Sean Canty is an American architect, cultural activist and academic. He is currently an Assistant Professor at the

Harvard University Graduate School of Design The Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) is the graduate school of design at Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It offers master's and doctoral programs in architecture, landscape architecture, urban ...

in Cambridge. Canty is co-Director of Office III, an experimental architectural collective, and founder of Studio Sean Canty based in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Early life and education

Sean Canty received a Master of Architecture degree from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

’s Graduate School of Design and a Bachelor of Architecture degree from the

California College of the Arts California College of the Arts (CCA) is a private art school in San Francisco, California. It was founded in Berkeley, California in 1907 and moved to a historic estate in Oakland, California in 1922. In 1996 it opened a second campus in San ...

. During his academic tenure, he taught at the

Cooper Union The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (Cooper Union) is a private college at Cooper Square in New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-supported École Polytechnique in ...

in New York City,

University of California Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant univ ...

, and

. Before establishing his own firm, he was a Project Designer at Iwamoto Scott Architecture in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

Career

In 2020, Canty created a widely published list of 200 black creatives practicing in the United States as a response to

Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (abbreviated BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people. Its primary concerns are incidents of police bruta ...

. The list was a compilation of designers, artists and architects including

Thelma Golden Thelma Golden (born 1965 in St. Albans, Queens) is the Director and Chief Curator of The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York City, United States. Golden joined the Museum as Deputy Director for Exhibitions and Programs in 2000 before succeeding ...

Germane Barnes Germane Barnes is an American architect, designer and an Assistant Professor of Architecture at the University of Miami in Florida. Barnes was a 2021 recipient of the Rome Prize in Architecture. Early life and education Barnes was born and raise ...

, Olalekan Joyifous, V.Mitch McEwen and many others. In 2017, as part of Office III, Canty designed and constructed an all timber visitors' center for

Governors Island Governors Island is a island in New York Harbor, within the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is located approximately south of Manhattan Island, and is separated from Brooklyn to the east by the Buttermilk Channel. The National Park ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Canty's current design focus is on residential work which he has presented during several academic lectures across the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

including public talks at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

, AIA New York

Center for Architecture The Center for Architecture is located in the neighborhood of Greenwich Village at 536 LaGuardia Place, between West 3rd Street and Bleecker Street in Manhattan, New York City. The center was designed by architect Andrew Berman and completed i ...

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

, Le Laboratoire, CU Denver,

Cal Poly Pomona California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona, CPP, or Cal Poly"Cal Poly" may also refer to California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo in San Luis Obispo. See the ''name'' section of this article for more infor ...

and

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

to name a few. His work has been exhibited in several institutions and museums including the

Storefront for Art and Architecture Storefront for Art and Architecture is an independent, non-profit art and architecture organization located in SoHo, Manhattan in New York City. The organization is committed to the advancement of innovative positions in architecture, art and desi ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. In June 2021, his work titled “Drawing Doubles” was exhibited at the SoHo’s a83 gallery as part of the “Architectural Drawing: Not for Construction” exhibition.

Public talks

Sean Canty has been a frequent speaker and lecturer at several academic institutions across the U.S. and globally including

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

Wentworth Institute of Technology Wentworth Institute of Technology (WIT) is a private institute of technology in Boston, Massachusetts. Wentworth was founded in 1904 and offers career-focused education through 21 bachelor's degree programs as well as 13 master's degrees. Histo ...

, CU Denver, CalPoly Pomona,

Woodbury University Woodbury University is a private university in Burbank, California, with a satellite campus in San Diego. History The school was founded in 1884 as Woodbury's Business College by its namesake, F. C. Woodbury, formerly a partner in Heald's Busi ...

University of Johannesburg The University of Johannesburg (UJ) is a public university located in Johannesburg, South Africa. The University of Johannesburg came into existence on 1 January 2005 as the result of a merger between the Rand Afrikaans University (RAU), the Te ...

, SoCal NOMAS.

Awards

In 2020, Sean Canty was awarded the Richard Rogers Fellowship established by

alongside fellow architect Michelle Chang. The

MoMA Moma may refer to: People * Moma Clarke (1869–1958), British journalist * Moma Marković (1912–1992), Serbian politician * Momčilo Rajin (born 1954), Serbian art and music critic, theorist and historian, artist and publisher Places ; Ang ...

Young Architects Program shortlisted Canty in 2017 as one of four designers to envision a pavilion for the P.S.1 Museum courtyard. As part of the annual

Times Square Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway, Seventh Avenue, and 42nd Street. Together with adjacent ...

Valentines Heart program, Canty was shortlisted to create a design proposal for the 2020 competition. He was also finalist in the

Civitella Ranieri Civitella, a diminutive of ''Civita'' ("city"), is the name of over a dozen towns in Italy: ''Comuni'' * Civitella Alfedena, in the province of L'Aquila * Civitella Casanova, in the province of Pescara * Civitella d'Agliano, in the province of Vite ...

Architecture Prize competition with the focus to invite one emerging architect each year to the Civitella Ranieri Center in Italy. Pin-Up Magazine featured Canty as one of eight emerging firms.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Canty, Sean Harvard Graduate School of Design faculty Cooper Union faculty University of California, Berkeley faculty California College of the Arts faculty California College of the Arts alumni Harvard Graduate School of Design alumni 21st-century American architects Year of birth missing (living people) Living people