On April 12, Columbia GSAPP hosted the Tour and History of Columbia University with Untapped New York as part of Across Columbia: Building and Belonging Together. University Alumni from 20 countries in addition to the United States joined for a chronological history of the relocations and expansions of Columbia’s campuses. For those who may have missed it, we are pleased to make a recording of the program available here.

Please see below for information on the Reunion Receptions and special Global Symposium organized by the MSAAD Class of 2006. We look forward to reconnecting with our Reunion Alumni!

Columbia GSAPP welcomes alumni from class years ending in ‘1 and '6 to celebrate their reunion on the Oh Yay! virtual platform.

Join us Friday, April 23 to say hello and explore GSAPP spaces—including Avery, Buell, Fayerweather, Schermerhorn, and more—through a digital format.

To accommodate our global family, we will host a one hour reception at two times during the day. We’d love to see you at either one or both. A brief introduction to the platform will be offered at the start of each session.

Thank you to the alumni who have raised their hand to be the contact for their Class/Program:

Complete a brief form if you would like to send a personal reminder to former classmates to join the Reunion Receptions.

Organized by the Columbia GSAPP Alumni Board.

Wednesday, April 28
Webinar

Columbia GSAPP invites our community of students, faculty, alumni, friends and family for an around-the world tour of architectural design practice featuring 22 speakers representing 11 countries: Australia, Germany, Greece, Haiti, India, Mexico, Portugal, Spain, Taiwan, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States.

Alumni practitioners will present during three sessions throughout the day. Registration is required for each session you would like to attend.

Organized by the MSAAD Class of 2006, on the occasion of their 15 Year Reunion.

Abdulla Alshamsi ‘06 MSAAD
Shape Architecture
UAE

Priyamwada Singh '06 MArch
Common Ground Practice
India

Karl Wadia '06 MSAAD
Architect Hafeez Contractor
India

Santhosh Shanmugam '06 MSAAD
Shanmugam Associates
India

Johnny Chiu '06 MSAAD
JC Architecture
Taiwan

Register for Session 1 >>

Rachely Rotem '06 MSAAD
MODU Architecture
New York, US

Amir Kripper '06 MSAAD
Kripper Studio
Boston, US

Steven Morales '06 MSAAD
PLUS
Miami, US

Adriana Jacir '06 MSAAD
2112 Design Studio
Miami, US

Roque Viejo '06 MSAAD and Nikoleta Grigoroudi '06 MSAUD
kelarquitectos
Spain / Greece

Jose Maria Capellán '06 MSAAD
many architects
Spain

Klaus Ransmayr '06 MSAAD
HENN 
Germany

Pablo Baquero '06 MSAAD
Faberarium 
Spain / Greece

Nancy Psaraki '06 MSAAD
archivirus 
Greece

Ricardo Bastos Areias '06 MSAAD
StudioCAN 
Portugal

Register for Session 2 >>

Elliet Spring '06 MSAAD
MGS Architects
Australia

Carmen Trudell '06 MSAAD
California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo
San Luis Obispo, US

Roberta Rojas Aboumrad '06 MSAAD
ra architecture Mexico

Emilio Doporto '06 MSAAD '07 MSRED
Doporto Real Estate
Mexico

Amy Campos '06 MSAAD
Amy Campos Architect
San Francisco, California

Luz Jadal Leon '06 MSAAD
Co2 Architecture
Haiti

Paula Tomisaki '06 MSAAD
Archybrid
New York, NY

Register for Session 3 >>

My favourite memory was when I was standing for elections for the post of Class President. I was the only Non American amongst 5 other classmates. I guess my networking with my classmates before the elections really paid off and the fact that I was also the TA to the Program Director allowed me to be able to present myself with confidence in front of the class and I didn’t feel shy to be on stage. I was also called “President Push” after the election and the name 'Push’ has stuck since then.

I got a job with Alpha Investment Partners (AIP) in 2006, and I moved to Singapore from New York, which was amazing. AIP is a Singapore based real estate PE firm (AUM $26BN). I became an entrepreneur in 2012 and i’m now on to my 3rd startup, after exiting my 2nd. After moving from New York, I’ve lived in Singapore, Hong Kong and Mainland China with my wife and 2 kids. I’m back in Singapore and on the verge of launching my new startup.

Read about Push’s first impressions as an international student in this newspaper clipping from Times of India.

The school provided Kinne funds for some of us to travel to the annual American Urban Planning Conference each year. The first year was in Seattle and the second was in Phoenix. Traveling with our group exploring these cities, touring the architecture, experiencing public spaces what it was all about. Another favorite memory was Bob Paley’s course where the class was split into groups composed of one student in the Urban Planning program, one in the MSRED program, one in the MArch program, and one in the Urban Design program. We had to research and propose a development project bringing our differing skillsets and seeing where they could merge and build upon each other. It was a fantastic exercise in how to work successfully on projects composed of interdisciplinary fields that can come together for a common goal. My absolute favorite memory from Columbia GSAPP though was meeting the woman there whom I will be marrying this June.

I’ve moved to Los Angeles and lead the entitlements and land use practice at an international Real Estate Investment Trust developing TV/Film Production studios. I’ve been promoted to direct all of California Development Planning efforts and have recently expanded my role to come back to my New York roots with two future film studio developments in Manhattan.

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