Joel Towers

Bio: Joel Towers was appointed Dean of Parsons in April 2009. An Associate Professor of Architecture and Sustainable Design, Joel has participated in the design and development of leading-edge new programs, curricular innovation, and the implementation of highly consultative and inclusive governance. Prior to his appointment as Dean of Parsons, Joel was the Dean of Parsons’ School of Design Strategies.
A practicing architect for the past two decades, Joel co-founded the firm Sislian, Rothstein and Towers (SR+T Architects). For several years the firm maintained offices in New York and Berlin. Today the work generated through SR+T continues in new collaborations that extend the realm of traditional practice into construction, materials development, real estate development, and sustainable design.
Joel received his Masters in Architecture from Columbia University and his B.S. in Architecture from The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Courses

Home Turf

In this project-based Core Colloquium, exploring the needs, desires & possibilities of an urban university in transition, students will propose strategies, from different disciplinary perspectives, for the re-imagination of The New School.

J.P. Morgan Chase Com. Dev. Studio

Participants in this studio work on the J.P. Morgan Chase Community Development Competition, together with graduate students from Milano The New School for Management and Urban Policy.

Laboratory

Laboratory is a studio/seminar that immerses students in a study of contemporary art and design culture through readings & discussions, a studio component, and experience-based research. Students integrate conceptual, visual and tactile skills from their studio and Art & Design Studies courses in the development of projects that respond to their immediate urban environment, New York City. Laboratory broadly introduces art & design methodologies and is taught by faculty from all Parsons programs.

The Billboard Project

Students in this project-based Core Colloquium will use a billboard space as a site of investigation around community, economics and advertising, messaging, and design life cycles.