Zackery Belanger’s work arises from long immersions in disparate areas of study, and the tumultuous act of shifting between them. The most substantial have been physics/gravitation, acoustic architecture, experimental design, and XXXXXXX. Uprooting can produce singular pathways, such as occupying Rensselaer’s EMPAC after years on its design team.
The BLUME name is a remix of UMBEL, his recent experimental design practice. It moves beyond the boundaries of acoustic architecture; intentional artwork indicates another shift, and maybe an unsurprising destination.
Contact: zb@blume.art
ZACKERY BELANGER - CURRICULUM VITAE
2014 - 2026
Founder and Director of Arcgeometer/Umbel experimental design studio
2013 - 2014
Researcher-in-Residence, EMPAC at Rensselaer, Troy, New York
2011 - 2012
Master of Science in Architectural Sciences, School of Architecture at Rensselaer, Troy, New York
Thesis: Sound Energy Evolution in Two Dimensional Enclosures as Determined with a Finite Difference Time Domain Method
(Ph.D. curtailed)
2002 - 2010
Research and Development Lead, Kirkegaard Associates, Chicago, Illinois
2001 - 2002
Graduate Architecture studies, University of Illinois Chicago (self-truncated)
2000
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory - Summer Program
1999 - 2001
Master of Science in Physics, Concentration in Gravitation, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan
Thesis: Adaptive Mesh Refinement in the T^2 Symmetric Spacetime
1994 - 1999
Bachelor of Science in Physics, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan
SELECTED WORK
Acoustic Ornament essay
Long Range continuous acoustic surface of glass, with C. Newell, W. McGee, University of Michigan Taubman School
EMPAC (Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center) fabric development, surface design, and diffusive layouts, with Kirkegaard Associates
EMPAC post-occupancy acoustic evaluation, documentation and refinement
Manta reactive acoustic surface, with E. Ameres, S. Edwards, and G. Bernal
Waterberg Waves community radio station, from shipping container, Johannesburg, South Africa, with Max Graef and RadioActive
LightArt acoustic lighting development and deployment
Warehouse experimental studio space at Dartmouth, with Polytope, T.E.A.M. and Stock-A-studio
Divergent Hall concept for a treatment-free, minimal distortion concert hall form
Sonic Stacks acoustic assessment of books, with Misha Volf, Detroit, MI
El Club acoustic design and diversion, reuse of absorptive foam wedges, with B. Chadabe and LAAVU, Detroit, MI
Acoustic Deconstruction of 2626 Bancroft Way the study of the acoustics of an ill-fated brutalist icon, with Jacqueline Kiyomi Gork, Berkeley, California
Scale is Everything, DLECTRICITY, Detroit, MI
Design, fabrication, and installation of surface preserving armatures for aging acoustic panels, Troy Savings Bank Music Hall
Acoustic horn design and fabrication for Thom Kubli’s Black Hole Horizon installation
Acoustic horn design for Brent Green’s To Many Men Strange Fates Are Given, premiered at Sundance Film Festival
LECTURES
Florida Atlantic University, School of Architecture Spring Lecture Series
Acoustical Society of America
LightFair, New York, NY
EMPAC Fall Series, Rensselaer, Troy, NY
Interior Design Show, Vancouver, BC
ACADIA Association for Computer Aided Design In Architecture, Activating Curvature , Mexico City, Mexico
Design Core Detroit, Acoustics for Present and Future Architects, Designers, and Artists, UD Mercy
DetroitSound4, Detroit Sound Design: Theory and Practice (panelist)
New Music Gathering, Acoustic Spaces Large and Small , Bowling Green State University
The New School at Parsons, School of Constructed Environments, The Sound of Object, Space, and Form
Virginia Commonwealth University, Spring Lecture Series, School of the Arts, The Sound of Object and Space
2015 Performer, Trans-Pecos, Brooklyn, NY
The Henry, On the Acoustics of Books, Seattle, WA
The Lab, Acoustic Concrete: What Brutalist Architecture Can Teach Us About Sound , San Francisco, CA
Performer, Non-Event @ Cafe Fixe, Boston, MA
Invited critic, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute School of Architecture, Troy, NY
EMPAC lecture, The Next Acoustic Architecture, Rensselaer, Troy, NY
Rensselaer Lunch and Learn, Case Studies in Acoustic Architecture, Troy, NY
Union College, Schenectady, NY
Roundtable discussion, Energy, Environments, and Conflicts, Smartgeometry 2012, Troy, NY
Grimshaw Architects, New York City, NY
EMPAC Retrospective Roundtable Discussion/Oral History, Troy, NY
University of Illinois at Chicago School of Architecture Materials and Geometry Studio, Chicago, IL
Chicago Computational Design Forum, Chicago, IL
Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, Miami, FL
Countless CEU lectures to architects and designers
AWARDS
FABRICATE
R+D Award
Patents:
US12000140B2 Acoustic device thermoforming
WO2023250020A1 Pane-based acoustic system
Emergency Grant
Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, Research Grant, with J. Flohr
Member, Board of Directors, Troy Savings Bank Music Hall