Professor of Architecture
Steven Mankouche is a registered architect, principal at ARCHOLAB and a Professor of Architecture at Taubman College. Steven was born in Athens, Greece and grew up in Milan, Italy. He received his architectural training at Cornell University (B. Arch + M. Arch) and the Architectural Association in London (RIBA Part One). Mankouche has lectured and taught architecture at institutions in the US and abroad, including the State University of New York at Buffalo and the Fachhochschule Liechtenstein. He is the recipient of numerous awards including: Architect Magazine’s 2010, 2013, and 2014 R+D Awards and 2013 P/A (Progressive Architecture Award), three Boston Society of Architects (BSA) Un-Built Architecture awards and 2003 Young Architects Award from the New York Architectural League.
Mankouche is a co-founder of ARCHOLAB, (Architectural Research Collaborative) with Joshua Bard and artist Abigail Murray. This cross-institutional collaboration with Carnegie Mellon University brings architects together with other disciplines such as art, robotics, activism, filmmaking, advocacy and farming. ARCHOLAB’s work focuses on two primary disciplinary concerns: the ability for people to construct their own environment and understanding relation between history, technology, materials and labor. ARCHOLAB is interested in developing design strategies and methods for empowering public participation in the design of their built environment. ARCHOLAB uses digital technology to revisit and revive lost historic construction methods and sustainable practices. One driver behind ARCHOLAB’s work is the understanding that pre-electrification technologies while being craft intensive are also most often centered around natural, low carbon footprint materials which are less predictable than highly industrialized materials. ARCHOLAB is interested in why certain material and methods are no longer in use and what drove them into extinction. Historic construction methods according to ARCHOLAB have deep seeded cultural roots which when investigated using digital fabrication tools such as multi axial robotic arms shed meaningful insight on the relation between haptic knowledge and craft as well as the economics of modern industrial manufacturing and the politics of labor. ARCHOLAB’s most recent project lead by Abigail Murray and Steven Mankouche, called AFTERHOUSE, transforms homes irreparably damaged by disuse and fire into semi subterranean greenhouses that use just the warmth of the earth and light of the sun to grow crops like pomegranates and olives without the use of additional energy.
