The University of Virginia School of Architecture has appointed Felipe Correa as the Vincent and Eleanor Shea Professor and new chair of architecture. Correa is currently an Associate Professor and Director of the Master of Architecture in Urban Design program at the Graduate School of Design of Harvard University. He will start the new position on July 25.

Felipe Correa is a renowned architect, urbanist, author and professor. He founded and manages Somatic Collaborative, a research-based architecture, landscape and urbanism studio based in New York and Quito, Ecuador. Correa has been teaching at Harvard since 2008. Since 2009, he has served as director of the MAUD program of the GSD. His research, design and writing have been distributed widely.

At Harvard, Correa was the co-founder and Principal Investigator of the South America Project, a trans-disciplinary platform that studies design issues of the South American continent. Correa is also releasing a new book in October titled the São Paulo: A Graphic Biography, which interrogates the Brazilian city’s fast-paced growth and socio-economic divide between the city’s financial center and its periphery in the post-industrial context.

“As one of the leading scholars on architecture and urban design in Latin America, Felipe brings a wealth of knowledge, creativity and experience to UVA,” said Ila Berman, Dean of the School of Architecture, in a press release. “He will be a tremendous addition to the leadership team of the Architecture School and we’re extremely excited to welcome him to the community.”

Correa succeeds Bill Sherman, Lawrence Lewis, Jr. Eminent Scholar Professor and current chair of architecture.