Dr. Justin Cook

Biography

Justin W. Cook is a Design Critic in Design Engineering at Harvard Graduate School of Design. He grew up in a small town near Puget Sound and was initially trained as a carpenter and architect. His academic journey has been driven by a curiosity about the broader potential of emerging practices, leading him to work on systemic challenges in healthcare and the design of humane systems of care. Cook's current work focuses on healthcare, sustainability, education, and housing, with a particular emphasis on designing novel organizational architectures to address systemic issues. He has concluded a six-year research experiment as the founding Executive Director of the Center for Complexity (CfC) at the Rhode Island School of Design. During his tenure, he established a partnership with Infosys and led a practice organized around research cores focusing on systems care and the concept of the “Polycene.” His efforts spanned developing resources to address intimate crises, such as the opioid epidemic, to large-scale initiatives like Horizon 2045 aimed at redesigning nuclear security. Cook is also a co-founder of IDCUBED, a company tackling climate and housing crises through sustainable modular mass timber buildings, and he leads Commonwealth Advanced Projects LLC, providing strategic design consulting for organizations like Google and IBM. He authored a publication on sustainability and human well-being in future education and has a rich history of collaboration with institutions including MIT and teaching engagements focused on strategic design and systems thinking.

Research Interests

Courses