Peter Testa

Peter Testa is Principal at Testa|Weiser and founding director of the MIT Emergent Design Group (EDG). At Testa|Weiser he leads a wide range of projects including the Carbon Tower and PSA Peugeot Citroen EV Factory, recognized for groundbreaking applications of composites and robotics in architecture. Previously he collaborated with Pritzker Prize winner Alvaro Siza, and was Principal-in-Charge of several significant museums and large-scale urban projects in Europe and the United States. His work is exhibited at leading museums and galleries worldwide including recent shows in Los Angeles, New York, London, Copenhagen, Tokyo, and Beijing. He is the author of two books and more than 30 papers on architecture, design, computation and robotics. Testa holds patents for advanced composite material systems with MIT and Herman Miller Inc. His work and writings are regularly published in international art, architecture, design, engineering, and scientific journals as well as major newspapers including The New York Times, New Yorker, Financial Times, and London Times. Between 1997-2002, Testa was Associate Professor of Architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was Associate Professor at Columbia University GSAPP between 1991-1997; and Design Critic in Architecture at Harvard University GSD. In 2008, he was appointed Esherick Professor of Architecture at the University of California. Since 2004, he has taught at the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) as Graduate and Post-Graduate Design Faculty. In 2010, he initiated and designed the SCI-Arc Robot House sponsored by Staubli Robotics. Testa holds an S.M.Arch.S. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is a Registered Architect in California (NCARB Certificate). Honors include the Design Arts Award of the National Endowment for the Arts, the Municipal Art Society of New York Design Award, three Graham Foundation Awards, and the MIT Innovation in Teaching Award. The BBC and London Times recently profiled Testa as a global design innovation leader, redefining architecture in the 21st century.