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Drawing From and For Architecture Having begun his career in architecture as a Cornell student 22 years ago, Luben Dimcheff’s recent appointment as the Richard Meier Assistant Professor of Architecture is a kind of homecoming. “Of course, it is a great honor, and for me, it is also quite personal,” he commented. “Both as an academic institution and a community, Cornell embraced me—a young immigrant from Bulgaria. At AAP, I received an exceptional education, made many lifelong friends and mentors, and perhaps most important of all, found a purpose and the craft to pursue it.” Prior to his arrival in Ithaca in 1994, Dimcheff attended the prestigious Romain Rolland High School in Stara Zagora, Bulgaria, where he grew up. He left the country in 1991 as part of the first wave of people that were welcomed to the West after the dissolution of the Eastern Bloc countries. He landed in Seattle, Washington. “It was quite sudden and unexpected—at the time, I was preparing for entrance exams to the School of Architecture in Sofia. And in a fit of teenage optimism, I entered an international competition in fashion design and submitted some old drawings torn from the back of my math notebooks,” recalled Dimcheff. “I sent the original drawings of costumes in colored pencil on ruled paper, because color copies were too expensive.” He won first prize—a full scholarship to the Art Institute of Seattle—and briefly studied fashion design and textile science. “Those drawings were essentially my ticket to the United States,” Dimcheff added. “Thinking back, I can say I was very excited for the opportunity, even though by then I had no longer planned to pursue fashion professionally.” He quickly transferred to the Department of Interior Design and learned some fundamental skills—such as how to draw a plan and section—and remained open to where it would lead as he completed the program. “Despite the fact that I had fallen in love with architecture before leaving Bulgaria, I was pondering the likelihood that I might actually enjoy designing yacht interiors in the Pacific Northwest,” says Dimcheff. “It was then that a fellow Bulgarian immigrant, who was studying math at Cornell—also my best friend to this day—suggested that I look into their architecture program. I visited the campus, and was immediately
enamored with the Rand studios and Fine Arts Library meaningful and impactful collaborations to build on in Sibley Hall.” in the near future. I have drawn immense knowledge Dimcheff again credits his drawings for his offer from master builders, carpenters, and masons, near of admission with full funding to Cornell’s Bachelor of and far. In those conversations, and the infinite layers Architecture program. And even now, he remains pasof translation, I have resorted again to drawing—a sionate about drawing. He draws virtually every day language and a code that is innately universal yet regardless of whether there is a deadline, a project, or idiosyncratic, immediate and slow, precise and flawed— a client. In addition to courses in architectural design, and always potent with opportunities for invention.” Dimcheff has also taught several courses in drawing at Dimcheff says he intends to maintain his practice at both Parsons and AAP NYC. its current location despite plans to spend the majority “Drawing for me is the innate ability all architects of his time in Ithaca, and hopes to take on projects should master at the outset of their education and that are more focused, selective, and critical. And refine in perpetuity so that they can create freely, regarding the balance he'll maintain going forward, meaningfully, and with intent,” says Dimcheff. “It is Dimcheff sees an organic and essential relationship: the language of the architect—it changes as we do and “I came into teaching directly from practice, and while with the times we live in. Drawing is the instrument in practice, I never really left the perpetual motions that harnesses our imagination and brings it into view of teaching and learning . . . I cannot see myself sepaand onto paper—it is specific and precise, also daring rating the two.” and open to interpretation. How we draw, what we Dimcheff currently teaches the first-year architecture draw and what we don’t, and of course from what we studios with Associate Professor Val Warke, and is draw, are to me how architecture emerges.” working on a house in San Francisco, which happens After graduating from AAP in 1999 with a bachelor to be for the same close friend who had suggested of architecture degree, Dimcheff immediately went Cornell as an option in the 1990s. He is also building a to work in New York City, where he was a designer, set of interpretive models of the Parisian Arcades for project architect, and eventually a senior associate at the Jewish Museum in New York City, a short-term the office of Henry Smith-Miller and Laurie Hawkinson project that he sees as a natural extension of his recent for 10 years. “Both Henry and Laurie are established joint publication titled Model Perspectives: Structure, practitioners and dedicated teachers,” Dimcheff says. Architecture and Culture (Routledge, 2016). The book, “They lead graduate design studios and run their office which took years to complete and was released as one—continuously weaving practices in teaching, in fall 2016, is a collaboration with lead authors learning, research, and architectural practice into a Mark Cruvellier, architecture department chair and singular mode of operation.” Dimcheff kept their the Nathaniel and Margaret Owings Professor of model in mind as he set up his own design practice, Architecture; and Bjørn Sandaker, professor of archiand at the same time joined the faculty at Parsons tectural technology at the Oslo School of Architecture to teach in the departments of architecture, interior and Design. design, and lighting in 2009. At the present moment, Dimcheff is as excited Further expanding his role as an educator, Dimcheff about teaching as he is to continue to learn. “At was thrilled to accept an offer from Cornell to teach Cornell and AAP, I have been very fortunate to work for the Introduction to Architecture Summer Program with a number of inspired colleagues and enlightened in 2012, and since has become instrumental to its students across many disciplines and departments,” operations. The curriculum consists of an intense he says. “From the visceral turning of the press and eight-week program, often attended by students who smell of ink at Olive Tjaden Hall to the enigma are exploring the discipline for the first time. “It’s and promise of virtual reality and advanced computer a rigorous course of study for all involved, both the graphics at Rhodes Hall, and of course in the context students and the faculty. To witness the critical leap of a constant state of invention in the Milstein studios, in the work of those young students over a relatively I hope to continue my study of the generative language brief period is quite rewarding,” he commented. of design and drawing, and help each and every Concurrent with his teaching roles, Dimcheff has student find their own hand, and own their craft, so continued to develop projects at the New York City they can speak their mind.”AAP Edith Fikes office he established in 2009. The firm, Luben Dimcheff Studio, has completed projects in numerous locations including New York City, San Francisco, Mumbai, Sofia, and Rio de Janeiro. “In a very literal sense, my work is global—not so much far-reaching, but rather foreign to what I know. I draw from cultural and building practices from around the world,” says Dimcheff. “In the places where I have made a mark—even if it is minute in scale, I see my recent work as a basis for