This website uses cookies as well as similar tools and technologies to understand visitors' experiences. By continuing to use this website, you consent to Columbia University's usage of cookies and similar technologies, in accordance with the Columbia University Website Cookie Notice

David Benjamin

David Benjamin (‘05 M.Arch) is Founding Principal of The Living and Associate Professor at Columbia GSAPP. He also directs the GSAPP Incubator. Benjamin’s work combines research and practice, and it involves exploring new ideas through prototyping. Focusing on the intersection of biology, computation, and design, Benjamin has articulated three frameworks for harnessing living organisms for architecture: bio-processing, bio-sensing, and bio-manufacturing.

The Living has won many design prizes, including the Emerging Voices Award from the Architectural League, the New Practices Award from the American Institute of Architects New York Chapter, the Young Architects Program Award from the Museum of Modern Art and MoMA PS1, and a Holcim Sustainability Award. Recent projects include the Princeton Architecture Laboratory (a new building for research on next-generation design and construction technologies), Pier 35 EcoPark (a 200-foot-long floating pier in the East River that changes color according to water quality), and Hy-Fi (a branching tower for the Museum of Modern Art and MoMA PS1 made of a new type of biodegradable brick).

Recent Work

Hy-Fi, 2014 MoMA PS1 Young Architects Program

Bionic Partition Project

Hy-Fi, 2014 MoMA PS1 Young Architects Program

Publications

Columbia Books on
Architecture and the City

Embodied Energy and Design: Making Architecture Between Metrics and Narratives

Edited by
David Benjamin

Purchase Hardback

Abstract 2004-05

Author
Mark Wigley

Paperback

Abstract 2003-04

Author
Mark Wigley

Hardcover

Courses

Course	Semester	Title	Instructor	Requirements & Sequence	Location & Time	Session & Points	Call No.
A4105‑9	Fall 2025	Advanced Studio V	David Benjamin	Architecture Studio AAD Studio Architecture Required	600 + 700 AVERY	FULL SEMESTER	10638
A4106‑7	Spring 2025	Architecture Studio VI	David Benjamin	Architecture Studio AAD Studio	600/700 AVERY M+TH(1:30 PM- 6:30 PM), W (1:30 PM - 3:30 PM)	FULL SEMESTER 0 Points	11002
A4861‑1	Spring 2025	Footprint: Carbon and Design	David Benjamin	TECH ELECTIVE Building Science & Technology Elective	409 AVERY TH 11AM-1PM	FULL SEMESTER 3 Points	13288