Architect, artist, and professor of architecture Silvia Acosta has been awarded the Michael A. and Laurie Burns McRobbie Bicentennial Professorship in Modern Architecture in the Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture + Design in the College of Arts and Sciences at Indiana University.
Hired at the rank of full professor with tenure, Acosta will assume her position on August 1, 2023, at the Eskenazi School’s J. Irwin Miller Architecture Program based in Columbus, Indiana. Acosta comes to the Eskenazi School from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), where she taught design studios and seminars that maintained linkages between architecture and the arts.
The McRobbie Professorship has been endowed by a gift of $500,000 in 2018 from IU Chancellor and past President Michael McRobbie and First Lady Laurie Burns McRobbie as a personal contribution toward the IU Bicentennial Campaign, completed in 2021. The professorship supports the university’s goal of establishing academic programs that foster an entrepreneurial culture of building and making of benefit to the region and the state of Indiana more broadly. Within the disciplines of design and architecture, this initiative commenced with the launching of the School of Art and Design in 2016, proceeding with the approval of an architecture program in 2017, the naming of the Miller Architecture Program in 2018, and the naming in 2019 of the Eskenazi School. Recognizing a generous gift from Sidney and Lois Eskenazi, the school houses 14 different areas in art, design, architecture, and merchandising.
“The creation of the architecture program over the last five years has included many foundational steps,” said Eskenazi School Founding Dean Peg Faimon. “The successful hiring of our inaugural McRobbie Professor is a key piece of that foundation. We are so fortunate to have such an accomplished educator and scholar joining our Eskenazi School family. We are eager to welcome Silvia and to partner with her for many years to come, and we thank the McRobbies for their constant and continuing support.”
Teaching has taken Acosta across the U.S. and abroad; in addition to RISD, Acosta has taught at Harvard, Yale, University of Miami, Boston Architectural Center, China Academy of Art, Nagoya University (Japan), Monash University (Australia), Curtin University of Technology (Australia), and Equinoctial Technological University (Ecuador).
“I’m looking forward to contributing to the J. Irwin Miller M. Arch program with an experimental attitude and a hands-on material sensibility,” Acosta said. She holds a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Miami and a Master of Architecture from Harvard University.
Acosta’s approach to architectural practice is deeply collaborative and community based. Her teaching and work have been dedicated to the craft of making, whether at the scale of objects of use or through design-build practices with her students materializing community projects sited locally and abroad. Acosta’s philosophy is undergirded by two pillars: that joint endeavors outweigh work conceived from a single point of view, and that architecture is made and given away.
“In the best of situations, architecture's beauty comes through the inclusion of humanistic values, both in its making and offerings,” Acosta said. “No matter who sponsors it, architecture is in the world and for the world. These opportunities to make contributions are about observing, listening, and doing. They are also about responding with a sense of obligation toward humanitarian concerns.”
“Silvia’s talents as a teacher, artist, and architect will beautifully complement our program’s focus on architectural design and studio art,” said T. Kelly Wilson, associate professor of architecture and director of the Miller Architecture Program. “She also brings significant experience in community engagement through design and build projects where local communities help in the making of building materials and construction alongside Silvia and her students.”
As McRobbie Professor, Acosta will provide studio instruction in architectural design and one other area of expertise related to the profession, assist with curriculum development, collaborate with the program’s director and other faculty and staff, assist in the management of and preparation for the National Architectural Accrediting Board process, and assist with identifying strong candidates for visiting scholars/designers. Additionally, the McRobbie Professor is expected to pursue an active program of research/creative activity, develop a scholarly agenda, and participate in academic, community, and professional service.
In addition to supporting the university’s goals, the professorship at the Eskenazi School reflects the McRobbies’ extensive interest in architecture, and particular love for modern architecture. It is the third of three $500,000 gifts made to endow professorships at IU-Bloomington, including the following:
- The Michael A. and Laurie Burns McRobbie Bicentennial Professorship in Computer Engineering (awarded to Dr. Beth Plale in 2020) in the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering.
- The Michael A. and Laurie Burns McRobbie Bicentennial Professorship in Global Strategic Studies (awarded to Ambassador Feisal Istrabadi in 2021) in the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies.
The McRobbies have now made gifts totaling over $2 million to support the academic mission of IU, including four graduate fellowships in history, medieval studies, mathematical logic, and pediatrics, as well as these three professorships. In addition, they recently made another gift of $500,000 to IU Health to support peer counseling programs and internships in behavioral health at the new IU Health Bloomington Regional Academic Health Center.
Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture