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Lola Ben-Alon

Lola Ben-Alon is a material designer, engineer, and architectural technology scholar. She is Assistant Professor at Columbia GSAPP, where she directs the Natural Materials Lab and the Building Technology curriculum. She specializes in earth- and bio-based building materials, their life cycles, supply chains, fabrication techniques, recipes, regulations, and policy.

Her work has been exhibited globally, including at the Venice Architecture Biennale, New York Latin American Art Triennial, Indian Ceramics Triennial, Tallinn Architecture Biennale, Craft Contemporary Museum in Los Angeles, the Center for Mediterranean Architecture in Greece, London Craft Week and London Design Festival. Her scholarly work has been published in the Journal of Craft Research, Construction and Building Materials, Building and Environment, Journal of Green Building, and Automation in Construction, as well as featured in design magazines such as Metropolis, The Architect’s Newspaper, and Dezeen.

In 2024, Ben-Alon received the Architectural League of New York Prize. She is a recipient of multiple grants and awards, including the US National Science Foundation’s Future Manufacturing grant, and the US Innovation Corps grant. Ben-Alon serves on the board of ACSA’s Technology | Architecture + Design. Ben-Alon’s scholarship bridges craft and technology, material traditions and ecology, advancing dialogues between architecture, science, and the natural environment. She received her PhD from the School of Architecture at Carnegie Mellon University, and she holds a BS in Civil Engineering, with a focus on Structural Design, and MS in Construction Management from the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology.

Material Variance Symposium

The Material Variance Symposium connects material design researchers, building scientists, and artists to discuss the reciprocal impacts of species and form, and the defiance against refinement, exploitation, and technocratic establishments.

The Material Variance Symposium was organized by Lola Ben-Alon with the Natural Materials Lab. Curatorial support for this event was provided by Kaeli Alika Streeter, the Building Tech Sequence Teaching Associate. Ronald Rael (UC Berkeley) delivered a keynote lecture for the event titled “Salt y Glue and Mud y Robots.

GSAPP Conversations:
Natural Materials Mini Series with Lola Ben-Alon

Columbia GSAPP · Natural Materials

Tech Talks

Tech Talks is a new lecture series hosted by the Building Tech Sequence focusing on the implications of materials, cities, and ethics. The Spring 2021 speaker line-up includes:

Timothy Beatley on “Biophilic Cities,” January 26, 2021
Matt Mehalik on “Sustainable Community Development,” February 9, 2021
Ronald Rael on “Interventions of the Border Region,” March 9, 2021
Alison Mears and Jonsara Ruth on “Healthy Building Materials,” March 10, 2021

Courses

Course	Semester	Title	Student Work	Instructor	Syllabus	Requirements & Sequence	Location & Time	Session & Points	Call No.
ARCH4111‑1	Fall 2026	TECH I: Environments in Architecture		Lola Ben-Alon		M.Arch I Only Building Science & Technology Requirement Architecture Required	114 Avery TU 9 AM - 12 PM	Full Semester 3 Points	10597