Dana Cupkova
EPIPHYTE LabDana Cupkova is a Co-founder and a Design Director of EPIPHYTE Lab, an interdisciplinary architectural design and research collaborative that was recognized in 2018 as the ‘Next Progressives’ design practice by ARCHITECT Magazine. She holds an Associate Professorship at Carnegie Mellon University's School of Architecture, where she serves as a Graduate Chair for the Master of Science in Sustainable Design. Engaging environmental ethics, Dana's design work is situated at the intersection of built environment and ecology, focused on materiality, embodied energy, and advanced manufacturing frameworks, with a particular interest in thermodynamics, and material waste streams. Dana is a member of the Editorial Board of The International Journal of Architectural Computing (IJAC), a recipient of the 2019 ACADIA Teaching Award of Excellence, the 2022 ACSA Creative Achievement Award, and a 2022-23 Fulbright US Scholar.
Michael Ford AIA, NOMA, NCARB
BrandNu Design StudioMichael Ford, an award-winning architect and educator, is originally from Highland Park, Michigan, and now based in Dallas, Texas. Ford is making waves in the design world with his pioneering program, The Hip Hop Architecture Camp, which uses Hip Hop culture to introduce underrepresented youth to architecture and design. This unique approach to diversifying the design professions has earned Ford national acclaim, with features in media outlets such as Oprah Winfrey Network's Super Soul Sunday, The TODAY Show, Rolling Stone Magazine, Architect Magazine, and Interior Design Magazine.
As a sought-after speaker, Ford has keynoted national conferences around the world, including the American Institutes of Architects National Conference on Architecture, American Planning Association's National Planning Conference, NeoCon, Interior Design Show Toronto, and his TEDx talk, "Hip Hop as Modernism's Post Occupancy Report."
Ford is the Founding Principal of BrandNu Design Studio, a full-service architecture and design studio based in Dallas, Texas. Ford’s studio is leading the design of notable projects such as The Universal Hip Hop Museum in The Bronx and the Black Inventor's Hall of Fame in Newark, New Jersey.
Ford has received numerous accolades for his contributions to the field, including the 2022 Wisconsin Young Architect of the Year and the Spirit of Detroit Award. However, he is most proud of Mike Ford Day, a day dedicated to him at Cass Technical High School in Detroit because of his commitment to youth.
At the heart of it all, Ford is a devoted husband and father to his sons, the late MJ3 and Mason.
Petra Kempf, PhD.
Washington UniversityPetra Kempf, PhD. is an architect, urban designer, and professor of architecture at Washington University in St Louis. Her creative practice and research speculate on how the assemblage of collective living has been influenced by urbanization.
Prior to pursuing an academic career, Kempf worked for the Department of City Planning in New York City, the Project for Public Space, and Richard Meier and Partners. She has taught at Cornell University, Columbia University, Rhode Island School of Design, Parsons School of Design, and the Technical University of Dortmund, Germany. She has lectured throughout the United States, Latin America, Europe, and the Middle East, and her drawings have been exhibited at venues such as Architecture Venice Biennale and Chicago Biennale, the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, Pink Comma Gallery in Boston, and Roca Gallery in London, among other galleries and academic institutions in the United States and Europe. She is author of You are the City – Observation, Organization and Transformation of Urban Settings (2009) and (K)ein Ort Nirgends – Der Transitraum im urbanen Netzwerk (2010).
Apart from her research work, she continually explores the concept of line drawings as agents to communicate the creation of place - a process where lines are being drawn, to only be redrawn, to record a journey through space to construct place.
Samuel Ringman
Ringman Design + IllustrationSamuel Ringman is a registered architect and architectural illustrator practicing in Dallas for forty-one years. An internationally recognized artist, he has received numerous awards in ASAI’s Architecture in Perspective competitions, KRob, and others, and has been featured in publications such as “Architectural Rendering”, “The Art of Architectural Drawing”, and the upcoming KRob 50th anniversary book.
Working in a variety of media and techniques, he provides illustration services for an international base of architects, interior designers, and developers. While emphasizing the illustrator’s role as part of the design team, he provides clients with a wide range of options, from loose sketches to finely detailed renderings, and produces images that are both representative and evocative. He is presently producing the illustrations for the upcoming “A Field Guide to American Buildings”.
Joshua M. Nason
Dean of Hammons School of ArchitectureProfessor Joshua M. Nason is Dean of Hammons School of Architecture at Drury University and Director of the collaborative design practice Iterative Studio. He has been on the K-Rob Competition Committee for nine years and a frequent moderator of the awards event. Previously, he was Assistant Director for the School of Architecture at UTA where he taught for 12 years following three at Texas Tech.
Teaching is his passion. He teaches design studio and classes on theory, drawing, and making. For him, it’s cultivating a series of experiences that help students realize their authentic potential to impact the built world. As an educator he emphasizes quality instruction and curricular innovation to imbue students with skills and confidence to advance architecture.
Josh approaches everything as a design project. He works across mediums including writing, drawing, and building, all which he considers acts of architecture that mediate between people and places.
2023
Fernando Andrade, AIA
Kate Aoki, AIA
César A. Lopez
Michael Malone, FAIA
2022
Jennifer Bonner
Carrie Norman
Melissa Shin
2021
Chris Cornelius
Sarah Reyes / Daniel Driensky
Moon Hoon
2020
Frank Jacobus
Anna Puigjaner
Neyran Turan
2019
Alejandro Borges
Christoph a. Kumpusch
Elena Manferdini
Anna Neimark
2018
Maya Alam
Ada Tolla
Michael Young
2017
Moh'd Bilbeisi
Petra Kempf
Jimenez Lai
Steven Quevedo
2016
Gabe Esquivel
Gill Gorski
Dwayne Oyler
2015
John Maruszczak
Warwick Melrose
Michael Rojkind
2014
Frank Ching
Thomas Series
Cliff Welch
2013
Alexander Hogrefe
Perry Kulper
Stephen Martiniere
2012
Carlo Aiello
Michael Malone
Jeff Mottle
2011
Kevin Sloan
Julie Snow
Alexander Walter
2010
Gary Cunningham
Namanand Henderson
Dan Wood
2008
Orhan Ayyuce
Christopher Genik, AIA
Mike Wells
2007
Jett Butler
Anton Garcia-Abril Ruiz
John Jourden
2006
Randy Brown, FAIA
Patricia Meadows
Mason White
2005
Javier Arbana-Homar
Kit Hall
Paul Lewis
2004
Neil Denari
Joseph Kosinski
Emily Summers
2003
Diana Cheatam
Ginny Herzog
Hanni Rashid
2002
Damon Bakun
Wes Jones, AIA
Chris Yessons, Ph.D.
2001
Kimberly Holden
Steven Nash
Mohammed Saleh Udden
2000
Daryl Duit
David Fox
Steve Lawrence
1999
Richard Keeting, FAIA
Joyce Rosner
Martha Rowlett
1997
Val Glitsch, FAIA
John Maruszczak
Lawrence Speck, FAIA
1996
John Blood
Jeffrey Hildner
David Sines
1995
Frank Constantino
John Desmond, FAIA
Sam Ringman
1994
Richard Ferrier, FAIA
Syd Mead
Paul Stevenson Oles
1993
Neil Denari
Elizabeth Dey
Matthew Morris
1992
Bart Forbes
Richard Harshaw Clark
Debra Natalos
1990
Natalye Appel, AIA
Thomas Schaller, AIA
Harwood Smith, FAIA
1989
Alan Balfour
Frank Constantino
Richard Ferrier, AIA
1988
Brian McCall
Lyle Novinski
Jorge Pardo, AIA
1987
Robert Evans, AIA
Martin Growald, AIA
Elizabeth Sasser
1986
Judith Hawn Urrutia
Dick Mitchell
Peter Waldman, AIA
1985
Robert LeMond, AIA
Richard Oliver
Paul Stevenson Oles, AIA
1984
Michael E. Doyle, AIA
Herschel Fisher, FAIA
Bon-Hui Uy
1983
Gerald Allen, AIA
Carlos Diniz
Peter Wolf
1982
Jim Arp
Paul Deeley, AIA
George Villalva, Jr., AIA
1978
Richard Ferrier, FAIA
1975
Richard Ferrier, FAIA
1974
Jean DuBoze
Ed Mok
Gerald Tackett