Design Research

Jane Thompson was a designer, writer, and urban planner. In collaboration with her husband, Benjamin Thompson, Jane was involved in the revitalization of Faneuil Hall Marketplace in Boston, the Navy Pier in Chicago, and Union Station in Washington D.C. Jane received numerous awards for her work, including the National Design Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum.
Alexandra Lange is a journalist, design critic, and author. Her essays, reviews and profiles have appeared in numerous design publications including Architect, Harvard Design Magazine, and Metropolis, as well as in The Atlantic, New York Magazine, The New Yorker, and the New York Times. In 2025 she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism for a series in Bloomberg CityLab on how urban design and architecture affect children and families.
Alexandra Schwartz is Curator of Modern & Contemporary Art, Craft & Design at the Museum of Arts and Design, New York (MAD). Her recent exhibitions include Garmenting: Costume as Contemporary Art at MAD and 52 Artists: A Feminist Milestone at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum. She is the author of Ed Ruscha's Los Angeles and the co-editor of Modern Women: Women Artists at The Museum of Modern Art and has taught at Columbia University, SUNY Fashion Institute of Technology, and the University of Michigan.
Paul Goldberger is an architecture Pulitzer Prize-winning critic, author, and educator. He currently holds the Joseph Urban Chair in Design and Architecture at The New School in New York City.
Rob Forbes is a designer and entrepreneur. He is the founder of furniture company Design Within Reach.