Faculty Research Connections Profile
Rachel Dickey is an Associate Professor in the David R. Ravin School of Architecture and founder of Studio Dickey, a Charlotte based art and design practice. The practice uniquely consists of students and professionals collaboratively working on the design and production of creative works.
Dickey’s academic research and professional practice involve projects of varied scales from furniture to urban design. Her work is characterized by the synthesis of architecture, digital art, and design appropriated towards innovative material interfaces for the built environment. Her courses focus on computational, material, and human-oriented design.
Dickey received a Masters of Design Studies from Harvard University and a BS in Architecture and MArch from Georgia Institute of Technology, where she received the Ventulett Distinguished Chair Award for her graduate thesis project. Dickey has previously taught as a Visiting Assistant Professor at Cornell University and at Ball State University as the Design Innovation Fellow.
Her portfolio of work includes a diverse list of clients including Charlotte City Center Partners, Angels Gate Cultural Center in Los Angeles, Office for the Arts at Harvard, Des Cours in New Orleans, the Museum of Design in Atlanta, NineDotArts in Denver, Mecklenburg County, the Arts & Science Council of Charlotte-Mecklenburg, and Rock Hill Economic and Urban Development. Her work has been recognized in various media, including Architectural Review, Architect Magazine, the Charlotte Observer, and Carolina News Today, and has been published in journals and books by MIT Press and Princeton Architectural Press.
Explore Her recent work
Dickey's interactive installation titled "Covid Confessionals" selected for South End Rail Trail Festival.
In the spring of 2018, Dickey turned Storrs Gallery into “a petri dish” of experimentation with her interactive installation, Air Hugs. The “Air Hugs,” 12-foot-long massive mylar balloons that hung from the ceiling, turned the gallery into a “sensing environment” that responded to visitors by “inhaling and exhaling,” creating “a socially enveloping brilliance of reflection and light.”
Dickey's "Sound Pavilion" used sound performance to guide the construction of repeating gypsum forms into an architectural space.