Department of Design Tech
Top right: Shuhan Liang (M.S. DT '26) presenting his work during review. Bottom right: Xylo (2022) by Lucas Hitch (M.S. MDC '24), Ivania Rivera (M.S. MDC '24), and Ariana Rosario '24.
The new Department of Design Tech is a multicollege, transdisciplinary initiative pioneering innovation, research, and teaching on topics at the intersection of design and emerging technology that most greatly impact research, industry, and practice in a changing world.
Bridging expertise and catalyzing exploration, innovation, and collaboration in emerging areas, including design + interactions, design + materials, design + media, and design + environments, Design Tech is a generator of new modes, methods, and applications that redefine design practice and research.
Participating Cornell colleges: The College of Architecture, Art, and Planning (AAP), Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science (Cornell Bowers), Cornell Engineering, Cornell Human Ecology (CHE), and Cornell Tech in New York City.
Highlights
Degree Program
Master of Science, Design Technology (M.S. DT)
A two-year research and project degree offered jointly by the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning and Cornell Tech.
Student Work
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Tuesday, November 4, 2025
Knitting Machine Makes Solid 3D Objects
Professor of Information Science at Cornell Bowers and Design Tech faculty François Guimbretière and engineering student Victor Guimbretière ('29) developed a prototype knitting machine that creates solid three-dimensional objects by interlocking yarn in multiple directions, opening new possibilities for customizable, biomimetic materials.
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Monday, October 20, 2025
Gensler Family AAP NYC Center Opens Doors, Possibilities on Cornell Tech Campus
After a decade at 26 Broadway in Lower Manhattan, the center's move to Roosevelt Island affords new opportunities for connection and collaboration.
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Waymo Says Its Self-Driving Taxis Will Take Customers on Freeways for the First Time
NBC News: Associate Professor of Information Science and Design Tech faculty Wendy Ju offers "guarded optimism" about Waymo's new freeway-driving robotaxis, emphasizing that while the milestone is technically impressive, its real test lies in how safely and intuitively the vehicles interact with humans in fast, high-stakes environments.
Wednesday, November 12, 2025 -
At Bethel Woods's BuildFest Students and Faculty Work "Convivially" with Emerging Technology
The Architect's Newspaper: Design Tech faculty Lawson Spencer, former Architecture faculty Ekin Erar, alumni Jordan Young and Cait McCarthy (both M.Arch. '20), and AAP students contributed to BuildFest 2025 with projects advancing collaborative modular construction through robotic joinery and portable CNC fabrication.
Thursday, September 25, 2025 -
Designers Join Scientists to Make Living Architecture a Reality
PNAS: Architecture Professor and Design Tech Chair Jenny Sabin's living architecture research highlights collaborations with scientists and engineers to incorporate organisms such as yeast, bacteria, and algae into adaptive and self-healing architectural materials and structures.
Wednesday, September 17, 2025 -
Cornell Researchers Are Developing Flexible "Sun-Tracking" Material
Dezeen: A team of Cornell researchers led by Professor of Architecture and Design Tech Chair Jenny Sabin is developing a flexible solar material called HelioSkin that is integrated with sun-tracking capabilities similar to the biomechanics of sunflowers.
Friday, April 11, 2025
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Monday, September 29, 2025
High Energy Density Carbon-Cement Supercapacitors for Architectural Energy Storage
Design Tech Associate Professor James Weaver, who has a joint appointment in Cornell Engineering's Materials Science & Engineering (MSE), coauthored a paper reporting a carbon-cement supercapacitor material that combines structural and energy-storage functions to dramatically boost energy density in load-bearing concrete elements.
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Monday, September 1, 2025
Simulation as Reenactment, the Construction of Minga
Design Tech Associate Professor Jose Sanchez's paper introduces Minga, a multiplayer simulation that reimagines Chiloé’s house-pulling ritual to explore cultural preservation and the dynamics of cooperation.
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Thursday, July 24, 2025
A Bottom-Up Urban Building Energy Model for Evaluating Thermal Load Electrification Measures
Architecture and Design Tech Associate Professor Timur Dogan's paper in the Journal of Building Performance Simulation introduces a fully automated UBEM framework that integrates diverse data to model energy performance, evaluate retrofit and electrification scenarios, and advance decarbonization planning, demonstrated with over 5,000 buildings in Ithaca, NY.
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Friday, January 17, 2025
Bioinspired and Biobased 4D Printing for Adaptive Building Facades
Design Tech Assistant Professor Tiffany Cheng coauthored a paper on a 4D-printed weather-responsive shading system currently installed on the south-facing skylight of the livMatS Biomimetic Shell.
