ALUMNI NEWS & EVENTS -
SEPTEMBER EDITION
Dear GSAPP Alumni and Friends,
As the Fall semester begins, it was wonderful to welcome
our community back in the Rotunda of Low Library for our annual all-school
lunch. Students reconnected with friends and colleagues across programs and
joined Dean Andrés Jaque and our faculty program directors in looking ahead to
the year ahead.
We’ve also welcomed inspiring leaders from across the
built environment, including 2025 Pritzker Prize winner Liu Jiakun and Stephen
Ross, CEO of Related, who shared their experiences and perspectives with our
students. GSAPP’s year-long student-alumni mentorship programs are launching
this month, and the Tuesday Talks enters its seventh consecutive year.
And our community extends well beyond Avery Hall, with
upcoming opportunities to gather with alumni in Miami, Los Angeles, San
Francisco, and more. We’re grateful for the many ways our remarkable GSAPP alumni
network continues to come together—across disciplines, across generations, and
across the country—to exchange ideas, learn from one another, and build connections.
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Upcoming Events
Please update your contact information today to be sure you are included in events in your region.
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Alumni News
Please use this link to fill out the Google Form to submit any news you would like to share with GSAPP for an upcoming newsletter. |
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Cen Shen ‘25 MSAAD, founder of CSLab and an architectural designer at Elicc Group, is exploring how building envelopes can become more than exterior skins by integrating environmental performance, construction, material innovation, and human experience. Through projects such as 8 Carlisle Street and The Brook, along with research on adaptive reuse and material innovation, Shen challenges traditional approaches to architecture. Her work imagines buildings as adaptable ecological systems that connect design, technology, and the surrounding environment.
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Co-curated by Gauri Bahuguna ‘20 M.Arch and Candice Strongwater, Uneven Geographies is a group exhibition that brings together architects, activists, and researchers working across different geographies and grappling with struggles over land, justice, and representation. The show opens September 3rd at the Anya and Andrew Shiva Gallery at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and runs through October 30th.
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Betsy Daniel ‘18 MSAUD, named a founding member of the Urban Design Forum’s Associate Board, joining 25 civic leaders to support the Forefront Fellowship.
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Justin Wan ‘23 MSAAD completed a self-directed R&D project called GOURDO, exploring sustainability in design for products and furniture over a 6-month period. The project focused on using upcycled materials, particularly food waste and other plant-based byproducts, to create usable furniture and everyday objects.
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The Center for Architecture has announced Sally Gilliland ‘88 M.Arch as the next honoree of its Common Bond Gala, which celebrates individuals and organizations that demonstrate excellence in design and strengthen New York’s architecture community. Gilliland, Chief Operating Officer of The Hudson Companies and Chief of Broadway Builders, oversees architecture and engineering throughout the design and construction process, with a focus on both market-rate and affordable housing. Her career has centered on improving the livability and architectural character of New York City.
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Architect Elizabeth Leber ‘95 M.Arch, a University of Pennsylvania alumna and partner at Beyer Blinder Belle, recently completed the renovation of Penn’s historic Quadrangle dormitories. The three-year, phased restoration of Fisher Hassenfeld, Riepe, and Ware Houses updated spaces for learning and community while preserving the Quad’s historic character and traditions. The project was especially meaningful to Leber, who once lived in the Quad as a first-year student.
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GSAPP is pleased to announce the appointment of Jay Cross ‘77 M.Arch as the inaugural Dean’s Global Real Estate Visiting Professor. This new landmark position extends the School’s role in advancing real estate practice at a planetary scale.
Cross has spent decades working across large-scale mixed-use developments and planned communities in the United States. As an unquestionable leader in the New York real estate industry, he has served as President of Related Hudson Yards and as President of Howard Hughes Holdings, leading projects shaped by long-term investment, strategic planning, and new approaches to urban development.
As the inaugural Dean’s Global Real Estate Visiting Professor, Cross will bring his experience in contemporary real estate development to GSAPP’s broader inquiry into how cities are built and transformed.
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GSAPP is also pleased to announce the confirmation of Adam Lubinsky ‘01 M.Arch as Director of the Master of Science in Real Estate Development and the Holliday Associate Professor of Professional Practice of Real Estate Development.
Lubinsky has been a full-time faculty member teaching in the MSRED program since 2021, and—as Principal and Partner at WXY—has led some of the most important transformations in New York in the last years, including the Brooklyn Tech Triangle and the Brooklyn Navy Yard. He has served as Interim Director of the MSRED program since Summer 2024, having already introduced fundamental improvements of the program, including restructuring its Capstone and strengthening the teaching of quantitative tools, financial modeling, asset management, and portfolio analytics.
Since its creation forty years ago, the Columbia GSAPP Master of Science in Real Estate Development has prepared students to engage the increasingly complex forces shaping cities today. Through an interdisciplinary approach, the program brings real estate and finance into dialogue with the broader processes that shape the built environment, preparing students to participate in its transformation.
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