Participants in Black Box Research Group
V. Mitch McEwen | Director of BlackBox, Assistant Professor at SoA Princeton
V. Mitch McEwen has been recognized as an innovator at the intersection of computational methods, architectural design, and urban practice. Her design work has been featured in numerous exhibitions, including the Architectural Imagination, at the 2016 US Pavilion of the Venice Architecture Biennale and Reconstructions exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art (2021). In 2017 she revamped Princeton’s Arc311 “Building Science and Technology: Building Systems” to introduce undergraduate architecture majors to the range of computer numerically controlled fabrication and robotics on campus. In 2020 McEwen launched Robotic Architecure Workshop, a new graduate course at the School of Architecture. McEwen leads an award-winning creative practice in architectural design, Atelier Office. McEwen has also programmed and released custom software for integrating sensing devices with parametric 3D modeling software (published via Food4Rhino, 2013, 2000+ downloads).
Julia R. Medina | Former Technical Project Manager
Julia is a first year M.Arch I student at the Princeton University School of Architecture. She received a BA in Architecture from Yale University in 2018 from Yale. She has worked at Robert A.M. Stern Architects, Newman Architects, and at WeWork, where she focused on design technology.
Oluwatobi Ajayi | Former Researcher Assistant
Tobi is a British-Nigerian sophomore in the Architecture department hoping to get certificates in Visual Arts and Environmental Studies. With interests in sculpture, speculative design, and visual representations of the urban landscape, Tobi hopes to use her degree to pursue a career which synthesizes these interests. Currently, Tobi is pursuing service work both at Princeton and with her own project which hopes to democratize skateboarding by building skateparks in shipping containers.
Avigail Gilad | Former Web Designer & Research Assistant
Avigail is a sophomore at Princeton University, studying Architecture. She is originally from Tel Aviv, Israel and is interested in the intersection of public spaces, sustainability and how design can influence people’s interactions. Avigail hopes to learn more about sustainable building practices and passive cooling in hot climates.