Sasson Rafailov

Education

Cornell University, Bachelor of Architecture
Harvard University, Master in Design Studies
University of Virginia, PhD in the Constructed Environment (ABD)

Biography

Sasson Rafailov is a theorist and designer whose scholarly work contributes to ongoing debates in new materialist philosophy, craft theory, and philosophy of education. He is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Virginia School of Architecture, where he also teaches courses in design and contemporary theory in both the graduate and undergraduate architecture degree programs. 

Through his research and service, Rafailov aims to orient schools of architecture and design around the United States towards innovative educational models which encourage students to leverage their relationships with the natural world to overcome the unique challenges of the 21st century. His dissertation proposes a new approach to craft in these educational contexts, bridging concepts from environmental and technological philosophy to redefine the term as a mode of consciousness, or being, instead of a particular set of skills or material processes. He attempts to elicit this type of awareness in his students through novel, place-based design exercises, as well as through experimental approaches to perennial features of architectural education, like juried design reviews and peer-to-peer collaboration. He also pursues "craft consciousness" in his own design work, which explores human-material relationships in sculpture, tool-making, and furniture. 

Rafailov graduated with a B.Arch from Cornell University in 2018, where he pursued research in architectural pedagogy through several independent studies and a graduation thesis project. He then went on to teach design studio and a foundational theory course at the University at Buffalo’s School of Architecture and Planning, and subsequently enrolled in Harvard University’s Master in Design Studies program, where he was a Dean's Merit Scholar until his graduation in 2021. He has presented his research in a variety of international venues, including conferences hosted by the Society of Architectural Historians and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, as well as in exhibitions of his craft work in the United States, Germany, and Switzerland. He has also contributed to contemporary research in design through his appointments to the selection committees of institutions like the Design Akademie Saaleck, where he was also a fellow in 2020, and the University of Virginia's Michael Owen Jones lecture series in 2023-2024.