Michael Szivos
Michael Szivos is the founder of SOFTlab, a design studio based in New York City. The studio combines a research-based design practice with an interest in how technology, craft, and materials come together in ways that explore the boundaries between architecture, other disciplines, and the public. Above all, the studio is made up of curious designers. That curiosity is driven by the idiosyncratic nature of the world and the expectations people have of how they engage with that world and each other. While technology can be seen as an alibi for innovation or progress, the studio sees technology as an opportunity to enable new perspectives of where we might find unexpected possibilities, playfulness, and beauty in an increasingly complex world. In addition to running SOFTlab, Michael is also a critic at Yale University’s School of Architecture where he teaches core graduate design studio and is an adjunct professor at Pratt Institute’s School of Architecture where he teaches thesis.