Tess Clancy

Tess Clancy is the 2024-2026 Architecture Design Fellow at the University of Michigan's Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning. Based between the US and Rome, Italy, she teaches architectural design and representation courses across multiple semesters including ARCH 259, ARCH 412, ARCH 506, and ARCH 516. Her academic background includes an MArch from Cornell AAP and a BFA from Bryn Mawr College in Growth and Structure of Cities.

Clancy's research focuses on the intersection of architectural history, memory of place, and political power structures, particularly examining public monuments and architecture's capacity to both reinforce and subvert embedded power dynamics. Her work critically engages with Confederate monuments and white supremacy in the American landscape, exploring how architectural interventions can reveal and dismantle structures of racism. She has developed a significant body of work analyzing how monuments function as political tools and how architectural representation can expose hidden power structures.

Her notable publications include 'Racializing Public Space: Monuments to Racism as Obstructions to Freedom' (Cornell Journal of Architecture, 2020) and 'Augmenting Monuments,' a counter-catalog of architectural interventions for communities dealing with Confederate monuments. Her master's thesis 'Eroding the Confederacy: Revealing and Dismantling White Supremacy on Richmond's Monument Ave' won the prestigious Ruth Bentley and Richmond Harold Shreve Award.

• Ruth Bentley and Richmond Harold Shreve Award for best M.Arch thesis
• Robert James Eidlitz travel fellowship (2023) to fund 'Architectures Against Fascism'

Clancy has taught studios and visual representation courses at Cornell AAP and PSU's Stuckeman School, and has professional experience with New York firm New Affiliates and Rome-based Labics. Her ongoing projects include 'A People's Monument for Rome: Memories of Infrastructure and Self-built Urbanism in Italy's Capital City' and 'Architectures Against Fascism,' reflecting her commitment to exploring architecture's role in political and social contexts across different cultural landscapes.