Kim Yao and Stephen Cassell with Jared Della Valle

The Ahmad Tehrani Symposium 

Kim Yao and Stephen Cassell with Jared Della Valle

This lecture will be held in person in Huntington Hall, 10-250 and streamed online. 

Kim Yao, FAIA, is Principal of Architecture Research Office (ARO). She holds an undergraduate degree in architecture from Columbia College: Columbia University and a Master of Architecture from Princeton University. She is a lecturer at MIT and has taught at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, the School of Constructed Environments, Parsons the New School for Design, and Barnard College (2001-2011). She has lectured throughout the United States and abroad. Kim has been awarded the AIA New York (AIANY) Medal of Honor and the Beverly Willis Foundation Mentorship Award. She was President of AIANY in 2020 and serves on the Board of the Center for Architecture.

Stephen Cassell, FAIA, is Principal of Architecture Research Office (ARO). He holds an undergraduate degree in architecture from Princeton University and received his Master of Architecture from the Harvard Graduate School of Design. He is a lecturer at MIT, an Adjunct Associate Professor at Columbia University, has twice served as the Shure Professor at the University of Virginia and as the Friedman Professor at the University of California at Berkeley, and has also taught at Harvard University, Princeton University, and the Rhode Island School of Design. He has lectured widely throughout the United States and abroad. Stephen is the former Chair of the Board of the Van Alen Institute. He was also a member of the New York City Green Codes Task Force and was on the Leadership Committee of the Lower Mississippi River Delta Design Initiative.

Architecture Research Office is the New York City firm united by their collaborative process, commitment to accountable action, and social and environmental responsibility. Research gives their work purpose and intention. Their architecture unites beauty and form with strategy and intelligence. Their office designs spaces that inspire people, further institutional missions, and advance equity and resilience. This philosophy has earned them firm over one hundred design awards including the 2020 AIA Architecture Firm Award, the AIA New York State Firm of the Year Award, and the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award for Architecture.

Jared Della Valle has been a real estate professional and architect for more than 20 years and has managed the acquisition and predevelopment of more than 2 million sf in New York City along the Highline, In the Hudson Yards, in DUMBO and in Downtown Brooklyn.

Jared Della Valle is Vice Chair of the Van Alen Institute, sits on the Board of the the Architecture League of New York, and the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership and is a member of the U.S. Green Building Council. He has previously taught at Columbia University, Syracuse University, Washington University, Parsons School of Constructed Environments and Lehigh University. Jared has widely lectured at major universities and institutions and his work has been the subject of more than 50 articles and publications including a monograph entitled “Think/Make” published by Princeton Architecture Press. He holds a B.A. from Lehigh University and Master’s degrees in both Architecture and Construction Management from Washington University, St. Louis, MO. He is a LEED Certified, licensed Architect in New York State, holds an NCARB (National College of Architectural Registration Boards) Certificate and is a licensed real estate broker and a Fellow of the AIA (American Institute of Architects).

Lectures are free and open to the public. Lectures will be held Thursdays at 6 PM ET in 7-429 (Long Lounge) and streamed online unless otherwise noted. Registration required to attend in-person. Register here or watch the webcast on Youtube.

The Ahmad Tehrani Symposium was created by former Department Head Nader Tehrani in honor of his father. The annual symposium fosters intensive discussions that speak to issues across disciplines, framing acts of design from different perspectives.