paper/architecture

Alissa Anderson is Principal of Publications and Exhibitions at Studio Gang. With the Studio since 2009, she works closely with Jeanne Gang and others to develop books, writing, exhibitions, research, and related initiatives that share the Studio’s work and ideas with a variety of audiences. Alissa holds a master’s degree in Critical, Curatorial, and Conceptual Practices in Architecture (CCCP) from the Columbia University GSAPP and a Bachelor of Arts with honors in English and Creative Writing from Northwestern University. Outside the office, she pursues her own writing and research and is an editor-at-large of the Avery Review.

Iker Gil is a founding partner at MAS Studio, editor in chief of the nonprofit MAS Context, and executive director of the SOM Foundation. Iker has edited or coedited several books including Radical Logic: On the Work of Ensamble Studio and Shanghai Transforming. He has curated multiple exhibitions including Nocturnal Landscapes, Poured Architecture: Sergio Prego on Miguel Fisac, and BOLD: Alternative Scenarios for Chicago, part of the inaugural Chicago Architecture Biennial. He was Associate Curator of the US Pavilion for the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale and cocurator of Exhibit Columbus 2020–2021. He was the 2024 Morgenstern Visiting Chairs at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) and has taught at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), and the Escola da Cidade (São Paulo).

David Hays is the coeditor of Forty-Five: A Journal of Outside Research and codirector of the gallery Space p11. He is also a Professor at the Department of Landscape Architecture at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Much of his work has focused on interfaces between architecture and landscape architecture.

Ann Lui is an architect, principal of Future Firm, and Assistant Professor of Practice at the University of Michigan. Previously, she practiced at SOM, Ann Beha Architects, and Morphosis Architects. Ann was co-curator of the U.S. Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2018 titled Dimensions of Citizenship. She co-edited Public Space? Lost and Found (MIT/SA+P Press, 2015) on critical and aesthetic practices in the civic realm. Ann was recently named Newcity’s “Designer of the Moment” (2018) and Crain’s “40 Under 40” (2018). She holds an SMArchS from MIT and a BArch from Cornell University, where she was awarded the Charles Goodwin Sands Medal and the Clifton Beckwith Brown Memorial Medal.

Matthew Messner is an architect, designer, and critic. He holds a Masters of Architecture and a Masters of Art in Design Criticism from the University of Illinois Chicago and a Bachelor of Science in Architectural Studies with a Minor in Art History and Criticism from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee School of Architecture and Urban Planning. Currently he is an Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee School of Architecture and Urban Planning. Formerly he has worked in the offices of Jimenez Lai/Bureau Spectacular and Julian De Smedt in Copenhagen, Denmark. His design and writing have been published and featured in international galleries and publications, to include the Storefront for Art and Architecture, the Graham Foundation, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Peoples Art House of Zagreb, Croatia, and the 2014 Venice Biennale of Architecture. Matthew was in the Army Reserve for eight years and is a Veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.

Mimi Zeiger is a Los Angeles-based critic, editor, and curator. She is the cocurator of 2020–21 Exhibit Columbus and was cocurator of the U.S. Pavilion for the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale. Curatorial projects include Soft Schindler at the MAK Center for Art and Architecture and Now, There: Scenes from the Post-Geographic City, which received the Bronze Dragon award at the 2015 Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture, Shenzhen. Zeiger has written for the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Architectural Review, Metropolis, and Architect. Zeiger is the 2015 recipient of the Bradford Williams Medal for excellence in writing about landscape architecture. She is faculty at the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) and in the Media Design Practices MFA program at Art Center College of Design.

Julie Michiels is an architect, interior designer, and partner at MAS Studio. She has extensive experience leading teams focused on developing innovative yet timeless design solutions from the inside out. While she is rooted in Chicago, her work has taken her all over the world and given her the opportunity to practice at a variety of scales and on a wide range of project typologies. With a focus on interiors, throughout her career she has led the design of commercial office and workplace projects, libraries, K-12 schools, university buildings, single-family and multifamily housing, and cultural institutions.