Thinklab is co-directed by Kathleen Brandt and Brian Lonsway, faculty at Syracuse University.
Kathleen Brandt (www.kathleenbrandt.org) is Research Assistant Professor in the School of Education and Faculty Lead of the capstone course in the Master of Science in Communications degree at S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. She is also co-founder and Managing Editor of PUBLIC: Arts, Design, Humanities, a journal of Imagining America. Together with Brian Lonsway, Kathleen is partner in KBL Studio.
She works between the fields of design, art, and education to develop and promote design systems that respond to current issues of social and cultural change. Her focus on design practice as a process of negotiation more than of material production has led her to develop intensely collaborative teaching and research strategies.
Kathleen has also developed a body of work exploring the implications of designed artifacts to our larger social and spatial environments. From wearable computing devices to interactive installations and documentary video works, these projects seek to theorize how and what we make, and reflect upon the impacts design and the making of things have left on the world.
Brian Lonsway is Chair of the Graduate Program and Associate Professor in the School of Architecture at Syracuse University.
Brian is an architectural theorist studying how built environments materialize cultural values, especially in the context of the professionalization of design practices since the 20th century. His first book, Making Leisure Work: Architecture and the Experience Economy, surveys the evolution and convergence of these histories, and explores new theories of civic agency within consumer-centric landscapes.
His current research is centered on exploring the inherent transdisciplinary of design, and the intersection of disciplinary and professional identities with alternative models of design practice. With Kathleen Brandt, he is a partner in KBL Studio. In addition to Thinklab, their work includes the conceptualization and design of The Einhorn Next Generation Design Studio, and the co-founding and design of the innovative online journal Public (PUBLIC: Arts, Design, Humanities, a journal of Imagining America).