Jay Cephas

Incorporating Practices

The Detlef Mertins Lecture on the Histories of Modernity delivered by Jay Cephas, Assistant Professor of the History and Theory of Architecture at Princeton University School of Architecture.

Ateya Khorakiwala, Assistant Professor at Columbia GSAPP, will provide the introduction.

This lecture will be presented virtually, please register in advance for the Zoom webinar link.

Jay Cephas is an historian of architecture, landscapes, and cities conducting research that explores the relationships between labor, technology, and identity in the built environment. Jay analyzes both ordinary and critical spatial practices to recover the latent and as of yet invisible knowledges that are transmitted through the bodies and buildings of urban environments. In his forthcoming book, Jay deploys these frameworks to examine the agonism structuring Fordism and urbanization in early twentieth-century Detroit. Jay’s latest research project turns to New York City to address the knowledge transfer occurring between visionary architects and labor activists in their joint efforts to create cooperative housing.

Jay’s recent publications include “Picturing Modernity: Race, Labor, and Landscape in the American South,” which traces the ways in which Black labor served to reinforce racialized landscape production in Georgia; and “Agricultural Urbanism in Detroit,” which examines the changing meaning of urbanism in the post-industrial city. In 2020, Jay was awarded a Graham Foundation grant to support the Black Architects Archive, a repository of under-represented architects from across 200 years of history, and in 2019 Jay served as a W.E.B. Du Bois Fellow at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Jay is also the founding director of Studio Plat, a geospatial research and development practice that examines the past, present, and future of cities.

Jay has previously taught at Harvard University, University of Michigan, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Northeastern University, and University of Detroit Mercy. He received his MArch from University of Detroit Mercy and his PhD from Harvard University.


The Detlef Mertins Lecture on the Histories of Modernity is an annual lecture in honor of the life and work of Detlef Mertins (1954-2011), and is endowed by Elise Jaffe and Jeffrey Brown. Previous speakers include Lucia Allais, Craig Buckley, Zeynep Cęlik Alexander, Ayala Levin, Anthony Acciavatti, Sophie Hochhäusl, and Ana María León.

Organized by Columbia GSAPP. Free and open to the public. Virtual events hosted on Zoom Webinar do not require an account to attend, advanced registration is encouraged.

GSAPP is committed to providing universal access to all of our virtual events. Please contact events@arch.columbia.edu to request disability accommodations. Advance notice is necessary to arrange for some accessibility needs.

This event content is equivalent to 1 AIA/CES total learning credit, 1 total credit earned. AIA. Please contact events@arch.columbia.edu for more information.