The Daniels Faculty is pleased to announce new faculty members joining us this Winter: Jesse LeCavalier and J. Alstan Jakubiec.

Assistant Professor J. Alstan Jakybiec is cross appointed to both the Daniels Faculty and the University of Toronto’s School of the Environment.  His work focuses on the design of buildings and cities that emphasize human comfort, performance simulation, and low-energy design strategies. He believes that through data-driven processes, designers can create comfortable built environments that will support social interaction, require less energy, and last longer before being razed. Alstan co-created the popular DIVA tool for calculating the daylighting and energy performance of buildings and cities and actively develops new software tools as part of his research.

Before joining the University of Toronto, Alstan taught sustainable design to the first four graduating classes at the Singapore University of Technology and Design. He also co-founded Mapdwell, a technology company dedicated to providing information to homeowners about the renewable energy potential of their rooftops. Alstan holds a Bachelor’s degree in architecture from Georgia Tech and a Master’s Degree in architecture from the University of Pennsylvania. He has a PhD in Building Technology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Associate Professor Jesse LeCavalier uses research, writing, and design to explore the architectural and urban implications of contemporary logistics. His book The Rule of Logistics: Walmart and the Architecture of Fulfillment (University of Minnesota Press, 2018), examines the activities of the international retailer to tell a larger story about the ways the logistics industry has developed at different scales and through the emergence of particular technologies.

LeCavalier was the recipient of the 2015 New Faculty Teaching Award from the Association of the Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) and the 2010–11 Sanders Fellow at the University of Michigan. His work has appeared in AD, Cabinet, Public Culture, Places, Art Papers, and Harvard Design Magazine and his essay, “The Restlessness of Objects,” was the recipient of a 2013 Core77 Design Award. LeCavalier’s installation “Architectures of Fulfillment” was part of the 2017 Seoul Biennale for Architecture and Urbanism, and his project "Shelf Life" was one of five finalists for the 2018 MoMA PS1 Young Architects Program. He is currently also the Daniel Rose Visiting Assistant Professor at the Yale School of Architecture.