“We are a design collaborative dedicated to remarkable and creative solutions.”

LIFT architects was formed to provoke a broader concept of architectural practice in order to better address and shape a dynamic world.  We are designers, developers, researchers and raconteurs of architecture, products, urbanism, art, technology and design strategy.

Our mission is to create, enable and improve the tools humans use to interface with their natural, built and socially-constructed environments including: products, spaces, buildings, places, and experiences.

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Andrew Payne founded LIFT architects in 2007.  Andrew is a registered architect who is currently pursuing his Doctoral degree at Harvard's Graduate School of Design.  He received his Masters of Architecture from Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation in May of 2005.  Prior to that, he studied architecture at Clemson University where he earned a Bachelors of Science degree in 2002. 

Andrew’s work explores embedded computation and parametric design and he has lectured and taught workshops throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe.  He is currently an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Architecture at Columbia University.  He was also recently elected to the ACADIA board of directors for the upcoming term (2013-2015).

 

In 2010, Andrew and Jason Kelly Johnson published Firefly - a comprehensive software plug-in dedicated to bridging the gap between Grasshopper, the Arduino microcontroller, the internet and beyond. It allows near real-time data flow between the digital and physical worlds, and will read/write data to/from internet feeds, remote sensors and more.  As of 2011, Andrew is the lead researcher and developer of Firefly’s new X control tools. 

His doctoral research at the GSD, under the direction of Dr. Martin Bechthold and Panagiotis Michalatos, explores how recent advancements in technology can help architects create intelligent spaces and systems that have a capacity to meet changing individual, social, and environmental demands.