Lunch 17: CRAFT

When the editors of this journal’s predecessor, Modulus, chose “Craft and Architecture” as the theme of the 22nd issue (1993), they had little doubt as to how the former related to the latter. To them, craft, deriving from Vitruvius’ definition, is a combination of industrial wisdom, a knowledge of buildings, materials, and construction, and a cultural intelligence, coming from a critical engagement with the myths of construction and the ability to further the idea of homo faber, or the transformation of the environment through tools and making.

Thirty years later, this editorial board of LUNCH 17 certainly does not have as sturdy a grasp on what “craft” means to architecture. While construction and labor is central to our work, it is rarely the center of the conversation, let alone described as craft. As it’s been delivered to us in studio critiques and reviews, craft has been nothing more than a weak compliment to models and drawings that are pleasing to the eye. But where others may bemoan a “loss” of craft within the profession, we see a sea-change in the relationship between design and its tools.

Our call was an open invitation for practitioners, scholars, and students to see craft beyond traditional artisanal labor and the production of objects, instead seeing the world as constructed from the crafty interactions between culture and technology. By giving space, including space on the page to Craft, we hope that readers continue to grapple with what it means to reinterpret rather than rewrite, to regenerate rather than restore.

Judy Shao-Yu Chen is a landscape designer at Reed Hilderbrand. She graduated with a Master of Landscape Architecture from the University of Virginia in 2023 and was named a Landscape Architecture Foundation Olmsted Scholar and a Howland Travel Fellow.

Sawyer Davies is a dual degree student at the University of Virginia, pursing a graduate degrees in Architecture and Landscape Architecture. Davies also holds a Bachelor of Urban and Environmental Planning from UVA and recently served as an instructor for the Summer Design Institute.

Andre Grospe is a research assistant at Proof Projects. He holds an undergraduate degree in architecture and a graduate degree in landscape architecture from the University of Virginia ― where he also was a fabrication lab assistant and received the Arts Council Distinguished Artist in Architecture Award.

Eden McCafferty is a landscape designer at Reed Hilderbrand. She is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (BS Architecture) and the University of Virginia’s School of Architecture (MLA). Her past experiences include MUD Workshop and Nelson Byrd Woltz.

Erica Schapiro-Sakashita received her Master of Landscape Architecture degree in 2023 from the University of Virginia. Prior to her graduate studies, she graduated from The New School with a BA in Environmental Studies. At UVA, Schapiro-Sakashita was named a Howland Fellow.