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April 15, 2004
Mohsen Mostafavi was named dean of the
College of Architecture, Art and Planning, at Cornell University
on April 14. Mostafavi, a U.S. citizen who studied at London's
Architectural Association School of Architecture (AA) and
the University of Cambridge, has served as chairman of the
AA since 1995. His Cornell appointment will begin July 1.
Mostafavi's Cornell appointment crowns an already prestigious
career that includes a stint as director of the Master of
Architecture 1 Program at Harvard University's Graduate School
of Design. A much-recognized author, he also taught at the
University of Pennsylvania, the University of Cambridge and
the Frankfurt Academy of Fine Arts (Staedeschule). A member
of the Royal Institute of British Architects and the Architects'
Registration Board of the United Kingdom, Cornell's new dean
served on the Royal Institute of British Architects' Gold
Medal Selection Committee and is a member of the steering
committee of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture.
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Mostafavi is credited with bringing breadth and innovation
to the highly influential London school, which has produced
such stars as Rem Koolhaas and Zaha Hadid, among others. His
projects and writings underscore a keen interest in building
surfaces and how they change over time. Surface Architecture,
a book by Mostafavi with David Leatherbarrow (MIT Press, 2002),
received the CICA Bruno Zevi Book Award 2003 for the most
significant contribution to architectural criticism. His book
On Weathering: The Life of Buildings in Time, also with Leatherbarrow
(MIT Press, 1993), won the American Institute of Architects'
commendation prize for writing on architectural theory. He
is the co-author of Delayed Space, with Homa Farjadi (Princeton
Architectural Press, 1994).
Mostafavi attended Clare Hall, University of Cambridge, from
1981 to 1984, the University of Essex Department of Art from
1976 to 1981 and the AA from 1972 to 1976. When he assumes
his new responsibilities as dean of Cornell's College of Architecture,
Art and Planning, Mostafavi will succeed Porus Olpadwala,
who, having served in this capacity since 1999, will return
to his former position of professor in the college's Department
of City and Regional Planning.
Tony Illia
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