Festival Talks
Eric Höweler, FAIA, LEED AP
is an architect, designer, and educator. He is co-founding partner of Höweler + Yoon and Professor in Architecture at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, where he is the Program Director for the Masters of Architecture Program. Höweler’s design work and research focuses on building technology integration and material systems. His projects range from cultural buildings and mixed-use residential buildings, to public spaces and interactive environments. Recently completed projects include Living Village at the Yale Divinity School, the MIT Museum at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Memorial to Enslaved Laborers at the University of Virginia, and the Coolidge Corner Theatre expansion. Höweler's work has been exhibited widely, including at the Museum of Modern Art, the Smithsonian Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum in New York City, and the Venice Biennale. He is the co-author of Expanded Practice (Princeton Architectural Press 2009), Verify In Field: Projects and Conversations Höweler + Yoon (Park Books, 2021), and author of Design for Construction: The Tectonic Imagination in Contemporary Architecture (Routledge 2025).
Eric Höweler‘s Talk: ScreenTime: Architecture, Attention, and Atmosphere
ScreenTime: Architecture, Attention, and Atmosphere pairs Eric Höweler, Co-Founder and Partner at Höweler + Yoon, with the Coolidge Theatre renovation as a running case study, tracing design strategies through the history of film and architectural optics: from the Camera Obscura and Muybridge’s panoramas to the advent of color film and Art Deco’s attitude. The talk will consider how framing, projection, and material decisions choreograph attention and conjure atmosphere, arguing that architecture guides spectatorship as surely as any screen.
Sharon Samuels is a Chicago-based Creative Professional. Her work spans many disciplines, including architecture, film, and photography. After nearly twenty years practicing architecture on projects ranging from residential to large-scale mixed-use developments, she transitioned into the film industry, where she now works primarily as an Art Director on film and television productions nationwide. Sharon has held roles throughout the Art Department, including Set Designer, Assistant Art Director, and Art Director, contributing to numerous projects filmed in Chicago and beyond.
In 2017, she produced her first short film, Inside the Box: The Story of Boxville, a finalist in the AIA’s I Look Up Film Festival. In 2024, she established blprint359 Productions to create original content across film, television, and print. The first project, 15 Lines, is a short film loosely based on her experience working in architecture. Beyond her professional work, she is passionate about history, literature, culinary experiences, and endurance sports.