Education

1986 M. Urban Design, City College of New York
1975-1976 M.S. program, Structural Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (no degree received)
1975 B. Arch., Cornell University

Academic Experience

2022–present Professor Emeritus, Department of Architecture, Cornell University
2011–2022 Professor, Department of Architecture, Cornell University (Fall 2016 Fulbright Scholar at Tianjin University)
1996–2011 Associate Professor, Department of Architecture, Cornell University
1997–1998 Associate Professor, Department of Architecture, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (sabbatical leave)
1988–1996 Assistant Professor, Department of Architecture, Cornell University
1980–1987 Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Architecture, City College of New York

Professional Registration

1979–present Registered Architect, New York State

Professional Architectural Practice

1990–present Jonathan Ochshorn, Private Practice
1987–1988 Project Manager, John Ash A.I.A. Assoc.
1984–1987 Associate Director, City College Architectural Center
1982–1983 Project Architect, Battaglia-Seckler, Architects
1978–1980 Project Architect/draftsman, Pomeroy, Lebduska Assoc.
1976–1978 Draftsman, Poor, Swanke, Hayden & Connell

Honors and Awards

2016 Fulbright U.S. Scholar Grant (Fall semester): lecturer at Tianjin University School of Architecture, Tianjin, China

2001 Fulbright Senior Specialist Award: conducted workshop on structural behavior at Chiang Mai University, Thailand

Courses Taught: Cornell

Building Technology:
Building Technology I: Materials & Methods
Building Technology II: Structural Elements
Sustainable Architecture: the Science and Politics of Green Building

Design:
2nd-year studio, 4th-year Rome studio (with L. Briggs), 4th-year CAD studio (with W. Goehner), 5th-year and graduate thesis

Environmental Controls

Site Planning

Recent Publications

OMA's Milstein Hall: A Case Study of Architectural Failure, September 2023.

Bad Building: Architecture's Aesthetics Should Support, Rather than Sabotage, a Building's Function, Op-Ed in The Architect's Newspaper, June 9, 2022.

Building Bad: How Architectural Utility is Constrained by Politics and Damaged by Expression, Lund Humphries (2021).

Structural Elements for Architects and Builders, Third edition, September 2020.

Utility's Evil Twin: The Function of Venustas and the Fear of Reality, March 2020.

Sullivan's Eagle: Form and Function Artistically Considered, March 2020.

Experiencing Urban Infrastructure in Tianjin, June 2019.

Commentary on Cornell University's Fine Arts Library design proposal Summer 2010 – present

Flexibility and its discontents: Colquhoun's critique of the Pompidou Center, March 2019.

Revisiting Form and Forces: A Critique of Graphical Statics, April 2017.

A Fulbright Journal: Five months in Tianjin, Late December Press (self-published), March 2017.

Architecture's Dysfunctional Couple: Design and Technology at the Crossroads July 2014

A Probabilistic Approach to Nonstructural Failure April 2013

Critique of Milstein Hall July 2012 (in progress)

Stirrup Spacing in Reinforced Concrete Beams June 2012

Parody of Paul Goldberger's review of the Barnes Foundation move May 2012

Additional selected writings online

Free Online Calculators

Structural element calculators | Bldg. technology calculators

Exhibitions, podcasts, and other events

"Building Bad, Parts 1: How Architectural Utility is Constrained by Politics," Planetizen online course, June 2023

"Building Bad, Part 2: How Architectural Utility is Damaged by Expression," Planetizen online course, June 2023

"Health, Safety, and Welfare: The Role Played by Politics and Architectural Expression," Lectures given to the second-year Cornell B.Arch class, March 2023

"Expression of Structure," Woxsen International Lecture Series, Sept. 16, 2022

Building Bad: How Architectural Utility is Constrained by Politics and Damaged by Expression, Cornell University Chats in the Stacks book talk, April 14, 2022

Control Layers, Abstraction, and Utilitarian Dysfunction, Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) Syracuse Chapter (AIA Continuing Education credits), March 3, 2022

Video and song prepared for, and presented at, Thumbnail event at Cornell with the theme of "fluff," April 15, 2016.

Business of Architecture podcast on Milstein Hall as 'Disaster' Oct. 2013

Milstein Hall construction videos, "OMA/Progress" exhibition at Barbican Art Gallery, London, England, Oct. 6, 2011 – Feb. 19, 2012.

Faculty show: "Cause and Effect," Hartell Gallery, Cornell University, Feb. 14–25, 2005. Project examined design process in terms of the exhibition theme (see exhibition panel).

Recent administrative positions

Speaker of the University Faculty Senate (2021–present); Director of Graduate Studies (2019–2020); Interim Director of Graduate Studies (Fall 2017); Director of Graduate Studies (2012–2015); Director of Undergraduate Studies (2010–2011); Faculty representative, University Review Board (2004–2010; 2012–2014); Faculty representative, University Lectures Committee (2007–2011; chair 2010–2011); Associate Chair, Dept. of Architecture (2001–2004); Director of Graduate Studies, Field of Architecture (1997–2004); Chair, University Committee on Academic Freedom and Professional Status of the Faculty (Spring 2003–Spring 2004).

Other service

Faculty Fellow, Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future, Cornell University, 2012–2017; Juror for the 11th annual ACSA/AISC Student Design Competition 2011; Fulbright Senior Specialist Program 2006–2008 Urban Planning Peer Review Committee; Advisory Board, Architectural Graphic Standards, Student Edition (2006–2007).