makethink.

Make Think Design (mtd.) is a multidisciplinary design and research studio led by Erin Pellegrino and Charlie Firestone, merging making and thinking. The studio’s process is its theology – focusing on discovering, finding, developing and refining processes of material and procedural experimentation within temporal and physically bespoke environments. Through a focus on found methods of making in temporal and physical contexts, the studio strives to produce inherently meaningful and unique, yet generative and prospective designs – redefining the role and definition of craft in contemporary design and construction. Our studio research takes advantage of what is often times cast as inherent struggle in contemporary design between craft and construction, taking it as an opportunity to transmogrify architectural methods, expectation and eventually, outcome. By engaging found methods of craft and translating them across various unconventional scales and materials ranging from furniture to artwork to larger architectural interventions, the studio strives to develop procedures and efficient methods of making that inherently builds in phenomenal and corporeal memory and nostalgia. Principal and Founder Erin Pellegrino has been recognized with an Autodesk BUILDSpace Fellowship, AIA New England Design Honor Award, the Core 77 Design Award in Built Environment, two Architizer A+ awards, a Paul M. Heffernan International Fellowship, and a nomination for the EU Mies Van der Rohe Award. Her work on Alpine Shelter Skuta was featured on the cover of Phaidon Press’s publication, Environmental Living. Before focusing solely on her own work, she trained in the offices of Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects and Studio Gang, honing a focus on craft, rigor, and quality. She holds a Bachelor of Architecture from Cornell University, a Master of Architecture II from the Harvard Graduate School of Design, and an MBA. She currently teaches courses Design and lectures in Professional Practice at Cornell University and NJIT.