Distributed Architecture is a New York-based design and research practice run by architects Catherine Ahn and Fabrizio Furiassi. The practice is committed to designing participatory and instigative processes that connect and strengthen communities. Distributed Architecture is a current recipient of the NYSCA & The Architectural League of New York’s Architecture + Design Independent Projects Grant (2022-2023), and the Columbia University GSAPP Incubator Prize (2021-2022 & 2022-2023). Catherine Ahn and Fabrizio Furiassi work at the intersection of pratice and academia, and currently lead a unit at the AA Visiting School Seoul.
Catherine Ahn is an architectural designer and researcher based in New York and Seoul. She has over ten years of professional experience in cultural, residential, and hospitality projects at SITE, Obra Architects, and Andrew Franz Architect. Catherine graduated in architecture at Princeton University SoA and the Cooper Union. She also studied at the Hongik University. Catherine was a research fellow at the Institute for Public Architecture in New York where she investigated new modes of community engagement with industrial stakeholders around Newtown Creek. Recently, she has completed research projects on construction and demolition waste, environmental justice, and collective design pedagogy at the Women’s School of Planning and Architecture (WSPA) with the Princeton Mellon Initiative.
Catherine’s awards include the Peter W. Bruder Memorial Prize for Excellence in Structures (2009) and the Abraham E. Kazan Award for Urban Design Studies (2009) from Cooper Union; the Howard Crosby Butler Fellowship (2019), the Robert Geddes Post-Professional Award (2020) and the Suzanne Kolarik Underwood Prize (2020) from Princeton University SoA. She was shortlisted for the AIANY / ASLANY’s Transportation + Infrastructure Design Excellence Award (2020).
Fabrizio Furiassi is an architect, researcher and educator based in New York and Basel. He teaches architectural history/theory and design studio at The New School and has over ten years of professional experience at architecture firms and cultural institutions, including at Sou Fujimoto Architects in Tokyo, Obra Architects and the Arthur Ross Architecture Gallery (GSAPP Exhibitions) in New York. Fabrizio holds master’s degrees from Columbia University GSAPP and La Sapienza University of Rome. He also studied at the Moscow Institute of Architecture, and was a research fellow at the Strelka Institute. Fabrizio is currently developing research at the University of Basel. His work traces the urbanization of Sicily during Italy’s postwar building boom, elucidating the social and spatial impacts of the Mafia’s concrete developments. An introduction to the project was published in Log 53: Why Italy Now?
Fabrizio’s awards include the Tutoring Fellowship (2009) and the Extra-EU Mobility Grant (2013) from La Sapienza University; the Torno Subito Grant (2014-2015 & 2016-2017) from Regione Lazio; the Research Fellowship (2015-2016) from Strelka Institute; the Avery Scholarship (2018-2019) from Columbia University; the Doc.CH (2022-2026) and the Mobility Research Grant (2023) from the Swiss National Science Foundation. He was shortlisted for the Archiprix International / MIT (2011), and the EUMiesAward / Young Talent Architecture Award (2016) sponsored by the Fundació Mies van der Rohe.
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