About

Constance Vale is a licensed architect and director of the architecture practice Constance Vale Studio LLC and the experimental research office The Factory of Smoke & Mirrors. She undertakes aesthetic and conceptual investigations in the territory between architecture, art, theatre, and technology. Vale is also an assistant professor of architecture at Washington University in St. Louis and has previously taught at SCI-Arc and the University of California, Los Angeles. Her work has been exhibited at the A+D Museum and published in the Journal of the American Institute of Architects, the Los Angeles Times, Archinect, and CLOG.

Constance Vale Studio is the winner of the On Olive Local Emerging Architect Competition. Vale’s practice is building a residence in the Tatiana Bilbao ESTUDIO designed masterplan alongside Atelier Cory Henry, Michael Maltzan Studio, MOS Studio, Höweler + Yoon, Productora Studio, Macias Peredo, and Tatiana Bilbao ESTUDIO. The project is run by Emily Pulitzer and by Steve Trampe’s Owen Development.

The Factory of Smoke & Mirrors is currently building an Architectural Design of Experimental Platform for Autonomous Driving as a collaboration with computer scientist Dr. Yevgenyi Vorobeychik from WashU’s McKelvey School of Engineering. The 1:8 scale model city will stage the testing of an autonomous vehicle (AV) with a full perceptual stack. The project aims to improve the safety of AVs and to speculate on the future of cities in light of autonomous mobility. The project is funded by the Office of the Vice-Chancellor for Research's Planning Grants for Interdisciplinary Research.

In 2015, Vale collaborated with Emmett Zeifman to complete a temporary pavilion in downtown Los Angeles for the experimental opera Hopscotch. She is the editor and co-author of the historical timeline for the Graham Foundation-supported book Mute Icons, by Marcelo Spina and Georgina Huljich.

Vale earned an MArch from Yale School of Architecture, where she received the Moulton Andrus Award for Excellence in Art and Architecture and two Feldman Nominations, and a BFA from Parsons School of Design. Before founding her own studio and research has practiced at internationally recognized offices in Los Angeles, New York City, and her hometown of Pittsburgh.

Contact

constancevale(at)factoryofsmokeandmirrors.com