Yael Erel

Yael Erel is an Assistant Professor and Co-Director of the Master of Architecture Program at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute School of Architecture. As an architect, educator, and light artist, she integrates light optics research into academic teaching and creative practice, focusing on light as a material for spatial and temporal design. She holds a Master of Architecture from Rensselaer and a Bachelor of Architecture from The Cooper Union, where she received the Irma Giustino Weiss Prize.

Her research explores systems of light sources and reflectors to create dynamic spatial narratives. Notable projects include Reverberating Light (2023), exhibited at EMPAC, and Reflecting on Troy, honored at the Troy Glow Light Festival. Erel’s work has been showcased globally, including at MIT, EMPAC, and MASS MoCA.

Recognized for her contributions, Erel has received awards such as the 2020 JAE Best Article Award and multiple RPI Brown Fellows Awards. Her practice, lightexture, designs light fixtures and installations that emphasize light’s sensory and formal qualities. She lectures internationally and has taught at Harvard GSD, Cooper Union, and Columbia University.

Grants include NYSCA support for Reverberating Light and the 2024 Arts Thrive Grow Award. She co-directs RPI’s Master of Architecture Program and collaborates across disciplines, including opera workshops and interdisciplinary installations at EMPAC.