Dana Cupkova
{{Short description|Architect and researcher}}
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| alma_mater = Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava
Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava
UCLA
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Dana Čupková is an architect, researcher, and educator whose work integrates computational design with environmental performance, focusing on regenerative material systems and the spatial dynamics of ecological resilience.{{cite web |title=Dana Čupková |url=https://praha.camp/camptv/detail/dana-cupkova |website=praha|date=27 January 2020 }}{{Cite web |last=Krichels |first=Jennifer |date=2011-03-25 |title=Epiphyte Lab′s Hsu House Mass Wall |url=https://www.archpaper.com/2011/03/epiphyte-labs-hsu-house-mass-wall/ |access-date=2025-03-26 |website=The Architect's Newspaper |language=en-US}} She holds a full professorship at Carnegie Mellon School of Architecture,{{Cite web |title=ACADIA |url=http://acadia.org/people/FVWZDT |access-date=2025-03-27 |website=acadia.org |language=en}} where she serves as the graduate program track chair for the Master of Science in Sustainable Design program and also serves on the Editorial Board of International Journal of Architectural Computing (IJAC).{{Cite web |last=Mulherin |first=Lizzie |title=I SHAPE ARCHITECTURE THROUGH THE PERCEPTION OF INVISIBLE" Meet Dana Cupkova |url=https://teulo.co/delve/meet-dana-cupkova/ |access-date=2025-03-26 |website=Teulo |language=en}} Her design work has been featured in publications including Dwell, The Architectural Review, Green Building & Design, The Cornell Journal of Architecture, Architect's Newspaper, Architect Magazine, and the International Journal of Architectural Computing.{{Cite web |last=University |first=Carnegie Mellon |title=Dana Cupkova - Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation - Carnegie Mellon University |url=https://www.cmu.edu/energy/people/alpha-list/dana-cupkova.html |access-date=2025-03-26 |website=www.cmu.edu |language=en}}
She is also the co-founder and design director of EPIPHYTE Lab.{{Cite web |last=keane |first=katharine |date=2018-03-13 |title=Epiphyte Lab |url=https://www.architectmagazine.com/practice/epiphyte-lab_o |access-date=2025-03-26 |website=Architect Magazine |language=en}}
Early life and education
Cupkova was born and raised in Slovakia (formely Czechoslovakia) during the Cold War and the Velvet Revolution.{{Cite web |last=skaba |date=2023-03-21 |title=The Mycelium House: Material Exploration for a Zero-Carbon Tiny Home (Session C) - Calendar - AIA New York / Center for Architecture |url=https://calendar.aiany.org/2023/04/12/the-mycelium-house-material-exploration-for-a-zero-carbon-tiny-home-session-c/ |access-date=2025-03-26 |website=Calendar - AIA New York {{!}} Center for Architecture |language=en-US}} Her mother was a microbiologist and her father a civil engineer.{{Cite web |title=Professor Dana Cupkova Blends Research and Practice with EPIPHYTE Lab {{!}} CMU School of Architecture |url=https://www.architecture.cmu.edu/news/professor-dana-cupkova-blends-research-and-practice-epiphyte-lab |access-date=2025-03-26 |website=www.architecture.cmu.edu |language=en}}
She earned a professional degree of Engineer Architect in architecture and urbanism with focus on Experimental and Ecological Architecture from the Faculty of Architecture and Urban Design at the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava.{{Cite web |title=Archiweb - Expati vol.8: Dana Čupková |url=https://www.archiweb.cz/en/n/lectures/expati-vol-8-dana-cupkova |access-date=2025-03-26 |website=www.archiweb.cz |language=en}} She studied architecture at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava in the Laboratory of Architecture of Imro Vaško.{{Cite web |last=University |first=Carnegie Mellon |title=Dana Cupkova - IDeATe - Carnegie Mellon University |url=https://ideate.cmu.edu/about/people/participating-educators/dana-cupkova.html |access-date=2025-03-26 |website=ideate.cmu.edu |language=en}}
Cupkova pursued her international education, completing her thesis at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, in Michael Sorkin Studio.{{Cite web |last=Santamaria |first=Cindy |date=2017-01-18 |title=Material Interactions Symposium |url=https://ssa.ccny.cuny.edu/calendar/material-interactions-symposium/ |access-date=2025-03-26 |website=The Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture |language=en-US}} She later obtained a Master of Architecture degree from the School of the Arts and Architecture at UCLA, where she was awarded the Unrestricted University Fellowship, the Mimi Perloff Award, and the Kate Neal Kinley Memorial Fellowship for outstanding design work.{{Cite web |title=ACADIA Election 2014 Results Dana Cupkova Principal, EPIPHYTE Lab Lucian & Rita Caste Chair Assistant Professor, Carnegie Mellon School of Architecture |url=http://acadia.org/features/DEA93T |access-date=2025-03-26 |website=acadia.org |language=en}}
Career
Cupkova is currently a professor at Carnegie Mellon University's School of Architecture.{{Cite web |title=Munch goes to Senyai in Shadyside |url=https://www.post-gazette.com/life/munch/2020/01/09/Munch-goes-to-Senyai-in-Shadyside/stories/202001090010 |access-date=2025-03-26 |website=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |language=en}} Additionally, she chairs the Graduate Program Track for the Master of Science in Sustainable Design. She has held this role since 2017.{{Cite web |title=On Ecologies of Shaping Matter - El Paso Museum of Art |url=https://epma.art/calendar/on-ecologies-of-shaping-matter-2022-03-24 |access-date=2025-03-26 |website=epma.art}}
Previously, she was a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Architecture at Cornell University from 2005 to 2012.{{Cite web |title=Stuckeman School to welcome progressive architect Dana Cupkova {{!}} Penn State University |url=https://www.psu.edu/news/research/story/stuckeman-school-welcome-progressive-architect-dana-cupkova |access-date=2025-03-26 |website=www.psu.edu}} She also served on the ACADIA Board of Directors from 2014 to 2018.{{Cite web |title=ACADIA |url=http://acadia.org/features/VEJPRN |access-date=2025-03-26 |website=acadia.org |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Keane |first=Katherine |title=Architect Student Edition March 2018: Next Progressives: Epiphyte Lab |url=https://lsc-pagepro.mydigitalpublication.com/publication/?i=479919&article_id=3026351&view=articleBrowser |access-date=2025-03-26 |website=lsc-pagepro.mydigitalpublication.comhttps |language=en-US}}
In 2009 she co-founded EPIPHYTE Lab, a research platform with her late husband, Kevin Pratt.{{Cite web |title=Architecture professor Kevin Pratt dies at 43 {{!}} Cornell Chronicle |url=https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2013/02/architecture-professor-kevin-pratt-dies-43 |access-date=2025-03-26 |website=news.cornell.edu |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2020-07-06 |title=Epiphyte Lab creates architecture "with empathy to all species" |url=https://www.dezeen.com/2020/07/06/epiphyte-lab-architecture-vdf-studio-profiles/amp/ |access-date=2025-03-26 |language=en-US}} The lab studies the relationships between landscapes and architectural design, particularly in relation to carbon footprints and the socio-ecological resilience of placemaking.{{Cite web |title=Design Matters with Dana Cupkova |url=https://go.ucalgary.ca/2018-02-21-DesignMatters-Cupkova_LPRegistration.html |access-date=2025-03-26 |website=go.ucalgary.ca}}
She designed the Senyai Thai Kitchen project, which won The American Architecture Prize in 2017 in the Commercial Interior Design category. Cupkova's design for the restaurant was inspired by the vaulted geometry of ancient Thai architecture, incorporating acoustic ceiling geometry and lighting elements.{{Cite web |title=Thai restaurant Senyai opens in Shadyside |url=https://www.post-gazette.com/life/dining/2017/04/21/Shadyside-Thai-restaurant-Senyai-Tu-Wade/stories/201704230066 |access-date=2025-03-26 |website=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |language=en}}
She is a recipient of the 2019 ACADIA Teaching Award,{{Cite web |last=Zeiba |first=Drew |date=2019-09-04 |title=ACADIA announces keynote speakers and awardees for 2019 conference |url=https://www.archpaper.com/2019/09/acadia-2019-keynote-speakers-and-awardees/ |access-date=2025-03-26 |website=The Architect's Newspaper |language=en-US}} the 2022 ACSA Creative Achievement,{{Cite web |last=Amanda |date=2022-01-27 |title=Winners Announced {{!}} 2022 Architectural Education Awards |url=https://www.acsa-arch.org/winners-announced-for-2022-architectural-education-awards/ |access-date=2025-03-26 |website=Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture |language=en}} and a 2022-23 Fulbright US Scholar.{{Cite web |date=2018-03-13 |title=Green Negligee |url=https://www.architectmagazine.com/project-gallery/green-negligee_o |access-date=2025-03-26 |website=Architect |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2015-07-07 |title=Epiphyte Lab's Stripy Hsu House Is Designed to Mimic the Sky and Seasons {{!}} 6sqft |url=https://www.6sqft.com/epiphyte-labs-stripy-hsu-house-is-designed-to-mimic-the-sky-and-seasons/ |access-date=2025-03-26 |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |date=2018-03-13 |title=Hsu House |url=https://www.architectmagazine.com/project-gallery/hsu-house_o |access-date=2025-03-26 |website=Architect |language=en}}
= Research =
Her work focuses on advancing digital design and fabrication techniques, use of bio-based materials, and climate-responsive systems reducing the carbon footprint.{{Cite web |last=ExOne |first=Team |date=2021-10-18 |title=Carnegie Mellon University Reinventing Eco-Friendly Architecture with 3D Printed Reclaimed Concrete |url=https://3dprint.com/285902/carnegie-mellon-university-reinventing-eco-friendly-architecture-with-3d-printed-reclaimed-concrete/ |access-date=2025-03-26 |website=3DPrint.com {{!}} The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |date=2021-09-17 |title=Panel, Material Responsibility: Mollie Claypool, Dana Cupkova, and Achim Menges |url=https://www.archdaily.com/968600/panel-material-responsibility-mollie-claypool-dana-cupkova-and-achim-menges |access-date=2025-03-26 |website=ArchDaily |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last1=Newell |first1=Catie |last2=Yang Ng |first2=Tsz |last3=Vellikov |first3=Kathy |title=Material Excerpts: A conversation |url=https://gradient-journal.net/articles/material-excerpts |access-date=2025-03-26 |website=Gradient Journal |language=en}}
Selected publications
- {{Cite journal |last1=Bard |first1=Joshua |last2=Cupkova |first2=Dana |last3=Washburn |first3=Newell |last4=Zeglin |first4=Garth |date=2018 |title=Robotic concrete surface finishing: a moldless approach to creating thermally tuned surface geometry for architectural building components using Profile-3D-Printing |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/s41693-018-0014-x |journal=Construction Robotics |volume=2 |issue=1–4 |pages=53–65 |doi=10.1007/s41693-018-0014-x |issn=2509-811X|url-access=subscription }}
- {{Cite journal |last1=Cupkova |first1=Dana |last2=Promoppatum |first2=Patcharapit |date=2017 |title=Modulating Thermal Mass Behavior Through Surface Figuration |url=https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.acadia.2017.202 |journal=ACADIA Proceedings |series=Proceedings of the 37th Annual Conference of the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA) |publisher=ACADIA |pages=202–211 |doi=10.52842/conf.acadia.2017.202|isbn=978-0-692-96506-1 |url-access=subscription }}
- {{Cite journal |last1=Cupkova |first1=Dana |last2=Azel |first2=Nicolas |date=2015 |title=Mass Regimes: Geometric Actuation of Thermal Behavior |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1260/1478-0771.13.2.169 |journal=International Journal of Architectural Computing |language=en |volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=169–193 |doi=10.1260/1478-0771.13.2.169 |issn=1478-0771|url-access=subscription }}
- {{Citation |last1=Bard |first1=Joshua |title=Thermally Informed Robotic Topologies: Profile-3D-Printing for the Robotic Construction of Concrete Panels, Thermally Tuned Through High Resolution Surface Geometry |date=2018-08-26 |work=Robotic Fabrication in Architecture, Art and Design 2018 |pages=113–125 |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92294-2_9 |access-date=2025-03-26 |place=Cham |publisher=Springer International Publishing |isbn=978-3-319-92293-5 |last2=Cupkova |first2=Dana |last3=Washburn |first3=Newell |last4=Zeglin |first4=Garth|doi=10.1007/978-3-319-92294-2_9 |url-access=subscription }}
- {{Cite journal |last1=Cupkova |first1=Dana |last2=Yao |first2=Shi-Chune |last3=Azel |first3=Nicolas |date=2015 |title=Morphologically Controlled Thermal Rate of Ultra High Performance Concrete |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1557/opl.2015.569 |journal=MRS Proceedings |language=en |volume=1800 |doi=10.1557/opl.2015.569 |issn=0272-9172|url-access=subscription }}
- {{Cite journal |last1=Cupkova |first1=Dana |last2=Azel |first2=Nicolas |date=2014 |title=MASS REGIMES: Geometrically Actuated Thermal Flows |url=https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.acadia.2014.237 |journal=ACADIA Proceedings |series=Proceedings of the 34th Annual Conference of the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA) |publisher=ACADIA |pages=237–246 |doi=10.52842/conf.acadia.2014.237|isbn=978-1-926724-47-8 }}
References
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External links
- [https://papers.cumincad.org/cgi-bin/works/Search?search=cupkova&x=26&y=12 Cupkova's publications indexed by Cumincad ]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cupkova, Dana}}
Category:American women architects
Category:Slovak emigrants to the United States
Category:Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava alumni
Category:University of California, Los Angeles alumni
Category:Carnegie Mellon University faculty
Category:Cornell University faculty
Category:Women landscape architects
Category:American women landscape architects
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cupkova, Dana}}