David Salomon, Associate Professor

David Salomon

Associate Professor and Chair, Art, Art History, Architecture
School: School of Humanities and Sciences
Phone: 607-229-7996
Office: G119 Gannett Center, Ithaca, NY 14850
Specialty: Architectural Design, Architectural History, Architectural Theory, Patterns

My research consistently looks at everyday artifacts found in the built environment that are ubiquitous but almost invisible. Current topics include 1) the role of section drawings in architectural design and theory; 2) the use of aesthetics qualities to organize infrastructure; 3) the intersection of architecture, landscape, and art. 

My courses focus on the underlying ideas and objects from which historical and contemporary architecture are made. In addition to reading, writing and talking, in my class we learn by doing and making: making drawings, making models, making buildings, making patterns, making portfolios, etc., but also, making arguments and defending them.

Courses Taught

ARTH 11300 - Elements of Architecture

ARTH 11400 - Architecture Across Cultures

ARTH 20700 - The Architecture of Patterns

ARTH 27514 - Small Builds

ARTH 30100 - Architecture Studio I

ARTH 30200 - Architecture Studio II

ARTH 35900 - Contemporary Architecture

ARTH 48000 - Senior Portfolio

Recent Publications

See my Academia page for downloadable pdfs of my research. 

Books

Ambiguous Territory: Architecture, Landscape, and the Postnatural , co-editor with Cathryn Dwyer, Chris Perry and Kathy Velikov(New York: ACTAR, 2022)

Symmetry: The One and the Many, 2018

Essays & Book Chapters

“Spectral Sections,” LA+: Media (forthcoming, Spring, 2026)

“Critical Sections,” Cornell Journal of Architecture 13: Missing (April, 2026)

“Unfinished: Uncanny Lessons from the Basement, Platform , July 21, 2025, https://www.platformspace.net/home/unfinished-uncanny-lessons-from-the-basement

“Experiments in the Desert: The Art and Science of Lightning along US60,” Landscape Journal (May 2025)

“Caring for Heat: Re-presenting Geothermal Energy at the Eden Project,” Platform (October 2024)

"A Theory of Architecture Through the Geologic-Atmospheric Axis, or, Sections as Axis Mundi and Cosmograms,” in Pedagogical Experiments in Architecture for a Changing Climate (2024).

“A Nostalgic Future: Thomas Cole, Oil Tanks, and Everyday Monumentality,” in Designs for The Thomas Cole National Historic Site (2024).

“On the Comfort of Cows and Computers,” in Nature of Enclosure (2022)

"After Time," Cornell Journal of Architecture, 2021

"Of Pits and Pads," LA+, 2020

"Modern Mundi," New Geographies, 2019