Limits | Frontiers will explore alternate, divergent, or expanded modes of practice that leverage design and architecture in new contexts and economies. From working community interfaces, to new forms of manufacturing, work and fabrication, to design constructors, to working with emerging sources of capital and resources, architects are positioning themselves as being proactive entrepreneurs to rethinking the role of the architect.

Fall 2018 Conversations on Practice are organized by Yolande Daniels, Bob Mohr, Andrew Scott, and J. Meejin Yoon, with the Professional Practice course. Conversations aim to engage in productive dialogue about the current and future of practice, by focusing on the airing of critical, timely, and urgent questions facing architectural practice today.

Conversations take place on Friday mornings - September 28, October 19, and November 9 – from 9 AM - 12 PM, in the Long Lounge, Room 7-429.

Marcel Botha, 10xBeta
Marcel Botha is an entrepreneur, engineer, architect, and investor who experiments with simple hardware ideas on the edge between consumer and medical products, commercializing relevant experiments when they arise. Marcel specializes in guiding product development teams from concept to viable product and has a passion for product acceleration and digital manufacturing.

Liz Burow, VP, Director of Workplace Strategy, WeWork
Liz is the Director of Workplace Strategy at WeWork, where she focuses on bringing research insights into design—aligning space, culture and brand—while powering great workplace experiences. Prior to WeWork, Liz has worked with a number of Fortune 100 companies spanning tech, finance, media and creative sectors—helping sculpt visionary workplace strategies and change management programs. Liz received her Master of Architecture at MIT and was an Adjunct Professor at Parsons from 2008-2012. She is an expert facilitator and educator, frequently writing and speaking on design research and the future of work.

James Shen, People's Architecture Office
Originally from Los Angeles, James Shen received his M. Arch from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a BSc in Product Design from California State University, Long Beach. He is a Visiting Lecturer at MIT and Harvard Loeb Fellow. In 2010, Shen co-founded Beijing-based People's Architecture Office, a multi-disciplinary studio focused on social impact through design. People’s Architecture Office is the first architecture practice in Asia certified as a B-Corporation and serves as a model for social entrepreneurship.