Kazys Varnelis (born 1967) is an American historian and theorist of architecture, specialising in network culture. He is Director of the Network Architecture Lab at Columbia University's

Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation The Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP) is the Architecture school in the United States, architecture school of Columbia University, a Private university, private research university in New York City. It is also ...

and a founding member of the conceptual architecture practice Architecture Urban Design Collaborative (AUDC).AUDC
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Family and education

Varnelis grew up in Chicago and Berkshire County, Massachusetts. He is the son of artist Kazys Varnelis. He attended Simon's Rock College and received a Ph.D. from

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

in 1994. He has two children.

Work

Varnelis is a historian of architecture, writing on

Philip Johnson Philip Cortelyou Johnson (July 8, 1906 – January 25, 2005) was an American architect who designed modern and postmodern architecture. Among his best-known designs are his modernist Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut; the postmodern 550 ...

Andrea Branzi Andrea Branzi (30 November 1938 – 9 October 2023) was an Italian architect, designer, and academic. He was born and raised in Florence, though he lived and worked in Milan for much of his career. He was a professor and chairman of the School ...

, late modern and contemporary architecture. He has published in magazines such as Log, Volume, A+U, and Praxis. He has also written extensively on the Internet, locative media and network culture. Since 2000 has maintained a blog at his web site
varnelis.net
In addition to Columbia, he has taught at the

Southern California Institute of Architecture Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) is a private architecture school in Los Angeles, California. SCI-Arc was founded in 1972 when it was initially regarded as both institutionally and artistically avant-garde. It consists o ...

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

, and

University of Limerick University of Limerick (UL) () is a Public university, public research university institution in Limerick, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Founded in 1972, as the National Institute for Higher Education, Limerick, it became a university in Septemb ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. In 2004, he was appointed as senior researcher at the Annenberg Center for Communication where he worked with Mizuko Ito on "Networked Publics," a year-long research project. More recently he has been involved in research on infrastructure and urbanism, which he began as director of the Los Angeles Forum for Architecture and Urban Design. Together with Robert Sumrell, he founded AUDC as a conceptual architecture practice in 2001. They have exhibited at

Andrea Zittel Andrea Zittel (born 1965) is an List of American artists, American artist based in Joshua Tree, California, Joshua Tree, CA. Her art and community work encompasses modes of living and design practice in an ongoing investigation that explores the ...

's High Desert Test Sites and

Art Center College of Design The ArtCenter College of Design is a private art college in Pasadena, California. It was incorporated in 1930 as a degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both the visual arts and design. ...

. They have published their work in numerous magazines such as '' Cabinet'', ''

Perspecta Perspecta was a directional motion picture sound system invented by the laboratories at Fine Sound Inc. in 1954. The company was founded by Mercury Records engineer C. Robert (Bob) Fine, husband of producer Wilma Cozart Fine. As opposed to magn ...

'', Textfield, Verb and '' 306090''. Varnelis has also worked with the Center for Land Use Interpretation.

Bibliography

Edited books

*''The Philip Johnson Tapes: Conversation with Robert A. M. Stern'' *''The Infrastructural City'' *''Networked Publics''

With AUDC

*''Blue Monday: Stories of Absurd Realities and Natural Histories''

References

External links

Personal and Academic WebsiteNetwork Architecture LabAUDCInterview with Kazys Varnelis at Archinect
{{DEFAULTSORT:Varnelis, Kazys Living people Columbia University faculty 1967 births American people of Lithuanian descent 20th-century American architects 21st-century American architects Bard College at Simon's Rock faculty