V. Mitch McEwen (born 1978) is an American architect and urban planner, cultural activist, and Assistant Professor at the Princeton University School of Architecture. She is co-founder of Atelier Office, a design and cultural practice working within the fields of urbanism, technology, and the arts. McEwen is a co-founder and member of the

Black Reconstruction Collective The Black Reconstruction Collective (BRC) is an American architecture collective. The BRC was formed by participants in the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) ''Reconstructions: Architecture and Blackness in America'' project which was exhibited in the ...

and a board member of the

Van Alen Institute Van Alen Institute is a New York City-based independent nonprofit architectural organization, dedicated to improving design in the public realm. It was founded in 1894 as the Society of Beaux-Arts Architects. In 1995, the institute was named in hono ...

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 * '' ...

. She was given the 2010

New York State Council on the Arts The New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) is an arts council serving the U.S. state of New York. It was established in 1960 through a bill introduced in the New York State Legislature by New York State Senator MacNeil Mitchell (1905–1996), ...

Independent Projects Award for Architecture, Planning and Design.

Education and career

McEwen earned her Master of Architecture degree at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in New York City and a B.A. in Social Studies from

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

in Cambridge, MA. McEwen was an Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan's

Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning The A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, also known as Taubman College, is one of the nine professional schools at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Taubman College offers the following degrees: Bachelor of Science ...

from 2014 to 2017; in the fall of 2017, she joined Princeton as an Assistant Professor in Architecture. In 2014, McEwen received a

Graham Foundation The Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts is a 501(c)3 non-profit that “fosters the development and exchange of diverse and challenging ideas about architecture and its role in the arts, culture, and society. The Graham realize ...

research grant for her project ''House Opera , Opera House'', and she was awarded a second Graham Foundation grant in 2016 for ''Methexis: The Algorithmic Recitative'', a collaboration with Farzin Lotfi-Jam which was exhibited at MOCAD in Detroit. McEwen received a 2015 award from the

Knight Foundation The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, also known as the Knight Foundation, is an American non-profit foundation that provides grants for journalism, communities, and the arts. The organization was founded as the Knight Memorial Education ...

for her continued work on community housing in Detroit. In 2016, McEwen's A(n) Office was selected as one of twelve architecture practices included in the United States Pavilion for the 15th

Venice Architecture Biennale Venice Biennale of Architecture (in Italian Mostra di Architettura di Venezia) is an international exhibition of architecture from nations around the world, held in Venice, Italy, every other year. It was held on even years until 2018, but 202 ...

. She was named curator of the New Museum's IDEAS city initiative in 2018. In February 2021, her work was included in 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 ...

exhibition ''Reconstructions: Architecture and Blackness in America'', the museum's first architecture exhibition highlighting the synthesis between architecture and African-American cultures and communities. In a ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' interview with this "new collective of Black architects and artists", fellow exhibition artist Emanuel Admassu said the group is working to "reclaim the larger, civic promise of architecture". McEwen was also interviewed by architectural magazine

Dezeen ''Dezeen'' is an online architecture, interiors and design magazine based in London, with offices in Hoxton and also previously in New York City. History ''Dezeen'' was launched in London by Marcus Fairs at the end of November 2006. Its New Yo ...

for an article titled ''Twenty-two women architects and designers you should know''.

References

External links

Assistant Professor, Princeton School of Architecture

Atelier Office
{{DEFAULTSORT:McEwen, V. Mitch Princeton University faculty Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning faculty Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation alumni Harvard College alumni African-American architects 21st-century American architects 1978 births Living people 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people