Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation

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GSAPP

Type	Private
Established	1881
Parent institution	Columbia University
Dean	Weiping Wu
Academic staff	195 (academic staff)
Students	629 (total enrollment)
Location	New York City , U.S.
Campus	Urban
Website	www.arch.columbia.edu

The Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University in New York City, also known simply as GSAPP, is regarded as one of the most important and prestigious architecture schools in the world.^{[1][2][3][4][5]} It is also home to the well-regarded Masters of Science program in Advanced Architectural Design, Historic Preservation, Real Estate Development, Urban Design, and Urban Planning.

The school's resources include the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, the United States' largest architectural library and home to some of the first books published on architecture, as well as the origin of the Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals.^[6]

Recent deans of the school have included architect James Stewart Polshek, noted architectural theorist and deconstructivist architect Bernard Tschumi, Mark Wigley, and Amale Andraos (2014-2021).^[7] Weiping Wu serves as Interim Dean since January 2022.^[8]

History[]

The Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation (GSAPP) has evolved over more than a century. It was transformed from a department within the Columbia School of Mines into a formal School of Architecture by William Robert Ware in 1881—making it one of the first such professional programs in the country.^[9]

Academics[]

While the number of specialized programs being offered by the school has multiplied over the years, architecture remains the intellectual core of the school, providing the central focus for more than half of the students and faculty, in addition to conferring a unique identity onto each of the other affiliated programs. All programs share a commitment to both professional training and research. The curriculum and philosophy stress the necessity of analyzing and challenging the underlying history, premises, and future directions of the design professions, and applying this research and knowledge towards design and the built environment, as students are prepared to become accomplished practitioners in their respective fields of specialization.^[10]

Rankings[]

Columbia GSAPP has been ranked #2 among the Top Architecture Graduate Programs five times over the past ten years on DesignIntelligence's ranking of programs accredited by the National Architectural Accrediting Board, including the 2020 rankings.^{[5][11][12][13][14][15][16][17]}

Notable faculty[]

Current faculty[]

• Amale Andraos – Founder of ^[18] and former Dean (2014-2021)
• Barry Bergdoll – Former Philip Johnson Chief Curator of Architecture and Design, MoMA
• Andrew Dolkart – James Marston Fitch Professor of Historic Preservation. Former Director of the Historic Preservation Program (2008-2016)
• Kenneth Frampton – Ware Professor of Architecture Emeritus
• Mario Gooden - Interim Director of GSAPP's Master of Architecture Program
• Juan Herreros – Founder of Abalos & Herreros
• Steven Holl – Founder and Principal of Steven Holl Architects
• Andrés Jaque – Director of GSAPP's Advanced Architectural Design Program, Founder and Principal of Office for Political Innovation
• Laura Kurgan – Director of GSAPP's Computational Design Program and Director of the Center for Spatial Research
• LOT-EK – Ada Tolla and Giuseppe Lignano
• Reinhold Martin – Former Director of the Temple Hoyne Buell Center for the Study of American Architecture
• Kate Orff – Director of GSAPP's Architecture and Urban Design Program, Founder and Principal of SCAPE
• Jorge Otero-Pailos – Director of GSAPP's Historic Preservation Program
• Richard Plunz – Director of Urban Design Lab at the Earth Institute and Former Director of GSAPP's Architecture and Urban Design Program
• - Director of the Masters program in Critical, Curatorial, and Conceptual Practices in Architecture
• Michael Rock – Founder of 2 x 4, Director of Graphical Arch Studies
• Karla Maria Rothstein – Director of Columbia University's DeathLAB; co-founder of Latent Productions
• Hilary Sample – Founder and Principal of MOS Architects
• Galia Solomonoff – architect of Dia:Beacon museum and founding creative director of Solomonoff Architecture Studio
• Bernard Tschumi – designed Alfred Lerner Hall, Columbia's student center, former Dean (1988 to 2003)
• Mary McLeod - Co-curator of the exhibition Charlotte Perriand: Interior Equipment,
• Mark Wigley – directed the exhibition "Deconstructivist Architecture" at MoMA with Philip Johnson, former Dean (2004-2014)
• Gwendolyn Wright
• Weiping Wu – Interim Dean and Director of GSAPP's Urban Planning Program

Former faculty[]

• Charles Abrams
• Stan Allen - Dean of Princeton School of Architecture
• Tatiana Bilbao
• William A. Boring
• Peter Cook - Member of Archigram
• Harvey Wiley Corbett
• Mark Cousins - Director of the History/ Theory Department at the AA London
• Manuel de Landa (adjunct)
• Neil Denari
• Hernan Diaz Alonso
• James Marston Fitch
• Frank Gehry
• Romaldo Giurgola
• Percival Goodman
• Zaha Hadid
• Alfred Dwight Foster Hamlin
• Wallace Harrison
• Thomas Hastings
• Henry Hornbostel
• Bjarke Ingels
• Gerhard Kallmann
• Ada Karmi-Melamede
• Michael David Kirchmann - Founder and CEO of GDSNY
• Austin W. Lord - Dean 1912-15
• Greg Lynn
• Peter Marcuse
• Charles Follen McKim
• Michael McKinnell
• James Stewart Polshek - former dean of Columbia's architecture school; his projects include the Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock; the Santa Fe Opera's Crosby Theatre in New Mexico; and 500 Park Avenue^[19] near Billionaires' Row in Manhattan
• Hani Rashid - Asymptote
• Jaquelin T. Robertson
• Philippe Rahm
• Michael Sorkin
• Robert A.M. Stern - former Dean of Yale School of Architecture; his recent projects include the Four Seasons Hotel New York Downtown;^[20][21] the Harvard Business School's Bloomberg Center; and the Harvard Kennedy School's Rubenstein, Ofer, and Wexner buildings^[22]
• Marc Tsurumaki
• Raymond Unwin
• William Robert Ware - designed numerous Venetian Gothic buildings for Harvard University
• Michael Webb - member of Archigram
• Lauretta Vinciarelli

Notable alumni[]

• Abraham H. Albertson (1895), notable early 20th century architect in Seattle, Washington
• Max Abramovitz (1931) – 1961 Rome Prize; designed Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center, the United Nations complex, and the Assembly Hall
• David Aldrich, artist and architect^[23]
• Grosvenor Atterbury (1884) – worked for Columbia campus architects McKim, Mead & White; designed Forest Hills Gardens
• Richard F. Bach (1909) - curator of industrial arts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art^[24]
• Turpin Bannister (M.S. 1928) – was one of the leading American architectural historians of his generation
• Donn Barber (post-graduate architectural courses) – architect
• William A. Boring – was an American architect; noted for, among other work, codesigning the Immigration Station at Ellis Island in New York harbor
• Temple Hoyne Buell – designed over 300 buildings in Colorado; designed the first ever shopping mall
• Paul Byard (M.S.) – a lawyer and an architect
• Rosario Candela (B.A. 1915) – was an Italian American architect; achieved renown through his apartment building designs in New York City
• Eric Cantor (M.S. 1989) - Congressman from Virginia and United States House Majority Leader
• Minsuk Cho - Founder of Mass Studies
• Brad Cloepfil – architect, educator
• Angela Co (MA, 2005) – 2011 Rome Prize^[25]
• Jonas Coersmeier – award-winning architect and designer; a finalist and first runner-up in the World Trade Center Memorial Competition
• Lonn Combs (MsAAD, 2001) – 2011 Rome Prize^[25]
• William Adams Delano (1896) – architect, partner with Chester Holmes Aldrich in the firm of Delano & Aldrich
• Andrew Dolkart (M.S. 1977) – authority on the preservation of historically significant architecture
• Harry E. Donnell (Ph. B. 1887) - Beaux-Arts architect who designed The Grand Madison
• Alden B. Dow (B.A. 1931) – architect; known for his prolific architectural design
• Boris Dramov (M.Arch. 1970) – architect, urban designer, and President of ROMA Design Group
• Peter Eisenman (1960) - designed the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin, amongst other work
• Doug Farr (M.Arch. 1970) - architect and urban planner
• Romaldo (Aldo) Giurgola (M.Arch) - Italian-American-Australian academic architect, professor, and author.
• Nabil Gholam (M.S. in Urban Planning 1988) - architect, founder of award-winning architecture firms in Beirut
• (1912) - co-designer of the original Museum of Modern Art, New York
• Ferdinand Gottlieb (1953) - designed the original Rizzoli Bookstore
• Eric Gugler (1911) - designed the West Wing of the White House
• Frances Halsband (M.S.) – architect who has served on juries for design awards and chaired the 1999 American Institute of Architects Committee on Design
• Michael Hansmeyer (M.S.) – post-modern architect; utilizes techniques, generative art mentalities, and CAD software to generate complex structures
• Arthur Loomis Harmon (1902) - co-designed Empire State Building; most famous as design partner of the firm Shreve, Lamb and Harmon
• James Monroe Hewlett (Ph. B. 1890), painted the celestial mural in the Grand Central Terminal, father-in-law of inventor Buckminster Fuller
• Henry Hornbostel (Ph. B. 1891) - American architect who designed the campus for Carnegie Mellon University and Emory University
• John Ike - architect and partner of Ike Kligerman Barkley architectural firm
• Mitchell Joachim (M. Arch. 1997) – acknowledged as an innovator in ecological design, architecture, and urban design
• Rockwell Kent (1902) - painter
• Robert Kohn (1890) - designed Congregation Emanu-El of the City of New York, the world's largest synagogue
• Joseph Kosinski (1999) - directed Tron: Legacy; best known for his computer graphics and computer generated imagery work
• Sylvia Lavin – a leading figure in contemporary architectural history, theory, and criticism
• V. Everit Macy (1893) - industrialist and philanthropist; benefactor to Teachers College, Columbia University
• Henry C. Pelton (1889) - co-designed Riverside Church in New York
• Geeta Mehta - Indian-American social entrepreneur, urban designer, architect and author
• Lewis F. Pilcher (1895) - State Architect of New York in the 1910s^[26]
• (B.S. Arch) - architect; included in Architectural Digest (2010) as one of Top 100 Architects and Designers in the world
• John Russell Pope (1894) - Rome Prize; designed the National Archives and the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, DC
• Antoine Predock (B. Arch.) – architect, Rome Prize (1985); AIA Gold Medal (2006), National Design Award (2007)
• Wallace A. Rayfield (B. Arch. 1899) – was the second formally educated practicing African American architect in the United States
• Charles Renfro (1994) - principal, Diller Scofidio + Renfro; among the first architects to win a MacArthur Prize "genius grant"
• Marcus T. Reynolds (1893), architect who designed the SUNY System Administration Building and The Albany Academy
• James Rossant (1928 - 2009) – architect; best known for his master plan of Reston, Virginia, Lower Manhattan Plan, and UN-sponsored master plan for Dodoma, Tanzania
• Friedrich St. Florian (M. Arch. 1961) – Austrian-American architect; Rome Prize; National World War II Memorial, Washington, D.C.
• Ashley Schafer (1998) - founding editor of PRAXIS journal and curator of the US Pavilion at the 2014 Venice Biennale
• Sy Schulman (1954) - civil engineer and urban planner, Mayor of White Plains (1993-1997)^[27]
• Ricardo Scofidio (1960) - founder, principal of Diller Scofidio + Renfro, first architects to win a MacArthur Prize "genius grant"; Royal Institute of British Architects
• SHoP Architects (each of the six founding partners has a M.Arch. from GSAPP) - 2009 National Design Award for Architecture Design; firm's work in permanent collection, Museum of Modern Art
• David Serero (M.S. Arch) – French architect; Rome Prize
• Lawrence L. Shenfield (B. Arch. 1914) - advertising executive, instrumental in promoting Radio broadcasting during the 1920s and 30s; prominent philatelist, collector of Confederate postage stamps
• Norma Merrick Sklarek (M.Arch 1950) – African American architect who accomplished many firsts for black women in architecture
• Galia Solomonoff (M.Arch 1994) - architect, founder of Solomonoff Architecture Studio
• Laurinda Hope Spear (M.S. Arch 1975) – architect and landscape architect; Rome Prize; one of the founders of Arquitectonica
• Gustave E. Steinback (B.S. 1900) – architect; particularly known as designer of Roman Catholic schools and churches
• Chauncey Stillman - American heir, grandson of James Stillman
• Arthur Alexander Stoughton (Ph. B. 1888) - partner of Stoughton and Stoughton; founded the architecture department at the University of Manitoba
• (M.Arch 1988) Miami based architect known for his Regional Modernist design; founding principal of Strang Design and recipient of Medal of Honor from Florida AIA
• Sharon Sutton (M.Arch 1983) – professor, architecture and urban design; first African American woman to become a full professor in accredited architectural degree program
• Alexander Tzannes (M.S. Arch & Urban Design) – Australian architect; founder of high-profile, multi-award-winning architectural practice Tzannes Associates
• Samuel Breck Parkman Trowbridge (1883), partner of Trowbridge & Livingston; designed the St. Regis Hotel, American Red Cross National Headquarters, and 23 Wall Street
• UrbanLab (both founders, Martin Felsen and Sarah Dunn, graduated in 1994) – 2009 Latrobe Prize from the American Institute of Architects College of Fellows
• Franklin B. Ware (B.S. Arch) – American architect best known for serving as the State architect of New York (1907–1912)
• Whitney Warren (attended 1883-1884), founder of Warren and Wetmore that designed New York City's Grand Central Terminal
• Alexander McMillan Welch (1890), American architect who designed the Benjamin N. Duke House
• Jan V. White (1952) - communication designer, educator and writer

Research Centers[]

Center for Spatial Research[]

The Spatial Research Center was established in 2015 as a center for urban research that combines design, architecture, urbanism, humanities and data science. It sponsors research and curricular activities built around new technologies of mapping, data visualization and data collection and data analysis. CSR focuses on data literacy as well as interrogating the world of 'big data,' working to open up new areas of research and inquiry with advanced design tools to help scholars, students as well as our collaborators and audiences, to understand cities worldwide – past present and future.^[28]

Center for Urban Real Estate[]

The Center for Urban Real Estate was founded in 2011 in order to address the challenges of a rapidly urbanizing world and the most complex problems of the real estate industry. From the concerns of inequitable socio-economic outcomes in the urban environment, through the spectacular revitalization of urban centers, such as Lower Manhattan, after the devastation of terrorism, natural disaster, and deteriorating infrastructure, to creating technological systems for optimized investment decisions, the Center serves as a forum for robust discussions and rigorous analysis by real estate professionals and scholars. A major current focus of the Center is the development of advanced applied technology that can be achieved by bridging the gap between the compelling needs of the real estate industry and the advanced research and resources in technology within the extensive Columbia University ecosystem.^[29]

Temple Hoyne Buell Center for the Study of American Architecture[]

The Buell Center was founded in 1982. Its mission is to advance the interdisciplinary study of American architecture, urbanism, and landscape. In recent years, the Center has convened issue-oriented conversations around matters of public concern, such as housing, that are addressed to overlapping constituencies including academics, students, professionals, and members of the general public. The Center's research and programming articulate facts and frameworks that modify key assumptions governing the architectural public sphere—that is, the arena in which informed public analysis and debate about architecture and urbanism takes place.^[30] The center is located in Buell Hall.

Columbia Laboratory for Architectural Broadcasting[]

Columbia Laboratory for Architectural Broadcasting (also known as C-Lab^[31]) was founded in 2005 by Jeffrey Inaba.^[31] It is an experimental research unit which investigates how cities would evolve and studies urban and architecture issues related to new technologies.

See also[]

• Columbia University
• Architecture

References[]

External links[]

• Official website

Coordinates: 40°48′26″N 73°57′38″W / 40.80734°N 73.96049°W / 40.80734; -73.96049