Jonathan Massey

Jonathan Massey, an architect and historian, is dean of the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Michigan.

Previously he was dean of architecture at California College of the Arts, and Meredith Professor for Teaching Excellence at Syracuse University. A co-founder of the Transdisciplinary Media Studio and the Aggregate Architectural History Collaborative, he has published in many journals and essay collections, including the jointly edited volume Governing by Design.

Massey’s research shows how architecture mediates power by giving form to civil society, shaping social relationships, and regulating consumption. His book Crystal and Arabesque reconstructed the techniques through which American modernist architects engaged new media, audiences and problems of mass society. His essays have analyzed topics ranging from organicism in modern architecture to mortgage finance and sumptuary regulation. Current research examines the ways architecture manages our consumption of resources ranging from energy and water to time and risk.