Danny Wills

Position Architecture Teacher Scholar
email dawills@calpoly.edu
Phone

805.756.2468

Office 34-245

Areas of Expertise

Design-build pedagogy, methods, tools and materials of making 
Participatory design, site and context, circular thinking 
History and theory of representation, digital and virtual technology 

Profile

Danny is an architectural designer, educator and researcher. He has studied, lived, worked and taught throughout Europe, Asia, South Africa and the US, building and managing several public and non-profit projects. In 2017, he co-founded Space Saloon, a site-specific design lab focused on situated research, multidisciplinary workshops and community design/build. As an Architect Teacher Scholar at Cal Poly, Danny’s current research investigates site-specific engagement, material circularity and collaborative forms of making.

Experience

Educational Credentials:

  • Master of Science in Design Theory and Pedagogy, SCI-Arc 
  • Bachelor of Architecture, The Cooper Union

Teaching Experience:

  • Summer School/Visiting School Programme Head, AA School of Architecture 
  • Adjunct Professor, Kent State University, College of Architecture and Environmental Design 
  • Adjunct Professor, International Program in Design and Architecture (INDA), Chulalongkorn University 
  • Scientific Researcher and Design Studio Coordinator, ETH Zurich, Chair of Architecture and Urban Design

Professional Experience:

  • Co-Founder / Executive Director, Space Saloon

Scholarship

Selected Publications and Recent Research:

  • "I am a (Data) Monument,” CLOG: Feeds, Summer 2022 
  • “Community in Residence,” CROP TTU Journal, Spring 2022 
  • “Review: Fulfilled,” JAE Online, March 6, 2020 
  • “By itself, this device does nothing,” OFF-Topic Journal, Vol. 5, 2020

Selected Activity:

  • Porto Futuro: Futuro Pronto Installation, Port of Fano, Italy, 2022 
  • Public Protocols Special Workshop, MPavilion: MProjects, 2022 
  • Public Art & Ecology Residency, Iowa Lakeside Lab + Imagine Iowa Great Lakes, 2021 
  • Climate Crisis Hotline, Field Workshop at the Institute for Contemporary Art, LA, 2020

Updated 10.10.2022

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