Carl Lostritto
Director, Professor
Carl Lostritto’s teaching, practice, and research explore the intersections between computation and representation. He practices architecture speculatively with experimental techniques and custom tools. His forthcoming book, Impossible and Hyper-Real Elements of Architecture, explores the conceptual and practical relationships between rendering, drawing, and digital culture. The publication, like his first book, Computational Drawing, is designed to instruct as well as provoke.
A significant body of Lostritto’s work is produced by writing code to control vintage pen-plotters. This practice began while he was a student at MIT in the Design and Computation group. Over two decades he’s reiterated, indexed, and experimented with algorithms and material drawings. This work has been shown in exhibits, performances, publications and lectures including “Drawing Attention” at Roca London Gallery, Drawing Futures published by UCL Press, “Designing the Computational Image / Imagining Computational Design” at the Miller Gallery of Contemporary Art in Pittsburgh, and an experimental “Happening” on a rooftop in downtown Los Angeles.
Prior to moving to Knoxville, Lostritto taught at RISD for ten years. He was also the RISD Architecture Graduate Program Director from 2017-2022, during which time he led curricular initiatives to reform, distinguish, and grow the M.Arch program. With a group of interdisciplinary faculty, he also co-created RISD’s Computation Technology & Culture undergraduate concentration. Prior to RISD, Lostritto taught at MIT, Boston Architectural College, the Catholic University of America, and University of Maryland.
