The Judges for the 2005 Metropolis Next Generation® Design Competition

Wendy Brawer is the founder of Modern World Design, a firm specializing in resource-efficient services and products. In 1992 she launched the Green Apple Map, an interactive, Web-based mapping system that charts New York City’s parks and natural resources. Three years later, with the help of an international eco-design group the O2 Designer’s Network, the Green Apple Map concept expanded to become the Green Map System, a global initiative led by locals in 250 communities in 40 countries.

Shashi Caan currently leads the Shashi Caan Collective, an interior design practice that integrates creativity with research. Previously she worked at the offices of Skidmore Owings and Merrill and Gensler. Caan has taught at Pratt, the School of Visual Arts, and the New York School of Interior Design, and she is now the Director of the Interior Design Program in the Department of Architecture and Interior Design at Parsons School of Design. She is a frequent contributor to scholarly design journals and her projects have appeared in magazines, newspapers, and books.

Industrial designer Timothy deFiebre is the founder of New York-based firm Timothy deFiebre Designs. He is often hailed as the protégé of Ward Bennet because in the mid 1980s he worked as Bennet’s design assistant and model maker at Brickel Associates; deFiebre was later promoted to director of design for the company’s furniture division. Prior to becoming a furniture designer, deFiebre worked as a scenic carpenter at the Royal Opera House in London and the Juilliard School in New York, and he also studied technical design and production at the Yale School of Drama.

John Hong, along with partners Jinhee Park and Erik Carlson, who together comprise the Cambridge-based architecture firm Single Speed Design (SsD), won the 2004 Metropolis Next Generation Design Prize. Hong received a M.A. in Architecture with distinction from Harvard’s Graduate School of Design and a B.S. in Architecture from the University of Virginia. Prior to establishing SsD, he worked at Polshek Partnership Architects, William Rawn Associates, and Leers Weinzapfel Associates. He currently leads design studios at Northeastern University and serves on the editorial board of ArchitectureBoston.

Staying true to her upbringing in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Adrienne McNicholas maintains a “steel-town practicality” when it comes to the business of design. Five years ago she founded Klinik, a design consultancy that helps designers establish relationships with manufacturers. Prior to starting the Toronto-based firm, she worked at Umbra, where she helped launch the careers of well-known designers Karim Rashid and Scot Laughton.

Susan S. Szenasy is the editor in chief of Metropolis, the New York City-based magazine of architecture, culture, and design. During her 19 years as editor in chief, the magazine has been at the forefront of reporting and analyzing design and architecture as a humanist activity. Szenasy holds an M.A. degree in Modern European History from Rutgers University and teaches design history and ethics at New York’s Parsons School of Design.