Design x Technology Series: Karilyn Johanesen

Come to CoAD for our another innovative Spring 2026 Design x Technology Series talk featuring Karilyn Johanesen, Senior Associate at Solid Objectives Idenburg Liu.  Enjoy this talk in person or virtually.

Karilyn’s presentation on Tuesday, April 16 titled 'Solid Objectives Idenburg Liu,' will allow our guests to gain insight into the practice's design process including early concept design thinking, material research, and construction.

Solid Objectives Idenburg Liu is an architecture studio based in New York and Amsterdam, founded in 2008 by Florian Idenburg and Jing Liu. The practice has developed an internationally recognized body of work spanning cultural, civic, residential, commercial, and educational projects, from temporary installations to long-term urban strategies, across both new construction and adaptive reuse. At the core of SO–IL’s work is an ambition to strengthen the civic realm. Each project is approached as an opportunity to rethink convention and to design spaces that foster openness, collective engagement, and environmental responsibility. A commitment to craft, material precision, and intellectual rigor ensures that each building is deeply responsive to its context while contributing to broader architectural discourse.

Central to this lecture is the studio’s investigation of “edges”. SO–IL treats conventional divisions between interior and exterior, public and private, existing and new not as fixed lines, but as zones of tension and ambiguity. Through strategies of thickening, layering, elongating, and articulating, edges become active zones of negotiation and exchange. The result is buildings that rely less on iconic form than on the precise calibration of material assemblies and the climatic and social forces they mediate.

Presented by Karilyn Johanesen, Senior Associate, this lecture focuses on “edges” as a recurring theme in SO-IL’s work. The studio approaches the conventional divisions between interior and exterior, public and private, and existing and new as potential zones of tension, complexity, and ambiguity. Through strategies of thickening, layering, elongating, and articulating, edges become active zones of negotiation and exchange. The result is buildings that rely less on iconic form than on the precise calibration of material assemblies and the climatic and social forces they mediate.

This informative presentation will be moderated by Department Chair of Architecture and Associate Professor Gretchen Wilkins.

🛂 CoAD Freshman, this event counts towards your Experience Passport. 

CEU: This event equals 1 professional architecture credit towards licensure requirements. ​​

Please note that LTU is not a registered AIA CE provider. By virtue of having a NAAB-accredited architecture program, the State of Michigan authorizes LTU to offer continuing education credit. A list of state-approved HSW subjects can be found on their by searching the page for 'HSW subjects for continuing education'.

As part of CoAD's Design x Technology Series, this event is free and open to the public. Guests may watch online or on campus. Register for the location/viewing details. A pizza lunch will be provided to all on-site registered guests.

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