Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (Columbia GSAPP) is pleased to announce that Marc Tsurumaki will be the next Director of the Master of Architecture program beginning in the Spring 2026 Semester.

Marc Tsurumaki is a leading practitioner with a research-based practice that explores the environmental and societal impact of architecture, and develops methods that reduce embodied carbon through the use of plant and earth-based materials, carbon-capture, and material reuse. His award-winning work expands the potential of ecosystemic approaches to architectural materiality, rendering construction assemblies into sites for decarbonization and environmental action. Intrinsically uniting research and publishing with material development and design, Tsurumaki has established a new model for architectural practice that has also resulted in the widely influential books Manual of Section (2016) – translated into six languages and reveals how the architectural section functions as representational technique and reveals a building’s formal characteristics – and Manual of Biogenic House Sections (2022) – which presents a series of houses selected for using materials with beneficial environmental conditions to analyze their benefits at a time of climate crisis as well as their impact on the building’s section. Tsurumaki co-authored both books with Paul Lewis and David J. Lewis, his partners at LTL Architects.

Marc Tsurumaki has a deep familiarity with Columbia GSAPP and the Master of Architecture program, where he has taught for over 20 years and joined the full-time faculty as Professor of Professional Practice in 2024. Beyond the School, he is also a fundamental contributor to the broader cultural and architectural context of New York City through regular engagement and participation in numerous organizations and events, including his current role as the President of the Board of Directors of the Storefront for Art and Architecture.

“At GSAPP we are very aware that our M.Arch program has a global impact in anticipating how architecture evolves, and Marc Tsurumaki is uniquely prepared to make design, practice, and the profession of architecture the best equipped to address how climate crisis, societal divides, and geo-political tensions intersect and can be addressed through architecture,” said Dean Andrés Jaque.

Tsurumaki succeeds Mario Gooden as Director of the Master of Architecture, who served in the position since 2022 and reaffirmed the leadership of the program in advancing architecture in its entanglement with contemporary challenges spanning environmental, societal, technological, and bodily progressiveness and justice. Gooden engaged the full-time and adjunct faculty to give a special focus on supporting graduate preparedness and future success. He updated the Core Curriculum and Professional Practice, and advocated for architecture as an intellectual and activist form of knowledge that can contribute to environmental and global action.

Columbia GSAPP’s Master of Architecture program is known for its experimental and future-oriented pedagogy, connecting research and knowledge to a broader context of environmental, social, and global action. The School’s world-renowned faculty pioneer complex approaches to technology and computation, shape the program’s legendary design and housing studios, and advance research in materiality, ecology, and inclusiveness. Building on the pioneering embrace of the computer as a design tool, GSAPP’s Computational Glue is a school-wide initiative connecting and engaging computational methods, workflows, and practices across all GSAPP programs. Students are challenged to deepen their intellectual and technical knowledge and develop work that critically engages the pressing issues of our time.

Established in 1881, Columbia University’s architecture program is one of the oldest in the world, and continues to attract the most talented students from around the globe. The Master of Architecture is a three-year, NAAB-accredited professional degree program that pushes the understanding of architectural experimentation and re-invention forward. Graduates are prepared with the most relevant skills to become leading practitioners, academics, and change-makers. The program’s alumni go on to shape architectural research and design, occupying significant roles in the context of practice in New York as well as internationally.