The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, commonly known as Cooper Union or The Cooper Union and informally referred to, especially during the 19th century, as 'the Cooper Institute', is a private college at Cooper Square on the border of the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. Inspired in 1830 when Peter Cooper learned about the government-supported École Polytechnique in France, Cooper Union was established in 1859. The school was built on a radical new model of American higher education based on founder Peter Cooper's fundamental belief that an education "equal to the best technology schools [then] established" should be accessible to those who qualify, independent of their race, religion, sex, wealth or social status, and should be "open and free to all".
The Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University in New York City, also known simply as GSAPP, is regarded as one of the most important and prestigious architecture schools in the world. It is also home to the well-regarded Masters of Science program in Urban Planning, Urban Design, Historic Preservation, and Real Estate Development.
Diller Scofidio + Renfro is an American interdisciplinary design studio that integrates architecture, the visual arts, and the performing arts. Based in New York City, Diller Scofidio + Renfro is led by four partners – Elizabeth Diller, Ricardo Scofidio, Charles Renfro, and Benjamin Gilmartin – who work with a staff of architects, artists, designers, and researchers.
James Ingo Freed was an American architect born in Essen, Germany during the Weimar Republic. After coming to the United States at age nine with his sister Betty, followed later by their parents, he studied at the Illinois Institute of Technology, where he graduated with a degree in architecture.
Dr. George Campbell Jr. was the eleventh President of The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, from July 2000 to July 2011.
Stan Allen is an American architect, theorist and former dean of Princeton University School of Architecture. He received a B.A. from Brown University, a B.Arch. from Cooper Union and an M.Arch. from Princeton University. He has worked in the offices of Richard Meier and Rafael Moneo, and was formerly the director, with landscape architect James Corner, of Field Operations. His practice, Stan Allen Architect, is based in New York City.
José R. Oubrerie is a French architect, educator, and author. He was a protégé of Le Corbusier.
J. Christopher Jaffe was recognized for leadership in architectural-acoustic design.
Karen Bausman is an American architect. Educated at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, from which she graduated in 1982, Bausman has since held the Eliot Noyes Chair at the Graduate School of Design, Harvard University, and the Eero Saarinen Chair at Yale School of Architecture, Yale University, the only American woman to hold both design chairs. She is principal of Karen Bausman + Associates, an architecture firm founded in 1995 and located in New York City.
The MIT School of Architecture and Planning is one of the five schools of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US. Founded in 1865 by William Robert Ware, the School offered the first formal architectural curriculum in the United States, and the first architecture program in the world operating within the establishment of a University. MIT SAP is considered a global academic leader in the design fields and one of the most prestigious schools in the world. As of 2018, MIT's Department of Architecture received top world ranking in QS World University Rankings.
Located at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, the College of Design encompasses the School of Architecture, the School of Interior Design, and the Department of Historic Preservation.
Mónica Ponce de León is an architect, educator, and Dean of the Princeton University School of Architecture. A National Design Award winner, Ponce de León is widely recognized as a pioneer in the application of robotic technology to building fabrication and architecture education. Her interdisciplinary practice, MPdL Studio, has offices in New York, NY, Boston, MA, and Ann Arbor, MI. Ponce de León previously served as Dean of the A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Michigan (2008–2015) and as Professor at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University (1996–2008). Prior to establishing her own practice MPdL Studio in 2011, she was the founding partner with Nader Tehrani in the award-winning firm Office dA.
Diana I. Agrest is a practicing architect and urban designer and a architecture and urban design theorist, in New York City.
Kevin Burke was the Chairman, President, and CEO of Consolidated Edison. He joined Consolidated Edison in 1973. He was promoted to Chief Operating Officer in 2000, President and CEO in 2005, and Chairman in 2006, serving until his retirement in 2013.
Nader Tehrani is an Iranian-American designer and educator. He founded Office dA in 1986 alongside Rodolphe El Khoury, later being joined by Mónica Ponce de León in 1991. Tehrani founded NADAAA in 2011 with partner Katherine Faulkner. Tehrani is currently the dean of the Cooper Union, Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture. Previously he was a professor of architecture at the MIT School of Architecture and Planning, where he served as Head of the Department from 2010–2014, MIT. He is currently Design Principal of NADAAA, a practice dedicated to the advancement of design innovation, interdisciplinary collaboration, and an intensive dialogue with the construction industry.
Toshiko Mori is a Japanese architect and the founder and principal of New York-based Toshiko Mori Architect, PLLC and Vision Arc. She is also the Robert P. Hubbard Professor in the Practice of Architecture at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. In 1995, she became the first female faculty member to receive tenure at the GSD.
Thomas Leeser is an American architect. He studied at the Technische Hochschule Darmstadt in Germany where he also got his master's degree in Architecture. He opened his own practice, Leeser Architecture in Brooklyn, New York, in 1989.
