Before Building
University of Virginia
The Before Building Laboratory pioneers new construction assemblies with renewable, carbon-sequestering materials.
Current projects focus on biomaterials, including wood, bamboo, grass, various invasive plant species, and hemp.
Led by Katie MacDonald and Kyle Schumann, we engage emerging technologies to work with natural materials and processes in new ways, reframing the relationship between biology, technology, and authorship.
We seek to advance the accessibility of computation and robotic construction, leveraging democratized and consumer-grade technologies as well as inventing and building low-cost ground-up construction systems.
Contact
beforebuilding@virginia.edu
Katie MacDonald, AIA
DIRECTOR OF MATERIAL R&D
KMACDONALD@VIRGINIA.EDU
Katie MacDonald is Assistant Professor of Architecture at the University of Virginia, Cofounder of After Architecture, and a licensed architect in Virginia.
MacDonald is Director of the Before Building Laboratory at UVA, where she leads material research and development. MacDonald pioneers new biomaterial assemblies, with the aim of creating building material systems that sequester carbon and reduce construction’s contribution to the environmental crisis. Current projects focus on rapidly renewable biomaterials, including wood, bamboo, grass, various invasive plant species, and hemp.
MacDonald was named Educator of the Year in Metropolis Magazine's Planet Positive Awards in 2023 and Emerging Designer in the Virginia by Design Awards in 2018. She is a member of the Association for Computer-Aided Design in Architecture's Board of Directors. In 2022, she co-curated the Biomaterial Building Exposition.
EDUCATION
︎ M.Arch. Harvard University
︎ B.Arch. Cornell University
AWARDS
☆ The Architectural League Prize for Young Architects + Designers 2023
☆ Educator of the Year, Metropolis Magazine Planet Positive Awards 2023
☆ Cultured Magazine Young Architects List 2021
☆ Architect Magazine Next Progressives 2019
☆ Emerging Designer, Virginia by Design Awards 2018
☆ Curbed Young Guns 2014
☆ University of Virginia Outstanding Researcher Award 2022
☆ Housing Design Education Award, American Institute of Architects and Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture 2020
FELLOWSHIPS
☆ Exhibit Columbus University Design Research Fellowship 2022-23
☆ Tennessee Architecture Fellowship 2019-20
☆ Robert James Eidlitz Fellowship 2017
☆ Paul M. Heffernan Travel Award 2015
Kyle Schumann
DIRECTOR OF ROBOTIC CONSTRUCTION
SCHUMANN@VIRGINIA.EDU
Kyle Schumann is Cofounder of After Architecture and Assistant Professor of Architecture at the University of Virginia.
Schumann is Director of the Before Building Laboratory at UVA , where he leads robotic construction. Schumann seeks to advance the accessibility of digital fabrication, leveraging democratized technologies as well as inventing and building low-cost ground-up fabrication and imaging systems. His work spans analog processes in woodworking, metalworking, casting, ceramics, and textile production, to advanced and novel digital fabrication technologies, robotics, and machine visioning systems.
Schumann was awarded the Design Build Award from the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture in 2023 and Emerging Designer in the Virginia by Design Awards in 2024. In 2022, he co-curated the Biomaterial Building Exposition.
EDUCATION
︎ M.Arch. Princeton University
︎ B.Arch. Cornell University
AWARDS
☆ The Architectural League Prize for Young Architects + Designers 2023
☆ Emerging Designer, Virginia by Design Awards 2024
☆ Cultured Magazine Young Architects List 2021
☆ Architect Magazine Next Progressives 2019
☆ Curbed Young Guns 2014
☆ Design Build Award, Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture 2023
☆ University of Virginia Outstanding Researcher Award, Research Achievement Awards 2022
☆ William S. Downing Prize for Architectural Design 2012
FELLOWSHIPS
☆ Exhibit Columbus University Design Research Fellowship 2022-23
☆ Tennessee Architecture Fellowship 2019-20
☆ Robert A.M. Stern Architects Travel Fellowship 2017
☆ Robert James Eidlitz Fellowship 2017
☆ Princeton University Fellowship 2016-8
Recent Highlights
NOVEMBER 23, 2024
MacDonald participated in Sourcing panel at Material Acts: A Symposium at the University of Southern California.
MacDonald participated in Sourcing panel at Material Acts: A Symposium at the University of Southern California.
NOVEMBER 22, 2024
MacDonald and Schumann’s Non-Dimensional Lumber published in Material Acts.
NOVEMBER 2-4, 2024
MacDonald and Schumann lead workshop at Syracuse University School of Architecture.
NOVEMBER 1, 2024
MacDonald and Schumann lecture at Syracuse University School of Architecture.
OCTOBER 1, 2024
MacDonald and Schumann’s "Imaging Nature" published in Drawing Codes: Experimental Protocols of Architectural Representation, edited by Andrew Kudless and Adam Marcus.
The Before Building Laboratory profiled in Metropolis Magazine article, “These University Labs Expand the Agency for Future Architects: The following schools, labs, and incubators are focused on contributing innovative solutions to contemporary issues to make change both down the street and around the world,” by Laura Raskin.
SEPTEMBER 28, 2024 -
JANUARY 5, 2025
Tangential Timber on view in Material Acts: Experimentation in Architecture and Design at the Craft Contemporary, Los Angeles, California as part of the Getty’s PST: Art & Science Collide.
SEPTEMBER 14, 2024
MacDonald lectured at Bethel Woods Art & Architecture Festival at the Bethel Wood Center for the Arts, Bethel, New York.
JUNE 7, 2024
Sylvan Scrapple awarded AIA National Small Project Award.
MAY 31 - JUNE 1, 2024
MacDonald & Schumann lectured and installed Crinkle Cuts at Future View: Vernacular Typologies symposium at the New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark, New Jersey.
MAY 1, 2024
Sheets & Slabs installed at Gilmer Hall at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia.
MARCH 1, 2024
Scraps & Scrapple: Shared Lessons from Material Practices in Cooking & Construction opens at the University of Virginia School of Architecture.
JANUARY 16, 2024
MacDonald and Schumann’s “Materializing Memory: The Camp Barker Memorial, Washington, D.C.” published in Empathic Design: Perspectives on Creating Inclusive Spaces, edited by Elgin Cleckley.
SEPTEMBER 2023
Sylvan Scrapple featured on the cover of Oculus Magazine for article “Trust the Process: When it comes to today’s new building products, some of the most compelling innovation is happening through startup and academic organizations working outside traditional approaches” by Rita Catinella Orrell.
AUGUST 25, 2023
Sylvan Scrapple opens at the 4th cycle of Exhibit Columbus: Public by Design, in Columbus, Indiana.
Recognition
PROJECT ACCOLADES
International
☆ Architect Magazine R+D Award 2022
☆ The Architect’s Newspaper Best of Design Award (Research 2021, Digital Fabrication 2022, Digital Fabrication Honorable Mention 2023, Editor’s Pick 2024)
☆ Dezeen Awards (Longlist in Installation Design 2021 & 2024)
☆ Fast Company Innovation by Design Awards (Honorable Mention in Materials 2021)
☆ Fast Company World Changing Ideas Award (Honorable Mention in Experimental 2023)
National
☆ AIA National Small Projects Award 2024
☆ SARA National Design Awards (Honor 2023 & 2024 (2), Merit 2022 (2) & 2023, Related Arts Category Winner 2024, Material Sciences Category Winner 2023 & 2024)
State
☆ AIA Indiana Design Awards Citation in Non-Traditional Projects 2024
☆ AIA Virginia Design Awards (Honor in Small Projects 2024, Honorable Mention in Small Projects 2023)
Regional
☆ AIA Los Angeles Next LA Honor Award, 2014
☆ AIA Central Virginia Bi-Annual Design Awards (Excellence in Architecture 2024, Honor in Architecture 2022)
Recordings
🎙 League Prize 2023 Night 3: Katie MacDonald & Kyle Schumann, Joseph Altshuler & Zack Morrison, June 29, 2023, 6:30 pm EST
🎙 Natural Building Materials Panel @ Carnegie Mellon School of Architecture, October 10, 2022
🎙 “Lush: From Field to Fabrication”@ the University of Tennessee Knoxville, September 20, 2021
🎙 “This is America: Design Practices Memorializing Difficult Histories”, @ Brown University, April 13, 2021
🎙 “Growing, Buliding” @ the University of Virginia, February 23, 2021
🎙 “Growing Buildings” @ Public Bldg, August 27, 2020
🎙 “After Specification” @ the University of Virginia, July 31, 2020
🎙 “How After Architecture Balances Practice with Materials Research” @ Architect Magazine Podcast
🎙 “After Specification” @ Pecha Kucha Knoxville, November 16, 2019
Researchers
︎ Paul Bourdin
︎ Shiza Chaudhary
︎ Kristina Dickey
︎ Isaac Goodin
︎ Brandon Meinders
︎ Margaret Saunders
︎ Pryce Foyt
︎ William Riedlinger
︎ Alan Watts
Past Researchers
2024
︎ Avery Edson
︎ Leila Ehtesham
︎ Ammon Embleton
2023
︎ Ross Brown
︎ Shiza Chaudhary
︎ Charlotte Devine
︎ Ammon Embleton
︎ Cecily Farrell
︎ Isaac Goodin
︎ Cara Hu
︎ Fah Keerasuntonpong
︎ Jaeger Lajewski
︎ Dillon Mcdowell
︎ Brandon Meinders
︎ Chris Osterlund
︎ Abbey Partika
︎ Emily Ploppert
︎ Charlotte Pitts
︎ Margaret Saunders
︎ Valerie Speirs
︎ Jolie Talha
︎ Julia West
︎ Natalie Zuppas
2022
︎ Collette Block
︎ Ross Brown
︎ Chris Chao
︎ Brandon Dennis
︎ Cecily Farrell
︎ Sophie Depret-Guillaume
︎ Leila Ehtesham
︎ Alex Hall
︎ Abby Hassell
︎ Caleb Hassell
︎ Mia Hsu
︎ Kristopher Kollias
︎ Jaeger Lajewski
︎ Rachel Lee
︎ Chujun Dina Luo
︎ Meredith Magness
︎ Reagan McCullough
︎ Dillon Mcdowell
︎ Liv Orlando
︎ Chris Osterlund
︎ Russell Petro
︎ Charlotte Pitts
︎ Emily Ploppert
︎ Timothy Victorio
︎ Andrew Spears
︎ Jonathan (Yianni) Spears
︎ Valerie Speirs
︎ Cecilia Yiyue Su
︎ Jolie Talha
︎ Haoran Zhang
︎ Natalie Zuppas
2021
︎ Collette Block
︎ Brandon Dennis
︎ Youfang Duan
︎ Leila Ehtesham
︎ Ephrata Johannes
︎ Kristopher Kollias
︎ Audrey Lewis
︎ Chujun Dina Luo
︎ Meredith Magness
︎ Jacob McLaughlin
︎ Lizzie Needham
︎ Kate Nguyen
︎ Chris Osterlund
︎ Andrew Spears
︎ Elizabeth Tatham
︎ Timothy Victorio
2020
︎ Sarina Hermanto
︎ Mason Millner
︎ Lisa Rowland
︎ Kevin Saslawsky
2019
︎ Connor Brown
︎ Tim Cox
︎ Ellie Cuthrell
︎ Brian Gore
︎ Aria Hill
︎ Mason Millner
︎ Alex Munro
︎ Jack Wasielewski
2018
︎ Brian Gore
︎ Brianna Morales
2017
︎ Brianna Morales