Award-winning architect Nader Tehrani joins the architecture faculty this fall as the 2024-25 Kea Professor. An expert in materiality, fabrication and tectonics, he will work alongside Associate Clinical Professors Julie Gabrielli and Brittany Williams, Lecturer Dan Curry and Assistant Professor Deok-Oh Woo to teach the fall Integrated Design Studio and Advanced Architecture Technology seminar.
"Nader’s visionary approach challenges conventional boundaries," said Mohammad Gharipour, director of the Architecture Program. “I am confident his presence will inspire and leave a lasting impact on our students."
Tehrani joins 67 Kea Distinguished Professors who have significantly contributed to the student studio experience at the University of Maryland. Created in 1967 by Paul Kea, one of the first licensed architects in Maryland, the Kea Distinguished Professorship allows students to benefit from the expertise of eminent practitioners and scholars from around the world. Kea Professors serve as critics and lecturers for one semester, but the extended nature of the position is akin to a master class.
Tehrani is a professor and former dean of The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture of The Cooper Union in New York. He is also the Principal of NADAAA, a practice dedicated to advancing design innovation, interdisciplinary collaboration and an intensive dialogue with the construction industry.
Tehrani has previously lectured at institutions such as the Guggenheim Museum in New York, Harvard University, Princeton University and the Architectural Association. His work has been published in various journals worldwide, and exhibited at institutions including the Museum of Modern Art, the Boston Institute of Contemporary Art and LA MoCA. His work is also part of the permanent collection of the Canadian Center for Architecture and the Nasher Sculpture Center.
NADAAA was named a top 50 U.S. design firm in Architect Magazine for seven consecutive years, Tehrani has received many notable awards, including nineteen Progressive Architecture Awards and the 2020 Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize from The American Academy of Arts and Letters. He was recently recognized as a 2022 Design Visionary by Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Museum of Design and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.