Extending 25 years of work between academia and practice, Nader Tehrani is set to build meaningful links between the two realms — to leverage shared research activity, better understand emerging spaces of learning, and establish a stronger relationship between academic mentorship and the building industry. With years of speculative research on material properties, building assembly systems and inventive approaches to new means and methods of construction, Tehrani will share the years of research at NADAAA with the mission of Cooper Union. After the design of three award-winning Schools of Architecture at Georgia Tech, the University of Melbourne and the University of Toronto, Tehrani will extend explorations on new spaces of learning, from emerging models of education to new technologies that are impacting architectural practice, and from online education to internet-based applications that optimize professional practice.

Founded by inventor, industrialist and philanthropist Peter Cooper in 1859, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art offers education in art, architecture and engineering, as well as courses in the humanities and social sciences. While furthering the key intellectual projects of the school of Architecture, Tehrani seeks to expand conversations with the schools of Art and Engineering, and the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, broadening of architectural discourse within the institution as a whole.

With offices in both Boston and Manhattan, NADAAA will be expanding its presence in New York. Working in collaboration with principals Katherine Faulkner (Boston) and Daniel Gallagher (New York City), Tehrani is currently focused on a variety of institutional, corporate, and developer based projects. With a team of 30 designers across disciplines, the research-based process of NADAAA will be enriched by the spirit of rigor and humanism emblematic of The Cooper Union.

Previously Tehrani has taught at the Rhode Island School of Design, the Harvard Graduate School of Design, the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he served as the Thomas W. Ventulett III Distinguished Chair in Architectural Design, and the University of Toronto’s Department of Architecture, Landscape and Design as the Frank O. Gehry International Visiting Chair. Most recently he has taught at MIT where he served as Head of the Department of Architecture from 2010 to 2014.

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