MIT and Cornell's Laura-India Garinois on New Ways of Designing and Thinking for the Climate Crisis
By Julia Gamolina
Laura-India Garinois is a French-Greek designer currently pursuing a Master of Science in Architecture Studies (SMArchS AD) at MIT. Her work focuses on spatial research and design to address challenges related to the climate crisis.
Laura received her Bachelor of Architecture at Cornell University, where she was awarded the Charles Goodwin Sands Memorial Medal for her thesis Live Jacket. Laura's professional experience is multi-scalar, including residential architecture and civic installations with design practices Hou de Sousa, Trimble Architecture, White Arkitekter, and CODA. She is also the co-founder of Superinfra, with which she has built projects in Canada and Greece.
JG: Why did you decide to study architecture?
LIG: I first became interested in architecture when I was about 15. I saw the field as being fundamentally interdisciplinary, a synthesis and material manifestation of arts, politics, culture, and socioeconomic conditions. After taking the Cornell summer college course, I was further inspired by the collaborative nature of the architecture — not just with other disciplines, but between architects themselves. I believe this is one of the richest parts of the field: the capacity to learn from and build worlds with one another.
What was the most significant project to you that you worked on at Cornell?
In my fourth year at Cornell, I took the Option Studio “Frontier Urbanities/Amazonia” led by Tao DuFour and Paulo Tavares. The studio focused on the relationship of the development of urbanization in the Brazilian Amazon with colonial history, contemporary politics, territorial transformations, and the climate crisis. This was the first studio I took at Cornell that emphasized the agency in design, and the role that it plays in supporting — or harming — territories, and subsequently their communities and ecosystems. This was also the first time I had the opportunity to travel for a studio, which completely shifted the design outcome of the project, highlighting the importance of collaborating with communities. You can read as many books, watch as many films, and study as much data as you possibly want, but the most valuable knowledge and exchanges will always come from meeting directly with people.
With my studio partner Liam Martin, we developed “Air as Infrastructure,” a broadband communication network comprising various infrastructural, botanical, and ecological information systems which aim to provide protective tools for indigenous communities and organisms in the Tapajós region. While Radio and Wi-Fi are not typically treated as an architecture, building material, or environmental condition, we know that these soft infrastructures act as a fertilizer for architecture — or in this case, in defense of it.
Sprouts: Render view. In collaboration with Liam Martin/Superinfra.
Air as Infrastructure: Topologies of extraction between 1984-2012 in the Tapajós basin, projected onto a 1:30,000 scale model. In collaboration with Liam Martin/Superinfra.
Tell me about your time in the field before going back to graduate school.
I will say, as an international student and immigrant, it has not always been easy to break into the American professional field. Still, after graduating in 2017, I moved to New York City and had the opportunity to work at two design firms, Hou de Sousa and Trimble Architecture. I worked on a number of local and international projects, mainly in New York and Greece. In both firms, we were very much involved in both the design and construction processes.
Personally, working before re-entering the academic world was crucial not only in orienting my interests, but also in getting grounded in the “real” or “built” world. In American architectural education, we are not typically limited by challenges related to budgets, clients, building codes, time constraints, and so on. This allows the pedagogy to focus on other facets of design, but can also create a significant divide between experiences and possibilities in academic and professional environments. Taking this time to reevaluate my aspirations with the knowledge of not only how to design, but also the other 95% of the work that goes into a project, was incredibly valuable.
“...working before re-entering the academic world was crucial not only in orienting my interests, but also in getting grounded in the ‘real’ or ‘built’ world. In American architectural education, we are not typically limited by challenges related to budgets, clients, building codes, time constraints, and so on.”
Tell me about why you went back to school, and what you're focusing on now.
After five years of working as a professional, I felt it was time to return to the academic world. COVID was a strange time that pushed us all into unexpected directions, and sometimes even corners. However, it also gave me the opportunity to broaden my horizon and reflect on the type of projects I would like to work on — specifically, infrastructural solutions for critical geopolitical and ecological challenges. It is vital to recognize the magnitude of our impact as designers and architects — each decision we make has the potential to shape the planet, for better or worse. Returning to school and studying at MIT has given me the resources to focus on this in a more thoughtful way.
Currently, I am working on a number of different projects. Last semester, I took the Big Zero course taught by Sheila Kennedy, during which we each “hacked” the design of a classic architecture chair and turned them into self-forming wooden chairs. As wood is a hygroscopic material, it can be shaped by its environment; this method could potentially reduce carbon emissions during manufacturing processes. I also took the Urbanism Proseminar taught by Mohamad Nahleh, during which my research focused on our domestication and commodification of street trees — specifically, a single tree in Boston — and how they have lost their ability to communicate with one another in urban environments. This semester, I am filming a short essay-film on extractive practices of marble quarries in Greece, and researching the melting of glaciers in Greenland. So again, very different types of projects — but all related to new ways of designing and thinking for the climate crisis.
Live Jacket: Aggregation of jackets into pop-up space with integrated Wi-Fi and electricity.
The Story of A Single Tree: Communication of a tree in a forest vs. a city.
What have you learned in the last six months?
Besides from all I have learned from the classes I have taken and the community that I am surrounded by, I have learnt to embrace the chaos! While we have a lot of support in the SMArchS AD program, it is also very self-driven. We have a considerable amount of flexibility in terms of the courses we select, which can make you feel a little unstable on your feet as you try to pick your direction — but ultimately I believe this leads to an incredibly creative environment.
What do you hope to do in your career?
Ideally, I’d like to build a research-driven practice that allows me to explore and challenge the material and immaterial world around us.
Now that I’m back in the academic world, I have not only brought my professional experience into this world, but I am also intent on speculating on ways the academic sphere can be brought back out into the professional one, both in and out of the architectural field. While architectural languages — both visual and verbal — hold importance in their own style of legibility, they can often be insular. This is something that I believe is becoming increasingly important when considering the role that architecture plays in the climate crisis. The construction industry contributes to 40% of global carbon emissions, and architects must recognize and act on their complicity in this. But architects do not only build physical worlds, they also play a role in imagining, storytelling, and speculating, on past, present, and future worlds. So, I hope to begin to find ways to bridge the gap between architecture and other disciplines.
“...architects do not only build physical worlds, they also play a role in imagining, story-telling, and speculating, on past, present, and future worlds. So, I hope to begin to find ways to bridge the gap between architecture and other disciplines.”
Who do you look up to? Both in terms of women in architecture, and in general.
First and foremost, my mother has always been a major inspiration to me. Growing up, both my parents were passionate in their careers — but my mother was and is the powerhouse of our family. From a young age, she defied — and when she could, ignored — gender norms, and has perpetually taught me to invent my own rules in life. Aside from being a role model as a woman who is unafraid to speak her mind and dream large in male-dominated fields and patriarchal societies, the most important lesson she has taught me is — and it may sound simple — to persist and embrace failure. She has shown me that if you want to achieve a goal, you have to put in the time and effort — and if you fail, you can try it again, or try something different.
Additionally, there are so many women I look up to in the architectural field. To name a few that I have had the pleasure of working with: Caroline O’Donnell who was my thesis advisor at Cornell, and Sheila Kennedy, Huma Gupta, and Rania Ghosn at MIT. These women are all wonderful and innovative thinkers and leaders, both in the academy and the profession at large.
Ziggy: Work completed while at Hou de Sousa. Photo credits: Hou de Sousa.
Over/Under: Installation in Canada, Winnipeg. In collaboration with Liam Martin/Superinfra.
What advice would you give to those in the profession, who are considering graduate school? And for those about to complete their undergraduate education and debating whether to work or go to grad school?
In terms of deciding to work or go back to school, there is no general right or wrong decision to make, and if you decide to attend graduate school, there is no general right or wrong time to go. It is a decision that is shaped by a myriad of factors that are so personal to each individual. However, try to keep an open mind: to working, to going back to school, and to any opportunity that comes your way. For a period after my undergrad, there was no world in which I could imagine going back to school. Today, it is one of the best decisions I made.