ON GROUND

ON GROUND: Seminal Projects and Critical Essays is a thematically organized volume that brings together critical essays and analytical studies of seminal architectural projects, each exploring the complex relationship between architecture and the ground. The volume presents in-depth graphic analyses of fifty architectural projects from the 1960s to the present, produced within the research and pedagogical framework of ARCH 791: Pioneering Technologies in Practice – THE GROUND, a Master of Architecture seminar at the School of Architecture and Design, New York Institute of Technology. Taught by Professor Tom Verebes in 2024, 2025, and 2026, the seminar supports original visual and spatial research by students, whose diagrammatic studies are paired with professional project photography. These visual investigations are accompanied by twelve critical essays authored by leading architects and scholars, offering reflections on the evolving technological and conceptual strategies that shape contemporary design practice.

Tom Verebes 

Is the director of his own practice, OCEAN CN Limited, based in New York and Hong Kong. His former academic roles include serving as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at New York Tech from 2018 to 2020, Associate Dean for Teaching and Learning as well as Associate Professor at the University of Hong Kong, Co-Director of the Design Research Lab at the AA in London, and most recently before joining New York Tech as the Founding Provost of Turenscape Academy. In addition, Verebes served as a Guest Professor at Akademie der Buildenden Künste ABK Stuttgart from 2004 to 2006, and has held Visiting Professor roles at University of Pennsylvania, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Syracuse University, RMIT, Singapore University of Technology & Design SUTD, and University of Tokyo. He has directed AA Visiting School programs, including the AA Shanghai Summer School for 12 consecutive years, as well as AAVS Xixinan and AAVS Shenzhen.

Verebes received his Bachelor of Architecture and Bachelor of Science (Arch.) from McGill University in Canada, a Research Certificate from the Laboratory of Primary Studies in Architecture in Paris, a Grad Dip (Design) from the Architectural Association in London, and a Ph.D. from RMIT in Australia. He has more than 150 publications, cited over 160 times, including Masterplanning the Adaptive City: Computational Urbanism in the Twenty-First Century (Routledge, 2013); a guest-edited issue of AD titled "Mass Customised Cities" (Wiley, 2015); SHANGHAI TEN FOLIO (ORO, 2017), and DRL X: A Design Research Compendium(AA Publications, 2008). Verebes' work has been exhibited in more than 50 venues worldwide, and he has lectured extensively in Asia, Europe, North America, Australia, Africa, and the Middle East.