Columbia University Commencement 2019

Columbia University Architecture, Planning and Preservation 2019 Class Day Ceremony

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everyone please be seated it's really a thrill to be standing here today to share and to celebrate your remarkable accomplishment that of graduating from Columbia's Graduate School of

Architecture planning and preservation whether you have been with us for three semesters three years or more this day which probably seemed so far away only a

few weeks ago has finally arrived take a look around you at the incredible community of people gathered here we are assembled to cherish this important moment with you take it all in I want to

thank in particular the family and friends who have joined us this afternoon many of you have travelled long distances to be here and your presence renders this moment even more

special there are very few instances in our lives as educators that are as rewarding as the opportunity to meet the proud parents of our students who are now launching into the world and proud

you should be I also want to thank the faculty sharing the stage with me today this is a great moment of accomplishment for them as well a moment that makes visible the dedication commitment and

passion that they bring to the daily practice of teaching underlying their constant work to challenge and encourage the next generation of critical thinkers and designers is the unwavering belief

every year that this is the best class they've ever had today marks an important transition for all of us we live in a time of constant noise bombarded by endless streams of

information and images and in a world where the boundaries between the various aspects of our lives have been eroded for better or for worse but today we have the rare privilege to stop and

reflect individually but also collectively on the meaning of this particular transition graduation marks your movement from inside the walls of academia to the realities of the world

outside and for all of us studying architecture and cities this movement is especially charged for every year we are reminded of the power of ideas in shaping the built environment let us

also reflect on the uniqueness of this urban campus in this transition and its capacity to embody the ideals and realities that tether the formations of knowledge to our lived experiences we

are standing at the intersection of the two main axes of our McKim Mead and white campus between the low library Butler Hall axis of knowledge with alma mater towering over us and the broadway

amsterdam axis that opens the university up to the city beyond its gates this exchange between new knowledge and the city between our ideas and the built environment is one I'm sure you will

encounter again and again as you repeatedly choose throughout your professional life how to best engage in the world for the faculty this intersection in place and time is filled

with both a sense of amazement at how fast it went by and how much you have accomplished and transformed over the course of your time here and a great sense of anticipation and hope as you

carry all you have learned out into the world with the ambition freshness irreverence and optimism we have come to know you so well for this crossing is both an end

and the beginning one filled with uncertainty but also with endless potential and promise and so I would like to offer a couple of thoughts on the knowledge skill experience

imagination and aspirations that are transferred from in here to out there from where we started to where we're going from past to future this process of transfer and exchange is the very

process of learning that you have all engaged in in your time with us at the end of the ceremony we will join you to celebrate some of the work you have created in your last few months at the

school we will no doubt as we are every year be awed by the energy creativity and exploration literally bursting from Avery and farewell the halls by all the ideas and questions tackled designed and

developed across all scales of the built environment from how we might consider the preservation and adaptive reuse of our materials and buildings to how we might reimagine what is public in

tomorrow's cities from how we might reinvigorate work in rural villages to how we might harness the power of water to generate new Brazilian landscapes from how we might design and finance

more affordable housing to how we might use technology to deepen our understanding of architecture and the built environment and expand our potential to shape both together in new

ways yet the flurry of projects on display is only a glimpse of what you all encountered in your time at Giza all of you have questioned the foundations of your discipline by probing their

histories how they came to be and for whom they were designed to serve and expanding their boundaries more of you are graduating today with dual degrees than ever before in the school's history

this tells us that you are cognizant of the need to confront the issues we face today collectively to hybridize and reassemble architecture and all of the disciplines of the built

environment Awards further integration and collaboration all of you have embraced relational thinking discovering different contexts through your travels listening and gay engaging with diverse

places histories cultures and communities around the world and learning to approach every question by registering a multitude of perspectives and all of you have engaged in some

process of translation through drawing making writing computing and more to understand an aspect of the built world and propose an intervention within it and yet despite all of this questioning

or maybe because of it you succeeded in every project every paper every case study and experiment in producing something an object a building a system a fragment of a city there was at once

recognizable and entirely new aware yet unburdened by our past and present failures to shape a built environment as equitable and sustainable in its performance at it

is compelling and creative in its form you relentlessly propose something different projecting alternate futures in which architecture and the built environment

imagined new forms of collectivity new models for shared living new kinds of creative work new recycled material ''tis new ecological infrastructures and new digital urban isms at once ethical

and experimental for me this urge to speculate and to project recalls graham cheese idea that we should engage life with pessimism of the intellect and optimism of the will this potent

combination of idealism and realism of the visionary and the pragmatic is perhaps what characterizes us the most as architects and scholars and practitioners of

the built environment committed to forming and reforming the urban world around us for what is so unique about all of the practices of the built world represented by all of you standing or

sitting here today is that they are at once disciplines and professions they are at once modes of knowing the world with their histories and foundations theories and doubts hopes and debates

and at the same time they are a set of skills and expertise regimented by Lego legal frameworks codes and best practices in and across the world while this combination is not unique it has

historically created disciplinary complexities contradictions and fragmentations we have often found ourselves caught in false choices should architecture be an art or should it

serve the public good should we practice too advanced an idealized vision of our discipline or should we engage with the contingencies of external demands should we pursue the myth of the avant-garde

or should we reengage the world with a fierce realism should planning be the science of designing cities or should it offer the critical tools to read those cities in new ways and empower those

that science all too often forgets she's a real estate developer measure success by profit or should success be connected to certain values about what constitutes great design as well as great cities

should urban design make those same cities simply look good or should it unsure they perform as socially and environmentally resilient living systems should historic preservation only

preoccupy itself with the preservation of buildings or should it preserve the social fabric that those buildings enabled over time it is my hope that these either-or choices and conditions

are finally over your work has certainly suggested so with every project it took on every idea you put forth every proposition you raised you demonstrated a way to move

beyond such opposition's again and again you inspired us with your commitment to drawing things together art and science form and performance the

discursive and the real the social and the environmental the pragmatic and the aspirational architecture planning design and development are all forms of practice that are uniquely poised to

reinvent across scales the buildings cities and environments we inhabit together they relentlessly assemble diverse paths to create new wholes and your work has in these past semesters

already expanded these parts to be endlessly inclusive projecting new possibilities for architecture and the built environment to foster fresh diverse relationships between people and

places the urban and the natural the individual and the collective it is your power to design your future and through it design the future of our disciplines and their impact in the world today

there are so many more ways to shape practice and scholarship so many more ingredients to consider when engaging architecture and all of the disciplines of the built environment there are so

many more spaces professional and academic in need of critical and creative design thinking and making more than ever cities the object of architecture planning preservation and

real estate have emerged as sites of struggle and of interconnected transnational engagement in action towards political ecological and social justice and I'm inspired by the urgency

and rigor with which you have absorbed these positions and tackled these causes in your own design work at Giza this multitude of possibilities is exhilarating and daunting they are a

weight and responsibility that cannot be shouldered alone it is our collective purpose and this collectivity which is so unique to this day is important to carry forward so as you move on I hope

you do not forget to take with you the friendships that have forged in time here they will be invaluable for years to come they will represent an incredible map of all that is possible

there are anchors wherever you land in the world and in moments of transition the same goes for your teachers the faculty who engaged indulged and challenge your ideas and offered you

guidance in your formation as an architect designer planner a curator preservationist or a developer these bonds are unique and have a staying power they grow as you grow in

your professional and personal life few moments in life will ever be as suspended seemingly outside of time as your time here as a student which granted you the opportunity to focus

wholeheartedly on a single project with unbelievable intensity and with some distance from the interruptions of daily life academic time has an absolute uncompromising quality to it it is

completely devouring and intoxicating in here nothing else exists but you work your ideas and your passions and the friends colleagues and critics you share these with this quality of intellectual

life is a precious and resilient gift one you will inevitably reopen every time you find yourself needing to rediscover what matters what it inspires and drive you and what you care to and

advance most for yourself in the world life is often seemingly like the design process itself it is rarely linear nor does it play out as expected or as planned you have ideas and aspirations

and imagine a possible future founded on a set of references an archive of some sort conscious or unconscious you even engage all of it together and at every turn make a decision that shapes the

project that is your practice your scholarship and your life this decision in turn shapes you as you get ready to take another turn make another decision like in the design

process you will go down disappointing roads and then suddenly discover unexpected potential sometimes your focus will be more about work and sometimes about life and sometimes it

will me recklessly be about both at the same time but all along you are learning encountering new ideas new people new places and new possibilities for your practice as a unique and privileged

means to engage the world your time here offered a glimpse of what is possible we never aspire to transmit knowledge in a monolithic or authorative way to provide stable answers or reductive solutions

rather we aspire to create an intellectual context for your own work an invitation to recast problems and propose new questions how you choose to shape the extended field out there will

in turn inform what and how we teach in here this relationship is constructed it is built so that both what is inside and what is outside changed together you are the agent of this change and you are the

future it is a future we do not know yet but one that we can inspire to shape together we must face the challenges of our present moment critically and hopefully we must hold pessimism and

optimism together we must relentlessly evaluate the status quo entirely tirelessly propose other ways of being in the world architecture and the built environment are intimately connected and

at and are at the center of the turbulence we are experiencing today but this turbulence poses unprecedented opportunities for us to reimagine how we live what we do the way we organize

ourselves and how we recast a relationship to each other to the planet and to other species you all carry the vital engaged ideas about design and cities

about infrastructure and density about form program typology aesthetics and meaning and about urban ecology and critical practice about equitable and sustainable development about

preservation and about the tangible and intangible histories that can either inhabit inhibit us or enable us to be to build more progressive futures these are the ideas that we must strive to

materialize and apply to the world around us a few last parting words enjoy yourself take pleasure in what you are doing give it everything you have and always remember the passion and

drive that marked your days here continue to believe that nothing is impossible bring freshness and boldness to your work embrace a delicate combination of humility and irreverence

continue to learn be curious don't forget to listen and observe take your time engage everything fully follow your instincts don't be afraid to take risks to work hard to fail and then to try

again today marks the beginning of an incredible adventure your adventure congratulations everyone

and now is my great pleasure to invite to the podium the holiday associate professor and director of the Master of Science of real estate development program patrice Darrington

the class the class of the Masters of Science in real estate development class of 2019 irani mafia owada Ali

Eric Bill Anderson America John du Pont Cory Marie Archie Gotha Mutare Andrew Mustafa adeney Abdul Aziz Barbra Jean

Brian Scott Berg Alexandra page B Singh Andrew Benjamin Michael Christian Jornal Benjamin Dale Brown Douglas sky wrong sangwon Chang you Shen like GU Jen is that yeah Sean T I've called him Sean

all year and now he still wants to be called sure you Shen souchong charcoal Matthews Yun Chu ah oh we lost it sorry Catherine Margaret Safari Taylor Margaret Clark

Margaret Ashley Cole Marzian Osama De Marchi each wanting Nelson dog Nicholas Ronald race Jonathan Harris Dubin katti / for Homer Kate near fall

Meredith's Renee farmer Robert Diana Fedor Kivar Chester Robert gala Felicia Rochelle galitskiy Niccolo John Jomon Yanni loop Morgan

Jen's Berg know reg Gordy Kai the jewel also the dual degree in Master of Science in urban planning Rasool officials Alexander and raise Hoss Liang Liang hey winning hey Samuel hit a

Schaeffer hitch Shiho who sure young Wang sorry Elizabeth in German Evan Andrew Jenkins Morgan Sidra car gook L Kim nay Yong Kim Min Jun cool Michelle all right sorry

Michelle Michelle you don't cou Jonathan Laurent Quang ti young Lee Jung Lee Christian Bruce lemon she on the eighth Lee Shinyoung Lee Shi

yuzhu Lee cui Lee ho Wan Lin Camilla it's on us Rui Ling Leo you Han

leo Lee you long Jiu Shi Hong Luo daunting Liu Liu Qi or Chi ma Yu Yan you on ma Co Ching ma you are new on what MA thank you all right we caught up Adam

James marriage Alexander Kurtz Mendelssohn xiana Malita Dina come on Morales Moreno Zhang Nathu Graham Nichols also a dual degree

with Master of Architecture Ian Edward Mickelson Ripley fair Neilson rules Oh Nietzsche llamo Erin Armand Oliver Amanda Oliver and ona Li drill degree massive a science in urban

planning hi I John Park Hye Yeon Park hi how are you pitamah Blake jerk alright here's nothing James Richard Patchi Adam Jeffries Jeffrey Petty's

Charlotte Marisa Rodriguez Savannah odorous de rider dual degree with Masters of Science in urban planning with Haley Jonathan Michael secong key John Edwards litter Blake do Schwimmer

Michael Adam Scott Jose Antonio Serrano Marauder Andrew say Tijuana Jori dirty Yasha late Shan Shan ji on washy Lauren Nicole siano

so joshi song daesh's Adam rod sweetheart Nicholas Tolson real Deborah Tong cao KY a poll to see 3 Waldman Patrick Wallace also the class president of the class of 2019

dongwon Tony Wang Yi Jing Wang Zi no wrong Carly page wine room Armand mutters white sobrino we now call also a dual degree in Masters of Science

in urban planning jon oliva Warford robert eugene Ward's the third also the recipient of the Hank Bell entrepreneurial award this award in real

estate development program is for the student that best embodies Professor a mattress Hank Bell's entrepreneurial spirit C fun whoo nan Chi ou Xiao Xiao Yu Sheng Xi'an Zhi a true

fabien young Johson jung-jae kay bailey yep wenting you are Bo wen zhong Chewie so Jung Jae Jae young tiara sure Yin Tang Xu de juego Zuo

Daniel Raphael sugah there goes the class of 2019 go forth do good as you do well congratulations to the class of Columbia University's

men's Masters of Science real estate del Valle by 2019 and now I invite professor Jorge Otero pylos director of the master of science of historic preservation program Whitney

nicole bears Madeline Renee berry dual degree with the Master of Science and urban planning chancy fun gabriela Figueiredo she Valley Gaikwad

our da Maria Jaramillo risk recipient of the aneri prize for the proposal Cali historica this award is given to a graduating group of student or two students in this case it's a shared

award in the historic preservation program to conduct a project that tests new preservation theories in practice Robert Allen Kasich Jeannine lang

Victoria Pardo Gwendolyn Louise Stegall dual degree with a Master of Architecture Myron zulan wang mara carry one

Shenzi whoo you sorry Daniela Zamora co-recipient of the own era prize in partnership with our Maria Hermia with a proposal Cali historic Oh

Ryan Zeke Ren hang Zhuang Zi Oh a Zhong congratulations to the Masters of Science in historic preservation class of 2019 and now I invite professor

wiping woo director of the master of science of urban planning program Eddie Omar a Mountie Suprema Pele Oh Suja ha Befana Kaitlyn boom

Kevin Nick Bohan tyreme Nicole have a spurt you turn when Chun Pauline Clement Torsen bantington yet o chão ki l Rossi Madeleine no a chicken Daniel Daniel Charles frolic Luo Hao Tara rager

dual-degree with master of International Affairs Joo Jung Hwan Ethan James Hodgins

yes India Nicolas Hong Kong pouring Li genuinely chillingly Cheryl jerilyn you dealio Stanton law Michael Andrew Neil materia recipient of the American Planning

Association outstanding student award this highest honor in the urban planning program is for outstanding attainment in the study of urban planning Timothy O'Grady Cherie O Sakata each and

a young Laura Pastorini euphy Nabila priotiy it went to William Allen rice Guillermo Walker for Mickey glorious era coach shall be Tobin Smith on ji-sung

Anna Kathleen stocks recipient of the urban planning program award this price recognized high academic attainment chunky TN Louis Bastian

gugus Kenneth coats Warner changnesia don't agree with Master of Science in real estate development Quinn young in Francis for Dante ye recipient

of the Campbell Award the university trustees and the board of the Columbia Alumni Association established the camber award presented by the CAA to a graduating student at each school who

shows exceptional leadership and Columbia spirit as exemplified by the late Bill Campbell chair emeritus University Trustees outstanding alumnus and CA a co-founder challenge I leaned

Jung throat agree with Master of Science in real estate development cherlene Jung Jin Fong Xiao Ren Fung ja ja Chong Jo ting ting draw congratulations to the Master of Science

in urban planning class of 2019 and now invite professor felicity Scott co-director of the Masters of Science in critical care toriel and conceptual

practice program the Shenzhou jane Chong SWAT mood savage to toe Dokic soma Douglas Hartig Joanna Robinson Koppenberg Nicholas James karate Maria

Alejandra Linares Jane you emmalin and recipient of the CCCP program award this highest honor in the critical curatorial and conceptual

practices program recognizes high academic achievement Leonardo tamargo nebula Paola Villa planet de Miguel hearty congratulations to the Masters of Science in critical territorial and

conceptual practices class of 2019 we're very proud of you all and now I invite associate professor Kaye Dorf director of the Masters of Science in architecture and urban design program

Shivani Ajay Kumar Agarwal dong-ha new and Alexandra Burke Heart recipient of the GS F GSA PP prize for excellence this is

the highest honor in the architecture and urban design program intended to recognize the student whose work has been most outstanding Junior Seau Xinyi Chow shin NC Cho angela marie Chrysostom

o aniket Dixit I'm on preach Dougal Lorena burrito galvo Santos recipient of the Percival and Naomi Goodman fellowship for the proposal and power Puerto Rico the

purpose of this fellowship is to enable the recipient to carry out a project of social significance related to the interests of Percival Goodman Karolina Cardenio Alexandra's Hajus theories

Devon key Honda Miriam Samim Kitab Zi Luo cui one Hong char V Jane je-yung Taniya Ravindra Kadim Parque Carrie Mobley shota can Ajira Adi Laiho jin-sook Li

Gregory George lemare John Chi Li Shu yuan Li ke Joo yo Ashley Christine Louie Allah Marawi David Mauricio Maria Parham Aris sample how

ting Tong Ryan Tita free on Donna Huang – Noah Shay page Oh Shi Gabrielle even Vergara gahard oh hey Ching Wong sure young DN you bow Hong Jang wen Jun Joan in say Jiang Yan Li

Chiao congratulations to the Master of Science in architecture and urban design the next generation of urban designers and now I invite associate professor professional practice undress hockey

director of the Masters of Science and advanced architectural design program Asad Abu Qaeda Karolina a gr Madre de la Jean Al Ali Joseph Shane a year

karolina florence al maidah give him puja anumana me Marilyn Pauline and tacky L Mac I seek Oh glue Lana Husein barakatuh

the Nasri but already act or Antonio Castilla Daniel Bryan's the deal done moochin one you choy Lin Lang a they asked it Danny Lee moon Oscar you de Leon

Michael Kabir Delgado defense don't see waiting gee boss Feng nephron Andres Fernandez Valbuena donkey foo Wilson tune who Fung

Fabrizio furiousiy Ignacio Kabir Khan salad Regina Sophia in authentic Gonzalez the philia Gonzalez Rubio Reba Jackie want the air for define one Alejandro Miguel jihad Perez I'd Walia

Kasab don't young King William Kim Min Jung ko saing jelly see Han Lee so Harley you'd only and XI Liang Liang Liang swang liang same way leo

Xiang Leo Moon Shuang Liang you Eileen Leo Jessie only Oh Ricky law Chris Lloyd soon Michael Liu Janeane Lowe way see mark Peter Maxwell Martin and the gas Guillermo Miller's suit Storyful

gene Jun mo Sakura and se Melita Apella Carlos Emilio known as fire Tong Oh yang buleria Pescara

Samantha and Vanessa public dead kneepad Pritikin alicorn whysa Navi at all wrong noon Raunak sing wrecking filippo Oliveira

Rocha Marcela Patricia Rida Kevin Krista nada sunny seiga-san Allah Linfen see setting to ryan michael

season sadar chota ganda semana so see song Nicholas Cruz Sonny Prasad Ricardo je de Soto Karina so toda raba s pessoa Nancy sue sue sue and Sue corn soup saccharin Pablo taberna Sujit

anger from Pablo eBay hands Bahama your one your one who ran one Sanchi 1cr one boom van since Ian would woo sang-woo since young shuanzhu on see you're also way rude

young yachting jung sangsoo yang Jung Joo Jung dojo g-ronn swung monkey sau swan song ji Fang so long unfortunately graduate Marcos Garcia Miranda was unable to attend today's ceremony but I

want to recognize Marcos as the recipient of the William word prize for excellence in design South Copland traveling fellowship this highest honor in the advanced architectural design

program is a word to recognize the students whose work in the studio's has been outstanding and it's funded by a bequest from alumnus ole Kaplan the price is for trouble and study following

graduation congratulations this has been an amazing class congratulations to the Master of Science in advanced architectural design class of to 9 2019 and now I invite associate

professor david benjamin director of advanced architectural studios to announce the master of architecture program graduates sky at etaf valentina flora Angelou chi dual degree with

master of science and historic preservation Juan Marcos re aza Grayson Maxwell Babbitt William Leslie Barker Conor Barry Tim Daniel battle Eno David Benjamin

Benjamin David beta similar Daniel Bernal dual degree with Master of Science and real estate development

Cheung be Katinka boss dual degree with Master of Science and real estate development Susan brutal Brewer Louisa Sobral kanuto Alisa Xavier DAF Carvalho

dongseong chen Joanne Qiao and Chen min she Chen young men Cho jeong-hwan Choi Timothy Winslow Clark Elizabeth and Dada co-axial dish' let Sadie Ruth Dempsey Russell Thomas ein binder Alicia

Larrin French Christine Teresa jeju-do Andrew David Grant Samuel James gainin Ruben Gutierrez Alexander Steven Haddad Juan hey Fiona ho Michael Stuart pain kill mo Kang

Jacob Edwin Kasich sujin Lee seung-hoon Li Jian Li Shu Han Lin hua Zhu Li oh she nur leo Xena Miriam see you man gotcha Aras Constantine mean erectus co snows

Maria Elena Morrison Jonathan Kevin Moore Alexander von Odom Ren Bing bong Kevin hi um Emily Wincy PO recipient of the Charles McKim prize for excellent and

design South Kaplan traveling fellowship this is the highest honor and the Master of Architecture program and it recognizes the student whose work throughout the studios has been

outstanding and is funded by a bequest from alumnus Saul Kaplan arjan Camille frosh dual degree with Master of Science and historic preservation Paul looker Provenza

ash 'no ramen Michael Samuelle Roberto Charles Jacob Rosenwald Emma Lou Ross de Rouen Sara Elizabeth Rutland's John Joseph Sanchez Kurt Alexander Schumacher

Emily and see go katlyn Nicole sills Michael Brent Soderbergh Johan sue Anastasia

sigh tanco Travis Aaron tabac ding pH OSH tang Mariela Andreas sokka's my rock Ren would Vardy Zeynep Nazli ogre Stefan Anton von in burden Laura Paris vite

jean-pierre Villa pond Cynthia L wrong Kate wrong Xiao Tian Guang Yi so wrong Isaac Maynard were shower James Ford Oh waxed

or dual degree with master of science and real estate development tailored zai Williams Monica Marie way no yak Laura Juan whoo whoa Hong Luo GaN Xu you June Yan

Leedy yang Kuhnhenn you young to you when Jing sang min way so congratulations to the master of architecture class of 2019 and now I invite professor Felicity Scott director

of the PhD in architecture to return to the podium to announce the architecture doctoral graduates James Dominic Graham with a thesis entitled the psycho Technical Architect

perception vocation the laboratory culture of modernism 1914 to 1945 Leslee Herman with a thesis entitled building narratives of the Irish colonial period in American

architectural history Polyana read with a thesis entitled designing natural advantage environmental visions civic ideals and architecture for community 1920 to 1970 the congratulations to the

PhD in architecture class of 2019 for a really major achievement so this concludes the 2019 Graduate School of Architecture planning and preservation commencement program

congratulations everyone you

This ceremony celebrates the accomplishments of the graduating students from the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. Class Day was held on Saturday, May 18, 2019 at the South Lawn, Morningside Campus.