Lucia Allais

Lucia Allais is an Associate Professor and Director of the Temple Hoyne Buell Center for the Study of American Architecture at Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP). She holds a B.S.E. in Architecture and Engineering from Princeton, an M.Arch from Harvard, and a PhD in Architectural History from MIT. Previously, she spent a decade at Princeton University as a Behrman-Cotsen Fellow, Assistant Professor, and tenured Associate Professor. At Columbia, she also serves in the Center for Comparative Media.

Research Interests: Allais specializes in architectural historiography, focusing on internationalism, material histories (especially concrete), and architecture's role in political culture and global governance. Her book Designs of Destruction (2018) reinterprets 20th-century monument preservation through international organizations like UNESCO. Current projects include the interdisciplinary Concrete 100 initiative with Forrest Meggers, addressing carbonation equation implications in construction.

Key Contributions: Co-edits Grey Room journal, collaborates with the Aggregate Architectural History Collective, and curated major exhibitions like Legible Pompeii (2014 Venice Biennale) and Mixed Being (2016 Istanbul Triennial). Her work bridges humanities and STEM via material science collaborations.

• Awards: Graham Foundation, CASVA, Radcliffe Institute Fellowships
• Teaching: Leads courses on architectural history, topographic modernism, and structuralism
• Grants: Supported by Harvard CES, MIT, and Columbia initiatives