Practice is People
Design at the edges requires people willing to work there. The Laboratory draws researchers, designers, and practitioners from across disciplines — held together not by shared methods but by shared questions.
Directors
Leighton Beaman
Leighton Beaman's practice refuses easy categorization. Built architecture, material research, data physicalization, and design pedagogy are not separate pursuits — they are a single sustained inquiry into how knowledge lives in bodies, materials, and cultures. He is Co-Founding Partner of General Architecture Collaborative — an award-winning nonprofit practice recognized by Metropolis, Dezeen, Architizer, and The Architect's Newspaper — and Founding Director of the Laboratory for Material Propositions. He teaches in the Department of Human Centered Design at Cornell University, and has previously taught at Harvard University, the University of Texas at Austin and the Rhode Island School of Design. His work has been supported by the American Academy in Rome, MacDowell, and the Autodesk Technology Center.
Zaneta Hong
Zaneta Hong is an Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture at Harvard University. Trained as a landscape architect and industrial designer, her teaching and research focus on material ecologies, landscape technologies, and sustainable practices. She has previously taught at Cornell University and the University of Virginia. Her work has been recognized by the Graham Foundation, the Environmental Design Research Association, and the Garden Club of America Rome Prize Fellowship. She has also been awarded a MacDowell Fellowship and holds a Certificate of Teaching Excellence from the Harvard Derek Bok Center. Her research has appeared in publications including Innovations in Landscape Architecture, Living Systems, the International Journal of Interior Architecture & Spatial Design, and the Journal of Landscape Architecture.
Researchers
2025
Undergraduate Program
Department of Human Centered Design
Andrea Porubcin
Simran Ashok
2024
Graduate Program
Department of Psychology
Shanni Jin
2022-2023
Graduate Program
Department of Landscape Architecture
Yves Brocker
2022-2023
Graduate Program
Department of Landscape Architecture
Laiching Tsui
2022-2023
Graduate Program
Department of Landscape Architecture
Monica Rourke
2022-2023
Graduate Program
Department of Landscape Architecture
Karolina Piorko
2021
Undergraduate Program
Department of Architecture