Heated Pasts

Event co-organised by The Finnish Cultural Institute in New York and The Cooper Union’s Civic Projects Lab, New York.

The Heated Pasts event, featuring presentations by Frans Saraste and Alberto Martinez Garcia and Mokena Makeka explored the interplay between fuel, architecture, climate, and social hierarchies, and colonialism, bridging historical and contemporary perspectives.

Mokena Makeka is an award-winning architect and globally recognized expert in urban design and strategy. As Special Advisor to the Vice President of Academic Affairs (VPAA) of The Cooper Union, Makeka works in close partnership with the Acting Dean of The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture to advance pedagogical and interdisciplinary innovation centered on pressing issues including climate change, sustainability, social and economic justice, and accessibility. In coordination with the VPAA, he also collaborates with the School of Art, the Albert Nerken School of Engineering, and the Faculty of the Humanities and Social Sciences, when appropriate.

Alberto Martinez Garcia is an architect and architectural historian, currently pursuing a Ph.D. in the history and theory of architecture at Yale. He also holds a Master of Environmental Design (MED) from YSoA, an M.Arch II degree from The Cooper Union, and an architectural degree from the Higher Technical School of Architecture of Madrid (ETSAM). His research focuses on environmental history, colonial architecture, the construction of archives, territory, and domesticity.