José Ibarra (he/him/él) is a Venezuelan designer, researcher, and educator whose interdisciplinary work explores the intersection of architecture and environmental uncertainty. He is an Assistant Professor of Architecture at the Pennsylvania State University Stuckeman School. Ibarra is director of Studio José Ibarra and co-founder of House Operations and the Agency for Work and Play.
Ibarra’s research centers on architecture’s capacity to meaningfully engage with crisis, whether social, ecological, or planetary. Through design, curation, writing, and teaching, he develops multifocal approaches that reframe architecture as a responsive and relational practice amid social unrest, environmental degradation, and climate crisis. Recent projects include Werewolf: The Architecture of Lunacy, Shapeshifting, and Material Metamorphosis (AR+D, 2022), co-edited with Caroline O'Donnell; Table Manners, a series of performative, academically grounded events that bring people together in unexpected ways; and Casa Libertad, a private residence in Tecate, Mexico. He has served as editor for ASSOCIATION, The Cornell Journal of Architecture, Pidgin Magazine, and the Architecture Reading Group. His teaching has earned numerous accolades, including the 2022 ACSA/AIAS New Faculty Teaching Award, the 2024 ACSA/AIA Housing Design Education Award, and the 2025 Tulane Honorable Achievement for Interdisciplinary Climate Change Curriculum in Architecture. His design and scholarly work have been recognized and published internationally, including with a Graham Foundation grant for his collaborative project with Liz Gálvez, Latinx Coalition Chats.
He is currently working on two book projects: Table Manners: Participatory Design amidst Planetary Crises, which reimagines architecture as a dynamic platform for activism and planetary repair; and Architecture, Time, and the Anthropocene: Designing with Geoempathy, which positions architecture as a mediator of process, kinship, and deep time across species, calling for design collaborations between humans, animals, plants, grounds, and atmospheres.
Ibarra was Assistant Professor of Architecture at the University of Colorado Denver (2022–2025) and the University of Virginia (2020–2022), and previously served as Urban Edge Fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (2019–2020). He has also taught at Cornell University and practiced architecture at firms including Barkow Leibinger, CODA, and Studio Eber. Ibarra holds an Associate in Arts in Architecture from Miami Dade College, a Bachelor of Architecture with a minor in German Studies from Cornell University, and a Post-Professional Master of Architecture from Princeton University, where he also earned a Certificate in Media and Modernity. At Princeton, he received multiple honors, including the 2019 Robert Geddes Post-Professional Award, the 2018 Howard Crosby Butler Fellowship, and the Princeton University Fellowship.
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RECENT COLLABORATORS + TEAM
Liz Gálvez
Cyrus Peñarroyo
Debbie Chen
Leen Katrib
Leyuan Li
Deborah Garcia
Andrés Romero Pompa
Paola Cuevas Báez
Michael Jefferson
Caroline O'Donnell
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Jack Lodmell
Matthew McLendon
Martina Grbac
Mo Zaina
Christopher Holm
Marshall Reilly
Maslin Mellick
Irem Cetin
Emelia Lehmann
Benjamin Zerrien
Parris Wright
Lexie Peterson
Seth Calmes
John Horak
Simon Lesina-Debiasi
NEWS
just joined the Penn State faculty
as assistant professor of architecture!
August 28, 2025
The exhibition, Section as Cosmogram: From the Heavens to the Earth, curated by David Salomon (Ithaca College), opens its doors, featuring my drawing, "Moray and the Inca Cosmology."
May 7, 2025
The Biennale d'Architecture et de Paysage d'Île de France (BAP!) opened its doors, featuring work from my option studio, "Climate Forecasts: Architecture in 2100," taught at Cornell University in Fall 2024.
March 31, 2025
Won the 2025 Tulane Honorable Achievement for Interdisciplinary Climate Change Curriculum in Architecture, sponsored by Tulane University's Center on Climate Change and Urbanism.
February 2, 2025
Launched the "Academy for Public Scholarship on the Built Environment: HOUSING EQUITY" in my role as Co-chair of the ACSA 2024–2025 Research & Scholarship Committee.
January 30, 2025
Co-hosted the "Navigating Funded Research and Creative Works in Schools of Architecture," with speakers Andrew D. Chin (Florida A&M), Sedef Doganer (Wentworth), Andrew Mondschein (UVA), Kathy Velikov (Michigan), moderated by Corey Gracie-Griffin (Penn State). This event was part of the ACSA Research & Scholarship Committee.
June–December, 2024
Taught at Cornell University as a Visiting Assistant Professor in Summer and Fall 2024.
August 14, 2024
Published the ACSA White Paper: “2024 Research and Scholarship for Promotion, Tenure, and Reappointment in Schools of
Architecture," developed alongside Timothy O. Adekunle, Ian Caine, Martha Campbell, Shelby Doyle, José L.S. Gámez, Shawhin
Roudbari, and Eric W. Ellis.
June 18, 2024
Hosted the "Climate, Architecture, and Policy Communications Online Workshop," with speakers Anyeley Hallová (Adre), David Livingston (USC), James Ball (GreenBiz Group), moderated by Allison Agsten (USC Annenberg). This workshop was part of the ACSA Academy for Public Scholarship on the Built Environment.
June 13, 2024
Hosted the "Climate, Architecture, and Storytelling Online Workshop," with speakers Rosanna Xia (LA Times), Arathi Govind (The Redford Center), Alisa Petrosova (Good Energy), and Joshua Dawson (Joshua Ashish Dawson), moderated by Allison Agsten (USC Annenberg). This workshop was part of the ACSA Academy for Public Scholarship on the Built Environment.
May 30–31, 2024
Hosted the Latinx Coalition Chats, together with Liz Gálvez, at the Architectural League of New York.
May 11, 2024
Presented “Becoming Monster: Architecture's More-than-Human Entanglements” at Badgering Architecture: An Interdisciplinary Symposium on Co-Habitation with Other Species, organized by Richard Fadok, on a panel alongside Roxi Thoren and Claire Zimmerman.
April 10, 2024
Designed and held the Table Manners: "Landscape Awakening" session with Cyrus Peñarroyo at CU Denver.
March 21, 2024
Designed and held the Table Manners: "Earthly Becomings" session at UW-Madison.
March 16, 2024
Co-moderated the “Future of Tenure and Promotion” special session at the ACSA 112th Annual Meeting with Shelby Doyle, which also featured Timothy Adekunle, Ian Caine, Martha Campbell, José L.S. Gámez, and Shawhin Roudbari as facilitators.
March 15, 2024
Facilitated the “Communicating for Impact: Climate Storytelling Tips for Public Media” special session at the ACSA 112th Annual Meeting, which featured panelists Allison Agsten, Ian Caine, Billy Fleming, and Cruz García; and moderator Martha Campbell.
March 5, 2024
Launched the Latinx Coalition Chats website. This project is co-organized with Liz Gálvez, and it will take place on May 30–31 at the Architectural League of New York.
February 7, 2024
Won the 2024 ACSA/AIA Housing Design Education Award for the CU Denver studio "Denver Low-Rise: New Domestic Forms of Collective Living," co-taught with Leyuan Li.
February 2, 2024
Launched the "Academy for Public Scholarship on the Built Environment: CLIMATE ACTION" in my role as Chair of the ACSA 2023–2024 Research & Scholarship Committee.
November 3, 2023
Presented “Thinking with Non-Life: Process, Accident, and Deep Time” at Princeton University's Building Life Workshop, on a panel alongside Deborah Garcia and Joon Ma; moderated by Sylvia Lavin.
October 30, 2023
Designed and held the Table Manners: "Under the Table" session with Debbie Chen at CU Denver.
October 5, 2023
Designed and held the Table Manners: "Town and Gown, A Pop Up Archive" session with Leen Katrib at CU Denver.
August 17, 2023
Presented "Architecture’s New Weird Turn" at SFRA/GfF: Disruptive Imaginations Annual Conference, on a panel alongside Philip M. Crosby, Frank Müller, and Anke Schwarz; moderated by Orit Halpern.
July 1, 2023
Awarded the 2023 Graham Foundation Grant for project “Latinx Coalition Chats,” a collaborative symposium with Liz Gálvez, to be hosted at The Architectural League of New York.
June 12, 2023
Joined Adam Wagoner's podcast, ARCHITECT-ING, where I discussed research and teaching alongside Assia Crawford and Leyuan Li.
April 11, 2023
Awarded two AIA Colorado / Architectural Education Foundation traveling grants for project "Andean Cosmologies: Documenting ecologically-responsive architectures and cities that nurture human-Earth relationships."
March 30, 2023
Presented "Climate Hypertheticals: Media, Audience, and Speculation” alongside Debbie Chen at the ACSA 111th Annual Meeting, on panel 'Redefining Climate Research in the Built Environment' with Joyce Hwang, Curry Hackett, Timothy Adekunle, and Caryn Brause; moderated by Gundula Proksch and Vandana Baweja.
March 27, 2023
Designed and held the Table Manners: "Housing Geostories" session with Rania Ghosn at CU Denver.
January 10, 2023
Awarded a University of Colorado Denver CAP Evolve Seed Grant for project “Latinx Coalition Chats,” a collaborative symposium with Liz Gálvez, to be hosted at The Architectural League of New York.
