This week Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (Columbia GSAPP) Dean Amale Andraos broke the news that Andrés Jaque will direct the school’s Master of Science in Advanced Architectural Design (AAD) program, starting June 1.

The program is a three-semester professional degree for those who hold a B.Arch or M.Arch. Current Director and Associate Professor Enrique Walker will cede the reigns to Jaque after a decade of directing the AAD program (Walker will continue to teach at GSAPP).

“I am thrilled for Andrés Jaque to take on the directorship of GSAPP’s Advanced Architectural Design program. He has been an important member of our faculty who is greatly admired by faculty and students alike for his unique reframing of architecture and its ability to engage the urgent issues of our time, as well as his ability to re-shape design and contemporary practice through his influential pedagogical approach,” said Dean Amale Andraos, in prepared remarks. “I’m very thankful for the rigorous vision and dedication that Enrique Walker has brought to the program during his directorship. Enrique established a strong legacy of bringing experimental approaches to research and design, and built a program that is firmly grounded in forming positions through design.”

Jaque has taught at GSAPP since 2015. He is the founder of the New York- and Madrid-based studio Office for Political Innovation, which explores architecutre through built work as well as performance.