David Benjamin is the founding principal of The Living and an assistant professor of Columbia GSAPP. His work combines research and practice, exploring new ideas through prototyping. Focusing on the intersection of biology, computation, and design, Benjamin has articulated bio-computing, bio-sensing, and bio-manufacturing as frameworks for harnessing living organisms in architecture. The Living has won prizes including the Emerging Voices Award from the Architectural League, the New Practices Award from AIA New York, the Young Architects Program Award from the Museum of Modern Art and MoMA PS1, the STARTS Prize from Ars Electronica, the EcoDesign Prize from the German Federal Government, and a Holcim Sustainability Award. Recent projects include the Princeton Embodies Computation Lab, Pier 35 EcoPark, and Hy-Fi, a branching tower made of biodegradable bricks.
