LinkedIn

Hey there! I’m Jacob.

My work focuses on integrative design and product strategies for sustainable architecture and urbanism, biologically-inspired innovation, urban agriculture, and green infrastructure, with an emphasis on computational design and digital fabrication methods.

I strive to collaborate on innovative, multidisciplinary projects that venture to define the future of urban development—including novel construction practices; biophilic, healthy and inclusive communities; circular economy; hyperlocal food, water, and energy systems; and urban resiliency.

I am currently a computational designer at SOM, where my role straddles both project-specific work streamlining project workflows from environmental analysis to geometry development, and internal product management and development to make computational processes more accessible, scalable, and user-friendly for designers.

Prior to SOM, I was R&D Manager at Studio Dror, where I led research and development for Supernature Labs’ complete hardware and software ecosystem for regenerative construction.

I received my master's degree from the University of Stuttgart's Institute for Computational Design. My research there included the integrative design and construction of adaptable lightweight structures, bio-inspired building processes, novel material systems, and robotic fabrication.

My master's thesis was entitled "Integrated Architectural Water Systems: A 3D printed and textile hybrid water capture, transport, and storage strategy for urban building envelopes." The research aim was to develop a building envelope design combining multiple functions for in situ water management to establish an integrated and resilient approach for hyperlocal urban water-food systems and residential living. This was done through a hybridized approach combining an existing state of the art 3D woven water capture textile with multifunctional, small-scale DLP 3D printed structures.

I also Co-founded and led product at NexLoop. NexLoop designs modular biomimetic products and systems to collect and integrate on-site atmospheric water sources into sustainable and affordable urban food production. Utilizing strategies found in nature, our lightweight kit of parts components are easy to assemble and disassemble on the facades of buildings and food production structures, such as greenhouses and vertical farms, allowing urban farmers and city dwellers to passively capture water to grow food locally.

NexLoop was awarded the 2017 $100,000 Ray C. Anderson Foundation Ray of Hope Prize in the Biomimicry Global Design Challenge. 

Born and raised in New York City, and having traveled to some of the world's other major cities, I have come to appreciate the symbiotic relationship between people and the built environment and how important it is to balance all the networks and flows in and around the urban realm. I initially chose the name DRIFT to emphasize my focus on these flows and to exemplify the idea of the continual evolution of both the issues I try to tackle as well as my design process itself.