Jenny E. Sabin’s work and research is at the forefront of a new direction for 21st-century architectural practice—one that investigates the intersections of architecture and science, and applies insights and theories from biology and mathematics to the design of material structures. Sabin is Assistant Professor in the area of Design and Emerging Technologies in Architecture at Cornell University. She is Principal of Jenny Sabin Studio, an experimental architectural design studio based in Philadelphia USA and director of the Sabin Design Lab at Cornell AAP, a hybrid research and design unit with specialization in computational design, data visualization and digital fabrication.
Sabin is also a founding member of the Nonlinear Systems Organization (NSO), a research group started by Cecil Balmond, where she was Senior Researcher and Director of Research. Jenny holds degrees in Ceramics and Interdisciplinary Visual Art from the University of Washington (98’ Hons) and a Master of Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania where she was awarded the AIA Henry Adams first prize medal and the Arthur Spayd Brooke gold medal for distinguished work in architectural design, 2005.
Sabin is the co-recipient, along with a team of 6 scientists and designers, of a $2 Million National Science Foundation EFRI SEED grant. Sabin & Jones were also awarded the prestigious Upjohn research grant administered by the American Institute of Architects. Sabin was awarded a Pew Fellowship in the Arts 2010 and was recently named a USA Knight Fellow in Architecture, 1 of 50 artists and designers awarded nationally by US Artists. She has exhibited nationally and internationally most recently at Nike Stadium NYC, the American Philosophical Society Museum and at Ars Electronic, Linz, Austria.
Sabin is a member of the international Smart Geometry Group and was a senior tutor and lecturer at the 2007 – 2011 Smart Geometry workshops and conferences. Her work has been published extensively including in The Architectural Review, A+U, Mark Magazine, 306090, 10+1, ACM, American Journal of Pathology, Science, the New York Times, Wired Magazine and various exhibition catalogues and reviews. She co-authored Meander, Variegating Architecture with Ferda Kolatan.