Jeremy Ficca
MMCH 310C | 412.268.6667
jficca@cmu.edu
Jeremy Ficca
AIA
Associate Professor
TRACK CHAIR, Master of Advanced Architectural Design
Director, dFAB
Jeremy Ficca is an Associate Professor of Architecture in the School of Architecture at Carnegie Mellon University, where he serves as founding Director of the Design Fabrication Laboratory (dFAB) and Track Chair of the Master of Advanced Architectural Design (MAAD) program.
Ficca’s current research and scholarship focus on the convergence of bio-based carbon-neutral material systems and the affordances of computational processes of design and construction. Committed to architecture as the synthesis of cultural, aesthetic, and technological concerns, his work addresses topics of material ecologies, representation, and construction, not in isolation, but rather as complementary and interdependent endeavors. Ficca’s creative work and teaching seek to understand and explore architecture’s current state of materiality, through cultural, environmental, and technical lenses.
An active contributor to pedagogical discourse, Ficca co-chaired, the 2019 ACSA National Meeting, Black Box. Together with co-chairs Grace La (GSD) and Amy Kulper (RISD), he curated the conference’s accompanying exhibit Drawing for the Design Imaginary, which was displayed at the Carnegie Museum of Art. The subsequent, expanded exhibit DrawingAttention, displayed at Roca Gallery London and included in the 2019 London Design Festival, addressed the current renewed interest in representation, seeking to take stock of current ‘post-digital’ conditions of drawing in architecture. The exhibit revealed the expanding and liberated nature of drawing in the era of the ubiquitous virtual model, illustrating the drawing as an instrument of the architectural imagination.
Ficca’s creative work, scholarship, and research have been published in Performative Materials in Architecture, Matter, Digital Fabricators, and The Journal of Architectural Education. His curated exhibits have been covered in the RIBA Journal and the Architect’s Newspaper. He has spoken internationally on the topics of digital design and fabrication, architecture materiality, and architectural robotics. His applied design work has been exhibited across North America, including at the Municipal Art Society of New York, The Mattress Factory in Pittsburgh, and was included in the traveling exhibit Performance, Technology, and Ornament. As an expert in digital fabrication and manufacturing, Ficca consulted with the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, The North Carolina Museum of Art, and various design firms. His research and design work has been recognized through design awards by the AIA and the ACSA.
Ficca seeks to build agency among his students, eliciting curiosity toward the built environment and its connection to contemporary culture and technology. He seeks to impart sensibilities toward design that transcend technique to articulate architecture’s value and cultural relevance. His interests in the area of architecture materiality are reflected in his studio and seminar teaching. Ficca’s teaching has been nationally recognized through a 2020 ACSA Creative Achievement Award for the seminar Fabricating Customization and an ACSA Young Faculty Teaching Award. He is the recipient of the Carnegie Mellon University, College of Fine Arts Henry Hornbostel Teaching Award and an NC State University College of Design Teaching Award.
Ficca teaches across graduate and undergraduate programs and currently serves as the Praxis II undergraduate studio coordinator in the Bachelor of Architecture program. His courses have been supported by industry partners, including Centria, the Alcoa Foundation, and Autodesk. A strong believer in learning about architecture and cities through direct experience, Ficca has co-directed numerous international study programs throughout Europe.
Jeremy Ficca is a licensed architect in the state of Pennsylvania and holds a post-professional Master of Architecture from Harvard University, with commendation, and a Bachelor of Architecture from Virginia Tech. Prior to joining Carnegie Mellon University, he was an Assistant Professor at North Carolina State University.