In honor of Black History Month, Columbia GSAPP is highlighting the achievements and contributions of Black alumni throughout February.

Hilyard Robinson (1899-1986) graduated from Columbia University with a B.Arch in 1924 and an M.S. in Architecture in 1931. He was the first African American to earn an architecture degree in the school’s history. Distinguished for his commitment to socially conscious design, Robinson returned to his hometown of Washington, DC to live and work upon graduation, and later spent nearly a year traveling internationally to study the design of public projects. While at Columbia, he began teaching in the architecture program at Howard University, where he served as Chair from 1928-1930, and where he remained deeply involved throughout his lifetime.

Read more on our website.

Photo of Hilyard Robinson by Roger Smith. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Photographs and Prints Division, The New York Public Library.

John Louis Wilson, Jr. graduated from Columbia University with a degree in Architecture in 1928 and became a licensed architect in 1930. In 1934, Wilson was selected to design the Harlem River Houses, a residential project on Manhattan’s west side stretching from 151st to 153rd Street, and the first federally financed housing project in the United States. In the 1950s, Wilson helped to co-found the Council for Advancement of Negroes in Architecture, and later served as its president, before it merged with the American Institute of Architects.

Read more on our website.

Photo Credit: AIA Archives

GSAPP Faculty Bilge Kose and Lisa Kersavage ‘98 MSHP, Kate Lemos McHale '00 MSHP, Michael Caratzas '02 MSHP, and MaryNell Nolan-Wheatley '08 CC are among the team that developed the Preserving Significant Places of Black History website published by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission.

The goal of the project is to provide greater accessibility to New York City landmarks and historic districts that reflect the contributions and achievements of African Americans, against the backdrop of systemic racism. These places illustrate that the fight for racial equity and social justice is as relevant today as it has been over the course of our City’s history.

Architecture and Design Career Fair
March 19 and 20
10 am to 2 pm EST

GSAPP Career Services invites alumni to represent their firm at the this year’s virtual Architecture and Design Career Fair. The fair provides employers the opportunity to connect with GSAPP students from the M.Arch, Advanced Architectural Design, and Architecture and Urban Design programs.

We welcome firms hiring for open full-time or internship opportunities, as well as those interested in conducting informational interviews for future openings.

Please follow the link to register as a presenting firm at this year’s GSAPP Career Fair. You may also register when you log into the Engage platform with an existing employer profile.

Contact Karen Cover at karen.cover@columbia.edu with any questions.

We are currently seeking Ph.D alumni volunteers for Ph.D Tuesday Talks.

Tuesday Talks is an opportunity for GSAPP Ph.D candidates to connect with the doctoral alumni community for informational mentorship. Students select from a list of alumni participants to meet via Zoom for hour-long, one-on-one conversations about career development.

Alumni mentors do not have to have earned their Ph.D at GSAPP, and can volunteer once or many times on the following dates:

• February 23
• March 23
• April 6

If you are interested in participating, send an email with the dates you would like to participate to gsappalumni@columbia.edu along with your job title, place of employment, and location.

Columbia’s Social Enterprise Summer Fellowship Program provides organizations and social entrepreneurs that create social and environmental value access to much-needed talent that they could not otherwise afford to hire by offering stipends for your summer interns.

Charlotte Yu ‘21 M.Arch was a recipient of the fellowship last summer, when she interned at One Architecture & Urbanism. Read about her experience here.

Learn more about participating as an employer.

The GSAPP Admissions team is looking for alumni to share their stories around the theme “Why I Chose GSAPP.” We encourage alumni across geographies and disciplines to offer quotes and/or short video clips to be used for admitted student communication during the month of March.

Please email submissions to gsappalumni@columbia.edu.

Alumni celebrations welcoming the Year of the Ox included a dinner hosted by Johnny Chiu ‘06 MSAAD at his home, the Living Lab, which received an INSIDE World Festival of Interiors Award in 2019. Chiu was recently elected as the President of the Columbia Alumni Association Taipei.

Florencia Kratsman ‘99 MSAAD, Director of Space Planning at Bjarke Ingels Groups, talks about charting a career path that has included working at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, STUDIOS Architecture and for Maya Lin. Read her interview with Eric Li '17 M.Arch.

Najia Fatima ‘22 MSCCCP shares her experience learning from Helsinki as part of a Columbia News series titled Postcards. Read more about how she is making the most of her situation during this global pandemic.

February 17, 12pm
Virtual
Registration is required

Michael K. Chen ‘01 M.Arch is a co-founder of Design Advocates and principal of Michael K. Chen Architecture (MKCA). Michael will present recent work by the group and his own firm’s civic-minded projects, and discusses the potential of citizen science, collaboration and craft and how these can serve both communities in need and the public good. Nash Taylor ‘22 M.Arch/MSRED will facilitate the conversation.

The GSAPP Alumni Conversations series is proudly sponsored by the GSAPP Alumni Board.

Emmanuel Pratt 03 MSAUD is Co-Founder and Executive Director of Sweet Water Foundation, a Chicago-based regenerative community. Sweet Water utilizes a blend of urban agriculture, art, and education to transform vacant spaces and abandoned buildings into economically and ecologically productive and sustainable community assets that produce engaged youth, skilled workers, art, locally-grown food, and affordable housing.

Response by Professor Kate Orff, Director of GSAPP’s Urban Design Program.

The Art of Preservation: Engaging and Amplifying Underrepresented Heritage

Artists are leading a broad rethinking of heritage, and claiming a central role within preservation practice. In recent years, many BIPOC artists have worked with built heritage to take up the legacies of racial inequities and historical injustices as central themes in their work. Artists confront, challenge, or reframe the role of heritage in society. What will the future of preservation look like as art becomes more central in the profession?

The 2021 Fitch Colloquium, co-sponsored by the Historic Preservation Program at Columbia University’s GSAPP and the National Trust for Historic Preservation, will explore this intersection of art and preservation. The symposium convenes BIPOC artists who integrate heritage – and all its sociopolitical implications today – into their works.

Builders of the World Around

GSAPP Faculty Ifeoma Ebo and Justin Garrett Moore ‘04 MARCH MSAUD, Sophonie Milande Joseph '20 UP PhD and Peter Robinson '04 MSAUD of BlackSpace speaking at The World Around Summit hosted by the Guggenheim Museum.

Wallach Art Gallery: Uptown Triennial 2020

Watch along as Columbia’s Wallach Art Gallery Director and Chief Curator Betti-Sue Hertz with artist Xaviera Simmons for a virtual tour of the gallery’s latest exhibition, Uptown Triennial 2020. The exhibition presents the work of contemporary artists in dialogue with the Harlem Renaissance, a defining moment in American modernism and African-American cultural history.

CAA Arts Access: The Art of Art Collecting

Join Gregory Peterson ‘73CC, ‘85LAW and learn how to build an art collection, how to learn about new artworks, track them down and claim them as your own, and how to interface with galleries, art dealers, advisers and artists.

CAA Leaders Experience: Why Leadership Matters for Social Justice, Inclusion, and Anti-Racism

Bianca Jones Marlin, Assistant Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience, Jon Loevy '93LAW, Principal Investigator at Columbia’s Zuckerman Institute and civil rights attorney, and moderator A'Lelia Bundles '76JRN, Columbia Trustee and journalist, share how they are leading us in creating access and inclusion for all and combating racism and repression.

There is a great urgency to expand resources for our students as we respond to continuing challenges resulting from the ongoing crisis. Gifts in any amount help students thrive during their journey to becoming the leaders and change-makers their communities need.

Thank you to our generous community of supporters who have already made a difference this academic year, including the many new and loyal donors to the annual fund.