Joss Kiely , PhD

Joss Kiely is an Assistant Professor at the School of Architecture and Interior Design at the University of Cincinnati, where he teaches courses in architectural history and design studio at the undergraduate and graduate level. He has a B.A. from Connecticut College in French language and literature and architectural studies and a Master of Architecture, a Master of Science in Architecture, and a Ph.D. in architectural history and theory from the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Michigan. His Ph.D. dissertation examined the close relationship between commercial aviation and the rise of the postwar, global architectural practice focusing on the Detroit-based architecture firm of Minoru Yamasaki and Associates. His ongoing research agenda focuses on ideas of soft power and the Cold War master plan as produced by architecture firms after World War II as well as the rise of an “itinerant modern” style that ushered in a new wave of widespread commercial air travel.

His research has been generously supported by the Society of Architectural Historians and the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS/Luce), and his writings and criticism have been published in Fabrications (2024), Arts, CLOG, the Journal of Architectural Education (2020), Arris (2022), the Interior Urbanism Theory Reader (2024), the Journal of Urban Affairs (2023), and in the edited volume, Modern Architecture Below the Mason Dixon Line (expected 2025). He is currently co-authoring a book project with Michael Abrahamson (University of Utah) entitled, Master Plan: Soft Power and the Politics of Architectural Expertise, under advance contract with Princeton University Press (expected 2026). In addition, he sits on the board of the Southeastern Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians (SESAH) and serves as the architectural liaison with SECAC.

Ph.D.: University of Michigan, Taubman College of Architecture + Urban Planning Ann Arbor, MI, 2018 (Architectural History + Theory)

M.Sci. Architecture: University of Michigan, Taubman College of Architecture + Urban Planning Ann Arbor, MI, 2011 (Architectural History + Theory)

M.Arch.: University of Michigan, Taubman College of Architecture + Urban Planning Ann Arbor, MI, 2010 (Design Thesis: "The Voracious Domestic")

B.A.: Connecticut College New London, CT, 2005 (French Language + Literature, Architectural Studies)

U.S.-based Architecture
Postwar Architecture
Late Modernism
Architecture and National Identity

Peer Reviewed Publications

*Joss Kiely (02-2025. ) Oil, Oligarchs, and Ostentation: Yamasaki, Abd al-Azziz, and Architecture’s Xeric Sum Game in Saudi Arabia .Architectural Theory Review, ,

*Joss Kiely (01-2025. ) Factory/Hangar/Terminal: An Interior Comes of Age in Postwar Detroit .Interiority, ,

Joss Kiely (10-2024. ) The Price of Prosperity: Annexation, Architecture, and the Late Modernist Development Frenzy in Hawai`i .Fabrications, , 35 (2 ) ,

Joss Kiely (09-2022. ) Cultural Diplomacy Takes Command: Architecture and Soft Power at the 1959 World Agricultural Fair in New Delhi .Arris, , 33 (1 ) ,

Joss Kiely (10-2018. ) The Function of Luxury: Visual and Material Abundance in Minoru Yamasaki’s U.S. Consulate in Kobe and the Federal Science Pavilion in Seattle, 1954-62 .Arts, , 7 (2 ) ,

Invited Publications

Joss Kiely (2021. ) Review of Race and Modern Architecture: A Critical History from the Enlightenment to the Present by Irene Cheng, Charles L. Davis II, and Mabel O. Wilson (2020) .Journal of Architectural Education (JAE), JAE Online ,

JAE Online

Joss Kiely (2023. ) Review of Who Is the City For? Architecture, Equity, and the Public Realm in Chicago, by Blair Kamin and Lee Bey (2022) .Journal of Urban Affairs, 46 (5 ) ,1096 -1097

Published Books

Joss Kiely and Michael Abrahamson (2026. ) Master Plan: Soft Power and the Politics of Architectural Expertise .Princeton and Oxford , Princeton University Press (Co-Author)

Book Chapter

Joss Kiely (2024 ) Lower West Side Story: The World Trade Center and the Interior Masterplan Interior Urbanism Theory Reader .Routledge

Interior Urbanism Theory Reader

Joss Kiely and Gregory Marinic (2024 ) The Cruise Ship: Urbanism at Sea Interior Urbanism Theory Reader .London, Routledge (Co-Author)

Interior Urbanism Theory Reader

Joss Kiely (2026 ) Pride of Placelessness: Dallas Ft. Worth’s ‘One Sumbitchin’ Airport,’” Modern Architecture Below the Mason Dixon Line .

Joss Kiely (2026 ) Honolulu After Urban Renewal . (Author)

Invited Presentations

Joss Kiely and Michael Abrahamson (02-07-2025. ) Master Plan: Soft Power and the Politics of Architectural Expertise .University of Utah, College of Architecture + Planning, Salt Lake City, UT.

Joss Kiely and Michael Abrahamson (04-03-2024. ) Master Plan: Soft Power and the Politics of Architectural Expertise .University of Cincinnati, School of Architecture + Interior Design, Cincinnati, OH.

Joss Kiely and Michael Abrahamson (11-19-2024. ) Master Plan: Soft Power and the Politics of Architectural Expertise .Robert A.M. Stern Seminar, Columbia University, School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, New York, NY.

Joss Kiely and Michael Abrahamson (11-14-2024. ) Master Plan: Soft Power and the Politics of Architectural Expertise .University of Toronto, Daniels School of Architecture, Toronto, Canada.

Joss Kiely (11-19-2018. ) Itinerancy: Architecture Between Mobility and Displacement .School of Architecture, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA.

Paper Presentations

Joss Kiely (12-2024. ) One Thousand and One Flights: A Rooftop Airport Oasis in the Arabian Desert .Santiago, Chile. Level:International

Joss Kiely (12-2024. ) Islands in the Sand: Late Modern Architecture's Xeric Sum Game .Brisbane, Australia. Level:International

Joss Kiely (07-2024. ) Renewing the Past: I. M. Pei in Oklahoma City (1964-66) and Kenzo Tange in Baltimore (ca. 1973) .Hong Kong, China. Level:International

Joss Kiely (03-2024. ) Airports on the Fringe! Designing for Cultural and Climate Resilience in U.S. Overseas Territories .Mumbai, India. Level:International

Joss Kiely and Mary R. Springer (03-2024. ) The Hiccups of Historiography: Beginning Design Survey Courses and the Global Art-Architecture Divide .Lafayette, LA. Level:National

Joss Kiely (09-2023. ) From Cow Pies to Moon Pies: Charles Luckman and the Manned Spacecraft Center in Clear Lake, TX, 1961-67 .Little Rock, AR.

Joss Kiely and Michael Abrahamson (06-2023. ) Open Work: Planning and Building an Architecture Factory for the Boeing 747 .Urbana-Champaign, IL. Level:National

Joss Kiely (04-2023. ) Pride of Placelessness: Dallas Ft. Worth's "One Sumbitchin' Airport" .Montréal, Quebec, Canada. Level:International

Joss Kiely (11-2022. ) Lights, Camera, ... Aluminum! Welton Becket and Associates' Master Plan for Century City, CA .Auckland, New Zealand. Level:International

Joss Kiely (11-2022. ) Governing Through Design: The Civic Master Plan in Toledo and Tallahassee .Memphis, TN.

Joss Kiely (09-2021. ) A Hotel for the Stars: The Century Plaza and the Architecture of Itinerancy .Natchez, MS.

Joss Kiely (09-2020. ) Enduring Functionalism: Formal Expression and Obsolescence in Late Modern Air Terminal Design .Remote due to COVID-19.

Joss Kiely (12-2019. ) Concrete and Acculturation in the Gulf: Formal Affinities to the Past and Future in the Work of Minoru Yamasaki and Kenzo Tange .Auckland, New Zealand. Level:International

Joss Kiely (12-2019. ) Tropical Travails: Minoru Yamasaki and Associates' Queen Emma Gardens, 1964 .Brisbane, Australia. Level:International

Joss Kiely (10-2019. ) Space Age Odysseys: Visionary Airports of the (Relatively) Recent Past .Greenville, SC.

Joss Kiely, Anca Matyiku, and Kristen Kelsch (07-2019. ) The Vessel, the Tower, and the Ruin: Exploring Presentiments in Beginning Design .Antwerp, Belgium. Level:International

05-01-2024 -06-01-2024 Pogue-Wheeler Traveling Fellowship "...Two if by Sea..." Architecture, Empire, and the Disenfranchised Pacific Islands, DAAP American Samoa, Samoa, New Caledonia, Fiji Type:Other