both real and ideal in the architectural design process.
The students featured in the exhibition are Alan Aguilera, Stephanie Coraisaca, Kyra Gregorie, Sarah Ishida, Jillian Lin, Katarina Napoli, Helly Rana, Alan Rosas, Scott Sigmund, and Javier Torres.
The exhibition runs through April 7, inside the reconstruction of a building that Cole designed, his 1846 New Studio, which was rebuilt on its original foundation in 2015. The book, titled “Imaginary Wilds: Architectural Interventions for the Thomas Cole National Historic Site,” is published by ORO Editions. Presented in both are a series of student-designed architectural projects completed throughout the fall 2022 semester that imagine a new gallery building sited within the landscape of Thomas Cole’s historic home and studio.
The projects include three-dimensional models and digital illustrations.
The exhibition is curated and the book is edited by Adam Dayem, assistant professor in RPI’s School of Architecture. Dayem is a registered architect in New York State. He is the founder and principal of Actual Office Architecture, a design practice that has received numerous awards for both theoretical and built architecture.
The book features new texts and original essays by architects and art historians including Evan Douglis, Dean of RPI’s School of Architecture; Elizabeth B. Jacks, Executive Director of the Thomas Cole National Historic Site; Adam Dayem, Assistant Professor at RPI’s School of Architecture; David Salomon, Associate Professor at Ithaca College; Cathryn DwyrePerry, Adjunct Associate Professor at Pratt Institute; and William L. Coleman, Curator of the Brandywine Museum of Art.
“The aspiration of Thomas Cole’s art was ultimately to convey an idea about nature, and humans’ relationship to it; a pursuit at the core of architectural practice,” Dayem said in a news release. “What better place to explore the relationship between the built and natural world than the historic home of Thomas Cole, who identified as an architect and whose enduring legacy of American landscape painting is recognized the world over.”
Admission to the exhibition will be included with all weekend guided tour tickets through April 7. Tickets are available via thomascole.org/imaginarywilds.
The project is accompanied by student presentations and a book reception hosted at the Thomas Cole National Historic Site on March 24, as part of the museum’s “Sunday Salons” speaker series. Participants will see what it’s like to attend architecture school and hear student presentations and expert critique from professors and other project participants.
The ticketed presentations take place in the New Studio at 2 and 4 p.m. with a public book reception at 3 p.m. Tickets are available at thomascole.org/ events.