Nader Tehrani presents a talk around architectural representation not so much as a pictorial discipline, but rather as a constructive one. With practices ranging from geometric and projective protocols, the act of drawing invariably speaks to protocols of assembly, the means and methods of fabrication, and a way of building the world around us. Tehrani’s work lies in building bridges between education and practice, creating healthy institutions to ensure equity, democracy, and education for all.
For his contributions to architecture as an art, Tehrani is the recipient of the Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize, the highest award of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Design, and was named the 2022 Design Visionary within the 2022 National Design Awards presented by Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum.Tehrani is founding principal of NADAAA, a practice dedicated to the advancement of design innovation, interdisciplinary collaboration, and an intensive dialogue with the construction industry. Tehrani is also the former dean of the Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture at The Cooper Union.
Major clients have included the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Historic New England, Harvard University, Northeastern University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Rhode Island School of Design, Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Toronto, and the University of Melbourne. Works by Nader Tehrani have been widely exhibited, including at MOMA, LA MOCA and ICA Boston.