B.A. Architecture, Washington University, St. Louis; M.Arch, Columbia University
Brian is an architectural designer and theorist. His research is centered on the intersections of experience design and design technology: its history, theoretical bases and implications, models of education, and practices. Brian has published theoretical work on the evolution of themed entertainment architecture, shopping centers and megachurches, and on immersive media environments and design computing. His current research is centered on exploring the inherent transdisciplinary of design, and the intersection of disciplinary and professional identities with alternative models of design practice. With Kathleen Brandt, he is a partner in KBL Studios. Their work includes the co-development and co-direction of Thinklab, an experimental media environment and situation room for complex thinking; the conceptualization and design of The Einhorn Next Generation Design Studio; and the co-founding and design of the innovative online journal Public.
Grants and Awards
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Environments and Technologies: Looking Towards the Next Generation of Learning, 2014, Co-investigator with K Brandt. Sponsored by Syracuse University office of the Vice Chancellor and Provost
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Technology for Social Good Web Portal (2014-2015); Co-investigator with S Masiclat and Principal Investigator K Brandt. Sponsored by J.P. Morgan Chase
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Core77 Best of Design 2013 Professional Notable, Educational Initiatives for Thinklab
- Core77 Best of Design 2013 Professional Notable, Educational Initiatives for Thinklab
- Chancellor’s Leadership Award: Transdisciplinary Media Studio, with Gregg Lambert, Mark Linder, and Jonathan Massey
- Imagining America course grant: Syracuse Eats, with Kathleen Brandt and Matt Potteiger
- New York State Council on the Arts, Individual Artists: Film, Video, and New Technologies, with Kathleen Brandt
- Architecture for Social Justice: Partnerships in Teaching, with Alfredo Andia and Cristian Gomez
Publications
Books
- Making Leisure Work: Architecture and the Experience Economy (Routledge, 2009)
Book Chapters
- The Experience of a Lifestyle. In Critical Perspectives in Themed Landscapes (Roman and Littlefield, 2007)
- Brandt, Kathleen and Brian Lonsway. “Bean Bags and Microscopes.” Laboratory Lifestyle: the construction of scientific fictions. MIT Press, forthcoming.
- Lonsway, Brian. “Complicated Agency.” A Reader in Themed and Immersive Spaces. Scott Lukas, ed. Pittsburgh: ETC Press, 2016.
- Lonsway, Brian. “The Architecture of the Entertainment Economy.” In The Themed Space: Locating Culture, Nature, and Self. Lexington Books, Lanham, MD, 2007
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Lonsway, Brian. “Mall. Very Large. Center of Now. Fast.” Sand to Spectacle - The Dubai Mall. Hong Kong: Oscar Riera Ojeda Publishers, 2015
Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles
- Lonsway, Brian. “Testing the Space of the Virtual.” Convergence: the Journal of Research into New Media Technologies 8 no. 3. (2002): 61-77.
- Lonsway, Brian. “The Mistaken Dimensionality of CAD,” Journal of Architectural Education 56 no. 2. (2002): 24-26.
Invited Journal Articles
- Lonsway, Brian. “Spiritual Summit.” CITE: The Houston Journal of Architecture. 74 (2008): 14-19.
- Lonsway, Brian. “Environmentality,” Scroope: The Cambridge Architecture Journal 13. (2001): 130-135.
Conference Proceedings
- Brandt, Kathleen and Brian Lonsway and Steve Masiclat. “Augmented Co-creation: Using artificial intelligence and neural network algorithms to support design collaboration.” Inflection Point: Design Research Meets Design Practice, Proceedings of the 20th DMI: Academic Design Management Conference. Boston, USA, July 22-29 2016.
- Brandt, Kathleen and Brian Lonsway. “Feeding the Media City,” in The Media City, Proceedings of Media Cities 4 International Conference, edited by Jordan Geiger, Omar Kahn, and Mark Shepard. University of Buffalo, 2013.
- Brandt, Kathleen and Brian Lonsway. “Domestic Systems.” Project Presented at The Public Image: International Visual Sociology Conference. London July 8-10 2013.
- Lonsway, Brian. “Beyond Digital: speculations on analog convergence.” Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture Annual Conference, 2011
- Lonsway, Brian. “An Argument for the Argument: Re-thinking the Architecture Machine,” Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture, 2006.
- Lonsway, Brian and Rao, Ajith. “Subjective Simulation: A Self-Organizing Neural System for Urban Design,” Proceedings of the International Conference on Complex Systems. Boston, MA, 2004.
- Lonsway, Brian. “The Mediate Space of the Themed Environment,” New Cities, New Media. Los Angeles, CA, 2003.
- Henderson, Paul; Lonsway, Brian, and Radke, Richard. “Coupled Auralization and Virtual Video for Full-Room Tele-Performance Environments,” Proceedings of the International Workshop on Immersive Tele-Presence at the Tenth Association for Computing Machinery International Conference on Multimedia. New York: Association for Computing Machinery, 2002.
- Lonsway, Brian. “Post-Structuralism Embraced By Themed Environment Designers,” Proceedings of the 2002 Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture International Conference. Washington D.C.: Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, 2002.
- Wadhwa, Ashwan, and Lonsway, Brian. “A Self Organizing Neural System for Urban Design,” Reinventing the Discourse: Proceedings of the Twenty First Annual Conference of the Association for Computer-Aided Design In Architecture. Buffalo: Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture, 2001.
- Lonsway, Brian. “Testing the Space of the Virtual,” Eternity, Infinity, and Virtuality: Proceedings of the Twentieth Annual Conference of the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture. Washington D.C.: Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture, 2000.
- Lonsway, Brian. “re:modeling,” Building as a Political Act, Proceedings of the 1997 Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture International Conference. Washington D.C.: Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, 1997.
Translations
- “The Mistaken Dimensionality of CAD,” translated into Turkish for Representation and Digital Design Technologies: a special Bulletin of The Ankara Branch of the Chamber of Architects of Turkey. ed. Alper Semih Alkan. Ankara: Ankara Branch of the Chamber of Architects of Turkey, 2007.
Book Reviews
- Lonsway, Brian. The Virtual Window: From Alberti to Microsoft by Anne Friedberg, in Journal of Architectural Education 61:4 (2008): 138-9
- Lonsway, Brian. ctrl [space], ed. Thomas Y. Levin, Ursula Frohne and Peter Weibel, in Ethics, Place, and Environment 6 no. 2. (2003): 180-2.
- Lonsway, Brian. Envisioning Cyberspace by Peter Anders in Convergence: the Journal of Research into New Media Technologies 7 no. 3. (2001): 118-121.
Administration and Service
- Director of Graduate Programs, 2016-
- Member, University Lecture Series Committee
- Former Founding Director, Informatics and Architecture Program, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute