Project Statement

Jefferson Lettieri Office is an architectural design practice located in Ithaca, NY. They seek to bridge the gap between aesthetics and socially conscious design.

Drip is a temporal installation and layered experience that reflects, sways, and slides. It celebrates the changing quality of the alley through its material reflection, flexibility, and community involvement. A series of “drippy” colored mesh fabric and mirrored panels are suspended above at a flexible height within the alley walls. The mirrored drips reflect dappled light and illuminate artwork within the alley while reflecting its glow throughout. The lightweight panels delineate space segments and are adjustable to serve as individual backdrops for various uses. The event spaces are further activated by communal paintings on the alley ground and walls.

About Jefferson Lettieri’s Office

Jefferson Lettieri Office is led by Michael Jefferson and Suzanne Lettieri.

Jefferson is a Lecturer at Cornell University’s Department of Architecture. He previously held appointments at The Cooper Union, Penn State University, the University of Michigan, City College of New York, and the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, where he was the 2019–20 Innovation in Design Fellow. In 2019, Jefferson received a residency fellowship at MacDowell in Peterborough, New Hampshire. His work has been exhibited in New York City, Boston, and Ithaca, and published in OfficeUS: Manual, Interiors, The Plan Journal, and Project.

Lettieri is an Assistant Professor at Cornell University’s Department of Architecture. She previously was a Michigan‐Mellon Design Fellow in Egalitarianism and the Metropolis at the UofM, where she was the lead instructor for ArcPrep. Lettieri served as an Assistant Professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology, where she taught interior design and started the pilot program Inclusive Recruitment Strategies. Her work has been exhibited in New York, Detroit, and Boston and published in The Cornell Journal of Architecture, The Plan Journal, and Plat. She received a residency fellowship at MacDowell in Peterborough, New Hampshire, and a Graham grant with Kunlé Adeyemi for the upcoming book African Water Cities.