John Ochsendorf

Early years and education Ochsendorf grew up in Elkins, West Virginia; Princeton University, and the University of Cambridge. His university degrees are in structural engineering and he minored in archaeology at Cornell.

He also studied in Spain as a predoctoral scholar under the Fulbright Program in 2000–2001.

Career

Ochsendorf joined the MIT faculty in 2002, and holds a joint appointment in the MIT Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) and the Department of Architecture. He teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses, and serves on a number of faculty committees.

Ochsendorf is known for using architecture and engineering to study and restore ancient structures and sometimes draws upon ancient building methods for the benefit of contemporary construction. He has studied Incan simple suspension bridges

Ochsendorf also curated an exhibition Palaces for the People, featuring the history and legacy of Guastavino tile construction, which premiered in September 2012 at the Boston Public Library, Rafael Guastavino's first major architectural work in America. The exhibition then traveled to the National Building Museum in Washington DC, and an expanded version appeared at the Museum of the City of New York. Ochsendorf, a winner of the MacArthur Foundation "genius grant", also wrote the book-length color-illustrated monograph Guastavino vaulting : the art of structural tile, and an online exhibition coordinated with the traveling exhibits.

In addition, Ochsendorf directs the Guastavino Project at MIT, which researches and maintains the Guastavino.net online archive of related materials.

In 2022, it was announced that Ochsendorf would be founding director of the new MIT Morningside Academy for Design (MIT MAD), an interdisciplinary center which is part of the School of Architecture and Planning (SA+P). Initial funding came from a $100 million gift from The Morningside Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the T.H. Chan family.

Engineering and artistic collaborations Sean Collier Memorial

On April 29, 2015, MIT held special ceremonies dedicating the Sean Collier Memorial in honor of MIT Police officer Sean Collier, who had been killed by Boston Marathon bombers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev two years earlier. Ochsendorf and his students were deeply involved with the structural engineering of the design, which was led by J. Meejin Yoon, the head of the MIT Department of Architecture. The memorial consists of 32 massive granite blocks precision-shaped under computer numerical control, and fitted together into a shallow open domed arch with 5 radial support wings splayed out like fingers of an open hand.

Lookout by Martin Puryear In 2023, American sculptor Martin Puryear completed his first large-scale sculpture made of bricks, at Storm King Art Center in Mountainville, New York, in the Hudson Valley north of New York City. Called Lookout, the artwork is an asymmetrical compound-curved domed shell, pierced by 90 small apertures for circular viewports. Visitors can walk around and into the sculpture, enjoying the views of the surrounding area.

The overall patterning of the bricks was influenced by kilns in the UK, and especially by Nubian masons in Mali.

Personal life From 2010 to 2017, Ochsendorf and his wife Anne Carney served as heads of house of the MIT graduate student dormitory called "The Warehouse".

Published works Guastavino Vaulting: The Art of Structural Tile (, Princeton Architectural Press, 2010)