Alanna is the “artist” of the group. She is not afraid to get her hands messy and actually enjoys it when she does. Outside of studying architecture Alanna is a jeweler and a horse enthusiast. She finds herself torn between her love for the city and her love for the rural lifestyle she grew up with in New Hampshire. Alanna is immune to caffeine and drinks somewhere between 4 to 6 cups of coffee a day and she likes it that way.

You will either enjoy Dionysios’s humor, or his stubbornness will drive you crazy. For better or worse Dionysios has the ability to shake up your day. Apart from his studies, Dionysios keeps occupied with his favorite New York sports teams: the Rangers, Mets, Giants and Knicks. Dionysios passionately played soccer during his youth; he continues to try to find a grass field, a soccer ball and goal worth protecting. He resides in the comforts of a diverse Greek neighborhood in Queens with his brother. Unlike his earlier years at Pratt, he set up a drafting studio at his home and split his time equally between home and studio. Dionysios is fascinated with the process of creation and fabrication, and finds it imperative to understand the construction process in his development as an architect.

Mike Toste, a.k.a. “Toast,” is the fun-loving member of the studio family. If you don't like Toste there is likely something wrong with you. He enjoys listening to music, reading architectural theory and wearing flannel shirts. He hates sprawl as much as he hates shirts that aren’t flannel. Toste has strong Irish roots and a scruff indie beard. Mike actually took a year away from studio in order to get a breath of fresh air and re-energize himself before finishing his education.

Mollie is the theorist of the group. She loves researching and writing about architecture just as much as she enjoys building a complex model out of laser-cut wood pieces. Throughout the thesis year Mollie juggles a part time job, a full time relationship, and applying to grad schools between occasional “design highs” which leave her laying in bed needing to return to the studio and get back to work.

Giancarlo, a.k.a. "G" or "Gianca," can be described as the leader of the pack. An old soul, young at heart kind of guy. When he's not in studio, he's probably cooking. Other than a love for cuisine, he also has a love for photography, poetry and soccer. When he first learned to walk, there was always a soccer ball very close by. Architecture may not allow for much time to even sleep, but once in awhile, you'll find him in the park, the Pratt lawn, or maybe the circus maximus. He'll be sure to correct you if there's some Italian word you mispronounced and he'll recount a story like an old man would while sitting in his smoking chair. All that and he'll make sure you don't leave without your cup of espresso corretto.

Tom is the long-standing dean of the School of Architecture at Pratt Institute. Mr. Hanrahan is also a practicing architect and founding partner of Hanrahan Meyers Architects hMa. He is widely recognized by numerous national and international publications, the Museum of Modern Art, the AIA and the National Academy of Design.

Pratt Institute | Hanrahan Meyers Architects

Currently Evan is the dean of the of the School of Architecture at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute but was the chair of the undergraduate department at Pratt Institute during the filming of Archiculture. He has taught extensively as an associate assistant professor, is the director of the architecture galleries at Columbia University and a visiting instructor at The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture at the Cooper Union. Mr. Douglis is also the principal of Evan Douglis Studio; an internationally renowned architecture and interdisciplinary design firm committed to the practice of digital alchemy. The firm has garnered international acclaim for their cutting-edge research into computer-aided digital design and fabrication technology, new materials and multi-media installations as applied to a range of diverse gallery installations, commercial projects, and more recently a series of prefabricated modular building assembly systems.

Pratt Institute | Evan Douglis Studio

Dan is an architect and educator who has been in private practice in New York since 1978. He studied architecture at the Institute of Architecture "Ion Mincu", in Bucharest, Romania. He holds a B. Arch from the City College of New York and earned a Master of Science in Architectural Psychology from the University of Surrey, Guilford, Surrey, England in 1976. Professor Bucsescu has been teaching at Pratt Institute since 1980. He has lectured and written about architectural education with a focus on grounding the pedagogical experience in theories of knowledge and philosophy of art. With Marc Schaut, he led one of the thesis design studios which many of our student characters chose.

Pratt Institute | Dan Bucsescu Architect | Synaesthesia Thesis Studio Blog

Marc is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Pratt Institute’s Undergraduate Architecture program and Associate at Ennead Architects. Mr. Schaut co-lead with Dan Bucsescu one of the thesis design studios which many of our student characters chose.

Pratt Institute | Ennead Architects | Synaesthesia Thesis Studio Blog

Shigeru Ban was born in Tokyo, Japan, but studied at the Southern California Institute of Architecture and the Cooper Union School of Architecture. He has previously taught at Columbia University and currently teaches at Keio University in Japan. In 1996, his company Shigeru Ban Architects was awarded the Kansai Architect Grand Prize. Ban focuses much of his design services to under-served communities throughout the globe. He is well known for his paper tube architecture structures and has been a major force in the efforts to help house refugees after such disasters as the Indian Ocean Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina.

Phil Bernstein is currently the Vice President of Autodesk and a professor at the Yale School of Architecture. He was formerly a principal at Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects and a Magna Cum Laude graduate from Yale. Phil is one of the forerunners of computer technology in the design field. He is a senior fellow of the Design Futures Council and former chair of the AIA National Documents Committee.

Phil's Blog | Yale School of Architecture | Autodesk

David Byrne is the founding member of the famed rock group the Talking Heads. Before the success of his musical career, he attended the Rhode Island School of Design where he studied art. Unimpressed with art school, David traveled around the United States exploring different musical opportunities. Today, beyond his array of musical endeavors, he has become very involved with civic planning and design. He recently worked with Lance Armstrong and Mayor Bloomberg to create “Summer Streets Day,” a day dedicated to car-free streets in New York City.

Livable Cities Journal | Wikipedia

Annie Choi is a graduate of the University of California Berkeley and Columbia University where she received her MFA in writing. She is best known for her book, Happy Birthday or Whatever and her letter, "Dear Architects I am sick of your Shit." She is also the author of AnnieTown.com.

Annie Town

Maurice Cox is currently the Director of Design for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). He is also a professor, an architect, and former Mayor of Charlottesville, Virginia. He currently teaches community based architecture at the University of Virginia. Maurice's honors include being the recipient of the Loeb Fellow from Harvard University as well as the John Hejduk Award for Architecture.

Kenneth Frampton is a revered architect, professor, critic and historian who currently works at Columbia University. Mr. Frampton was a great source to discuss the historic evolution of the profession of architecture and where the architect sits in today's society. His depth of experience in academia and critical perspective on the profession proved invaluable in his commentary for the documentary.

Terry Heinlein is an architect based in Massachusetts with experiences that include more than twenty years of practice in residential architecture and parallel professional teaching in schools of architecture. He holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in architecture from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. He is a member of the American Institute of Architects, the Boston Society of Architects, the United States Green Building Council, and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture. He splits his time between his practice and teaching at various schools across the US.

TGH Architect

Ted is the president of the Boston Architectural College (BAC) and was previously the Dean of Graduate and Continuing Education at the Massachusetts College of Art. He is widely recognized as an important advocate of diversity and of the African American cause in schools of architecture. He is a Senior Fellow of the Design Futures Council, and also serves on the organization's Executive Board. Mr. Landsmark earned a B.A. and J.D. from Yale University and a Ph.D. from Boston University. In 2006 he received the Whitney M. Young Jr. Award from the American Institute of Architects in recognition for his efforts as a social activist. He has emerged as one of the country’s leaders in bringing diversity to the design profession.

Thom Mayne is the co-founder of the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) and the Santa Monica-based studio Morphosis. He is the 2005 recipient of the Pritzker Prize and the 2001 recipient of the Chrysler Design Award. Although he leads one of the most elite engineering firms in the world, Mayne's work has long been seen as too progressive. Though with many recent completed works, such as the San Francisco Federal Building and Caltrans Headquarts in LA, his practice is

Mary Woods is a Michael A. McCarthy professor of Architecture at Cornell University. She is best known for her book From Craft to Profession, which was one of the first in-depth studies of the evolution of architectural education in the United States. Mary has a huge interest in how film and photography influence our understanding of the built environment, which is evident in her book Beyond the Architect’s Eye.

Cornell University

Workshop/apd specializes in high-end residential renovations, new home construction, and commercial development with an emphasis on the integration of sustainable methods that can help to identify and solve the challenges of the built environment in the 21st century. Winners of the Sustainable Design Competition for New Orleans, Matthew and Andrew have spoken around the world about their unique take on rebuilding New Orleans responsibly and their revolutionary approach to bringing ecologically sound design to low-cost housing. Their Right Frame initiative, set to launch this year, furthers this objective by combining style and responsible living into moderately priced options for a broader audience.